So my ds who is 9 (nearly 10) still counts on his fingers when he is adding and subtracting. My dh is worried that he will do that forever. My dh is a math genius and does everything in his head, I still count on my fingers...not always, but mostly when I am tired and nothign makes sense to me. I am not sure whether to be worried that he is still doing it, or let him continue because someday he will outgrown it, or he will be like me and fall back on it from time to time. How old were your kids when they stopped counting on their fingers?
I can't really remember when they stopped but being 14 and 8 now, neither of them count on their fingers.
If your son likes counting on his fingers, why not teach him finger math: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prT6o40CBWg ... then have a contest to see who can add faster. I bet your husband might just change his mind
Back when dd was like 3, chisanbop was all the rage! Korean finger calculations, something ilke this. I got a book, but I guess I was too old to learn it!!! LOL But I still count on my fingers the "regular" way, sometimes, especially when I'm tired. Or else I do a sort of takeoff on touchpoints. Or just use a calculator! Whatever gets you through the day, you know. Our teachers didn't drill us on mental math when I was in elementary school, so I guess I just never picked it up.
For what it's worth, I still add on my fingers to some extent. And I can do it quicker and more accurately that way than I can on a calculator. I especially do this when I've a large list of numbers.
okay I was taught that counting on fingers was OK because it gives a visual, eventually they find they don't need it but its somthing tangeble and at times I still use it when fractioning off something lol. MY ds used fingers with multiplication...up to last year I think 6th grade math? Then he started writing things down that were numerical but at first I dint knwo what he was doing. It turned out he wa counting by numbers to mulitply major numbers by breaking them down in his own way to understand it.
Have you tried using flashcards to "drill" him so that he can memorize them and not have to count on his fingers? Abeka has great flashcards and there are fun games that you can use with the flashcards so that it's not the same thing day after day. For me, I cannot stand to see a teenager or adult using their fingers to calculate!
I will still use my fingers when working with large numbers. It helps me keep track when I am working with multiples. While it is great if a person can work large problems in their head, many people tend to lose track. This is why they use paper to work out a problem, calculators, or fingers. Now if your child can't do math at all without using any of the above, then I would have a problem with that.
I think it all depends on why he is doing it. Is he doing it because he doesn't know how to do math any other way or is he doing it to help keep track of what he has already counted, like I posted in my previous post.
There is nothing wrong with using fingers to count. It unnecessarily gets a bad rep. Fingers are his manipulatives (quite literally). If he is using them, then it's because he needs them. Let him. Generally we tend to push kids away from using manipulatives too soon. Let them decide when to stop. My 10 (almost 11) yo uses manipulatives off and on.
I'm going to be perfectly honest here, I still count on fingers, and not always for higher groups either. Sometimes I just cannot remember and I need the visual. Sorry if that irks people, I try not to be too obvious about it, but some people are just wired that way. Does that make it right or wrong, I don't know? I'm not running around pointing it out in others either. I can certainly understand that it should be something given up, but in some cases it just isn't.
My teachers in school never stressed mental math (doing everything in your head) We always had to show work and we counted on our fingers in school. I am like you and fall back on it from time to time. My husband as taken every math class under the sun that any college or school has ever offered, so to me...he's a genius! He also does things in his head. He also knows that math can be tough and you do whatever you can to comprehend what is being taught, even if it means counting on your fingers. I wouldn't worry about it very much if I were you.
I still count on my fingers. I am terrible at math. Even small math problems are hard for me. The calculator is my friend!
I wish my math student (12 yo) would use his fingers! He tries to do everything in his head and he's so slow, and he gets confused. I'm sure I saw a finger math book in the library... I need to find it!
My son uses his fingers because he seems to not be able to do the problem without them. I know he can, I have seen him do it in his head when he has to, BUT he really REALLY prefers his fingers. The thing I think that bothers me about it, is that when he uses them he tends to get the answers wrong, or he adds when he supposed to subtract or vice versa. I think the fingers are actually hindering him to a certain point. When I try to have him do it without his fingers he throws the most magnificent fit you have ever seen. But I know he can do it with out.
My dh who uses math everyday in his work and is a math genius himself, my girls use to do that and he said it was fine to do that... in time they will stop. don't be to hard on them or they will get upset and not want to math anymore.
I still use my fingers for some things and honestly I wish I didn't. My dc have more mastered than I do. I do feel that having the facts down pat is important, just because of my own math history. And we do not move on and take as long as they need to master facts. There is a program called touch math which uses essentially counting as well. I have not used it but I could see for someone like me who is a counter, it being helpful.
Twilightmom- I looked over your blog and LOVE it! You are way more organized than I am...now I am inspired. I worked with my son tonight on counting without fingers and he has found a new system that works for him! He has found "points" on each number and counts the points. ei: 2 has 2 points, 3 has 3 points etc. Does that even make sense to you?
Yes because this is how I was taught in school a loonnngggg time ago lol. I still can see the "dots" around the numbers to this day and it works just fine for me.
I tried to teach that dot method to my kids, and it didn't click for them. But I knew an excellent elementary teacher who swore by it! And his classes' math grades reflected the same.
