Math question about visual learners.

[mystika1]

Hi,

I am currently using MUS Alpha and SM 1B with my 7 year old daughter. It is working great but I have a question. My daughter is currently working on adding 8's in MUS and I noticed something yesterday. Please....this may seem crazy but.....When I present the worksheet of problems she can read the problems out loud and answer them right away but when I ask orally(the same problems) she takes much longer to answer and some of the answers are wrong.

 

Does that mean she has not mastered the problems even though she can answer them quickly when they are written down? Or is this just normal for a visual learner? I am just trying to figure out if we can move on.

 

Thanks,

 

Penny

[Susie in CA]

I don't know, but I cannot seem to remember much that is read to me, and I am 40 years old. I do much better reading it myself. That is also why I take notes and/or outline things for myself.

 

Susie

[Wee Pip]

I'm highly visual. Sound takes a lot of brain power for me to 1.) process (i.e., what was said) and 2.) respond (answer the question). Oral math facts were impossible for me in school.

Numbers take more brain power for me to process than words. If I don't visualize the number then I "lose" the number. What's worse is then I visualize the answer and sometimes it takes awhile for me to find the sound equivalent for the picture in my head:) Conversations with me can be like a game of charades.

I really didn't understand math until I sat down at age 33 with a bunch of blocks and a 2nd grade math book, LOL. So you are on the right track with a program like MUS and Singapore, where it is highly visual for your visual learner. Wish I had had that as a kid - math would've been a different story for me.

[Closeacademy]

This happens with my VSL. What she is doing during that pause is visualizing the problem and working it out in her brain.

 

Basically she:

 

hears--8 plus 2

in her brain--pulls up picture of 8 plus 2

in her brain--works the answer (manipulatives, counting, whatever)

mouth--says 10

 

That is probably what is going on. My dd skip counts from the beginning for most multiplication problems although I have given her visual pictures of the patterns for multiplication.:001_smile: