how do you teach mental math....

[ProudGrandma]

to a kid who simply can't see it in her head? Is this a hill to die on...or if we just skip these lessons will it be ok? She struggles with math confidence the way it is...and this just simply doesn't help. I remember struggling with the same thing as a kid...and now, as an adult, I can do it...but then...I just couldn't figure it out. What should I do?

[Jyniffrec]

I allow my kids to use manipulatives until they slow them down. That is when they are transitioning to mental math (this is the case with our family). My 9 year old dd still will occasionally pull out Cuisenaire rods for a little help. My 12 year old no longer needs them at all. I just go with what they seem to need no matter what age they happen to be. This attitude has been helpful since I adopted it because my kids tend to learn more slowly than many other kids.

[angelmama1209]

check out the mental math games at educationunboxed.com

[lllll]

..

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

Manipulatives and wall posters and School House Rock.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I wouldn't give up - I am so glad to be teaching my 2nd grader these skills now.  My older dd came home from ps in 4th grade, and had to struggle for the first couple of months to learn mental math and number sense.  She's fine now, but I think it's worth it to teach this way from the beginning.

 

But, I also wouldn't make it a "hill to die on."  I find that the more stressed and anxious my kids, especially my younger, are, the less they are able to learn.  Dd7 was struggling to get "minutes past" vs. "minutes till" this year, so I just dropped it for now - we'll revisit it in a couple of months.  

 

So, if I were you I'd be putting a really strong emphasis on number sense.  How do you put numbers together? How can you take them apart? What are all the different ways you can make the same number?  You've gotten good resource suggestions above - Kitchen Table Math is a great resource for you on how to teach this, and the Education Unboxed videos show how to do it using c-rods.  My dd didn't like using c-rods, so I didn't make *that* a hill to die on - we just talk about it and used the abacus and white board.

 

I don't know how old your child is or what math program you are using.  I love how MM teaches mental math, so my ideas mostly come from my experience with MM.  If she's already adding multi digit numbers, make sure and emphasize "helping problems" and make sure that she really, really understands place value.  I think really getting place value is the key to all mental math.  If she doesn't thoroughly understand it, I'd really focus on that for awhile.

 

But I'd also try and keep it light, try different things if she gets stuck, play games, try not to feel anxious or let her see it if you do.  Keep at it, but do other things too.  Maybe a 10-minute "mental math" session every day separate from her regular math time?  

 

Mental math may not seem so important by itself, but I think being able to do it reflects a strong number sense, and I think that is crucial to moving on in math.

[Wind-in-my-hair]

I would suggest you try creating your own mental math problems. Use familiar things, things the child can EASILY picture in her head. Actual toys that she has. You can make up little stories about them, since drama may spark imagination/ visualization. She may be going through a shift where she needs familiar, easy-to-recall items (her brain might be trying so hard to "see" the problem that she cannot focus on the mathematical operations it contains). Also, try Peggy Kaye's Games for Math. Among lots of activities there is a game where you place objects in your hand, say, 4 paperclips, and allow your child 30 seconds or so to take note of the objects and their arrangement. Your child turns while you change the arrangement or number of objects. Your child looks again and has to explain what changed. This can help a child learn to take in numbers and situations visually, and to contemplate the changes in his or her imagination. To make this more challenging, you might change the arrangement, number, or KIND of object. To make it easier start by just changing the number or order, until they get confident in using their visual memory to describe the changes and solve the problem.

 

Also be aware that imaginative abilities develop at different ages in different children. There is a shift around age 7-8, when they can "play in their head" instead of always needing to have action and sensory input to prop up their play. My child, age 5.5, still needs me to make the voices of his toys for him when we play. He can't "hear talk" in his imagination yet, at least not to the extent that he can enjoy the full-blown drama he wants to enact.

 

I usually present math problems verbally in the form of something he knows or has read about: worms-- what if a family of five worms were wiggling in the ground and a bird came along and ate four of them? Use whatever your child likes.