She has to start over. I though have tried the number line, counting up from, ect but she does not get it...

But she has calculated 4+1 at least a couple hundred times... It has been two years, not 'the day before' as you stated. It is nice to know fingers are not the end of the world but to a NEW homeschool mom who reads the teacher manuals for multiple curriculums that state it is the end of the world (or more like dont do it, they should not 'count'). Everyone on welltrained mind says xtramath... But they also teach no counting!! How can you confidently say its okay to count with sarcasm about her age when us new moms are told over and over not too. Even MUS says she needs to recall 4+1 within seconds before moving on!

We do use manipulatives but not consistantly. We gave up MUS because she would get confused... Spending 5 minutes to prove to me that 2+3=6, which never worked and then she would realize she was wrong but by then I was frustrated and put them away... Math comes easy to me so I am probably not being empathetic to her. I made the mistake of telling her to count on her fingers when she was little so she now hides her hands in her lap or behind her back to figure out the problems - she prefers this to the abacus. She say it is faster with fingers... Yesterdays math went well, we used chocolate chips to find the missing number but today I told her to try and do them by memory. Oppps... On that xtramath site it says she should memorize them not count so that is why I told her not to use them... I am probably messing her up by confusing her so much, always changing everything... What is MEP? Thanks!!

I am a first time homeschooler so I am really not sure what to expect or if my expectations are too high... I am frustrated over math and really, should I be because it is just math?!! My daughter is almost 7 and we have always homeschooled. She LOVES to read and rememeber her phonics sounds (abeka) after seeing them once. She is even reading the Boxer Car Children, book 3, along with other level 4 readers from the library without much trouble. So she is clearly VERY smart and can learn however... when we go through the same fact over, and over, and over and over and over and over for a week she still does not remember it from 2 mintues prior (or even 30 seconds prior...). Like 4+1=6. What?!! 4 and 1 more is....5. Okay then 4+1 more =??? I dont know. This week we are working on 4+1, 2+3, 2+4 - but she can not remember seconds after telling me the whole fact with the correct answer. Hu? We have tried games for learning facts, we have tried card games (she loves war), I signed her up for the xtramath site and she gets a 10 or yesterday she had less then that, 3 facts right. I know part of that is she is not used to tablets as we are a low tech family. I just want to back off and take it slow, like does it really matter if she does not memorize them?!! But then how will she ever learn to multiply or divide? Did your children remember all their facts within 3-4 seconds after asking them (without counting) and if not could they move on? As far as curriculum... we started with Abeka i kindergarten but half way through it got to be too much so I just copied some the Rod and Staff Black Lines sheets and used them. This year we made it to lesson 98 in Rod and Staff 1st grade book but it will take her an hour to do it, mostly because she finds all the adding/subtracting boring, which I get. But even with all the R&S practice she could not get 4+1 without thinking forever and counting her fingers. I purchased Math U See Alpha for her right before Christmas - at first it was great - she could see the patterns 1+....=..... but the next day she would forever and we would have to start over... and this went on and on. So, how come she can remember long passages of scripture and read anything around her but can not remember math?! We are currently using Abeka 1st grade math but on lesson 25 - she LOVES it. She says it is not math, it is fun :) But I know abeka and someday it will not be fun... because they move fast and without fact memorizing she will struggle. I am clearly way too frustrated but all of my homeschooling friends have children younger then me, so they cant help. I dont know who to ask or talk to about this...

Ummmm... I just read that carseats travel FREE?!!! Is this true?!! That makes a world of difference. lol. I would much rather just bring them - well I would bring the 4 year old with a high back booster and the baby the Graco My Ride which rear faces. Can you bring formula? I need to do more reading...lol

Thank you everyone, I am feeling better about it. It's not life or death, we will have fun even if we just spend the day time hours at the pool or walk to the ocean. Especially since it is -8 outside right now...

Thank you, that is encouraging! I know my husband wants us to go... he hates being alone!

That is one of my biggest fears... I can hardly handle driving in our 'city' thirty minutes away during busy times (evenings/weekends) and the population is 60,000 :( How am I going to handle driving when there are 1.4 million people?!! Even my husband gets nerves, though he can navigate in St. Paul Minnesota area better then me. When I add up the cost of our flights (way too high!) plus the car rental and carseats we are pushing $2,000.... I told my husband I would rather take that money and go out west (south dakota/montana). Those are more our style anyways.

WOW!! Thank you so much :) I never even thought about renting a car or the fact that all of us would not fit into one taxis anymore. I also looked and they have a great carseat rental place 1 mile from the airport car rental. We can get all 3 in nice carseats for $120. Plus, I would LOVE the freedom - being able to go shopping or anywhere. The trip seems more like fun instead of a burden like before. Thanks again!

I have never really traveled, unless you consider a couple hour car ride from home so this is all new to me. I would LOVE to travel but always feel so intimidated with the unanswered questions I have. Could you ladies help, I do not know who else to ask since none of my IRL friends with children travel/fly but maybe there is a reason, and that is because it is not do able! lol My husband is going to a conference in San Diego this spring, we live in the rural midwest with a 6 year old, 4 year old and 7 month old. 1. There is no shuttle from the airport to the hotel - how do we get there without bring the car seats? Our youngest would be flying on my lap. It seems like Uber only offers one forward facing carseat so, what about Taxi's? We do not want to bring the carseats... not just the cost, the idea of storing them all in the hotel room is stressful. 2. One of the main reasons I would love to go is that we could do a few fun family things - like ocean (walking distance) and the Zoo... but the zoo is 3 miles away and sea world 7. How can someone without carseats go to these places? My 6 year old would probably be fine since she is almost 7 (but I would feel better if she has something in such a large city!). 3. Has anyone been to San Diego? An older lady at our church went there a few weeks ago and said there are a TON of people. Obviously there will be more then I am used too but would you, a grown women with 3 children who listen most of the time feel safe/comfortable alone at the hotel pool, walking to the beach or to other activities. I would be baby wearing the youngest. I may have more questions, but these are the first ones that come to mind. I hope I do not sound like a weird sheltered red neck... Thanks!

Does anyone have the math 100 teachers manual? I was wondering if someone could tell me what numbers they want said aloud to the child for problem #4 in lesson 33? I am not sure if maybe I am asking too hard of numbers or if my daughter just does not get it... She can not seem to understand the difference between 15 and 50, even though every.single.day. I say the numbers or 03 and 30.... Thank you!

Has anyone been successful doing one subject (two lessons) of math a couple days a week and the on the other days doing Language/Phonics? Just wondering if this would work since I think dd would benefit from focusing on one subject instead of multiple things.

Thank you so much! I will check out RR site :) That is kinda nice they do not have a TM - I hardly follow them anyways. lol Have you used Math U See? They look to be mastery also but I also dismissed them because of the blocks/manipulates. I find things like that confusing (to me) and time consuming. Could a person just get the workbook for MUS and skip the blocks if their children are understanding numbers?

I would like to think I am somewhat computer savy... but the Math Mammoth website is driving me nuts! How do you purchase things on there?!! Why is there not a link to 1st grade materials - and then click purchase all?!! From what I am seeing they like you to 'download' a workbook and then print it yourself - correct? What order are the suppose to be in and is there a TM?!! Ahhhhh.... I would like a mastery based math program for my dd and though we have worked with some of R&S 1 I would feel better about choosing a program that would challenge her a bit more. Maybe I need to find a different mastery based math program...

I respect what you are saying but please keep in mind that many people do not have a say when God will give them another child. I wanted my children close, my first two are close and after a couple years of trying for #3 and infertility testing (nothing was found) we continued to try. I am saddened at the idea that we my soon be parents to another blessing and that they may grow up feeling unhappy with the spacing ~ as if we really had a say - because in reality none of us have that much say in our family size, spacing, gender or health.