My 8 year old is struggling quite a bit with R&S 2. We are still stuck in the first 30 lessons that review the math facts learned in first grade. I'm using the SC3 plans, but not really because we are moving even slower than those. I feel like I haven't hit on the right way to help him memorize the facts, especially subtraction. With visual aids (Cuisenaire rods, abacus) he can quickly recite the facts. I write the facts and he reads them aloud, he traces and copies the facts, and we play games and do drills with the flashcards. But when I remove the visual aids and hand him the R&S workbook page, he says he cannot remember the answers, even to problems such as 3-2=1. I have him do 3 or 4 rows a day, and it is very painful, and he says he must not be very smart because this is so hard. I know his processing speed is very slow, but that makes me wonder what should I expect from him then--how long should we spend on the workbook page and when should I move to the next lesson? Should I move to the next lesson? If his math facts recall is always going to be slow, how do we ever move forward?
Recently he has started learning to play the piano, and I told him that eighth notes are twice as fast as quarter notes, and 16th notes are twice as fast as eighth notes. He said, "And are there 32nd notes?" I asked how did he know that 2x16=32, and he said because he has a Lego board that is 16x16. Also, we have a traditional Advent prayer that we pray 15 times per day. He said to me, "I know! We could pray it 5 times at breakfast, 5 times at lunch, and 5 times at dinner!" So how can he not remember what 5 minus 3 is?
The Rod and Staff books will have a couple word problems here and there, such as George had 6 eggs and broke 3, etc. He can always come up with the answer to those quickly. But the R&S lessons are mostly rows of math facts, or of three digit addition or subtraction problems--pure number symbols, no visuals, no context--and that's where he just seems to hit a brick wall every day.
A dyscalculia tutor recommended to me that I just allow him to use the visual aids for all the written exercises in the R&S workbook and over time he will (may?) learn the math facts that way. This would allow him to move ahead because he is very bright and can understand math concepts easily. It seems like giving up on him ever memorizing the facts. What do you recommend?
Recently he has started learning to play the piano, and I told him that eighth notes are twice as fast as quarter notes, and 16th notes are twice as fast as eighth notes. He said, "And are there 32nd notes?" I asked how did he know that 2x16=32, and he said because he has a Lego board that is 16x16. Also, we have a traditional Advent prayer that we pray 15 times per day. He said to me, "I know! We could pray it 5 times at breakfast, 5 times at lunch, and 5 times at dinner!" So how can he not remember what 5 minus 3 is?
The Rod and Staff books will have a couple word problems here and there, such as George had 6 eggs and broke 3, etc. He can always come up with the answer to those quickly. But the R&S lessons are mostly rows of math facts, or of three digit addition or subtraction problems--pure number symbols, no visuals, no context--and that's where he just seems to hit a brick wall every day.
A dyscalculia tutor recommended to me that I just allow him to use the visual aids for all the written exercises in the R&S workbook and over time he will (may?) learn the math facts that way. This would allow him to move ahead because he is very bright and can understand math concepts easily. It seems like giving up on him ever memorizing the facts. What do you recommend?
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