Help me figure out 3rd grade math when I thought I already had!

[zarabellesmom]

Ugh. My daughter is a young 3rd grader. She'll be 8 on August 25th. Last year we started the year with Math in Focus (we used it in first grade too) and at the end of 2nd grade we had moved into Beast Academy. We are currently on the multiplication chapter of Beast Academy. I know, from going through Beast Academy with my oldest, that once you finish that chapter, you end up using multiplication to solve problems quite frequently.  The problem I'm having is this:  she has a terrible, absolutely terrible memory even though she is quite smart. She picks up on things really quickly but promptly forgets them if we don't review frequently. I've taught money so many times and even though she can learn the names of the coins and how much they are worth and count out money and add and subtract money...well, if we don't talk about it for a couple of weeks, it's as if we never covered money at all. This doesn't just happen with money (she took a long time to learn the alphabet and letter sounds too). We've been drilling the number of sides on each kind of polygon for forever!!! It's making me crazy, absolutely bonkers. So, it's going to take awhile to learn these multiplication facts, and I don't want to just hang out and do daily drill for two reasons...It will be dull and she'll forget everything else she knows.

 

I have Math in Focus 3A, but the material covered in that book is too easy for her and she's complaining about boredom. It doesn't cover the things she's having trouble with (likely they are covered in 3B, which I don't have). I have Beast Academy through 5B but don't really feel like I can go anywhere with it at this moment. At the end of last term, our daily math consisted of math fact practice (Reflex Math), a page from a Math Mammoth review workbook, and a couple of problems in Beast Academy. I don't know where to go now. I don't want to spend a fortune because I do intend to go forward with Beast (I hope, since I already own all of it), but we need SOMETHING to do. It seems like it needs to be spiral (is that the right word for coming back to topics frequently and building on them) and I would like it to be conceptual. Also, secular. She would love it to be hands on. Does such a creature exist?

 

Ripping my hair out here!

 

(And to add to my frustration, I had to order a second copy of Apples and Pears workbook A because she has trouble spelling and was having a difficult time at the end of the year so I put it away hoping that the summer would allow her to age a bit and she'd be ready to tackle it when we started this term. Anyway, she's gone back so far in skills that I would need to erase half the workbook to get us where we need to be.)

Edited August 5, 2016 by ZaraBellesMom

[HomeAgain]

Try year 2 of MEP.  It's free, we make our own manipulatives to go with it, it's spiral, and secular.  AOPS recommends it before starting BA 3 (their other choice was Singapore).

 

http://www.cimt.org.uk/projects/mepres/primary/index.htm

[silver]

My son did not have the multiplication facts memorized when he had finished that chapter in BA. I let him move on, but provided him with a multiplication table to use if he had a lot of problems that required doing multiplication where the focus was not on learning the facts. So when he covered long division, I let him use the table. But when he was doing the facts practice/drill in the multiplication chapter, I expected him to do it without a table.

 

 

ETA: I did teach him tricks to derive the facts so that he wasn't having to skip count all the time. For example 5x7 is half of 10x7, for 4x8 you double 8 and then double it again. 

Edited August 5, 2016 by silver

[ikslo]

My DS was having the same issue with multiplication and Beast Academy. So I let him use our Monkey Multiplier as we continued on in BA. He got the concepts, but needed help with the quick recall of the facts to avoid being bogged down with the problems. After a while, he didn't need the help so much anymore.

Money - he's the same, seemed to always forget what he learned. Eventually it clicked by the end of last year/3rd grade. Maybe she just needs more time.

 

But I still supplement with the MiF workbooks when he needs extra practice. We started there as well.

[OneStepAtATime]

Work on math facts separately, maybe 3-4 days a week and in short sessions, and let her create a math chart to refer to for BA.  Don't bog her down because she is struggling with math facts.  Those may take a significant amount of time to get down.  FWIW, my husband is a very successful engineer and he STILL doesn't have his math facts down.  What he does have is a strong grasp of mathematical concepts.  Much more useful for him in his job since he can use a calculator for the math facts.  If he didn't understand the concepts he wouldn't know when or what calculations he needed in the first place, KWIM?

 

:grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug: I know this is frustrating.  Might she do better using a mastery based program alongside a spiral program?  Perhaps do Beast Academy but pair it with CLE.  Lots of review built in, you can cross out some of the problems so there aren't so many, and it would help keep the info fresh for your daughter while she does the mastery portion through Beast.  CLE has a wonderful math reference chart that they have kids use even through 5th grade while the students work on math fact practice separately.  The math fact practice is built in to the system and very easy to implement.  Very short sessions each day of no more than 5-6 minutes usually.  It would take the pressure off of you to keep reviewing while using a strongly mastery based system.

 

As for the constant struggles for her to recall things after disuse, eventually you might consider evaluations through a neuropsychologist to see if something is going on that can be worked on to improve her issues.

[frugalmamatx]

I'd do as others said - BA with a chart. Maybe add in daily drill with something like xtramath.org to work on those basic skills. 

[Jackie]

In order to have more practice on math basics and keep concepts a little fresher, I have DD do one worksheet a day from the Kumon 3rd grade math workbooks.

 

Another option would be to use the Math Mammoth blue series (not light blue) on the topics you especially want to reinforce. You could either break from BA completely while reinforcing with MM, or alternate between BA and MM.

[happynurse]

FWIW, my husband is a very successful engineer and he STILL doesn't have his math facts down.  What he does have is a strong grasp of mathematical concepts.  Much more useful for him in his job since he can use a calculator for the math facts.  

 

I'm a registered nurse and I am exactly this way. I still struggle with automatic recollection of math facts....particularly multiplication. For me, once I was supposed to "have them down" in public school, they moved on and I never got them fully memorized.

 

That being said, I agree that you should continue to let her move forward in BA if that is working for her, while reinforcing her math facts. Wish that's how it would've been done for me. I, too, have a terrible memory unless it's something I'm very much interested in. Good luck!

Edited August 6, 2016 by happynurse

[zarabellesmom]

Thanks everyone. I guess we will chug along with Beast Academy. Her older sister can pass on her laminated multiplication chart since she finally has hers down. I guess the two aren't very different in that respect. It took my oldest until just before summer this past year to be fluent. Memory is such a weird thing though. My youngest memorized her addition and subtraction facts with no trouble at all and is an ace at mental math with just those two operations. I don't understand my kids brains at all. (And as to the Neuro psych, we went that route for my oldest and learned a lot. I'll keep that idea in my back pocket, but wow is it expensive!!!)

 

And thank you for the suggestions for MEP and CLE. I've looked at MEP before but had forgotten about it. I might print out some of it and let her see what she thinks.