My 8 year old is in Level C. We just finished Lesson 59 Review and Games 5. Sometimes I don't know when she should be allowed to use her abacus and when she is not. I need some clarification. It took her over an hour to do one of these reviews... verrrrry painful for me. I have taught her the different strategies for subtraction. Adding a couple numbers to make a ten. But even after she does that she has trouble subtracting 88-40 (for example). Once she's on her abacus, she has no trouble at all. So I'm trying to figure out if I should just let her keep using her abacus, even on reviews, until she is able to figure out her own strategy to subtract in her head? Right now she is stuck and frustrated. She does struggle with focus as well (all around), but usually math is easier for her than it has been in the last few weeks. I'd love some advice and maybe some help to know when abacus use is recommended and when it is not. Thank you so much.

(side note: She has no trouble at all playing harder difference war without her abacus.)

Hi, Sara.

Subtraction is a hard concept for many students. In fact, of my own four children, subtraction was quite difficult for three of them! Some days bringing more frustration from me that I care to admit! I feel your pain!!!!!

That being said, I have a couple of suggestions for you that might help your daughter break away from the AL Abacus to solve her subtraction equations.

First, be sure she knows her subtraction math facts. Sometimes, it is as simple as the child not fully knowing her subtraction math facts. If you suspect this is the case, there are a variety of subtraction fact games that you can play: Go to the Dump, Ten as the Minuend (and eight as the minuend, etc.), subtraction memory, and subtraction war. These are some of my family's favorites. :wink:

Next, help your daughter work through the steps in solving the equation, at first. For example, using the equation 47 - 9, start by writing the equation on the board. Then have her look at the equation and ask, 'What strategy would you use to solve this equation?' At first, she may not have any idea - that is OK. Then start guiding her by saying, 'Hmmm....see this '9'? That number is close to 10 which is really easy to subtract with right? Let's change that number temporarily.' Then write the equation, '47 - 10' Have her do that subtraction equation and write the solution on the board, '47 - 10 = 37'. Then say, 'But our original equation is not quite ten, is it? What do we need to do to our solution to make up for the difference? We need to add one more to the answer because we took away too many.' (The answer is 38 for the original equation). Then, follow up with a similar equation, such as '58 - 9' and do the same thing.

Notice, I gave step-by-step instructions on how to solve the equation. I asked her many questions. Your job at this point is to guide your daughter to know how to think through equations such as this. Eventually, your daughter will start solving these equations on her own by thinking through how to use the strategies. Until that time, though, teach your daughter how to think and how to solve the equations.

Another suggestion would be for you to allow your daughter to LOOK at the abacus, but NOT move the beads. One of my kids depended too heavily on the abacus. So, to start pulling him away from the abacus, I allowed him to only look at the abacus, but not touch it. This helped put the abacus in his mind. After a short while, he was solving the equations in his mind - I think by simply picturing the abacus in his mind.

Finally, there are a few games that you can play to help re-enforce this higher level of subtraction. You may even want to spend a few days simply playing these games until the strategies are more solidified in her mind. Some games are: S15 - Subtracting Nines, S27 - Subtracting a single number, S33 - Subtracting from one hundred, and S34 - Subtracting Two-Digit Numbers.

I hope that helps! If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to post them here or email RightStart Math directly at info@rightstartmath.com.

Have a great day!
Rachel