Joyful Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 I really hope I can get some help with this... DS is a natural with math, so we have been progressing through MUS pretty smoothly. I started DD 6 with MUS Alpha last spring, and she was chugging along. But then, she started having difficulty with subtraction of larger numbers. For example, 14-8, 17-9, 13-5. So, I slowed things down, and basically did a lot of reviewing. Right now, she can do the subtractions with few errors here and there. But, she does have to think about it. She understands the "methods" and "tricks" presented in the videos. But she doesn't come up with the answers quickly, like she does with the additions. So, I'm not sure what to do. Has she mastered subtraction? Should I just move on to Beta now? Or should I work with her to get her to come up with the answers quickly by using flashcards, or making her just "memorize" the facts? Yeah, I've kind of stuck on this for a month now, feeling like we are not making "progress".... :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 My son had trouble with subtraction, until I pointed out that it was really addition. For example, 17-9 you can think of as what + 9 = 17. As soon as he understood that, he started getting the answers more quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsiew Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 My dd is doing Beta this year after doing Alpha last year. She was slow on subtraction too. I started having both her and her older brother (who just started Delta) do the online drill on the MUS website. It's basically the same thing as me doing flashcards with them, but it's something they can do independently. This has helped A LOT with their speed and memorization! And because it's on the computer it's "fun". They just do it for about 10 min. per day at the beginning of their math time. You may want to try this for a couple weeks and see if things improve. With my dd she was still slow on subtraction through the first part of Beta, but now she's on lesson 21 and doing really well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 We used MUS from K through Algebra. Many people say that they need to add some drill in the younger years to MUS. We used Math-It for a while, but I found it quite tedious. At the same time, I personally do not feel that it is necessary to have instantaneous recall of math facts. I believe that the speed improves with normal practice. How important is it to you? FWIW, I have a degree in math and ds is math-oriented. Had we drilled math facts in the early years more, he might be faster than he is today. OTOH, no one would think he is slow. YMMV! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quad Shot Academy Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 I would have her move on. Beta doesn't teach anything new with subtraction until unit 20. The systematic reviews have a few basic subtraction problems though. I would have her do something with subtraction each day: online drill, worksheet, flashcards . . . until she is faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hlee Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 I just started homeschooling this fall with our 2nd grader. He had not learned much math in K-1st grade in public school, and that bothered me, which was one of a number of reasons we decided on homeschooling. We started with MUS Alpha to help shore up his addition facts. But for some reason, I didn't feel comfortable with the curriculum when we hit subtraction. We switched to Singapore, which I started from the beginning at 1A to make sure the foundation was there. I felt their explanations of how to handle subtractions, although somewhat similar at times to MUS, were more thorough and helpful. We also do online drills several times a week, which I think really helps. Without the consistent practice, I am pretty sure those facts will disappear from my son's brain! I have heard from my public school friends that subtraction is much more difficult and much less intuitive for children than addition and definitely takes more time to get comfortable with. My son is probably twice or three times as fast with addition than subtraction, FWIW! Good luck with your decision! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyful Posted December 11, 2009 Author Share Posted December 11, 2009 Thanks for your thoughts! It seems like the common thought is that I should continue to work with DD to get these subtraction facts down. Yeah, thanks for emphasizing this to me! I really needed to hear that. :001_smile: Robyn, thanks for mentioning the Math Drills on the MUS website too! I had known about it, but for some reason, I didn't think to use it. I'm going to give it a try next week. Hopefully, it will do the trick! Thanks again everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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