Abacus Program Options: Math: Discussion

[TeachingMyToddlers]

I just ordered the "Abacus" math 4 DVD set from India and they came yesterday. Can you believe they are only mental math videos and have nothing to do with an abacus? LOL. I have to watch each one in depth all the way through, but so far, not a single mention. Pretty funny! So nobody buy that one. I'm going to delete it from the list now. It's the one with the squirrel on the cover.

DO NOT BUY THIS! The title is misleading.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Just wanted to post an update on how things are going with learning soroban. The kids are doing really well with it! They can easily recognize numbers on it and are doing 2 and 3 digit addition/subtraction with help here and there. Owen is particularly enthusiastic and excelling which thrills me to no end. We are working on the visualization part but still but the manipulation is coming along nicely.

Oh. and I wanted to show you our shiny new toy. (ETA: geez, this picture is posting HUGE here, I don't have time to resize at this very moment but it's in the blog post.)

http://teachingmytoddlers.blogspot.com/2013/03/learning-soroban-japanese-abacus.html

Adventure abacus includes mental arithmetic levels for progress.  I try to do this myself but with my DD I have been getting her to do the calculations on a simplified abacus (5 columns) that I bought and then enter the answer.  It's a little more fiddly than the app so we are just getting to grips with it.  But it's a good transition activity and she has to know and enter the answer so it helps me check that she really does understand what she's doing!

I don't know how I missed this before? I had to figure this out for myself eventually too,  would have been  faster a lot faster if just read the thread properly to begin with!

[Skylark]

Thank you for update! Love it, Tonya!

Are you still using RightStart Abacus as well, or did you switched to Soroban altogether?

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Re: RS Abacus, They really "get it" so there isn't so much a need anymore and I don't have them add/subtract on it now. I have Lily do her Singapore Math sometimes using the soroban. It can get a little tricky because it wasn't intended to be to used that way, but it's a way to kill two birds with one stone have and save time. I would say I mostly use the RS abacus now for skip counting which is easier on it, they know many but not all of their skip counting tables (we use it sometimes after LM or youtube skip counting songs). I think that the RS abacus is absolutely genius and I do not regret digging into math with it initially because it's so concrete, that makes ideal for little kids. I originally planned to skip straight to soroban because I had too many preconceived notions about it all and just over thought it, but AAngeles' experience convinced me otherwise. And no, the kids do not get confused in any way after the initial learning curve. RS abacus is awesome to solidify the concept of quantity and the heavenly beads worth 5 is a little abstract. So getting quantity down pat is probably a good idea first, they even sell similar ones on the soroban websites so they use them, too. And like mentioned in this thread, the "yellow is the sun" poem/song and the RS way of counting is very applicable to soroban, as well. The transition was not bad at all.

[lzp11]

Just thought I would add a link to another Soroban app that I am really loving at the moment. The best thing is that it is FREE!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/know-abacus/id641867438?mt=8

At first sight it seems a little dry. There are no fancy graphics or colours. There is a very simple two column black abacus. But actually this is exactly what we needed. The colours and graphics have been distracting. There are no rewards but no penalties for making mistakes! Also there is no timer in this app - unfortunately the added time pressure of having a timer (e.g. in the abacus adventure app) has been causing my DD increasing stress. It started making her cry and then refuse to play. Not exactly enjoyable learning so we have had to stop using it.

It is also laid out in an extremely simple progressive way - I think this has been lacking from all the other apps I have tried. It starts with counting 0-100 or and then backwards. The next level is addition with 1-5 (without needing to regroup). Each level has several simple sub-categories which make it easy to focus on a particular learning goal.  It moves on to Little Friends (regrouping with 5) and Big friends (10) and has multiple other levels.

Finally I feel I have found an app that actually covers the main theory of using a soroban in a simplified way that has very small steps and allows choice about which bits to cover (and re-cover).  I'm really pleased with it.

[nadia0801]

Thanks for the kink Izp11. I'm happy it's using the same terms as my daughter's abacus school "small/ big friends". I could use this with my 1-year old who's counting on a physical abacus but totally loves the iPad!

[lzp11]

Just thought I would post this picture of my homemade soroban. It's not perfect but it is much easier for small hands to use than the other one that we have and hopefully will cause less frustration. I do have larger basket, so could add more columns if necessary!

[Skylark]

lzp11,

Thank you for sharing the link to Soroban app!

That is the best one I've seen, and I am so thankful how clear and uncluttered it is. It has explanations, instructions and is perfect. Cant believe we did not know about it before.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

We bought the big abacus a while ago and do not regret my decision to do so. I only wished I had done so sooner! Good thing my hubby didn't see that smart laundry basket idea before I convinced him we needed to buy it.  The little ones are just so tiny for little hands, it was worth it to me. The kids have to take turns using it and don't like to share very much    so I kind of wish I had two!

(I just realized I posted this a while ago a few remarks up. Oh well!  Here is it again attached to the post for those who are just scrolling through)

[Kerileanne99]

I absolutely agree that the oversized demonstration Soroban makes all the difference! We actually have a really nice regular Soroban that Alex will use...but it wasn't until we got the demonstration-sized that she REALLY wanted to use it!

TmT- I have the larger, 11 digit version of the one you have...and almost wish I had gone for the 5-digit in the beginning! I went for the larger because I decided if she outgrew the smaller of too quickly I would be out less money overall, and because she LOVES large numbers ( we play a game where I enter random large numbers, say in the millions) and she 'reads it off of the abacus)).
But... Of course she will eventually transition to the regular Soroban, so it may have been a non-issue:)

Do you worry about the transition? I have noticed that Alex tends to exaggerate the finger motions after using the demonstration version, which means that when she uses the smaller version she goes a bit Zena the Warrior Princess on it

Izp11- we enjoyed that app as well:)

We have found a Japanese International Graduate student attending the Uni where hubby works who will be coming 2x week starting fall...she has several Soroban competitions under her belt, albeit as a young teenager, and I am really excited. She met with Alex a few times recently, getting to know her and showing her a few things, so I have great hopes.
Not to mention that she will be teaching at my house. Whilst I relax. ( yeah, right!!!)
Anyway, just a suggestion for anybody interested! Try your local Uni:)

[TeachingMyToddlers]

My reasoning was that I didn't want it to be overwhelming with too many columns and I figured when she was ready for a bigger one, she could transition to a small one. Not sure if that was the right choice yet, but I'd guess the resale value on an over-sized one like this can't be THAT bad considering they're so pricy to begin with.

[lzp11]

Here is another useful soroban teaching site. I think it is very helpful for novice parents teaching kids without a tutor. I don't think this has already been listed but apologies if I missed it

http://www.visual-soroban.org/

[SujaR]

Thank you for this wonderful informative thread on abacus
God bless all the contributors of this forum.
Feel blessed to be part of this forum

[prabavathinew]

Hi,
Very informative collections for Abacus learners. I was trying many sources on the net to learn Abacus to teach my 2 kids. And this thread gives a very elaborative summary of the abacus resources.
Recently, I had come across www.geniusangels.com which gives the basics of Abacus ..(i see only addition and subtraction) with animated excersices. It starts with how to use abacus tool something like positioning it for a fastness etc.....I felt its simple and easy to catch up the basics at one place.
Hope this site gives you too few more information where its difficult to find at other places.
Keep up your good work.

Best Regards
PrabavathiNew

[Sheppie]

Wow, all the knowledge and links you share and so specific and thorough! I thought I would add some of the stuff I came across when my sister's decided to sign up her little girl for abacus classes and I was the one she confided to (obviously!). We would discuss all the pros and cons and then observe how Little One's progress and her having fun. But first auntie Tiff (that's me) needed to boost her knowledge a little to be a good niece and sister's support, 
http://www.scienceclarified.com/A-Al/Abacus.html
http://www.abacusmaster.com/
http://www.wikihow.com/Use-an-Abacus

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