How do I get him to stop using his fingers?!?

When adding or suntracting, DS always uses his fingers. This is how he was taught in public school, and he never grew out of it. He's 11 years old now, and I'm finding that he can't add or subtract in his head at all. Even when it's just adding two to a number, he can't visualize it without his fingers. This makes math very slow, and I don't want to move on to adding and subtracting fractions until he has whole numbers down.

What can I do? I saw this one method called 'Touch Math', where Dan digit has certain touch-points and you count up or down to add or subtract. Wpuldt this be the same as using fingers?

What methods can I use to get him to 'get' this? Just drill the facts into his head? There has to be another way. Please help, and post links if you have any. I'm very frustrated with this right now.

 

give him something else?
numbers on paper that do the same thing as fingers
An abucus ( spelled wrong I know) check out online you can find out how to make one and how to use it.

 

OH! and counting the numbers... 1 is one, of course two has 2 the curve, 1 and the bottom 2 ,
three is three lines so to speak,
four four lines etc.

and my ds used dots on the paper itself, or lines down the side of the paper, eventualy he wrote numbers down the side to keep track of what was in his head.
now its all in his head, literally and I am trying to get it back out on paper! lOl

 

We used Touch Math when the kids were little. They learn how many dots are on a number to add or subtract. While it is better for them to learn it they never out grow it. I have two visual learners and they still use the touchpoints. Your son will eventually stop using his fingers and learn how to do the math in his head. Using your fingers is that bad. What ever works and helps him get the work done is best.

 

I'd start with cementing number bonds up to 10.

2 and 8
3 and 7
9 and 1
4 and 6
5 and 5

Knowing how many you need to get to a 10 or how many you need to subtract to get to a 10 is the building block for mental math skills, imo.

Once those are solid I'd maybe go slowly through Singapore's Speed Math Strategies books to learn patterns to solve math mentally.

So your son will be able to think through a problem like this mentally:

46+47

46 + 40 = 86

86+4 (to get to the 10) = 90 + 3 = 93

Or this one from Singapore SE

7884-6

7884 - 4 (to get to the 10)= 7880

7880 - 2 = 7878

I used to use my fingers all the time for math. Using Singapore with my kids has really helped my mental math skills.

 

That's sorta funny.. I have to encourage my kids to count on their fingers! Our ps didn't even want the K crowd to do it (I still get... "mama, can I count on my fingers?" from my 7yo).

At any rate..

I love manipulatives. Pennies, buttons, etc, and credit them for being the step to more mental math (if they can visualize it, no need to count it out). Sort of.. building number sense if you will.

Other than that, dd uses lines on paper sometimes. Ds used to draw circles.

I hate number lines but I've heard those are great for other people as well.

And if all else fails.. I still count on my fingers sometimes . I still got an A in college Algebra.

 

I used to be a math teacher, and I still use my fingers.

Most kids just learn to do it under the table!

 

I'm going to try Touch Math, because they have free stuff on their website. It looks like it might help him, and, it's something that I do, but I don't know where I picked it up!

I'm also going to break out the number blocks again and see if I can't get him to learn how to piece together numbers, kind of like a 'Tetris' in his head, lol. It's really a struggle with his fingers, because a lot of the time, he gets them wrong. He does the finger counting in a bizarre way, that I don't even understand what he's doing to get the answer, and he can't/won't explain it to me. I'm hoping the touch math will at least be the first step to weaning him off of the fingers.

 

I still use my fingers for large lists of numbers, such as when I was working at a restaurant, and had to add my tips at night. I can add faster and more accurately this way than I can with a calculator. In college I had a friend who had to total checks at the end of the night; I'd use my fingers, he would use the calculator. If our totals didn't agree, it was usually him, not me, that was wrong!

 

We have this discussion in my house, often. Both kids use their fingers and I let them. My in-laws aren't crazy about the kids using their fingers or counting dots or whatever but if they get the correct answer I'm good with it. I use my fingers (along with calculators, touching points, lines, and dots) to do math. Also, I do math in the air using touch math...especially when grocery shopping. My DH teases me about it (he is the math wiz around here) but he knows it works for me.

 

I was taught with touch points. I hate it. I never learned how to mentally add. And when you are in the grocery store trying to figure something out you can't always take the time to look for the points (or use your fingers). It makes me feel stupid. My husband knows the math facts inside out. He can be done with a problem in just a couple of seconds and I am still trying to count dots. I am working to memorize them along with my kids. Because it is stupid that my 7 yo can do math faster then me.
I use the xtramath.org to help teach my kids the math facts. I have used other manipulative then fingers for them to count. I have had my son sit on his hands while I was drilling him so he would have to think about the numbers. He would picture the fingers in his head, then say the numbers. He got where he just knew the numbers.

 

This may not be a popular answer, but I would suggest drilling with flash cards. Once the kids get the concept, by using manipulatives, it is time to just memorize those facts for quick recall. We made a game of it. The kids got a sticker on a chart each day, if they could increase the number of correctly answered flash cards in a 2 minute interval.

 

Although I try to discourage the kids from counting fingers (you'd be amazed at how many count wrong!) and get into just learning all their facts, I have to say that although I can do mental math (somewhat), I still count fingers or touch points or tap my pencil if I have a long string of figures to add/subtract. I have a Master's degree.

 

Also, give a timed test every day. Then graph the results. When he reaches a certain number right for x-many days in a row, he gets icecream or something. That way you teach practical graping skills along with the math facts. You can print free timed tests here: www.themathworksheetsite.com

 

I tried Touch Math today, and it was just more confusing for DS than anything else. So, I'm just going to do flash cards and drill sheets. He totally understands how addition and subtraction works. We went over it with manipulatives today, and he gets the concept perfectly. He's just going to have to work on memorization. It seems boring, but maybe I'll try to make it a game like you said.

 

How long should the time be? 2 minutes? I tried a 2 minute drill today, and he was only able to get two lines out of 10.

 

How many problems? I can't imagine getting ten lines in two minutes. You might stick with the two, and tell him that you know it's way too many for him to get befor his timer goes off. And that's OK. Praise him for however many he DOES get, and praise him for increasing. Using fingers and/or touch is OK, but tell him the goal is ACCURACY and SPEED. Touch is faster than fingers; memorizing is even faster. If that many rows overwhelms him in the time given, cut back the number of rows. give him just three lines. When he can do those with 90-100% accuracy in two minutes, give him four.

 

Sorry the touch point didn't work for you. It took us a few weeks to remember them but once they did it was smooth sailing. I also did timed drills makes them quick on their feet.

 

Jackie, I checked the link you posted, and I'm going to do the 5 minute drills. I made a graph to chart his progress.

 

Babydux, The touch points were ok, but he was over depending on them. Like, he was counting points for things that I KNOW he knows. I've decided that good ol' memorization is what's gonna work best with my little guy.