Teaching a 7 year old math?

Question

My daughter has what I consider average ability in math and can add single digit numbers. She does however count on her fingers to get the answer and does end up getting some wrong due to miscount.

We have enrolled her in a reputable tutoring program to assist her with her math. Two months in, she has not progressed, the assignments she is doing are still the same as when we first started and she still counts on her fingers. The way the program works is until she passes the course work (exam each week), she repeats it again.

Is there any tips on how I can further assist her with her math. I would like to see her progress.

How can I get her to stop counting on her fingers. Is it just repetition and eventually she will just remember or is there a good method that I can follow.

Thank you

Answer 1

I was like that to but i am now an A student. The secret is getting her to get the concept of math. Also keep practicing with her everyday. Ask her 6 Times 7 randomly at anytime of the day.

Answer 2

Please don't worry so much about her counting on her fingers. I have a husband who does it. Hee Hee. Two months in and no progress? I would say that you do have a right to be worried there. Especially if this is a 'reputable' tutoring service. Any good one would allow you to sit in on one or two of their classes. Find out how they are teaching the children. If it's not fun or they don't get a break when they need it(sometimes this means just picking up their heads and/or stretching,like we do at work) or looking out the window for a couple of minutes.Learning has to be fun and rewarding for the child. I had a little boy once that didn't want to learn to add until I told him that once he did,WE could count all the birds in the sky together. A young girl I motivated to read by telling her that once she read well enough,WE could make a cake or cupcakes together and she could read me the recipe. You need to find something that they are interested in at home and find an aspect of it that will motivate them. In her case, try counting her teddy bears or dolls or toys and adding them together or recipes. Just start with a 2-digit number plus a 1-digit number that doesn't carry over,then sneak in a carry-over one every once in a while. Always remember, encouragement can and does go a long way!!! These things done at home Will show up in tutoring, I guarantee it. Good luck!!!!

Answer 3

Yes, she needs to slowly start breaking the finger habit. You have really good answers up there. Paper and tally marks, etc. I'd even suggest a number line. She needs to visualize the numbers in other ways.

I'm going to point you to http://www.internet4classrooms.com/grade_level_help.htm . It's a great place, that groups the math sites and pages by concept. It will assist you with identifying the areas where she needs more help, as well as some fun quality time with her. I use it in my classes as solid reinforcement while still being fun. Some sites are better than others. It even has sheet generators and teacher sites along with the rest (Look for an apple icon). You'll have to surf it first, as just looking at thde initial first page can be a little overwhelming.

As she becomes more comfortable with math, she, you, and her teacher, will one day notice that she is no longer using her fingers. Good luck!

Answer 4

You poor daughter! If I had to do the same assignments week after week, I think after one month I'd be screaming- so I can only imagine how she must feel after doing it for two months. Drill is mind numbing, as most kids fail to see the point. Personally, I admit I fail to see it as well. Drill mostly just gets them into the memorized routine, without the material having much meaning. Not to mention, it's just plain boring.
Most 7 year olds count on their fingers, even when the teacher or parents aren't looking. I know adults who still do. I have been homeschooling now for 14 years, six kids who all started out with the fingers. We also used an abacus, counting bears, and little candies like M&M's to make it a bit more fun. Eventually the material begins to stick, and they rely less on their fingers. It certainly helps if you aren't all excited about what method they choose in the meantime. You daughter may very well have the facts down, and just gets knotted up in the stress to perform on cue, under pressure to perform well. If she is getting her tutoring in the afternoon after school, she could also just be plain mentally and physically tired out. Math skills suffer when you are tired, and a seven year old would be ragged out after a full day of school. If she is doing math at school first thing in the morning, that might also be a small problem. Although math is usually done first thing in the morning, because the child is fully rested, some kids just aren't morning birds. They don't do well on math at 9am, but given another hour, they will do just fine. My oldest son was that way. In third grade, they were given a 100 problem drill sheet first thing in the morning. My son invariably failed to do more than 30-40 problems, so he failed each day. Math followed first thing, at 8:30am. He was not a morning person, so needless to say, he did not do well in math. When we began to homeschool, I discovered that if I shifted the subject to later in the morning, say even just an hour, he performed beautifully. He never did well on the drill tests, as he tended to freeze up when faced with the page full of problems. But he did fine with the regular lessons. So I quit using the drill sheets. He is now doing quite well in college, and made an A in the Algebra class last quarter.
Perhaps if you can relax over it, and quit stressing her about it, you will see the improvement you want to see. Relax about the finger counting. If it works for her, why can't she do it for now? Eventually she will learn the basic facts on her own, and most kids grow out of the finger counting by 3rd grade anyway. Right now she has a lot of new material to master, learning to read is no easy feat either- and she has plenty to keep that little brain twisting without the added stress over the math. Let her work through things at a pace that works best for her, without the pressure to master it all at once. I'm not sure after school tutoring is a good thing at this age, as it also suggests to the child that they are somehow a failure, or something other than normal students. At this point, I don't think anyone can really say one way or the other. But if her self esteem suffers, the work will follow suit. She may not be making progress because she has already decided she is stupid and can't learn, and the extra tutoring and attention are just reinforcing that view. So you need to take a hard look at that, and even have a talk with her. I'd suggest getting counting aids and working a little extra with her- but quit stressing over the finger counting and lay off the after school tutors for a while. It obviously isn't working, and it may be just making things worse by reinforcing the idea you all think she is failing.

Answer 5

..if it is "Kumon", its worth sticking with it. Even if the progress doesn't seem to be working at first.
Have you talked to the tutor people?

I have students in the same boat. I break it down to about three facts and drill them, everyday adding only one more until I have a whole "family" (all the 2's etc)
The other method I love is called Touch math and it is a dot system which works faster than fingers and good for kids who never do memorize. I think there are some sample "dot" worksheets for you to try- basically each number has a dot pattern. It isn't hard to learn. Once you learn the basic pattern 1-9 it works for subtraction and multiplication- good luck!

Answer 6

I'd like to offer the idea of stopping yourself from limiting her. You seem to be more interested in her "counting on her fingers" and may be putting undue pressure on this aspect rather than the math itself.

As you live, find ways to point out how math is used eveyr day and make it fun. You see a number on a sign and ask the child to divide it in two. Simple and fast. The more you do this, the more the child is inundated with math and it's symbols, thus making the numbers appear in her head, rather than on her fingers.

if she DOES continue to work on her fingers, let her. Encourage her to think quickly, but don't say a thing negative about how she gets the answer.

Answer 7

Most people count on their fingers from time to time, even teachers.

At age 7 it is normal to count on one's fingers. As she learns her facts, she'll do this less. Children at this age are usually given counters to help with math. Aren't the fingers the most concrete counters we have? Always available, too.

Get another tutor. You should be seeing progress after 2 months of tutorials. Something is wrong here.

Answer 8

As a teacher often I encourage students to make tally marks that equal the number on a piece of paper and then to count these marks and that is their answer,

Discuss this with her teacher, and see where she thinks her weaknesses and strengths are, that way she can work on her math problems that she needs the most help with, instead of always repeating the same problems.

Answer 9

I once had a fully grown uncle who still counted on his fingers from time to time. He worked for a company that made "pickle sorters" which are machines that sort cucumbers into their various sizes as they came in from the fields, so that they could be pickled in the appropriate sized jar, etc. Unfortunately, he got his fingers caught in the machinery on a number of occasions, resulting in his losing portions of several of his fingers. However, that was ok, he said, because now it helped him when he was figuring up fractions......you know, that's one, one and a half, two and a half......and so on.

Answer 10

I think what you need to do is go to a Parent and Teacher store they have these little blocks called Unifix (kind of like Leggos) that your child can use to assist her in math. The goal is to have her look at it logicly and not depend on her fingers. I am sure that you can find more things to help to. I hope that this helps...