Addition facts questions

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  • February 17, 2012 at 9:42 pm
    tlm123
    Member

    I have a 9 yo son with SPD having trouble learning his addition facts.  Math just brings heartache and tears for him.  Right now I am giving addition copywork a try since it is so gentle and nothing else has worked.  We have MUS, have tried worksheets, flashcards, manipulatives, all the usual stuff but he just gets frustrated and can’t remember the answers by rote memory.  He’s still counting on his fingers for anything above the +2’s.

    My question is do you like to teach all of one number first (the + 3’s), or do you like to teach fact families (1+3, 3+1, 4-1, 4-3)?   Do you like to teach all addition then subtraction or both at the same time with the fact families? Anyone else with a similar situation and what worked for you?

    Thanks!

    February 17, 2012 at 10:13 pm
    nerakr
    Participant

    I don’t know how much help I’ll be, since my son doesn’t have any processing issues. One thing we did in addition to manipulatives was “number association.” His little sister is 3 years younger; our babysitter’s grandson is 4 years older; a little girl at church that he has been fascinated with since she was a baby is 6 years younger. If he gets stuck (and that’s very seldom these days), all I have to do is say something like, “You are 8. How old will J be on her birthday or Will is 4 years older. How old is he?” Would something like that work?

    HTH,

    Karen

    ETA: for other numbers, we start with one of these and work our way up or down, as needed. For example, if he’s forgotten 8+5, I’ll say, “How old is Will? Now what is one more than that?”

    February 17, 2012 at 10:34 pm
    Lucien Van Huyssteen
    Participant

    Have you ever looked at RightStart? They teach for understanding and say that only 5% of mathematics should be by rote memorization. It is very kinesthetic and visual in it’s approach with less emphasis on worksheets in the younger years, mainly using a special abacus and card games.  I was thinking the abacus could help your son as the child is encouraged to use the abacus until he can ‘see’ the beads being added together in his head. For learning math facts, they teach a few different strategies, including the abacus, card games like Go to the Dump (based on Go Fish) and many others. Even if you didn’t want to try the whole curriculum, you could get the Math Card games book and their abacus.  There is a yahoo group where you can buy used books and manipulatives and ask for more detailed advice.  I’ve also heard of other moms calling RightStart directly and asking for their advice and they have had very positive reports back. 

    Hope this helps!

    February 17, 2012 at 11:11 pm
    mom
    Participant

    We like both of these, used as supplements:

    Addition & Multiplication the Fun Way by Judy Liautaud

    And

    Verbal Math Lessons

    These are helping give an “edge up” in their regular math.

    February 17, 2012 at 11:15 pm
    pangit
    Participant

    Another thought I have is to make a chart with the addition facts on it.  Maybe one chart for the +1’s, another for the +2’s, etc.  Have him stand facing the chart so he can read it.  As he reads it have him jump and clap on the answer.

    (Example: 1+1=[jump,cap, say 2]) Go through it 3 times (you can do only 3 or 4 of the facts at a time if necessary.  Then have him turn around and face a blank chart and do it again.  If he gets stuck and can’t remember them, then turn around and do it three more times facing the chart that he can read.  When he has mastered one chart, move on to the next chart.

    This is something that was used for DD in a program to help with ADD and learning disorders.  We didn’t do our addition facts, but did do our multiplication and division facts.  And used something similiar with spelling and alphabet.

    February 18, 2012 at 12:07 am
    missceegee
    Participant

    I highly recommend Rapid Recall by Little Giant Steps.

    My suggestion from another thread-

    I know this challenge! My dd is bright and memorizes scripture and poetry with ease, but not so with math facts. She is the oldest and really struggled and we tried lots of things – flash cards, wrap-ups, flash master, calculadder, copywork, etc. Itnever clicked for her until we began using a program called Rapid Recall by Little Giant Steps. We use the software version and the kids do it on their own. It takes a total of 10 minutes per day, but only 2 per activity. Dd11 has memorized all of the add, sub, mul and 1/2 of div since last year. This was after several years of struggling with add facts alone. Now my ds8 has finished add and sub and will begin mul on Monday. This program works! I put the workbook sheets in page protectors so all 4 of my kids will be able to use them.

    You can see it here – http://www.littlegiantsteps.com/xcart/product.php?productid=1393&cat=0&page=&featured=Y

    Blessings,

    Christie

    Further clarification re. Rapid recall math facts from a PM I sent.

    Sure. Each operation has an intro week of sorts for 0s and 1s. I’ve skipped as my kids didn’t need these weeks. These would be the most teacher intensive. On regular track weeks there are sessions. You do one track per week for 5 days before moving on. Each session should occur at least ten minutes apart from other sessions. 1- flash card session 2 – flash card session 3- discover sheet (listen and follow and write in answers as given) 4- listen only 5- speed drill untimed. Each session lasts 2 min.. My kids do it all on their own. We have the software for the flash sessions and they do the listen and discover on their own. All I do is check the speed drill sheet each day. The idea is to use different methods of learning – visual, auditory, kinesthetic. There are only a handful of new facts each week and there hasn’t been on week when dd hasn’t progressed. Is she as fast as me, no, but it has given her a very quick near instant recall of facts.

    Hope that helps.

    Christie

    February 18, 2012 at 1:22 am
    Sonya Shafer
    Moderator

    My youngest is having the same delay in memorizing her addition facts. We’ve been doing all of one number at a time, focusing only on addition right now. Two things have been helpful to keep us moving ahead: dominoes and picturing it.

    Dominoes: For some reason the patterns on the dominoes help her. So I’ll get out all the 9+ dominoes while we work on those, for example. She is allowed to pick them up and count them for several days of addition equations practice. I remind her to say the number on the side she already knows, then count from there. So she’ll point to the 9 side and say, “9” then touch the other side’s dots and keep counting up, “10, 11, 12, etc.” A side benefit is that she is seeing that it doesn’t matter which way she holds the domino, whether with the 9 on top or on the bottom, it’s still the same number of dots total. 

    But I still couldn’t get her to state the sum from memory. Until a friend suggested this little intermediate step. We are using it now and it’s working well.

    Picture It: We read the equation and I say something like, “Can you see that domino in your mind?” Often, she can. So she counts the dots on the domino she has pictured and gets the answer without a concrete manipulative. Now, she hasn’t memorized the sums yet, but I think this is a good intermediate step to weaning off the concrete manipulatives.

    February 18, 2012 at 2:38 am
    tlm123
    Member

    Thank you all for the ideas.  I have seen addition story cards called Memory Joggers which would be similar to the book Addition & Multiplication the Fun Way by Judy Liautaud mentioned and I think I would like to try those. I was also lucky to find at a library sale a box of verbal math questions similar to the book Verbal Math Lessons and he does like those but I can still see him counting on his fingers.  As far as the moving, jumping while doing math facts, I tried to get him to do this because he paces alot and also likes to bounce on the trampoline but he says he bothers him to do anything else at the same time.  I think those movements are calming to him and the math thrown in is too frustrating.  I think if I can use some of the picturing suggestions with the book, story cards or the dominoes plus the copywork it will take time and perseverance but it will pay off in the end.  Now would be a good time to teach perseverance too!

    Thank you again!  I so appreciate all the great advice. 

    February 18, 2012 at 8:22 pm
    Michelle Anglin
    Participant

    All I can say is that Math Lessons for A Living Education was a answer to prayer for my daughter.  We had tried MUS 3 times, singapore, and a host of other programs to no avail.  I found queenhomescool.com….a charlotte mason homeschool curriculum site…looked at their MLLE books, bought book 1 for my son and book 2 for my daughter and not she tells everyone that math is her favorite subject and can’t wait to do math everyday.  We are getting ready to buy book 3.  I highly reccomend you check it out.  

     

    Michelle

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