Math Woes

[momtolgd]

After many tears and lots of frustration with Horizons, I decided to switch to MUS and go through Alpha and hopefully make math less daunting for my 8yo ds. We are only about 7 lessons into Alpha right now.

 

Friday we sat down and looked at a few topics back in the Horizons book (for my own curiosity) and he totally understands the concepts of everything. For example, we talked about how multiplication works, and he just gets it. After talking with him, his frustration with math is not because he doesn't understand it, but because he hasn't mastered his math facts well enough to do the problems quick enough (he's frustrated by how long it is taking him to do them.)

 

So we really need to work on the math facts. Should we continue with MUS? Should we use MUS as a supplement to Horizons until he gets the facts down and then just use Horizons? Should we just just go back to Horizons and add facts drilling some way (and if so, what method works best?) How can I stop this from happening to our 6yo dd now before she gets frustrated like he did?

 

I had mixed feelings on drilling math facts, but now I think that is what we need to do. What would you do in this situation?

 

If you made it this far, thanks for reading and I really appreciate any thoughts! :001_smile:

Edited March 29, 2009 by momtolgd

[~Jenn~]

MUS is a great program too! They don't allow you to progress until you've mastered your facts. Some old fashioned drill work may do a world of wonders as well.

 

I know math drill work is boring for kids..but IMHO it's just one of those things that they need to do.:)

[MIch elle]

for YEARS will work.

 

I still have my 12yob do multiplication and division flashcards everyday (divide the pack into 5 sections & do M-Fri.) because he's slow to remember.

[Tess in the Burbs]

Oh I get your post.

 

Except we did MUS Alpha and moved to Horizons last year when I felt my ds wasn't mastering his facts and he cried daily about math. We switched and he was happier and sure enough he knew the concepts in Horizons just fine. All the facts too!

 

My dd is doing the Horizons 1 this year and we are struggling with facts again. We are half way through. We are stopping Horizons for now and going to play more math games and watch some Mathtacular videos, and play with Miquon some.

 

I have done two kids back to back in this math fact thing and have come to the conclusion that it takes time, it takes variety(meaning if I had to do it again I would use two programs to spread the time out that they have to learn the facts), and it takes patience :-)

 

I am not pushing my dd in her facts. She has memorized them all 5 times, but every time she slowly forgot them and we would relearn. We are taking a break...I know it's in her head. She needs to let her brain organize them so she can get them faster in the future.

 

And it's only taken me two years to figure this out. Do you need to switch again? Nope. I think if you have both programs use them both. alternate and play with the blocks alot. use the blocks for the Horizons problems. I seriously thought about buying the Alpha materials for my dd, but decided to go with Miquon so both kids can see things from a new perspective. Will know more this summer as we move through it.

 

But don't get discouraged. You aren't alone in your switching, or your confusion on where to go. Combine and be patient. It comes. My son knows his facts fine now. Poor guy did Alpha and H-1 last year!!! It just clicked one day. So be patient and play math games :-)

[i.love.lucy]

We're using Singapore and frustrated with the math facts issue too. My dd gets so bored and frustrated with drill, drill, drill, and it's not helping her memorize. I was clicking around - ya know how that goes - and stumbled on Paula's Archives, which I'm sure you all know about (but I'm new to all this!). Anyways, there was a link to Michelle's Math and those tips for learning math facts look pretty cool. Making connections with the patterns. I'm going to take some of those tips and try them out this week to see if it helps.

[PeterPan]

The funny thing about math facts is that some kids really need the drill, and some kids don't. So you can't take your own experience with math in school and extrapolate it to how your dc will learn, as they may be the total opposite. Give him a math table, do Flashmaster, do your MUS, whatever you want. Just keep going at it lots of ways, and over time it will come. For the programs, pick one of them as the main thing and do the other as in-betweens when you need to tread water. You can't plow in two directions at once and get anywhere fast.

[Rosie_0801]

Math on the Level sell "9 down" e-books for working on the maths facts. They're sold separately to the main program. I don't know what they're like, since I've never seen them, but thought I'd toss the idea out there in case they're what you're looking for.

 

:)

Rosie

[momtolgd]

Thank you all for your thoughts. Sometimes you just need to hear some other opinions...that's why I really like these boards!

[lapsetmom]

Rosie mentioned the Math on the Level 9's down books. I HIGHLY recommend them for drilling math facts. They are working so well for my children. They review the harder facts first and work their way down therefore giving more review time to the more difficult to remember facts.