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Looking for some guidance on addition problem
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My 7yo daughter understands the concept of addition and subtraction, but cannot memorize the facts. We’ve been working on this for a year and a half now, and she just can’t do it. She can add, but memorizing the problems just seems lost on her.
Has anyone else had this problem? I had this problem when I was her age, and all through school. I still remember in 3rd grade, the reward for memorizing your multiplication facts was a goldfish. I was the only one in my class who didn’t get a goldfish. 🙁 I studied EVERY night, and I just couldn’t get it to stick. But I knew HOW to multiply, I understood the concept. And that’s where my daughter is, except she’s currently stuck on addition. Should I move on, and come back to the memorization after I’ve introduced and she understands the concepts of subtraction, multiplication and division? Maybe with a little time, she’ll be able to come back to these and memorize then?
We work everyday with Xtramath.org, so she’s practicing every day on her math facts. Anyone have any ideas, suggestions, what they did with their son or daughter?
Thank you!!
Oh, and by the way, words she can memorize just fine. She memorizes poetry and scripture with ease. It’s the numbers she’s stuck on! 🙂 I just don’t want to be going into 3rd grade and have only covered addition, unless that is REALLY the best way to go.
YES! I’ve posted about it before here. Rapid Recall by Little Giant Steps worked wonders for my dd12 who was exactly as you describe. Se has finally memorized all add, sub, mul, and div facts.
Hmm, what about moving ahead in your math while doing this:
Learn one addition fact each day, or every few days. Stick with the same fact family, and each day after you practice the old plus the new. You don’t have to begin with +1s either. What about beginning with +7’s just for variety? Monday have her write 1+7=8 a few times on a few index cards. She needs to post these in places she passes a lot, so the bathroom, the table, the couch, wherever. Every time she passes a card she reads it out loud “One plus seven equals eight”. All day long. And the next day if she needs to (writing them again the next day, maybe just on a dry erase board). And at random moments all day you ask her “What is one plus seven?”. To which she should respond “One plus seven equals eight.” The whole phrase is important!
When she can do that without fail you’ll choose the next fact. Repeat the process.
Yes, I realize this will take ages to get through the addition and subtraction tables. But getting through them before she’s 10 is better than not ever getting through them, right? Because down the road when she’s doing more complicated math it matters to have these basic facts memorized to speed things along. And example:
If Mary bought a coat for $17 and boots for $72 how much did she spend? (too much!) That simple problem is now two plus 7’s facts. And we all know she’ll soon face 4977+7693=?, which is four ‘simple addition problems’. And it goes on from there.
And we struggle with facts here too! My kids are using Math Facts Now!, a basic computer program where they do facts with no distracting music or graphics. I set the lessons and they spend 1-3 weeks on a single fact family. The first few days may take forever to get their 50 problems right (and it has you retype the entire problem on ones you miss). But by the end of two weeks they’re usually flying through that fact family. Then I make a “review facts” lesson with all the families they have learned and they begin to alternate a review day with the new fact family they’ve moved on to, or the new fact family daily with the review lesson every other day. Similar to what the Scripture Memory Work divider does at SCM, practicing something daily, then every other day, then further and further apart as it is truly cemented.
I was going to suggest math copywork as it has worked wonders here. We do things very similar to what Tristan shared on the math copywork. Index cards, whiteboard, weather permitting chalk on the driveway, in sand if you have a sand tray or tub, with suds on the shower wall!, shaped out of playdough, magnetic numbers, you get the idea! Make it fun and rinse and repeat! 🙂
Well…my 10yo is just now *really* getting the facts memorized. He just couldn’t do it. So repetition has been key for him and not letting him “guess.” I haven’t done exactly what Tristan has described but have always kept the math facts going and helping him to visualize the answers (copywork). He is finally, well, most of the time, able to get through his MUS worksheets with the facts memorized and not having to use his fingers/blocks, etc. He is really impressing me w/ his 9 multiplication facts these days. He has discovered some patterns (on his own), as well. He usually does very well on his worksheets but is now seeing where it all applies to life and how knowing the facts quickly is a huge benefit to him. He just never really had them memorized, but knew how to get the answer. Make sense??
My younger boy is learning his math facts right now and we are incorporating Right Start games on Fridays. I really don’t want to miss this opportunity to get them in his head now if at all possible. I am trying to keep from overwhelming him and making games a part of that.
HTH
Does she use an abacus? Ours has been very helpful for conceptualizing the math facts – they can see that 8+2=10 by sliding the beads over. I think once they get the concept with their fingers, their minds can latch on. Then it is repetition that makes them memorize the math ‘facts’.
If you think about it… on our base 10 system, there are only a few addition facts to memorize: the +0 ‘rule’, the +1 ‘rule’, then 8+2=10, 3+7=10, 6+4=10, and double 5. Everything else is just the inverse of the previous problem, and the higher numbers simply move to the next 10. For example: 43+7= 50 (7+3 to the next ten).
Anyway, I am NOT a math person, but that is how I teach it to my kids. Once they get the base 10 concept with the abacus, they can move on quickly to mental addition. Be sure you get an abacus with the beads color coded by 5’s – it helps with multiplication later, too!
Hope that made sense and helps a little!
My 10 yr old dd had this same problem at this age. We just stuck with addition until she had them sticking in her mind, then moved on to subtraction which made that easy. So I think it took until age 8 or so to get them memorized to where she wouldn’t forget them. DD age 8 is still working on getting subtraction memorized (addition finally just sticking). If I find the fact family we are currently working on isn’t sticking we don’t move on. Just keep reviewing old and the newest facts.
I simply have my dd look over a few flashcards daily in the afternoon during rest time. The ones that aren’t sticking especially. Once she masters them add more to her pile to work on. She also just keeps doing sheets I print off of math u see. I also have made math games like math memory etc to keep her working on facts but in a fun way.
Review, review, review until they stick. It’s an abstract concept that takes awhile to develop in some. I was the same way! I NEVER knew my add/sub facts well UNTIL I homeschooled! lol I don’t think they take the time in public school for those who can’t get them to practice them before moving on to multiplication/division. I could do math too but didn’t know my facts.
Hope that helps!
Tara
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