my two cents: my DD6 is similar to your daughter. A whiz at math concepts and tested at third grade in that area while four years old, but was never a math facts wizard. She also learned to read with no apparent effort so I think it was just surprising that she actually had to put in effort to learn. Math facts was this Achilles heel. I used to be anti flashcards, but for math facts, they seem to have their place. We don't do them that often. I intend to, but it just doesn't happen. The reason I finally approached it that way was because I was afraid that her upcoming first grade teacher might judge her ability based on math fact automaticity over conceptual ability and I didn't want that to hold her back. I was never that gifted at math facts and was not drilled with them either (I wish I had been) but I was accelerated in math eventually and on a math team so it didn't seem to hold me back. I see the same pattern in my daughter: most gifted in verbal areas, strong in pattern recognition etc. but not as strong in math facts. My solution is to try to help bring that one weak area up to the level of everything else. It is frustrating and boring though (for mom and daughter) to do flashcardss. My daughter doesn't do much on the computer, doesn't use an I-pad or any video games but I know some people use those for learning math facts. Hang in there. My daughter is getting better and better at math facts from repeated exposure. I think we are just not used to our gifted kids needing repetition and practice so this seems to be a big issue when even their weak spot is still beyond grade level.
