Teacher Size Soroban- Interested in Group Purchase to save on shipping?

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Hi All-

I plan to buy an over-sized demonstration/teacher Soroban this month. Shipping is from India. I am trying to decide on the the exact model. If there is a group of parents willing to split the shipping cost, even with additional shipping from my house to yours, it may very well be cheaper than $70 which is astronomical. They may offer a discount on the abacus too for a group depending on how many are interested, I have to inquire.

http://www.alibaba.com/product-free/123461618/Teacher_Abacus_103.html

So far, for the 13 rod teacher abacus here I was quoted.

 "13 rods teacher abacus model no.103 costs 45 and shipping cost for one abacus will be around 70 totaling 115 USD. If you buy one or two nos. shipping charge will be very high. Please contact for further details."

I was also considering this one, but I don't know how fast they will outgrow it since it's only 6 rods?  But by the time they are into bigger numbers to need one that has 13 rods, they'll be able to handle a smaller one better I would think?  My son in particular is not ready for a small one, but understands the concepts from learning on the computer.  So maybe the 6 rod will be less overwhelming and more appropriately sized? But the over-sized demonstration abacus will make a hands on approach possible at the moment for him because the standard sizes are way too small for him to handle effectively.

http://www.alibaba.com/product-free/123461463/6_Rods_Teacher_Abacus.html


1) if you are interested in doing a group buy with me to save on shipping, I will most  likely have everything handled by sending money directly through the company once the final prices are figured out. Unless someone else wants to volunteer, I can go to the post office and reship everything from my house to yours once it's in the U.S. However, for that I will need to collect money via paypal upfront after I get estimates, and I will ship with delivery confirmation and possibly insurance.  I am scoping out the waters on this now to see the interest level and if it's worth my time and effort to coordinate.

2) If you are knowledgeable about how fast a kid will outgrow a 6 rod abacus, please let me know.

3) I make no claims about this company I am going with or the quality of their items. I shopped around and it was the model I liked best, so I am going with it. Please do your own research and ensure it's something you want to do, I am not endorsing anything personally as I have never seen these items in person yet.

[PokerDad]

Interested, but not committing just yet. Perhaps send Tom "Soroban" a PM - all I know is that multiplication takes place on the left side of the soroban and you sort of need many extra columns. 6 columns might be too small for larger multiplication/division problems, and you could perhaps gauge at what age they'd get to that sort of thing?

[A_BC]

Hi TMT,

I think I am missing something here... Can you please tell me why you are getting an over-sized Soroban? I thought those are just for group demonstrations (it's like laptop vs. projector). Unless you think that bigger beads are more EL-friendly.

Thank you

[TeachingMyToddlers]

My son is 2.5 and cannot manipulate the tiny beads of a soroban but understands the concepts easily from the Show Me Soroban software we have been using. I think the larger beads are more EL friendly, so it's a very simple reason. Ideally, moving them only with their fingers/mind in the future, a small one will be better, but starting out, it will get my son on the right path earlier. And it may help in teaching them at the same time too in the future, even after they've progressed to a smaller one.

Keep in mind, I am not a professional and we are at the very beginning of this journey really.  Maybe there is a very good reason why I shouldn't do this, but from a logical perspective, it means my son can start manipulating the beads physically sooner rather than later because they are big enough to handle. I assume the same holds true from many other little ones on this forum, for example, little PokerCub could begin far sooner on this than on a standard sized one. So I thought I might ask the other lovely parents here.

I sent Tom a PM, hopefully he'll chime in on how soon a 6 rod soroban will be outgrown.

[sonya_post]

TMT,

Can you please write a review of Show Me Soroban? I have several Soborban books and I am using Abacus Master, which is a pretty bare bones program. But it does have a number flash after the learning units to practice anzan. It's an ok software at best and would not work very well for a 2 year old. If you want to learn the principles of the soroban and how to work the thing on the cheap as an adult, I think it is fine. But since I have never used one, my opinion of this is pretty limited. I haven't seen any reviews of Math Secret.com other than ones written by the company. Anyway, just looking for your opinion. We live in the middle of nowhere - the closest teacher is probably 5 hours away if there is one in Chicago.

Sonya

[TeachingMyToddlers]

We have used math secret, their free version, for a while too. Let me find some time and see what I can do, might be a week or two before I can tackle it as my plate is a bit full (okay, a lot full) this week. But I will do my best. SMS is very step by step and only covers addition/subtraction, but you truly need know NOTHING about it to do the program and the bird, peedy, is the guide that walks you through it. My kids like "birdy game" fairly well and it demystifies the process for me, so I am a fan. We'll cross the bridge of multiplication/division when we get there, but for now we're taking things one step at a time.

[aangeles]

One thing about the teacher's abacus, TmT. The beads are quite difficult to manipulate for kids. The abacus is designed for hanging up on walls of classrooms and thus there is quite a bit of friction between the individual beads and the rods so that the beads will not fall down by gravity when the teacher is demonstrating a certain number or operation. There were several times during abacus class when Ella was called by the teacher to solve an equation using the teacher's abacus, and she had to use both hands and quite a bit of effort to move the beads. She was around 3.5 at that time but quite strong for her age. I don't know if this was a problem only with that particular teacher's abacus in her school (maybe it's old) or if all of them are designed like that. Thought you might like to check first. Or ask Tom about it.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

See, THIS is why I share all of my "brilliant" ideas on this board with the other Mommies.    Hey Tom, your input would be welcomed right about.....NOW! 

Thanks for bringing that up, I hope it's not an issue, but if it is I'm MUCH rather find out about it now versus after I already bought the darn thing.

Looks like according to around minute 2:38, they put springs inside for tension.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/l-7NLS2xQIM&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/l-7NLS2xQIM&rel=1</a>

[A_BC]

Thx TMT for your response. I am hoping that Tom will chime in soon too. Maybe he (or someone else) will give me his opinion on the following Soroban and which one to use first.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160529048946?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330784113405?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330675820109?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/280824115791?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130433863640?

P.S: I am posting from an iPhone so not sure if all the links work. Please let me know if they don't. Thx.

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