jonesloonybin Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 This is our first full year homeschooling. I have two daughters (12&5) My oldest was getting good grades in school but since she has been home, I have discovered that she does not know her muliplication AT ALL! :glare: Can anyone recommend a curriculum or resource to help. I am hoping to work this summer on the "gaps" so we could have a good start in Sept. Thanks!:001_smile: Terri PS: She has become super defensive about math and will start crying as soon as I try to help her. I just wish I knew what to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 how about starting off with a "toy" like a math shark? or a game like muggins? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in Austin Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 If she likes playing on the computer, I'd google 'online multiplication game' and have her play. That way, there is no embarrassment when she gets things wrong. Another option would be for her to learn all of the skip counting songs. If you think she would be offended at that idea, perhaps you could have her teach skip counting to the five year old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 If you have some money to throw at the problem, I'd recommend MUS Gamma for re-learning or cementing mult. facts. I bought this for myds10 who was also having trouble w/ mult. facts. He's doing very well. You can probably get away w/ just buying the Teacher Manual/DVD set and use your own problems for practice. Good think about this is that Mr. Demme actually teaches on the DVD so it wouldn't actually be YOU teaching her! Perhaps she would be less defensive (I know my son is!). You can often find the sets used on the sale/swap board or MUS has it's own swap group on Yahoo. My son also enjoyed Timez Attack (free download) for helping solidify his facts. Some other suggestions: Play the card game War but in order to "win" the hand, dd must correctly multiply the 2 numbers (ex/ she plays a 9 and you play a 5...in the normal game she would win that "hand", but in this game she must first correctly mult. 9x5 before she can take the cards, see?). Do you have Yahtzee? That is a fun game and you need to use mult. skills for that as well. My ds10 really enjoys that. Ok, I"m sure you'll get more suggestions! HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonesloonybin Posted June 24, 2008 Author Share Posted June 24, 2008 Thank you everyone! I will check all the suggestions out. Hopefully something will click with her. Terri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gretchen in NJ Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Superkids.com is a great site for printing out free math sheets. Gretchen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gretchen in NJ Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Oh, there is also Mathslice.com where she can play online or you may printout worksheets for her to complete. We also like kidzone.ws for practicing our math facts. Gretchen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gretchen in NJ Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Gee wiz. Please forgive the multiply posts. But, I keep coming up with a new thought. My girls also like practicing their math facts with math dice. Math dice have 12 sides instead of just six. Gretchen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mittmaman Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 We use Bigmathtime.com. It really did wonders for our ds! HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kailuamom Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 If you have some money to throw at the problem, I'd recommend MUS Gamma for re-learning or cementing mult. facts. I bought this for myds10 who was also having trouble w/ mult. facts. He's doing very well. You can probably get away w/ just buying the Teacher Manual/DVD set and use your own problems for practice. Good think about this is that Mr. Demme actually teaches on the DVD so it wouldn't actually be YOU teaching her! Perhaps she would be less defensive (I know my son is!). You can often find the sets used on the sale/swap board or MUS has it's own swap group on Yahoo. Sue -- Would you say you need all of the manipulatives (counters) for MUS Gamma? If I were just getting it to cement the facts? Your suggestions makes me think about getting just the Teacher's Manual/DVD to help my dds firm up the basics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 MUS is great. Don't get me wrong, but if your dd is just having trouble remembering her basic facts, you just need to work on those. That can be done with basic flash cards or a computer game. Math u See does have a great practice program on their site for anyone to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gretchen in NJ Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 MUS is great. Don't get me wrong, but if your dd is just having trouble remembering her basic facts, you just need to work on those. That can be done with basic flash cards or a computer game. Math u See does have a great practice program on their site for anyone to use. :iagree: There are a ton of free Math websites to use. School Zone has some great inexpensive workbooks that you can pick-up at Target, Wal-mart, etc...... Gretchen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kailuamom Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 There are a ton of free Math websites to use. School Zone has some great inexpensive workbooks that you can pick-up at Target, Wal-mart, etc...... Gretchen We have tried the workbooks, etc., and, while they do the problems, I was looking for someone to "teach" it to them so that they would understand the process better. That is why MUS intrigued me. I am NOT a math person and I just don't know if there is a way to help them "cement" the facts other than just plain old memorizing?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shalom22 Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I will agree with MUS. My ds was also having a difficult time with math in general and multiplication specifically.:confused: She would have breakdowns if I tried to help her, too. We just finished using MUS Gamma, she started out using the blocks and watching the DVD, but once she got the hang of it, she ventured out on her own. She isn't a wiz at the times tables, but at least she isn't breaking down and becoming unreachable like she was before. I think it gave her more confidence to know that she could work out the problems. :001_smile: Your daughter sounds a lot like mine, about the same age also. I for one liked the approach that MUS uses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFJ Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 We liked Times Tales a lot. Also, Memorize in Minutes: The Times Tables. These use stories and pictures to help a child remember the facts quickly. For basic practice and speed we are currently tracking my daughter's speed, etc. with flash card magic, but I am sure lots of other programs can duplicate this. These are not math curricula, they are methods to help memorization of facts only vs. Math U See or Developmental Math, both of which have books devoted to multiplication. TFJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathie in VA Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 TimezAttack it is a computer game that you can download for free. They sell an upgraded version which just has more interesting backgrounds but it's the same program. This game has arcade like graphics and feel to it, so the kids think it's fun. You end up chasing down 4 groups of 3 'creatures' and then throwing each of them before being asked to answer 4x3=? I got the free version and the kids (boys and girls) played with it for about a year before they got bored. Then I purchased the upgrade and they are playing with it again! Also my kids learned all the skip counting to songs and we drill that often.... up to the 15s. This has helped during their math work (I can hear it working :lol:) One more thing, here's some site that might help in memorizing the facts and/or understanding the facts: http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/mmathmult.htm http://www.alabacus.com/pageView.cfm?pageID=321 hth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonesloonybin Posted June 24, 2008 Author Share Posted June 24, 2008 Wow! Thank you all again. This has been hard on her. You just don't realize how much public school is killing childrens' love of learning. And changing the way they "teach" math the last couple of years made it so much worse. She use to LOVE to learn and now she just panics and freezes up. We took the end of this last school year to relax a bit and meet a lot of homeschool kids and just generally try to find the joy in things again. I really want to thank you all and let you know that I appreciate all the responses. :grouphug: Thanks! Terri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gretchen in NJ Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 We have tried the workbooks, etc., and, while they do the problems, I was looking for someone to "teach" it to them so that they would understand the process better. That is why MUS intrigued me. I am NOT a math person and I just don't know if there is a way to help them "cement" the facts other than just plain old memorizing?? I have heard of CD where the multiplication facts are set to music. Math.About.com has a list of tricks to help in memorizing the multiplication facts. I'll go see if I can find the link and post it for you. IMHO if she understands that 2 x 3 = 2 + 2 + 2, then it is just a matter of memorizing the multiplication facts. As an ex-PS math teacher I know that public schools do not have the students memorize them. Gretchen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzannah Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 We've had to revisit multiplication again lately. DS "knew" all of the tables, but they weren't automatic. So when I noticed him struggling with muliplying and dividing fractions, we eventually traced the problem back to just basic multiplication. Those answers really have to just pop out of their mouth or onto the paper before they realize it. That comes down to rote memorization. We've addressed the problem in a few different ways. First, lots and lots of written practice. We just did facts sheets from Saxon and DonnaYoung.org every day. Then we also played lots and lots of computer math games. These reinforce the *speed* aspect and give his hands a break from writing. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchel210 Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 my son 12 used timestales this year with his two sisters...5 and 7. They all know thier mult. for 6-9 now. Amazing. That has made math a lot easier. We are working on the lower numbers now...but that was a life saver. So fun too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willow Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 We have gone back to gamma with MUS (from TT pre-alg with ds 11) You don't need the manipulatives with an older child, but I splashed out for the workbooks. We don't use every page, but its there if we need to. however you can print out worksheets from the web-page, but these are just 'sums' the workbook presents the material in a number of ways. With MUS it is counter productive to move on until you master those facts. We spent a day (rather than the average of a week or so) per lesson for x2, x10 and x5. A week on x3 another week on x9 and we have been stuck in x6 for a fortnight now, not sure why this is not sticking, but is I think related to 'real life' which has been a bit erratic recently! There is also a MUS yahoo site full of people like us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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