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Math facts--need more ideas


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My younger son is ahead conceptually in math, but gosh darn it if we can't figure out a way to make his math facts stick! We have tried everything. I mean, everything. He doesn't retain at all. The one thing that did help was Times Tales, and we will revisit it again,.

 

I appreciate suggestions--my older took a while to learn his math facts, but you could SEE his improvement over time, whereas with younger, the 6's, 7's and 8's are just not sticking, And even though he knows the 'trick' for 9's, he stumbles every time.

 

He abhors doing drill practice, but I am insisting on daily practice for at least 15-20 minutes.

 

We've tried xtramath, a variety of apps, times attack, flashcards, oral drilling, hand writing facts, math card games, lists, you name it.

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Have you looked at Soror's relaxed math thread?  (see below)

 

Also, FWIW, I never did get my math facts down.  I just didn't.  They didn't stick.  But I handle our personal finances and run the financial side of my dad's company and had a very successful career in Broadcast TV for many years.  DH never got his completely down either (and he is a very successful engineer and pilot).  So while having math facts rote memorized may be really helpful, they are obviously not the be all and end all of life, IMHO.  :)

 

Now that DD is struggling with the same thing I have her create her own hundreds and multiplication charts to work from each week.  She does them on Mondays, then I put them in a protective sleeve for her to refer to while doing her math for the week.  In creating them herself and discussing the patterns with her, some things are starting to stick for both of us.  Games and practical application math are also helping a bit.  

 

Here is Soror's thread, in case it helps....

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/499692-looking-to-do-some-relaxed-math-here-want-to-share-ideas/

 

Good luck and best wishes!  :)

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This may sound radical - but how about stop trying. Seriously. I never bothered to get my gets to learn their math facts. All I was interested in was that they understand how to do the math. The "facts" will eventually come eventually. They did for all my kids. 

 

The one thing you need to prevent is that he start to hate math and that he think he is no good at it because he can't retain the "facts". I have seen how many kids decide they are bad at math and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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The only way we could get them to stick with my older (who is VERY mathy by the way) was for him to do them 3x per day 7x per week.  After 3 months, the job was done.  He just did them after every meal so he could remember to do it. They only took 5 minutes each time so the burden was not onerous.

 

Ruth in NZ

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While I agree with not wanting to push a kid away from math if it interferes with enjoying the subject, I am here to say that it may not just come. I still don't know all my math facts and quite often second-guess myself. I still look at my hands when doing 9s (where you hold up both hands and fold down the finger to get the answer. Ex. 9x4, fold down 4th finger).

 

 

OK- well, then another suggestion would be to use Math games and math apps. Try to find the ones that are the most fun and feel the least like "learning". 

 

And how about just putting math facts up all round the house - back of bathroom door - that sort of thing. Keep the same fact all over for a week or so, then add a new one. 

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Hundreds charts? Maybe the visual patterns could help...

 

Have you tried this? We take 100 charts, color in every 3rd on one,  every 4th on another, every 5th and so on. Each 100 chart is colored differently.  Then we skip count up to at least the number x12 (so for 3s we would skip count through 36) and we have chants/songs for each one. I did this for all of my kids and the skip counting eventually morphed into pure math fact memory.  Generally, good 'ol flash cards worked best with all of mine. 

 

Lisa

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Halcyon says:

We've tried xtramath, a variety of apps, times attack, flashcards, oral drilling, hand writing facts, math card games, lists, you name it.

You have listed at least 8 different strategies.  I have BTDT.

 

 

 

Halcyon says:

He abhors doing drill practice, but I am insisting on daily practice for at least 15-20 minutes.

 

I have that kid, too. 

 

I can tell that you really want him to know his math facts because it is so important.

 

I can also tell that you have bent over backwards to try to help him learn his math facts, but not make him too miserable.

 

I have given up on the latter.  I WILL NOT GIVE UP on the former because knowing math facts is tooooooooo important.  I have tutored wayyyyyyy too many college students in Algebra, PreCalc, Calc, and Chemistry who understand conceptually, but continuously get the wrong answer due to calculation. 

 

The tact I take with my daughter now is that drilling is non-negotiable.  We do flashcards, but if I do not have time, I send her to Xtra Math. 

 

If there is complaining, I reel off all the math games and apps and software I have purchased that we have gone through that were not acceptable to her.  I reiterate that if she has another suggestion for learning her math facts, I am open to hearing it.  I say, yet again, that if one of her friends has a program that she in interested in trying, that she only needs to let me know and we will look into it.  If she has no suggestions, then she needs to "Buck up, Little Camper" and do what I choose for drill. 

 

I have recently deleted her Xtra Math account and than re-registered her this autumn.   After a summer of no math, she was encouraged by how well she did last week on the addition pre-test for Xtra Math.  Maybe it will give her the confidence to keep going.

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I've run into this also. I am now focusing on my third dc and I'm not letting this slip again. Actually I've decided to take this yr (4th grade) and really focus on her math, reading, and spelling skills. If we don't get to history or science that's ok.

 

We use Singapore Math and I found some blank mult charts. Basically one page with three charts that work on about 5 or 6 rows of facts each. But the second chart changes the order of the top row numbers and the side row jmbera so they can't just copy from the first chart. The third chart changes it again. I've already seen improvements just working on these. Once she gets these down we can try another chart with the same numbers but with some of the top or side numbers missing and the product given instead. Just enough to make her think and connect the relationships.

Btw I photo copied these and put them into page protectors. I have her use the thin dry erase markers.

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Halcyon, I'm serious about increasing the frequency.  Just today I was learning my mandarin words, and realised that if I did not do them every hour on the hour, I would forget them by tomorrow.  Mandarin words are pretty random from the point of view of an English speaker, and I am guessing that the math facts feel similar to your son.  There is just no reference point, so it is not like learning history facts or memorizing a poem.

 

I also think you should stress to your ds that memorizing math facts is NOT related in any fashion to mathematical skill.  My ds was still memorizing his subtraction tables when studying Algebra.  It does happen.  My son also did not like drill, so I made is as easy and effectively as possible.  Flashcards done orally for only 5 minutes but 3x a day. He would not have tolerated more than 5 minutes at a time.

 

I also had him keep a graph of how long the flashcard pack took.  So starting at 6 minutes for about 60 cards (2s through 9s), and working down to 1 minute.  The graph was very motivating.

 

Ruth in NZ

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Have you used one of the story-based methods?  We used the ones on multiplication.com, and Calvin learned his multiplication facts in days.

 

L

Thanks for this link, my ds still doesn't have his facts done quite quickly enough so that is a goal this year. I think I'll switch to using this for our practice and as lewelma rec'd up the practice to 2x a day.  I think I'll just print it though as ds gets freaked out with being timed.

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We had originally just kept moving forward with math since she could work them out adequately with skip counting and other mental math strategies. However, she started to get frustrated that calculations were taking too long (from her perspective). So, we tried a bunch of things--games like Speed, flash cards, wrap-ups, Times Tales, songs, 100s charts, etc. We don't use much technology for learning, but one day we went through all the different computer-based iPhone and Mac apps and websites. She fell in love with Reflex Math during a trial run, which I never would have guessed. So, I got it at a discount through HSBC, and it has been a magical elixir.

 

She uses it happily, and it only takes about 20-30 minutes. She earns points to decorate her avatar and tree. She loves the characters and the games. It's all incredibly gentle. She tends to spike high anxiety with timed exercises and gets overwhelmed with most video games. But, she really enjoys this. I can easily see which facts are still stumping her and we work on them a bit just with songs to get her over the last few humps.

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I've run into this also. I am now focusing on my third dc and I'm not letting this slip again. Actually I've decided to take this yr (4th grade) and really focus on her math, reading, and spelling skills. If we don't get to history or science that's ok.

 

We use Singapore Math and I found some blank mult charts. Basically one page with three charts that work on about 5 or 6 rows of facts each. But the second chart changes the order of the top row numbers and the side row jmbera so they can't just copy from the first chart. The third chart changes it again. I've already seen improvements just working on these. Once she gets these down we can try another chart with the same numbers but with some of the top or side numbers missing and the product given instead. Just enough to make her think and connect the relationships.

Btw I photo copied these and put them into page protectors. I have her use the thin dry erase markers.

Where did you find the charts?  Or did you create them using small blank ones?

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I found the charts in the back of Singapore Math 3a HIG p a24-a27.

I started her out reading the full filled in mult chart. Then she did the top one on p a24. I didn't time it at first as it took her awhile. That's when we worked on either you just know it or you need to figure it out quickly....don't just sit there trying to remember it. Some have quick tricks like the 9 (which has several) and anything mult by an even number can be mult by half that num and then doubled (7*6=. 7*3=21 doubled = 42 so 7*6=42). When she is not being timed I have her use her FLL skills and repeat the facts she tripped over three times out loud and then move on.

 

When we finally started timing her she did the first chart in about 15 minutes. That was a week ago and we've done it daily along with the next chart. She just did that same top chart in 4 min 16 sec. :)

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