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LOF – need to write down answers?
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I’ve been doing some LOF (Apples) with my 5YO — we have gone through Chapter 8 so far. I have not made her write down her answers because she tends to struggle with fine motor and I didn’t want her frustration with that to interfere with enjoying the “math” part of it. (Plus, some of the questions are about how to spell days of the week, and she’s nowhere near that point yet in spelling.) The math is actually easy for her so I figured it was fine for her to do it orally.
But, when I was reading back over the introduction, I noticed that he specifically says not to have them give their answers orally but to make them write them down. Is this really necessary, at this stage? I can see why it might be important for more complex problems later on, but when the problems are just (repeatedly) things like “5 + 2 = ?” and “3x + 4x = ?” and “What is the 3rd day of the week?” I guess I am having trouble understanding why the writing down would be important. If there is something I should know, please tell me! Thanks.
I think the idea is that motor memory reinforces the learning of the concepts in general. Perhaps, encourage her to write down one answer per lesson and build from there as her motor skills allow. HTH!
My son started Apples at age 5 as well. I think it is useful to have the child write as much as they can. It makes it visual and tactile. It also seems to make it more ‘official’, rather than just a chat with mom, so they seem to take it more seriously.
My son, however, was not writing much when we started. So I scribed for him in the beginning. I’d let him write as much as he was able, then did the rest. So I’d write out 5 +2 = and then let him write 7. (7s are easy!) Once he had learned a few letters, I would have him write the first letter for the day of the week or name of the month, then I’d write the rest. I just turned more and more over to him as we went.
Now he is 6, and working in Goldfish. He does most of the writing now. I do write out the questions for the ‘Rows of Practice’, because I know it would take forever if he had to transfer all those numbers accurately and line them all up to do the calculations.
Thanks. I like the suggestions to start small and work from there, and to try the first letter of the days of the week!
I don’t mind it seeming like a “chat with mom” at this point, because our goal is to have her see math as just an ordinary part of life for now, but I could see where the tactile reinforcement would be beneficial.
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