Good afternoon, Tamara!

When tutoring children in math, I would get out the math flashcards and separate them into groups according to numbers. So first, the dc would only do the zero cards that contained "+ 0". We talked about how "0" is nothing, so the answer is always just the other number. When they thought they were ready for me to time them, they told me (we practiced first though). I gave them 2-3 seconds per card, depending on how I thought they would do. So for 10 cards, I gave either 20 seconds or 30 seconds to complete them (I wanted them to pass - this first time especially!). Then, we did the 1's (all the "+ 1's") separately. We talked about finding the bigger number and thinking what number is next. We practiced. When they were ready, we did 2-3 seconds per card again. Next, we mixed the "0's" and the "1's. I gave a minute to do all of them. After that, the 2's, and we practiced finding the bigger number and counting up. When they passed the 2's, they got mixed in with the 1's, 2's, 3's, and the 4's were practiced separately, and so on. We did this for adding first, and then subtracting. We did this every day, and eventually just pulled out the cards they were missing repeatedly, and those were the only ones they practiced. We continued to move on with their regular math, but did this daily.
I have tried a LOT of math fact memorization programs, and this is the best way I've found for real retention to take place. I think Singapore encourages this already, but this is super easy to add to it if a child needs a boost. I'm actually doing this again myself right now, mainly just because I want my middle ds to go half-speed right now with math. We do Singapore 1 day, and the next day he does his math flashcards. You may want to do something like this, but it's just an idea. I do think if by 3A the addition and subtraction facts are not there, that the flashcards are a good thing to add. I hope something here helps!
In Christ,
Julie