A Plea for Flashcards

I think summer is a time for living life with the windows open so that you can hear the birds singing by day and frogs peeping by night; playing ping pong, pickle ball, and capture the flag; coming home from the beach and leaving sand in the bottom of the shower; splashing at the pool; cooking with juicy garden-fresh ingredients and eating meals together; playing board games; visiting with family; curling up in a big chair and reading for hours...

But it's also a time for flash cards. Math facts matter. And they should be automatic. And automaticity don't come cheap. You have to put in the time!

My favorite flashcards:

Did I pack them on my vacation? I did.

I love that each problem has its own card, so you can set aside any that you have memorized... and whittle it down to a short stack of cards you actually need to practice. This is why I think physical flash cards are better than an app on your phone. Having such a short stack is very motivating for kids. Then just do 10 minutes a day of targeted practice with the short stack. You can SEE your success as you move cards out of the rubber banded stack and into the box. Master one box and move on to the next!

There are 169 cards in each box, but my child only needs to practice about 30.

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Yes, we learn the skip counting songs in second grade, and notice patterns in the numbers, and use the Montessori math manipulatives so that the concepts are concrete and not abstract too early. You can sing skip counting songs and get there eventually. But for speed, nothing works like flashcards.

(I spent 30 years of my teaching career trying to prove this untrue. Couldn't.)

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"Habit stacking" is when you adopt a new habit by linking it with one you already have down pat. So Zac and I do his flashcards for 10 minutes a day in the evening right before his bedtime story. It's not his favorite thing in the world, but it's time with me and he gets his story afterwards, so it all works out. And he really does love to see that short stack get shorter!

My goal is to persuade you to do flashcards with your child. If that's completely out of the question, you could always flip it around and announce that you want to strengthen your memory and have decided to master your math facts, and you need your child to quiz you for 10 minutes a night.

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