6 yo only wants to do mental math.

[In-Paradisum]

If I ask her 6+3 or 7+3, she'll think for a second or two then give me the answer. When I try to do manipulative based lessons with her she gets frustrated and doesnt want to do it. I think they overwhelm her because she can do it so much faster in her head or holding up fingers if she's stuck. I am not complaining about her math abilities, I am proud, but I just wonder how much I can relax from the visual aids at this point. I dont want her to miss anything crucial as far as number sense goes. But on the other hand it sounds like she has it down? 

 

Either way, I am considering moving away from The Good and The Beautiful math to Saxon Math because there is more wiggle room to not use the manipulatives. I can just let her do the drill worksheets. 

[maize]

Mental math is perfectly fine at that age.

I think Ray's arithmetic is meant to be done verbally? You might look into that.

[Ellie]

Not all children need manipulatives. Or visuals.

Perhaps she'd do better with a traditional arithmetic such as Rod and Staff Publishers'.

[catz]

If she doesn't need manipulatives at the math level she is at I think that is perfectly fine.  Maybe they'll be helpful later.  Or not.  My kids rarely wanted to use them.

[sweet2ndchance]

3 hours ago, In-Paradisum said:

I just wonder how much I can relax from the visual aids at this point. I dont want her to miss anything crucial as far as number sense goes. But on the other hand it sounds like she has it down? 

Manipulatives and visual aids do not equal number sense. Number sense is the ability to see how numbers fit together and how the make patterns. It does sound like she may have a great deal of number sense. One way to find out is to ask her to show you how she got her answer. Ask her to explain the thoughts in her head that got her to the answer. Once she is comfortable doing that, ask her if she knows of a different way to get to the answer. There is always more than one right way to arrive at the correct answer. Number sense involves using those different ways that numbers fit together and exploring the different ways to arrive at the correct answer.

Saxon, especially at level 3 and lower, actually do involve a great deal of manipulatives in the lessons and to buy it just for the workbook pages seems like a bit of a waste to me. If you want a workbook approach, Math Mammoth would be a better choice I think not to mention cheaper if all you want is a workbook. Plus, Math Mammoth uses very few manipulatives and they are usually completely optional (they might all be optional but I haven't seen all the books). 

[8filltheheart]

My kids have all hated manipulative bc they just don't need them. They understand w/o them and manipulative are therefore boring and drudgery.

Saxon falls into the same general category as torture for those same kids. Saoxn breaks concepts down into such small steps that it would drive them crazy. They grasp concepts more quickly and are ready to move on. There is no problem with that.

For elementary level math they used Horizons.

 

[Jackie]

My kid loved manipulatives until she hated them. They are a tool, and once she could do the math easier and faster without the tool, she did it that way. We moved from RightStart to Beast Academy at that time.

[Mommyof1]

My DD6 will do it in her head or fingers also, she doesnt use manipulatives often.

We used Horizon K for Kindy but changed to Beast Academy because she needs more in depth type of program. We are also mixing in Ray's Arithmetic 2 book this year to do just orally. She can write fine but likes to play with numbers in her head.

If she doesn't need the manipulatives and can easily do the problems just forget about them and find a program that works for her.

[HomeAgain]

I like manipulatives.  My youngest didn't.  It took needing to use them for him to want to use them, if that makes sense.  Like, one of his activities this week was "how many different combinations can you make with these 3 numbers and get the same answer?"  Sorting them out made sense to do with blocks.
If she can add/subtract well, you don't need the blocks to be a part of the problem.  If there is some hesitation, I'd make it a habit to set out the blocks in numerical order so she can have a mental hint to visualize the work.