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Post a message or simply read what others have written and answered. Rachel, a RightStart™ Math user and one of our customer care people, will be monitoring this forum. She will respond to your questions as needed.

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Needs more practice?

My daughter is almost 8 and is just starting level D (she has completed levels A,B, and C). I am pleased with her math progressin general, but I just wanted to ask about how much I should be concerned with her speed with basic facts. We did Lesson 6 and she completed the addition worksheet in 14 minutes - where Dr. Cotter suggests a good time is 5 minutes. We did all the practice sheets last year in Level C (some of them several times)and she consistently takes about 3 times longer than what is stated as a "good" time. Her accuracy is good, though, and she definitely understands the concepts.

So I was wondering how much should I worry about this? Should I give her more practice sheets? At the moment I'm not giving her any since they aren't in Level D. We do do math games, but with 2 other children (in Rightstart A & B) plus all our other commitments, we probably only play a game at her level every other week - and I'm really not sure I can manage any more. I have a Flashmaster, but I've never used it with her - and wonder if that might be good for extra practice?

Re: Needs more practice?

Hi!

Dr. Cotter has told me before that if a student can answer each math fact within 2 seconds, that he/she is fast enough. However, if it is taking longer, you should consider extra practice.

For one of my sons who struggled, we focused on a different math fact each day of the week. We really didn't work on the easier ones, like '1', '2' and '5'. So, for example, on Monday, we played the Math Card Game 'Multiplication Memory' (in the Math Card Games Manual it is P10)for the math fact of '3's. On Tuesday, we played it for the '4's, etc. After just a couple of weeks, we saw an improvement with his speed. He will always be slow as he has dyslexia with a memory deficiency. Even so, practice through the games was much less 'painful' than practicing with Flash Cards and Worksheets. :-)

By the way, I have 4 kids so I truly understand the time issue you have. So, I allow my older kids to play the Math Card Games with the younger kids. This allows the older kids to review their facts and I don't have to be involved!!!! :-)

I hope that helps!
Have fun playing a Math Card Game!
Rachel