I’ve read a couple times here that some of you use math facts for copywork and that helps your children retain the facts. I would LOVE to do this but what exactly do they copy? Do they copy the numbers and symbols, like “1 + 1 = 2”, or the words: “one plus one equals two” or both ways? How many facts do they do at a time? And how often each week? Is this in addition to the regular literature copywork, or does it stand as the only copywork for the day?
I have done this with my daughter. I give her a set of facts, doubles for instance and she copies them numerically onto a sheet I made called fact families – she’ll write 5+2 =7, 2+5=7, 7-5=2, 7-2=5 in the house, for example.
I would post the sheet here, but I don’t know how to do that. I would be glad to email it to you, if you’re interested. I think this has been helpful to my dd.
I was curious about the orginal question. How many of you use math facts for copywork? Do you use this in conjunction with other copywork (Bible, Literature, Poem selection) or as a stand alone for young children? My dd (6) is doing very well in her mental math, but she still struggles with written numbers; they come out backwards or not very easily read.
Do you have Startwrite software? I use this all of the time to create copywork and cursive practice for my 8 year old and letter/number formation sheets for my 4 year old. It allows you to make lines under the model for regular copywork, or make the font a lighter gray for younger ones to trace over. I love it and have found it to be worth the $40 price tag. You can make your copywork fit your studies using the Baldwin Online Children’s Literature Project. You could easily make your own math copywork as well.
I have StartWrite, and I think it’s great. What I was wondering was: Do any of you use math facts as your only copywork or use it in conjunction with other copywork (Bible, Literature, Poetry, etc.) for young ones. I don’t want to overwhelm her. Thanks for the link!
I guess I would use it as part of math since it doesn’t serve the same purpose as regular copywork (punctuation, grammar, capitalization, etc.). I would keep it light, working on only one fact family at a time, and I think I would put some visuals on the page that represent the facts being copied.
I used the Queen Homeschool Math Facts for Copywork to teach my girls their math facts, as flash cards made both them and ME want to put my head through a wall, LOL. We found it to be very effective. I did it apart from their regular copywork/Language Arts. It was strictly what we did for math for awhile.
They would copy the same section/family every day for a week, then we’d drill it to see if it “stuck”. If it did, we’d move on. If not, we’d spend more time. I take the entire first grade year to teach my kids their facts (and no other math), then move into our math curriculum the next year. Amazing how easy math can be for them when they already know all their facts.
What a great idea! I really like the math program we are using, but I don’t want to move too fast. This is our K year and she’s using a first grade math, so we have time for wiggle room. I think you are really on to something. I ordered Math Facts for Copywork yesterday, but I never thought to use it during math time. Brilliant!
We’ve made a huge change in our approach to math for dd9. We’ve used several mastery based approaches, which I still prefer personally. However, at the gentle insistence of a dear friend who has homeschooled 5 kids ages 9 – 21, I tried Christian Light Math which is a spiral based program.
This has made a huge difference for this dd! She no longer complains about math in general or fact practice in particular. CLE Math Flash Cards are organized in a way similar to the SCM Scripture Memory System. The child practices 1 or 2 sections per day and also has a short speed drill. In 3 weeks, my dd has show marked improvement! She has mastered most of the addition & subtraction facts now and is just plugging away.
You could easily adapt the flash card organization system to use with whatever else you are doing or you could purchase just the CLE flash cards for about $16.
I’d be curious to know what others think too. I like Queen’s other copywork books, so I ordered Math Facts. It might be nice to be able to print out sheets as much as you want, though.
This sounds great! My 6yo is struggling with math facts as well. He “understands” the problems but it really slows him down that he can’t recall the facts. I may order the CLE cards and do those in conjunction with math facts copywork.
Where can I get these flash cards? We use Horizons Math because dh insists on using a spiral approach (which I agree) but we’ve really got to get these facts nailed down.
I’m also considering Quarter Mile computer game. Anyone used this? I used it years and years ago with my 19yo but haven’t heard much about it recently.
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