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Level B Struggles

I have a young 1st grader, she'll be 7 in August. We are on lesson 76 in Level B, she completed Level A last year. She is seriously struggling with mental addition of larger numbers (ie. 28+37, 64+56). She can easily add it on the Abacus and get the correct answers, but can NOT mentally add when you have to 'carry'. She knows her facts to 15 very well and can orally give you answers very quickly when asked. Do we stop, review, slow down, go back.... or just keep going, even though she can't do the addition mentally? Suggestions? I didn't want to just keep moving ahead if it was going to cause more issues later on.

Re: Level B Struggles

Hi, Evie.

Many kids struggle with mental math. Of my four kids, one struggled significantly, and two others struggled somewhat.

As long as your daughter knows her addition facts, I would not hold her back from moving on. However, there are a few things that you can do to help her develop the mental math skills - which will come!

First of all, you may find that writing the equation on a white board or on a sheet of paper will help your daughter to focus. A couple of my kids couldn't balance remembering the equation and also manipulating the numbers to get the answer. By me writing the equation down for them, they were able to get to the answer.

If your daughter struggles in remembering the processes/strategies to help her get to the answer, start walking her through it. For example, if you have the equation 28 + 37, as her what the first step should be (28 + 30). If she can't remember that, give her a hint by saying something like, 'wow there are a lot of numbers there. How about we get rid of one temporarily to make it a little easier.' Then direct her to drop one of the 'one place value' numbers: 28 + 30. As her how much those two numbers are: 58. Then say, 'What comes next?' (bring back the number that she dropped, '7'). You may even need to ask her what her new equation is. If she doesn't know, feel free to write it on the white board: 58 + 7. Then ask her what the answer is (65). Sometimes when the process is broken down, it reduces the pressure of just getting to the answer.

As she continues to grow in her ability to process how to do mental math, you will not need to give her as many prompts. In fact, as you see her grow, start pulling away on some of the helpful hints and maybe even try to not write easier equations on the board to stretch her a little.

Mental math is one of those things that take some kids longer than others to be able to do. That's OK. The beauty of homeschooling is to help your child learn at their own speed. Your daughter will get it! In the meantime, enjoy continuing to work through the curriculum!

If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to post them here on the forum or email RightStart Math directly at info@rightstartmath.com.

Have a fantastic day!
Rachel