Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums I need some help with Math

I was hoping someone could give me some advice. My dd7 has been struggling a bit with Math. I don't know how to explain it. She can do it but can't do it quickly and can't make connections. She doesn't get the whole idea of counting up to 5 or 10 to make the addition or subtraction go quickly in your head. No matter how many times I show her it is gone the next day. Word problems get her too. For example she can easily add and subtract multi digit numbers with regrouping but when she's given a two step word problem she is like a deer in the headlights. She forgets basic facts along the way can't keep the information straight. She constantly brings home incomplete worksheets that should have been finished in class. She is soooo slow. We go over it every day but nothing really seems to stick. The school wanted to push her back to a lower Math group but I resisted so I need to make up the gap. Her problems seem more pronounced when subtraction is involved. Any resources or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

My ds was doing this a bit on word problems at first - but I saw it happening and stepped in to discuss with him the various clues that the words are giving you. For all I know this wasn't even discussed by the teacher, but ds might not have been listening either. He is now very very strong with word problems.


Things like:
John has 4 ducks, he gave 2 away. How many does he have left?

I told him to write down the first number he comes to: 4
Then, Look for action phrases, these are your operators.
ex: Give away means minus (I know you know this, but she might not!)
Then write down the next number.
You have most of your equation, you just need an equals sign and a Question mark at the end (or some folks use 'x', but I was refraining from introducing this idea)
4-2=?

Since there are many variations on these, it's great to practice a bunch, especially the figuring out what operator is needed.

DS8 is slow with add/sub. math facts too, but I think we are figuring this out as part boredom/part not getting that it mattered/ part seeing that he could re-add so why memorize?? Still working the issue however! For some reason, so far, multiplication seems easier to him. Whew.

Good luck to you and your dd!

Thanks Chris. These are great suggestions! Wow multiplication seems easier for us too. Maybe we just have "positive" kids!

Well, I like to think so

You're totally welcome, I've gotten so much good stuff from this forum, I do hope this helps!

This sounds exactly like my dd7(almost 8). It's kind of mysterious, because sometimes she is very, very good at math, and other times, it's as if she didn't turn her brain on, and I'll be asking a math question of her younger brothers, and she guesses and gets it wrong. Close but wrong (and what good is close).

I don't have an answer for you on the calculation issue. DD is a VSL, and according to Silverman that may be a reason why she's not good at the computation (has sequential weaknesses).

What's really frustrating to me is that she has a hard time listening and understanding when I attempt to explain things orally. She eventually covers her ears and tells me to stop it lol.

As far as the word problems go, dd reacts the same way. Sometimes she'll literally run away from the table. So far the best solution seems to be having her make a picture, in her head or even on paper, of the problem. (Trying to work with her VSL strengths.) Then she usually gets the answer instantly.

I bought a book for her younger brother's b-day yesterday (I'm sure he's too young for it but I was trying to have the same number of presents as I had for his twin brother lol) called Arithmetricks, supposedly with tricks to figure things out without a calculator. I haven't looked at it yet; I kind of assume it includes the same kinda stuff I do in my head to make calculation go quicker. I guess I'm hoping it'll present it in a way that's easier to understand than my own explanations.

I am definitely going to try that book. I was also wondering if anyone has had luck with games that force you to make change and play with money. We have monopoly but there must be more out there. I was just thinking that maybe if we could get her really comfortable with money, she's not now, it would help with the mental math. Thanks again for the feedback!

No game recommendations, but I told DD6 we'd go to the bookstore and she could buy a book. She was excited about that and part of the deal was that she had to be able to figure out how much money she'd get back.

We practiced with different amounts of money and different book prices. She used pretend money that she "exchanged" (i.e. turn $5 into $4 and 10 dimes and then into $4, 9 dimes and 10 pennies). This seemed to help her learn borrowing.

Too funny!!
What a sweety

Ds is ok with working sub/add. math facts via Yu-gi-oh.
4000-1800 is so much more worth working in his head than 3+6 (I kid you not, he didn't make it past 2's in math fact sheets last year). But yu-gi-oh math? No big deal. Still not a super speed demon, but fast enough not to keep the other kids waiting! (It has meaning for him, I am seeing that)

This is great thank you everyone. I have been getting so stressed and it shows in my interactions with her. So I have definitely been hampering her emotionally. Here's to a new start. I love the ideas about the dots and adding them up to figure out her allowance. My dd would love that!

Try showing your daughter the big picture or concept first. Some kids need to literally see the numbers so they can visualize the relationships. What's worked for my son is showing him a numbers chart to 100.