georgialee Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 DS6 has done great in math (currently using MUS Alpha). We breezed through addition and are now on to subtraction. The problem is that he has a very hard time memorizing facts. I can do the same 3 facts for 3 days straight and he still won't remember them (but he has all 70 phonograms memorize... go figure). What can I do??? We can't move on in subtraction until he gets his addition down because of the way it is taught in MUS (6-4 = what number + 4 equals 6?). It is too tedious and frustrating (mostly for me) to have him use manipulatives for every.single.problem. Should I stop the book work and do just facts with him for a couple of weeks? Is there a game or something that would make it fun instead of going through flashcard after flashcard? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SorrelZG Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Word problems are more interesting to my DS. The Verbal Math Lesson level 1 has been great for him. You can get it on your computer/Kindle for 2.99 at Amazon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 You could go ahead through MUS Alpha while you consolidate the addition facts, if you want; the subtraction might reinforce the facts. Also, MUS customer service is great if you want to ask them. We used the MUS songs CD/songbook, which helped a lot; also addition and subtraction Wrap-ups. We would do an oral review of a set of facts a few times each day, until it was learned, then daily for a while after that. At this age, the little ones forget easily! Here and here are two recent threads on facts/drill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgialee Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 I don't make my dd6 memorize math facts. I think that children need more experience with math and its applications before they start memorization. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misslissa Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 www.candokids.com It's not pretty but it's functional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2blessings Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 My son struggled, so we started to use math facts as copywork. I printed out a bunch of free pages (with answers). Instead of doing 2 pages of MUS per day, I had him do one page, plus one page of math facts. Then I just occasionally quizzed him with flashcards. It helped, and wasn't much work for me:) Gina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acurtis75 Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 In addition to using the blocks I created a game we played with index cards. I had several sets with 0-9 written on indiviual cards. I also had cards with +,-,= on them. We played a game where we made math sentences with several variations. Sometimes I would give dd a set of cards like 3,5 & 8 with the + and equal sign and ask her to make me 2 sentences (3+5=8 and 5+3=8). Other times I would place the cards on the table and say what plus 3 = 8 and have her pick the right card to add to the sentence. We would do the current facts we were working on and all those we alread learned. We did this all the way through alpha and then again while learning the subtraction facts in Beta. Once we started on subtraction I would ask her to make me 4 sentences with the set of three numbers instead of two. 8-3=5 3+5=8 etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea1 Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 I just bought a game yesterday that my kids love. I was not even looking for a game but, when I saw this, I could not resist. It is called Math Slam. My two 6 year old boys are loving this game and dh and I enjoy playing with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mindypickens Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Hi there, my dd6 is doing very well with MUS also. The mastery of the facts to the point of automaticity is important to me too bc it will help everything later be easier. There are a couple of things we do to practice that have helped. First, I cant speak highly enough for learning to skip count! We are part of a Classical Conversations community so we have learned to skip count 2's through 15's along with the squares and cubes and this has been awesome for her understanding of math facts. I know MUS has a skip counting CD and I'd spend time mastering those songs first. Past that, we played some dice games that were fun and easy. The best one we did for the math facts was to take a piece of paper and put one column for her and one for me and then put 12 boxes vertically on each side numbered 1-12 and then maybe put them in a sheet protector. The game was called "race to 12". Each person takes turns rolling 2 dice, then they add the 2 numbers and mark off the answer on their sheet with a dry erase marker. Whoever can mark off all their squares first wins. The beauty of this is that each person will roll the same numbers, say a 4 and a 6, multiple times although they may have already marked off the 10, so it reinforces the fact over and over while also revealing that 6+4 and 4+6 equals the same thing. If the kiddo feels unsure, there are the dots to count for help. Also, it's free and takes about no effort! woohoo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay3fer Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Word problems are more interesting to my DS. The Verbal Math Lesson level 1 has been great for him. You can get it on your computer/Kindle for 2.99 at Amazon. :iagree:I agree! I actually got a free PDF but still bought Verbal Math Lesson in print because I liked it so much. We start math with this every single day and cover between 15-25 problems. My dd6 was good at math to start with, but is ALSO lightning-fast with facts now. (Meanwhile, her regular math is still having her find numbers that add to 10, which has become almost brainless for her...) I have no idea how it works, but we both love it! :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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