Sarah,

Thank you for your message. First of all let me sincerely apologize for the delay in responding. Your message came the day I started maternity leave and we had a shuffle in responsibilities, not to mention the excitement of a baby! :) Honestly we are truly sorry for the delay and hope we can answer all of your questions.

Have no fear, the answers will come. As far as taking the abacus away...I wouldn't do that, if she still needs it, go ahead and let her use it. She will put it down when the time is right. She may need to just look at the abacus to do problems while she is visualizing them in her head. Trust me her dependance on the abacus will pass before you know it! :)

As far as the practice problems go, if you feel that she needs more and would be receptive to more go ahead and add them in. The last thing we want to do is stress her out and smother her with more problems if she is not receptive to them.

Now another stress reliever when there seems to be pressure on both of you, is to take some time to play a card game. Her Level A book has some games integrated into the lessons or I can also give you some information on other games that would work well for her. We also recommend playing the games at other "non-school" times, and with friends or other family members.

Please believe me when I say that things will come together for her and she will be sailing along in no time! Once again I apologize for the delay in responding. Please let me know what else we can help with.

Make it a great day!

Cassie
Activities for Learning-RightStart™ Mathematics
Cassie@ALabacus.com
www.ALabacus.com

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