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Hi,

I was wondering if my son should be memorizing math facts, should I be doing math drills with him? We're doing Beyond, and we've just started Unit 5. He is able to add and flew through today's subtraction assignment, so I know he is understanding it all...I just want to make sure I'm teaching the right way!

My other question is about handwriting. We're making our way through A Reason for Handwriting A right now, and his writing has improved tremendously since the beginning of September. My question is,how much emphasis should I put on writing "correctly"? For example, I've been having him practice the letter "d" because I saw that he wasn't making it correctly. He would draw a "c," stop, pick up his pencil and then make a stick next to the "c", but not keep the pencil flowing through the whole letter, if that makes sense. I don't want to discourage him in correcting his mistakes (he is easily discouraged in this area), but I also want to make sure he learns to write the correct way. Do any of you have advice?

Thanks
Amy

I'm no expert on any of this, but I'll try to help anyway!

As far as math goes, from what I understand, no drill is really necessary. I think the point is for them to understand how it all works. Now in 2A my 7 year old is pretty fast at addition and subtraction both, but I've never drilled her on them. She just has gotten them. So I think as long as your kiddo seems to be understanding it, I say he's fine. Others may tell you differently, but personally I'd much rather them understand the process then have the facts memorized. Also, I think the facts come in the same way reading words does. So you know how at first kiddos sound out all the words, but as adults we just look at (most) words and know what they are? I think if we left the kids understand the process, then eventually they'll just know the facts.

And about handwriting. I think that it is really important for kids to know how to correctly form the letters, because it makes writing so much quicker, neater, and I think it helps when they get to cursive to know how to form the letter without picking up the pencil. We haven't quite made that transition ourselves yet, but I just know from talking to my sister the third grade teacher. So, you might very gently say something like "that's a beautiful d, but could I show you another way to make it?" Or maybe "I've been noticing how you make d's lately. I think I have a way that might be a little bit easier for you." Just something so he doesn't feel attacked. Someone else might have better advice for you on this one though.

We did the math in Beyond last year and now we're on to 2A/2B and loving it! I didn't do any math fact drills last year but I think I'm going to start doing those soon. I just bought flash cards for addition, subtraction, and multiplication. My main reason is just so that he can work through the problems a little faster. He's doing fine and understanding everything really well, but now that the addition/subtraction problems are getting a little more complicated, I think it would make things a little easier for him if he really had his math facts down and could just rattle them off.

Amy,

You've already gotten some great advice from the ladies! I'll paste below a previous post I wrote to answer the math drill question that may be of help to you:

The design of the Singapore math that is scheduled in our guides goes through the facts in the lessons in a way that helps with memorization pretty well. Often kiddos using the math as scheduled in the HOD guides do not require additional fact practice. For those kiddos who do require additional practice on fact memorization, there are many options available to help in that area.

At our house, we give our kiddos every opportunity to get their facts down purely from their math program. By third grade if our kiddos do need extra practice, it's usually just for a few remaining tough facts that aren't sticking in their minds. We've found that good old flashcards worked better than anything else.

I have my kiddos make their own set of flashcards on index cards cut in half. They put a small piece of masking tape on the back to use for writing the answer in pencil (so the answer cannot be seen through the card on the other side). I have them make one set at a time, starting with the 0's, which they already know (but just to make them feel successful). They make a card for 0 + 1, 0 + 2, 0 + 3, etc. (all the way up to 0 + 12). They practice the set until they can do it in 15 seconds or less. Then, they test with me. If they pass, they get a quarter for their bank. If they don't pass, they practice again. We only allow testing once during each day. This is so that we don't get bogged down in testing over and over again until they get it only for the day, but don't remember it the next day. Anyway, this is just the way we do it.

We practice addition facts first, then subtraction. Next, around 5th and 6th grade we work on any needed multiplication facts that they may not have down. This is a delayed plan for fact memorization from those used in most math programs, however we find it pairs well with allowing our kiddos time to naturally master most of the facts through Singapore's way of teaching. Doing it this way has not held any of our boys back from excelling in math and actually gives them a reason or motivation to know the facts on their own first, before I ever begin drilling them. You may desire a different plan and that is fine too. I just would encourage you not to start drilling too young.

The only other thing we've really found to be worthwhile to add to math time is the Skip Count Kids: Bible Songs version for teaching skip counting. Skip counting is a very useful skill for addition, learning multiplication tables, and dividing.

As far as the handwriting goes, in my teaching days in the public school, we always allowed the formation of 'd' the way you described it. So, I don't really see a problem in forming it with a ball and a stick. It actually is the Palmer way of writing. However, if your son wrote the 'stick' part first and then the 'c' part, it would need correcting as the steps are out of order. Hope that helps!

Blessings,
Carrie