trinchick Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 I am afterschooling DD8. She usually does really well in math, but yesterday she came home with a mental math paper that she had just bombed. She doesn't seem to be able to get past being able to figure it out with pen and paper. So I tried to explain about breaking the numbers into parts (e.g., 26+16 becomes 26+10+4+2) but she looked at me like I had three heads. I don't think I'm very good at explaining it (hence our aftershooling and not homeschooling). I asked how her teacher tried to explain it to them, and she said she didn't. I'd be very grateful for some help on a better way to explain this, demonstrate it, or SOMETHING. We have cuisinaire rods, Math Mammoth, and Youtube available to us. Thanks ever so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 EducationUnboxed.com :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking-Iris Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Why can't she just remember two 6's are a 12 and 2 and one plus one more is 4---46? Remembering doubles seems easier to me than breaking a 16 into a 10 and a 4 and 2. Doubles will be more helpful come multiplication time as well. Also if she's not proficient at figuring that out on paper yet, why ask her to do it mentally? IMO math is a developmental skill. Lots of practice on paper and working with hands on materials will get there. I'd just work on her learning her doubles and place value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trinchick Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 EducationUnboxed.com :) Thank you. I will check those out!! Why can't she just remember two 6's are a 12 and 2 and one plus one more is 4---46? Remembering doubles seems easier to me than breaking a 16 into a 10 and a 4 and 2. Doubles will be more helpful come multiplication time as well. Also if she's not proficient at figuring that out on paper yet, why ask her to do it mentally? Oh, she can figure it out on paper no problem. I meant to say, she can't then take the process off the paper and into her head. I guess your initial response has me wondering, though, if I'm approaching this incorrectly. Should I be teaching her to add the "ones" column mentally and then the tens - the same way she'd do it on paper. Or am I supposed to encourage her to break things down? Or is it a different process depending on each specific problem (e.g. 26+16 might be done your way, but 26+24 would be done the other way)? When I myself do mental math, I break things into round numbers. But maybe there's a better way to teach her? I'm not a mathy person, but I've certainly always been solid in math. The fact that I can't sort out the best way to help her is really bothering me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamato3 Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 I second educationunboxed.com. I watched some of the videos one night and had light bulbs going off in my head like fireworks! It was great and I am now excited to revisit some of the mental math stumbling blocks we encountered. We are also switching to MM from SM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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