Just like being fluent in your first language, being numerically fluent will open everything .. your child’s math learning journey will be soooo much easier because they have a strong conceptual understanding of the value of numbers.

True story. A second grader came to us – Mathnasium of Red Deer –  with a very limited ability in math. We assessed his numerical fluency skill and he got 18% score. After coming to our centre for six months working on his NF Learning Plan, he was able to get 98% score! Because now, he was so numerically fluent, he had never done finger counting like most kids his age. He always do his calculation mentally – sometimes it is too much that we need to remind him it’s ok to use paper and pencil when the math problems are complex .. lol .. He is in grade 3 now and can easily beat bigger students in games that require math skills .. once he even beat an 8^th grader!

And why this student has a very strong mental math skill? It’s because he knows efficient techniques for problem solving. It’s normal for kids his age to count down by one when asked what is 25 – 7. But a child who is numerically fluent, they would think in 10s: 7 goes to 10 first, so it’s plus 3, then add 15 more to get to 25, so you’ll get 3+15 = 18. It’s more accurate and faster!

With the strong ability in addition and subtraction, a child will learn multiplication and division faster. What is 7, three times? OK, if 7 doubled is 14, then you’ll just add 7 more, and it is (again thinking in 10s) 14+6+1 = 21!

Being numerically fluent doesn’t stop with addition and subtraction. As mentioned above, this type of child has a strong conceptual understanding of the value of numbers. Later in the higher level of elementary, they will understand the correct value of a fraction. They will know that 23/24 is smaller than 24/25 because the missing smaller piece: 1/24 is bigger than 1/25. Hey .. admit that .. even many adults/parents cannot solve this without a calculator 😊

No doubt that being numerically fluent will lay a rock-solid foundation for a child to face challenges they will face in more advanced and complex math courses. Mathnasium has a top-notch program that can help your child becomes numerically fluent, so your child can become like our precious student in our true story above 😊

Stop by or call us and find out how we can help. Mathnasium of Red Deer is conveniently located at the Gaetz Avenue Crossing shopping centre, in the same area as Chapters Indigo, Michael Arts, Petland and Ashley. Our phone number is 403-872 MATH (6284). See you soon!