I've always been a big proponent of math fact memorization. After Addison and Brennan gained a good understanding of math concepts, I worked to make sure that they memorized the corresponding math facts. I wanted them to be able to work higher order math concepts without struggling to remember the easy problems (and without redoing the calculations all the time).
Lauren's kindergarten math curriculum covered the concept of addition, and I felt like she was ready to work on memorizing the basic adding facts. For the past several weeks, we've been using Math Made Easy's addition program for homeschoolers -- Addition Teaching and Learning Made Easy.
I was excited when I started this program. Lauren quickly remembered the commutative property of addition (that is, the fact that 6+3 is the same thing as 3+6). She also remembered that zero plus any number is that number. She similarly did great with her +1 facts. After covering those basics, there were only 36 addition facts that Lauren did not know, and we were ready to start week 1 of the Addition Made Easy program. Addition Made Easy divided the 36 unknown math facts into six groups and covers one group per week for six weeks.
The flashcards with the facts for our first week:
We practice the flashcards daily and each day has a corresponding workbook for her to complete. I like that the drill practice for the flashcards is fairly short. It's much easier to focus on just six facts than it is to focus on a huge stack of cards. I also like the variety of exercises in the workbook.
A few pages from the first week's exercises:
Unfortunately, it seems like Lauren isn't quite ready for this program. I thought she had a good grasp of numbers and addition. We've been working on the first week's addition facts. We had a week to focus on them before our move, and we worked on them for four days last week. Lauren still doesn't have them mastered, and sometimes the answers that she guesses are not just a little wrong. I suspect that she just doesn't have the math experience that she needs. I hope to revisit this program after she works with her regular hands-on math program for a few more months. She needs to be able to instinctively know that 5+2 does not equal 14 before we focus on memorization.
The Math Made Easy homeschool package for addition costs $24.95. It includes lesson plans, a pre-test, six weeks of daily activity sheets, a post-test, games, and all of the flash cards.