Math Facts that Stick
No More Flash Cards, No More Drill-and-Kill!
Math Facts that Stick is a set of books that can be used together or independently – whichever your child needs. You can get a discount when you purchase them as a package and an even deeper discount can be achieved if you purchase the pdf instead of the actual books. Even if you are a hands-on book lover this may be a really good option and we will get to that below.
These books were sent over to us from The Well Trained Mind Press, previously known as Peace Hill Press, the publisher of many popular homeschool curriculums, particularly focused on quality classical education. The most well-known cornerstone being The Well Trained Mind, by Susan Wise Bauer. If you’ve read any of our curriculum articles you know that this is where we recommend you start because it is quality and comprehensive and is a great jumping off point into your educational journey.
The Importance of Math Facts
“Knowing” math facts on demand (or facts that stick) is an essential part of being able to be successful in any mathematical discipline. If your child is wasting time doing these basic computations before they can get into the problem then math is going to take forever, become a stress point, and generally make everyone miserable.
These books are not just for homeschoolers they are a great supplement for any child that is struggling and the minimal time requirements make them a great first option for mainstream educated children. Before spending a lot of time and money at tutors it is probably worth your while to spend six weeks and 10-15 minutes per day with your child to see if you can nip some of the issues in the bud at home.
Note: Subtraction takes 8 weeks, Mutiplication & Division are each 10 weeks
How To Do It
What is different about learning math facts from Kate Snow’s Facts that Stick books is that she emphasizes visualizing the math concepts as opposed to “counting up” or similar techniques. Another great thing is that the “work” is only going to take 10-15 minutes per day and it will not be boring flashcards.
Each week is laid out with an introductory day. On this first day, you show the new teaching and introduce that week’s game. On days 2-5 you play the game a few times and then your child completes a practice sheet.
What I really appreciate as a mother of a child who does math at a snail’s pace is that she does not “require” the child to complete the sheet in writing. If your child is faster orally she says to do that. There is no reason for a day’s lesson or practice to last more than 15 minutes.
I filmed a quick video so you could get a better idea of what the book looks like and how everything is laid out. And, this is one of the reasons I would suggest that you consider just getting the books in digital form. Because over half of the book is game boards and practice sheets. If you have multiple children or don’t plan on writing in the books then being able to just print the pages off as needed would be much easier than copying them.
At the time I filmed this I had not used them but I have since gotten into the addition book and it is as simple as it sounds and works beautifully.
The author, Kate Snow, also has very in-depth and detailed videos discussing her “facts that stick” method and how to do it, but the books are really open and go so those are completely optional.
