So 3.5 year old Ella has been learning soroban (abacus) for the past 2-3 months now. She goes to hour-long lessons twice a week (the abacus lessons are interspersed with much singing, playing, and moving about so I estimate the actual abacus learning to be about 20-25 minutes long only) and practices at home for 15-30 minutes 5 days a week. This morning during our practice session, I was dictating one of the equations for her 14-3+7-5 and I noticed she was not entering the numbers on her abacus. I thought she was not paying attention so I started repeating the question when she blurted out 13! She did this several more times confirming it was not a fluke! She said she was solving the equations on the “abacus in her head.” Even though I kinda knew that Ella would learn how to do mental math through the abacus after a certain period of time, and I have seen the videos of kids doing it, it still came as a pleasant shock to find out that she can actually do it! :ohmy: She still has a long long LONG way to go before finishing the entire curriculum (it goes all the way up to decimals, fractions, square roots, cube roots, etc), but I am so happy that she has learned to do the calculations in her head. I was worried that she would be unable to make the mental jump from using a physical abacus to visualizing one since I can’t imagine myself being able to do it, but, once again, she proved me wrong! lol
I especially wanted to share this with parents who are also teaching the abacus to their kids because the learning curve is so steep and progress seems so agonizingly slow in the first few months! And I also want to add that I did not know how to use an abacus myself when we started. :laugh:
That’s wonderful!! It’s very inspiring! Ellla is such an intelligent girl!
I hope one day my little boy will be able to do mental Math too! We are working on it. This Math journey is not as rosy as learning to read but I am sure that my son is learning every day. I have strong faith in early learning. I can’t wait for the day when my son surprises me the same way Ella did you!!
Hi aangeles, which abacus does your daughter use? Is a 13 rod sufficient? Plain or multicoloured beads? I saw a cheap plastic one on ebay but wondered if it would stand up to much use. Thanks, Lois
I am beyond thrilled for you guys! Learning the abacus is such a wonderful gift that will impact math skills the rest of her life. I am so jealous you guys have a center where you’re at, I am trying to decide on an online curriculum now but I know it will be no where near as effective as in person tutoring. We’re going to give it a shot tho!
Ella, Kudos to you for doing such a fantastic job with your abacus, we know you must be practicing and trying very hard!
Just another example of the power of learning the abacus.
I’ve barely practiced with my soroban (maybe an hour or two total) and I can already mentally manipulate the beads in my head for simple stuff (three digit addition and subtraction)… of course I’m a full grown adult that can visualize easily. You’d better believe that I’m absolutely going to introduce the abacus when the time is right… would seem foolish not to. I don’t think the abacus gets enough love around here lol
The hard part is finding an instructor (or school) that is good. And for that, Google is your friend, I guess.
Seriously though, this is a fantastic report and really puts me at ease that my ideas are sound. Thank you!!!
Oh, and I plan on taking your idea of the number stamps to be able to start early with the numbers… awesome. I’ve learned a ton from reading your experiences, so thanks again!
Aangeles, how exciting, and thank you for sharing the inspiration with us! Now I’m going to read through all of your past posts to try and figure out what I need to be doing now to be there one day with our kids sigh when will the US get their act together? I have seen some abacus programs starting here, but not near us. Hope is on the horizon, though. Again, congrats for the faith and foresight for being so dedicated and inspiring us all!
Aangeles, congrats to you and ella. She is really gifted as demostrated. What an inspiration. I was afraid that using the abacus would create a certain dependancy on the physical instrument but as i understood after some time, they start visualizaing it.
Thanks for sharing and keep posting.
Ella uses a 7-rod multicolored plastic abacus for beginners given by the school (see attached pic 1). When she graduates to the next level (probably in a month or so), she will be given a 13-rod plain one (pic 2) which she calls “the big girl abacus” and which she can’t wait to use! lol
The Mathabacus program was the one I was considering doing with Ella if we were still in Chicago and did not have access to a teaching center. I think for parents as well-versed in EL as you guys are, you would probably be just as effective teaching your own kids as a teacher in a center. There are certain benefits to going to a school, such as having some (healthy) peer pressure, social interaction, etc. but Ella being the youngest kid the school has ever accepted, they are giving her one-on-one lessons anyway so she doesn’t yet get the benefits of being in a school. We were lucky that she has a really good teacher who totally gets it that she is an active 3-year-old with a short attention span and she modifies the lessons considerably to keep her interested. Having said that, nobody knows as well as I do how her mind works and how to best explain a concept so she fully understands it, so I do a good amount of supplemental teaching at home as well. I would estimate that I probably do 75-80% of the work and the teacher the rest. And I am very happy to do it!
By the way, TmT, thank you for adding that note of encouragement addressed to Ella. She was completely thrilled to read something personally addressed to her! :laugh:
Ella goes to SIP Academy which is based in Malaysia but has centers all over the world. The one Ella goes to is a franchise BUT:
The franchise owners themselves went to train in Malaysia and are actually the head teachers in the center.
They take a very personal interest in and approach to each of their students and were willing to work with Ella on a one-on-one basis, taking into consideration her age, attention span, and learning style. They normally only accept students 5 years old and above.
They even offered to train me for free so that I can more effectively teach Ella at home.
They use the two-hand method and place a strong emphasis on auditory problem-solving (versus relying on written questions).
It was actually the only abacus center that I know of in our country so I didn’t really have any choice. :wub: I just figured that if it didn’t work out, I could still use their materials and teach Ella myself at home. :biggrin:
wow, excellent work both of you . You are very inspirative as always :yes: .
I would also love to try soroban abacus once the time is right but I am still wondering what is the miracle difference in using soroban abacus and classical abacus? Why soroban works better? Or can my child learn mental math by using classical abacus?
Anything is possible of course, but I am guessing the things that contribute to the mental math success of the abacus may be a strong emphasis on groups of 5 (which leads to quicker thinking) and the number of beads. A traditional 100 bead abacus is too slow to encourage the “flash” of mental math, it’s slower and more work to manipulate, and therefore more work to visualize as well Just a speculation, but I have not personally heard of people doing mental math on a 100 bead abacus if that is indeed what you’re referring to.
Yes I speculate myself - I think my left brain really wants to know lol . For sure it must be easier to manipulate with the beads if they are placed horizontally. Maybe Ella will tell us one day
And maybe it is becouse they teach children to use the traditional abacus very slowly. But you are probably right that it would be difficult with 10 beads in the row.
sigh when will the US get their act together? I have seen some abacus programs starting here, but not near us. Hope is on the horizon, though. Again, congrats for the faith and foresight for being so dedicated and inspiring us all!