MY KIDS DONT KNOW MATH- HELP!

Active Poster Joined: Sep 13 2011 Posts: 26

Ur kids problem reminds me of myself. I literally feel I have a blockage in my head with anything related to numbers. I was a 90+ student in all areas except math- where I was barely getting through. I vividly recall how in first gradei was peeking at my neighbors assignement sheet and was amazed that she actually completed it. I was a total blank!I got the basics, but I still can't do math in my head quickly. It takes me much more time than anyone else. The ironic part is is that I married a math whiz that is aving a very hard time with spelling and grammar- to an extreme. We sort of equal each other out. in any case, its wotrth the effort but don't get emotionally worked up abt it. They really can't help themselves. Good luck!

Executive Member Joined: Jan 30 2008 Posts: 259

why multiplication? that sounds hard for even a third grader.

teach them the way my father taught me, using monkeys and apples and all kinds of funny imaginary objects.

like this:
if 3 monkeys are playing in a tree and 2 fall down, how many monkeys are left in the tree?
or
if moishy has 5 candies and yossi gives him 2 more, how many candies does he have now?

and make it funny to keep them interested:
one monkey can hold 3 apples on his head and the other monkey can hold only 2 apples on his head, how many apples can they both hold at the same time before they all fall down and turn into applesauce?

using objects they can visualize helps them "see" the objects in their head and learn to count them in their head.
if they have trouble visualizing, get out the cholent beans and arrange the beans into your math problems, and let them see the beans and see the answer.
_________________
It's wise to proceed with caution, but not so cautious that you don't proceed at all.

Active Poster Joined: Jun 06 2004 Posts: 92

One simple answer and life saver www.khanacademy.com

op here: thanks for all the good practical ideas!
my kids like board games, are there any math games to buy them?

Platinum Member Joined: Oct 14 2009 Posts: 6019

I don't have any board games that were real hits, but you can basically take any board with a path and a spinner/die, a deck of math flash cards, and the "game" is that in order to move you have to answer a math problem.

There are a lot of nice computer/iphone/ipad games that kids find very motivating, they're fast paced, I don't know if you go for that but it's an option. Math Blaster, Timez Attack, for starters.