Some of you may be home schooling because your child has a specific learning problem. If that problem is learning math facts, you’re not alone. Our second son has been having this problem. For over a year we have tried to get him to memorize his addition and subtraction facts. Three months ago, he had not memorized even 1 fact. Today, he is finally starting to remember them. We hope he will soon know them all.To be honest, we’re not really sure why he has started to remember them.But here is what did we have been doing differently.

1. We set aside all of the workbooks. Workbooks are good for review, not for learning.

2. We set aside the manipulatives. He was able to get the right answer using these. But without them he couldn’t.

3. We started doing math orally. We set him down, looked directly at him and said 1+1=2. He repeated it. Then we asked him, what is 1+1? Wait for answer. We repeated this several times until he didn’t have to think about it. One thing to remember is don’t give them too many facts on any one day. Review every day.

This may sound too simple but basically it forced him to think instead of relying on counters.

We would like to know what tricks you have used when your child had trouble with math. Listed below are several programs that may help.

Semple Math: this is for someone who has trouble learning the math facts.

Math-U-See: This is for someone who needs to understand the relationships between numbers. Manipulatives are used.

Touch Math: This program is for students of all ages.

Teaching Textbooks: This program is for students who have already mastered the basics.

Citycreek: This is for someone who needs to memorize the math facts.

Math Facts Now: This is for someone who needs to memorize the multiplication tables.

Seriously Simple Sums: Tricks for multiplying, dividing and squaring.

Patterns in Arithmetic: A kinesthetic approach to learning math.

Some of these programs are very pricy. All of them have been used successfully by home schooled and public schooled students.