Math Trouble

[Jen (formerly) in Japan]

Re: Math Trouble

Fantastic!

Heather, I am so going to tell my husband you called me "a very knowledgeable mom on the MP forum". I may have to catch his eyeballs as they roll out of his head, but it will be worth it.





Jen

[Girlnumber20]

Re: Math Trouble

What you said about the facts being so random rang a bell. My kids found them very random. It has been somewhat of a lifelong struggle.
I'll tell you what helped to combat the seeming randomness of the numbers in their brains- it was teaching the facts not as cards until later, as drill. But when first memorizing them, as skip counting, and then memorizing where the particular fact falls in the skip counting sequence. It is drill, and memory work, and there is a very systematic method to teaching it this way that finally helped my son start to memorize the facts (and we are still working through them) it might help you too. My son was finally able to understand how to memorize them, before they seemed unrelated to anything in his mind, there was no "peg" to hang any individual fact upon. So I have to create "pegs" in his brain for each set. For us it takes about half an hour over the course of two days to teach one set- after that it should be just drill. This is what is allowing us to finally use flashcards as drill. It will probably go faster for you, since my son seems to really struggle with this.

I will try to find the video but in the meantime let me know if you want this alternate method explained, and I will post it- even if I can't find the video again! It is very easy to teach it, but I don't want to overwhelm you with too many options, since you got such terrific input already.

Maria

[serendipitous journey]

Re: Math Trouble

Heather, thanks so much for bringing this up. I am learning so much from this thread!

Jen, I'm especially grateful for your 2-second drill idea AND the veggie-free dinner as a reward. Brilliant!!!

[GrammarGirl]

Re: Math Trouble

Heather, thanks so much for bringing this up. I am learning so much from this thread!

Jen, I'm especially grateful for your 2-second drill idea AND the veggie-free dinner as a reward. Brilliant!!!

I'm glad others can benefit from the question and fantastic answers. I was a little afraid mine was a rare child . . .

[momgineer]

Re: Math Trouble

What you said about the facts being so random rang a bell. My kids found them very random. It has been somewhat of a lifelong struggle.
I'll tell you what helped to combat the seeming randomness of the numbers in their brains- it was teaching the facts not as cards until later, as drill. But when first memorizing them, as skip counting, and then memorizing where the particular fact falls in the skip counting sequence. It is drill, and memory work, and there is a very systematic method to teaching it this way that finally helped my son start to memorize the facts (and we are still working through them) it might help you too. My son was finally able to understand how to memorize them, before they seemed unrelated to anything in his mind, there was no "peg" to hang any individual fact upon. So I have to create "pegs" in his brain for each set. For us it takes about half an hour over the course of two days to teach one set- after that it should be just drill. This is what is allowing us to finally use flashcards as drill. It will probably go faster for you, since my son seems to really struggle with this.

I will try to find the video but in the meantime let me know if you want this alternate method explained, and I will post it- even if I can't find the video again! It is very easy to teach it, but I don't want to overwhelm you with too many options, since you got such terrific input already.

Maria

YES!!! This is exactly what I meant. Some programs (not R&S) only drill facts as random facts. Each question (6x7) has an answer (42) which must be memorized with no context as to where the answer came from. This makes it very hard for many kids. Skip counting is an awesome way to see the patterns in the facts. When R&S teaches facts with the animal charts and chants the questions and answers it is basically skip counting with pictures. It is much easier to remember the facts when you can picture them as part of the pattern,

[Girlnumber20]

Re: Math Trouble

I found it! here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bpq3Mqbwv0&t=198s

Momgineer is right, and R and S does a great job of going over this same method with the "waves" thing. But this video helped me to make it even more explicit for my son who seems to need everything to be broken down and explained very systematically before he can remember anything. This method worked like a charm and helped my daughter too. I found it a good supplement to R and S.

Maria

[GrammarGirl]

Re: Math Trouble

I found it! here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bpq3Mqbwv0&t=198s

Momgineer is right, and R and S does a great job of going over this same method with the "waves" thing. But this video helped me to make it even more explicit for my son who seems to need everything to be broken down and explained very systematically before he can remember anything. This method worked like a charm and helped my daughter too. I found it a good supplement to R and S.

Maria

Oh, thank you! I'll watch this tonight.