.... Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 I would like to teach (*ahem* learn with my kids) the Soroban Abacus. Has anyone done this? Do you have any book recommendations? Also, I haven't bought the abacus, yet. Anything I need to look for when I buy it? Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 You might post this on the Learning Challenges board if you don't get many responses. There are several parents who are using the Soroban with their NT and non-NT kids and some post over there. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 We have bought a couple of ours from Tomoe Soroban: http://www.soroban.com/english/shopping/ There are quite a few good resources to starting out. This website (run by a lovely lady who teaches her own young kids!) has many of them organized. I personally have the books she lists, including the Math Abacus materials. They are probably your best bet for at-home books to teach. Bonus, they are available for download. If at all possible, I would suggest you go to a physical school to at least watch a class. They will also have student soroban for sale if you would rather save on shipping. In my experience, there just isn't a substitute:( In our case, we live so far away that we worked out a deal- we go down about once per month and all other work is done at home/submitted via their software. This has been a good fit for us, especially since I am learning as well:) http://figur8.net/baby/2010/10/23/soroban-getting-started/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammish Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 About a year ago I made a Soroban abacus and bought this book for my son. For whatever reason, he was completely uninterested, so I put it away on the shelf. Last week we talked about the invention of the abacus, and how they're used, by reading a section in the Childcraft Mathemagic book. For a demonstration, I looked up some YouTube videos of kids doing amazingly fast calculations using the abacus. DS was enthralled! He thought that looked like a really cool thing to learn. I quickly realized my homemade abacus wouldn't do, so I bought this one off of Amazon. The book is okay. It's aimed at kids just learning math, so there's lots of practice counting and writing numbers, which my 7 year old doesn't need. So we were able to go through 41 pages in the first day, which covered the numbers 1-9, and adding up numbers with sums less than 5. (There are 109 pages in the book, and it covers numbers up to 100, addition with sums up to 18, and subtraction within the range of 18.) Despite the basic nature of the book, there are a few things I quite like: it has practice visualizing the abacus and doing sums with just an imagined abacus, right from the beginning. (This is one of the neat things about advanced users of the abacus, IMO- they can do calculations with huge numbers in their heads, by picturing the process on an imaginary abacus.) It also teaches the proper finger technique for moving the beads. One thing I was less than impressed with was it's explanation of the "why" behind the method for adding. For instance, when you're adding 2 + 4, it tells you that "1 is the little friend of 4," so to add 4 when you don't have enough beads, you move the heaven (top bead that's worth 5) up (which is really down), and then move 1 bead down. It took me a little bit of looking at this to figure out that what they were doing was adding 5 and subtracting 1, which is the same as adding 4. (Clear as mud? Sorry, this is hard to explain without a visual!) This was never explained, the kids are just supposed to take on faith that "4 is the little friend of 1", and so this is the method you use to add when there aren't enough beads. But I don't want to just memorize algorithms, I want to know why! Also, some of the English in the book is a little interesting, but nothing too awful. Overall, I'm glad we have this book. It's serving as a nice introduction to the Soroban abacus, but it's not fantastic, so I'm interested to hear if anyone else has a suggestion for something better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 I have this app that my son and I have both used: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lookkidsw.KnowAbacus We've only done addition and subtraction on it, but for that it does a good job of incrementally teaching how to use a soroban. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted November 20, 2014 Author Share Posted November 20, 2014 We have bought a couple of ours from Tomoe Soroban: http://www.soroban.com/english/shopping/ I looked at their website and I can't figure out if they ship to the US! Their stuff does look like very good quality. I looked specifically at the beginner's abacus with the white case. The prices are listed in yen, but it seemed like it was about 25 bucks when I tried to figure out the exchange rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted November 20, 2014 Author Share Posted November 20, 2014 I quickly realized my homemade abacus wouldn't do, so I bought this one off of Amazon. I have this in my Amazon shopping cart. How do you like that abacus? Most of the reviews were pretty good, but one review said their beads wouldn't stay put or something... Does your work OK? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted November 20, 2014 Author Share Posted November 20, 2014 http://figur8.net/baby/2010/10/23/soroban-getting-started/ That's a great link! Thank-you for posting that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammish Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 I have this in my Amazon shopping cart. How do you like that abacus? Most of the reviews were pretty good, but one review said their beads wouldn't stay put or something... Does your work OK? It works okay. It has be laying down to use it (I've seen videos where people use an abacus upright and the beads stay where they put them, either up or down - this one doesn't do that). And if you jostle it, the beads will move. But that also means it's easy to move the beads to do calculations, and quick and easy to reset. My big problem with my homemade abacus was that the beads were too stiff, and didn't slide easily, so I actually prefer this. I imagine there's a happy medium out there where the beads slide easily but also stay put, but I also guess that it's significantly more expensive! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 I looked at their website and I can't figure out if they ship to the US! Their stuff does look like very good quality. I looked specifically at the beginner's abacus with the white case. The prices are listed in yen, but it seemed like it was about 25 bucks when I tried to figure out the exchange rate. They do! As I mentioned, we have now bought from them a couple of times. I even have the demonstration abacus. They are high quality. Honestly, if you are serious I would make the investment. I have bought a couple of random ones in the US and many of them are more for play or show. I am sure there are great ones somewhere in the US...I just have been burned a couple of times, and am going off the experience/advice of our Soroban instructor. When you get to the checkout page on Tomoe's page there is a conversion tool to show exactly what you are paying:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 If you want to use the Know Abacus app from the Google Play store and have a kindle, here's an article on how to "side load" it. http://www.lovemyfire.com/google-play-apps-on-kindle-fire-exclusive.html It worked for me and the app works without wifi. Snazzy! The app is also available for free on iTunes. It's just not in the amazon appstore, so if you want to run it on a kindle tablet you have to sideload. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 Kerileanne, have you seen this curriculum? Abacus Mind Math Level 1 Workbook 1: (of 2) Excel at Mind Math with Soroban, a Japanese Abacus Does it remotely look like the kind of at home work you've done? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 Kerileanne, have you seen this curriculum? Abacus Mind Math Level 1 Workbook 1: (of 2) Excel at Mind Math with Soroban, a Japanese Abacus Does it remotely look like the kind of at home work you've done? I actually have level 1 and 2 of these books, and funnily enough they are almost identical to a set that a friend sent me from overseas. I think these have been translated for US audiences. They are very similar to 2-3 different sets of material we have used. All of them start at the same very beginning with getting to know your abacus, finger positioning, and how to enter individual numbers before moving into 'big friends' and 'little friends.' Next comes addition and subtraction. The only difference I have really found within basic materials is that some tend to use only thumb and index finger whilst some advocate use of the middle finger as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 We got an inexpensive one from Amazon. (Might be this one.) I like it for addition and subtraction, not so much for multiplication and division (at which point it seems harder than using pencil and paper). You start with knowing how to count and how to compose 5s and 10s (little friends and big friends). There are a couple of YouTube videos you could watch to see how to use it. It can work fine with whatever math book you're using; a book specifically for the sorban might not be needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 I actually have level 1 and 2 of these books, and funnily enough they are almost identical to a set that a friend sent me from overseas. I think these have been translated for US audiences. They are very similar to 2-3 different sets of material we have used. All of them start at the same very beginning with getting to know your abacus, finger positioning, and how to enter individual numbers before moving into 'big friends' and 'little friends.' Next comes addition and subtraction. The only difference I have really found within basic materials is that some tend to use only thumb and index finger whilst some advocate use of the middle finger as well. Ooo thanks! Glad to know I'm on the right track! They seemed to be the most practical of the things I found online. Any other tips? There aren't any soroban schools that I can find ANY distance from where we live, so this will be totally on our own. It seems like they need an amount of drill each day to build proficiency. Any tips on that? I didn't know about the middle finger thing. One place I saw had them holding a pencil to make sure they have only the thumb and pointer available. That would probably be good for my ds, who can be rather inventive on directions, efficiency, etc., lol. I will pick one way to teach him, tell him the rule, and stick to it. Is 2 fingers ok or is the 3rd necessary sometimes? What is your preferred student soroban? One place I looked at showed a black frame with white beads (it was a soroban school and those were the student versions) and Tome doesn't show them. Is the big teacher soroban really useful? I was thinking I should maybe get one for myself and one for him. Someone suggested starting with a pacchi. Have you used it? He has dyslexia and maybe a math disability. He also has some fine motor issues. So I thought if I ordered him a Pacchi to start with (right now we're doing finger soroban counting and simple addition/subtraction with the fingers) and go Pacchi then a student for him. Then I'd just need one for me, maybe one a fuzz bigger. Any you particularly like for that? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 Ooo thanks! Glad to know I'm on the right track! They seemed to be the most practical of the things I found online. Any other tips? There aren't any soroban schools that I can find ANY distance from where we live, so this will be totally on our own. It seems like they need an amount of drill each day to build proficiency. Any tips on that? I didn't know about the middle finger thing. One place I saw had them holding a pencil to make sure they have only the thumb and pointer available. That would probably be good for my ds, who can be rather inventive on directions, efficiency, etc., lol. I will pick one way to teach him, tell him the rule, and stick to it. Is 2 fingers ok or is the 3rd necessary sometimes? What is your preferred student soroban? One place I looked at showed a black frame with white beads (it was a soroban school and those were the student versions) and Tome doesn't show them. Is the big teacher soroban really useful? I was thinking I should maybe get one for myself and one for him. Someone suggested starting with a pacchi. Have you used it? He has dyslexia and maybe a math disability. He also has some fine motor issues. So I thought if I ordered him a Pacchi to start with (right now we're doing finger soroban counting and simple addition/subtraction with the fingers) and go Pacchi then a student for him. Then I'd just need one for me, maybe one a fuzz bigger. Any you particularly like for that? :) I will come back later with some links to ours. Dd was diagnosed with the flu yesterday and she has just woken up miserable:( We do 2 fingers. Our school was very adamant on this and it is what Alex sees demonstrated. I have read quite a bit about it and honestly I think it comes down to preference. We did not do the simple Pacchi. They are tiny for one thing. When dd began she was 3? But also, I was advised by 2 different schools not to...the students are almost immediately learning to visualize the Soroban in their head with the goal of not needing the physical abacus. You want them visualizing an abacus where they are not limited to 3 digit numbers:) I loved our demo teachers model based on Alex's age, and the fact that the beads stay in place when the Soroban is upright. I do not think it is necessary for older kids, and they are pricy. Like $300 pricy:) Okay...I will get back to you on our sorobans. BTW, I have one of the black and white ones laying around...I think they are common because they are very cheap. Maybe I can take a picture with a few of ours laid out side by side if that is useful to you? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 Cool, yes! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy4Abacus Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 I actually have level 1 and 2 of these books, and funnily enough they are almost identical to a set that a friend sent me from overseas. I think these have been translated for US audiences. They are very similar to 2-3 different sets of material we have used. All of them start at the same very beginning with getting to know your abacus, finger positioning, and how to enter individual numbers before moving into 'big friends' and 'little friends.' Next comes addition and subtraction. The only difference I have really found within basic materials is that some tend to use only thumb and index finger whilst some advocate use of the middle finger as well. Hello Kerileanne99, Abacus Mind Math books are published by SAI Speed Math Academy in the USA. We do not have any branch or sister concern outside of the USA. There are many who are producing books copying our books. It would be of great help if you could let us know the title, ISBN, company and publisher name on the book you received from your friend. Our books are copyrighted and we have not given permission to anyone to replicate/copy or use our material in any other form or bound. We could be reached through our website www.abacus-math.com Thank you very much for you help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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