How to Help My 8 Year Old with Math

Math was a huge struggle for me and also for my daughter. Once she memorizes her times tables things will get easier for her. Multiplication is a new concept to her this year in 3rd grade. She should not be expected to know it overnight. You may have to work with her teacher to get her homework time cut down. Ask her teacher what is the most important things that she needs to finish (if the teacher says all of it, she is not willing to work with you). You need to break things down into chunks. She needs a break right after school before homework starts, she comes from learning and then has to do more, it's hard for her and most kids.
Also a great multiplication website is www.multiplication.com there are lots of fun math games to help her learn her times tables. That can be an incentive to get homework done. Also flashcards are a necessity. This is something that her sister can do with her. Take each number set at a time (ie., 2's, 3's, 4's, 5', etc.) Don't do the big stack and have her getting more frustrated. When she gets the 2's and 3's down, mix them together and then work on the 4's, but continuing to review the 2's and 3's. She will learn if there is less frustration. Sometimes a note back to the teacher saying this was just not possible this evening, we'll try again tomorrow will be acceptable. As long as the teacher knows that effort is put in at home, then this should be ok. Good luck!

Hey V.,
There are some great CDs out there that teach multiplication tables. Two that I can recall off-hand are Multiplication Rock and Multiplication Rap.
I would also suggest buying flash cards and starting with just the ones, then add the twos once she masters the ones. Continue to add one set at a time as she masters them and she'll eventually have them all.
I speak from personal experience when I say that those that struggle in math just have to memorize the facts, but once they are memorized they are remembered forever.

OOOHHH fun games to get kids interested in school! My specialty. I was a special needs teacher for over 10 years...I had to be creative to get my kids to want to learn.

BEAT THE COMMERCIAL – works for math facts, definition, vocabulary almost everything.
Your child has to watch one hour of regular TV (you know the kind with commercials). You write the facts on cue cards (question on front answer on back) then place them ON TOP of the TV.
Each commercial she gets up from the couch and tries to get through them before the show is back on.
If she gets it right, it goes in a pile on the right, if it is wrong it goes on the left. Once the show starts put the cards back on the TV and go sit down.
The object is to get through all the flashcards correctly during the commercial break.
**FYI the brain is constantly processing the info during the TV show. TV is a very passive event, so the brain looks for stimulation elsewhere. If you are feeding your brain info every 15 mins, the brain ABSORBS that info much more readily.

HOUSE OF CARDS
Please cue cards all over the house (4 X 6 = 24 – the full fact). On the fridge, walls, bathroom mirror, door, everywhere. Her brain will automatically read the facts as she is walking around the house doing regular stuff. Every week you have to move the facts around otherwise the brain starts seeing them as “background” and dismisses it as unimportant.

MATH WAR
You need a deck of cards.
Deal out the entire deck to 2 people.
You both lay out 2 cards each.
Multiply them and highest number wins the cards.
Object, win all the cards.
**Variation: addition and subtraction war works too.

READING GAMES
**Please note that kids will read what interests them. You will have to work with her to find what interests her.

BACKWARDS DAY
Pick up a comic book or something that she likes to read and start at the back page. Read from the last word to the first without giggling. **For more fun, try reading the words backwards. **This shows that reading can be fun and what your child won’t know is you are actually training her brain to see whole words and to decipher meaning from context.

KARAOKE
Yes this is reading! If you have Wii you can get a Karaoke game.

DON’T FORGET THE LYRICS
Go on line, find a fav song and print the lyrics.
Cut some key phrases out of the song and have her fill them in. First just by memory, second by listening to the song. **This activates both quadrants of the brain and will actually increase her reading speed.

I have many more games, but these few will get you started. If you need anything else, keep my contact (____@____.com) and connect with me. My mission in life is to empower families to live a healthier lifestyle, to teach them how to play more, and to inspire them to live a life of their dreams while creating independent financial freedom. Anything I can do to help you would be my pleasure.

B.
Family Success Coach

We homeschool... and games are definitely a BIG part of our curriculum. As is montessori math (Ds7 sees numbers as their pieces, rather than through memorization, so the manipulative -> equation aspect of montessori is killer. The Montessori album we use is actually free online, complete with pictures along with the instructions, and is several hundred pages long.

the games we play:

- ClueFinders -Ds7's favorite- (ClueFinders 3rd Grade is actually the first one, although there are actually many individual adventures along with the 3rd grade/ 4th grade etc)
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&...

- Carmen SanDiego Math Dectective

(( There are a ton of math computer games on Amazon between $10-20. The 2 above are our favorites to date))

- http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/?campaign=go_shows

- Dominos (particularly 5 up)/ Monopoly (money is mostly multiplication and division) / 21-blackjack

Our actual (non-game) curriculum:

http://www.borenson.com/tabid/933/Default.aspx (Algebra)
http://www.freemontessori.org/?page_id=9 (Elementary Group 1 & 2 : Ages 6-9, & 9-12)

Another thing to check out would be Singapore Math (this is left to right math), their method (top notch, they're used by most of the eastern & western world except the US, although many exclusive private schools, a few public schools, and a LOT Homeschoolers in the US use it). It requires an entirely different way of THINKING about math and numbers. Just as an example 6275 + 3612 in regular (our) math looks like this:

6275 6275
3612 3612
____ ____
---7 --87 etc. You keep filling in from the right

In Singapore math you say... okay 6000 + 3000 is 9000... 600 +200 is 800... so the answer is AROUND 9800. The first estimate is really important, because instead of finding out the answer at the end you've got a good idea. You then do the same for the following numbers... 75 +10 = 85... plus 2 is 87. So the answer is 9887. The whole concept is to get a basic idea, and then get down to details... which with practice... becomes very very mental. It also focuses on understanding what's ASKED (so knowing that adding means this, and fractions mean that, and squaring means... etc. By translating math into english (well, in our country) in engages more than one part of the brain at a time, and builds a stronger foundation than our traditional approach with goes for details with *surprise!* the answer at the end (and if you goofed on a detail you're waaaay off). US math also focuses on how to do the formulas instead of how Singapore focuses on what the formulas mean.

http://www.singaporemath.com/

LASTLY... Dyscalculia is the cousin to Dyslexia. People with dyscalculia do to numbers what Dyslexics to to letters. So too, there is another lesser known disorder known as Dysgraphia... which manifests as being able to read (numbers and letters) just FINE... but there's a disconnect when trying to write them down. It's not a fine motor issue, or a comprehension issue, but a miscommunication between the visual cortex and the motor cortex. Dysgraphics can write, but it usually looks horrid, and it takes them aaaaaaaaages and ages. The quick fix for Dysgraphics is either a computer or (slower) a stamp pad.... as opposed to Dyscalculia which needs as much intervention as Dyslexia.

ok now im going to give you a very different opinion. you have gotten a lot of great advice but i did not see this. with that being said have you ever thought shes just bored and not being challenged? when i was in school i almost refused to do work that didnt challenge me. i loved math but soon got bored with my grade approved work. for example in 2nd grade i was doing the 3rd grade math and when i got to 4th it leveled out for me because it wasnt the same thing being drilled over and over. i also got very distracted my teachers explained it to my mom like she would stare off into space and we knew we had lost her. sit and talk with her and see why she gets so distracted and such. maybe shower her how to do bigger math equaisions like 9s which can be done on fingers. (ie 9x6 hold up 10 fingers and count over 6 put the 6th finger down now you have 5 and 4 which would be 54 so 9x6=54 and so on you can do it all the way up to 9x10). i hope this helps good luck :)

Try to get a tutor or a learning center like Sylvan. I used to lay in bed with my daughter when she went to bed and we went over times tables, especially before a test, and it worked great. Just try to take the time at home to help her out more and quiz her on times tables randomly here and there, while driving, etc. I also used to use flash cards in the car when at stop lights or in traffic, first for addition and subtraction, then on to multiplication and division.

I agree with a couple of the other moms. She is either ADD or bored stiff or maybe both. Has she been tested, not just for a learning disability or ADD but for overall assessment of her aptitude? I had a child that in 6th grade who tested all over the place from 2nd grade level in one area to college in another, he was high functioning autistic with ADD, which the school district missed by the way. He NEVER to this day got the concept of fractions but taught himself calculus from a book just for fun. I couldn't read until fourth grade when something clicked in my brain and all of a sudden I was the most voracious reader ever since! So after your daughter has been assessed and you know her strengths and weaknesses, either with the school or a private educational psychologist (PHD) or both, then you can plan a course of action to help your daughter get on the right course. You can't really treat the disease if you only have the symptoms and don't know the cause. You can steer a boat by the stars but GPS is a lot more accurate. Get where the analogies are going? Good luck. If you don't like what the school district wants to do, you have the right to ask for a second opinion that is private. If you get stonewalled or rebuffed by the school district, contact your regional center. You must be your child's advocate. I know and I had to fight one of the best school districts in CA and they still misdiagnosed my son. Get in there, fight, be strong, be tough, and best wishes. Let us know the outcome.

homework lasting a 1/2 hr is a crock. We are told the same thing...

the teacher needs to have an idea...does she get a snack before home work? or some down time 1st? taht might help.

There are TONS of math games that you can play with her, but the problem is, you have to work it into the routine of the day. You really do. I mean every day after breakfast, play a game for 15 minutes. It can be as easy as rolling a pair of dice and multiplying the two numbers together as fast as you can, or use playing cards or anything around the house. The thing is YOU HAVE TO DO IT EVERY DAY. You might consider a once-a-week-tutor for her, and ask the tutor to enforce the daily games - it always helps when there is an outside authority figure and not just mom making the rules. You might have her assessed for learning disabilities, so she can get extra help in school. She is at a very good age to intervene, because it only gets harder from here. Lots of kids that have vision problems or some other kind of learning disabilities find out in 3rd grade, because that is when the learning emphasis switches from classroom learning to absorbing material from books. My daughter is 8 and she has been undergoing vision therapy for 6 months to correct a problem with focusing her eyes. I was very thankful that we figured out that she had this problem before she got too far along in school. She is doing much better now, but she hates the therapy. We do it exercises every day in the morning so we can get it overwith and she can enjoy the rest of the day. She goes to the therapists office once a week. It is a constant struggle to get her to do it, but she really has improved. Be sure to make it a daily priority for yourself as well, she will totally blow it off if she gets the opportunity! Good luck!

Get her a tutor. When it comes to learning issues, they respond better to someone other than a parent. Also, there are several learning centers that focus on these issues.

Good luck and hang in there!

Don't fret too much she is young and will "get it". Work with her on her math. Just spend a few minutes on the multiplication tables each day. Some kids just don't do math well. My son was like that and my daughter was to until someone "saw" that she was just not getting her fractions. Now she is great with math. My son still has an aversion but is good doing things in his head, simple math. He got an A in physics so he learned something. Help her with her work she will get it. Rmember she is young and like reading, she will get it just not in our timing always. She barely learned to add and subtract! Home school her might be an option too and she will go at her pace and flourish. Probably end up beyond others if you do.

V.,

I have a degree in Math, tutored Math for years & helped many children, teenagers and peers in college who thought they weren't good at Math. No amount of game playing, practicing, etc. is going to help someone learn if they don't BELIEVE that they can. I believe that anyone can learn Math if they have the right teacher (like your sister).

If you've ruled out any type of learning disability, vision problem, etc. then this is probably a confidence issue. You said that you & her teacher are both frustrated with her. I guarantee she senses that & thinks she just can't do it. She needs to know that you believe in her - she's only 8 - she IS going to get it eventually!

I agree with some of the other comments that it may be better for her to work with someone other than yourself or her teacher, perhaps a tutor. The trick is getting to know the pupil, finding out what they are interested in, what they relate to & putting the problems in to terms that interest them. Get someone who you think your daughter will look up to, someone who will build her confidence one problem at a time & she will thrive!

Does she know them but gets overwhelmed by the worksheets? If you ask her a math question can she answer it?
My son has problems with those pages that are a full page of problems and especially the timed tests. He can do the math in his head but don't ask him to write it down and if it's timed then everything flows out of his head.

I talked to his teacher and had him do them verbally-I asked the question, he told me the answer and depending on his mood he or I wrote it down.
Home work has always been a fight and taken forever with him unless I sit with him and ask him the questions when his mind starts to wander.

My son also has dysgraphia which may or may not be an issue with your daughter. It is the opposite of dyslexia-instead of an input (reading) problem he has an output (writing) problem. It is very difficult for him to organize his thoughts to write them down. He can read and give amazing insight and understanding but could not write down a complete sentence about it. He also doesn't like to read long chapter books even though he reads 3 levels above his grade-it's too hard for him to organize the details in his mind and remember the story enough to read a large book.

There are many websites that will list learning disabilities with a brief description of each. Read through those and see if any of them fit. If not it may just be a matter of finding a different way to appeal to her learning style-try music and games.
Good Luck

Have you looked into a tutor for her? Is there anything wrong with her? Emotionally, eyes, allergies, problems at school, dislikes teacher, lack of sleep, dyslexia, ADD, ADHD, etc? Have you talked to her and asked if anything is bothering her? I would start with the talk, try a tutor, and if necessary talk to her PED for some reviews.

Hi V.,

It sounds like you have a fun loving active daughter! I taught for almost 20 years and had this problem with students and math often. Math is a subject that is difficult to have a child engage in or rather become an active participant.

One fun activity that children enjoyed was with a deck of cards. All you need to do is shuffle and divide into half. You receive half and she receives half of the cards. Hold cards upside down in the palm of one hand and she does the same, say go and you eack slap the card down face up and she gives the answer to the "MULTIPLICATION" problem. For example, you turn over a 6 and she turns over a 3 she would give outloud the answer or 18. The face cards count as 10 in value. After she gets the hang of it and faster then she will compete against you as to who can give the answer the fastest. Who ever answers correctly first keeps those two cards. When you run out of the cards, count who has kept the most cards and they are the winner!

Hope this is helpful. She will enjoy the extra one on one time spent with you too.

C.

Find out if another teacher at her school can go over it with her. Sometimes it just requires a different explanation. If no other teacher is available ask about internet resources. Our school gives the kids access to math resources online. They're given a username / password...

Multiplication is all memorization though. It's just like the alphabet. Make sure she has the tables down and go from there.

Good luck

Hello, First of all, I would have her eyes checked. If she can read and doesn't like to and if she is taking so long to get her work done and sometimes not even getting it done, she may not be able to see well. She may not even know it, because she might not know the difference. JOne of my daughters learned to read very early, but didn't like to. She ended up needing reading glasses. Also, if that checks out okay, see if they can do an IEP on her at school. She can be very bright and still have a learning disability. That is the case with my sons.
Good luck with your precious family.
K. K.

You got some great advice and suggestions already, but may I add: Make the connection, and make it fun. Kids often see math as abstract at best, and useless at worst. Of course, it is quite the opposite, it is very important! I'm suggesting you point out where math applies in little everyday things, like when you handle money, and when you are on the road (numbers and sets of cars, etc.). Challenge her with little math problems (questions) and try to build both her interest and confidence. Also, if you have time to look at her school studies, develop some simple Flash Cards that are related. That is put little problems on there (Q on front, Answer on back) that she can do quickly and reinforce the basics she is learning. It doesn't have to be complicated, math is largely about practice and building of skills incrementally.

Best wishes... x10!

My son did not have any interest in the mutliplication table either. Neither did I when I was his age, I still have problems reciting them today (lol) Lakeshore had these mathmachines, they are manual plastic click cubes with the problem on the top and then you click them and the answer is on the side. it took all of a week and my son is on top of his game. we did some games - played them together to see who between the two of us would get the most right, some timed games and he just liked clicking around on the machine. I made it a big deal, was really excited with it and played with him with it. they also have the division, addition and subtraction. email me if you want more info.

-good luck!
-C.

Has anyone suspected any learning disabilities in her, or even Dyslexia?
have you consulted her Pediatrician for ideas/suggestions/tests?

I imagine, the emotional aspects of being slower than the others, greatly affects her, naturally. She is withdrawing. She must feel like a failure. This will only make it harder for her to "enjoy" school and learning.

Each child is different... and I would look into possible reasons for her learning issues. Ask the Pediatrician.
Until a 'reason' is truly discovered for her learning inabilities... she will continue to feel bad about herself.

All the best,
Susan

i know that there are times tables songs. I do not know who makes the cd (tape really from when I remember but who knows). If I find out I will let you know. BUt I would look for those.