Teaching Math
I was always good at math and it was my favorite subject. My husband is a mathematician. Surely, I thought, I will be good at teaching math to my kids. When my oldest was ready to start learning math I realized, very quickly, that I could not teach it at all, as my oldest was not grasping it. I researched curricula and found the Math-U-See program which solved my problem completely. All my kids learned well with it despite very different learning styles because it is fully multi-sensory. Even better, it required very little effort from me as my kids would watch the video, then do the work, and only come to me if they did not understand something.
This was all fine until a younger sibling wanted to start “school” like his siblings while still very young. This is when I discovered Ray’s Arithmetic. These adorable books were best sellers in the era of one room schoolhouses. Back then paper was expensive and even little chalk boards were in short supply. For the first few years the students learned using manipulatives and mental math. My very hyper daughter would bounce around the room while I read story problems and she did them in her head. I used the more advanced problems to supplement Math-U-See for my older kids and build speed, while I used the very first book to lay down a good foundation with my littlest.
As I am old fashioned and a big fan of drilling a skill until it is very easy before moving on, I also had my kids do math drills using a deck of cards with the face cards removed as a random number generator. I would set a timer for just 5 minutes. The first level was laying two cards side by side and having them add them, I would next place one new card on top of one of the existing cards and they would add those two. We continued until either the deck was finished or 5 minutes was up, whichever came first. With reluctant kids I have tutored, once they realize I really will stop after 5 minutes, they apply themselves harder. When they get too fast, I add difficulty. Just 5 minutes a day will do wonders, in fact even if life interferes and it is fewer days, this exercise will make a big difference. The next level is 3 cards across, then after that, I have them add the whole deck, one at a time, continuously in their heads up through 100. When that is too easy, after 100, we subtract one at a time. I use the cards to drill multiplication as well. The cards make it feel more like a game. If siblings are close in ability and enjoy it, they can race.
In our modern world of calculators and computers this may seem silly, but being able to do mental math easily frees up the mind for higher order thinking and will add speed in standardized tests. Some teachers in universities do not allow calculators and some standardized tests do not either. If the student is not proficient, this can be a shock. Deep intuition is also developed so the student will go back and redo a problem that doesn’t look right.
The timer is also a wonderful tool for all kinds of school work as kids focus harder when there is an end in sight. It helps me as well. If there is something I don’t want to do, I set a timer and do 10 to 15 minutes at a time. Usually I discover that the task required far less time than I anticipated.
You can buy Ray’s Arithmetic at Mott Media. I only like the first three levels. https://www.mottmedia.com/
Both of these can be bought once and used for all your children and passed on. My kids did not write in their Math-U-See workbooks so their siblings could use them and I did not have to purchase for each child. This is extremely economical.
