Do you ever wonder, why for most of us, our parents are so much better with numbers than we are?

How about our children?  Are most of us concerned that they are not as good at numbers as maybe even we were at their age.

That’s a scary thought!

I mention it here, not to alarm anyone.  The simple fact is that as we have more access to smart phones, calculators, and other calculation devices, our dependence on them increases.  The sheer mental ability to calculate in our head diminishes.

As children, a large majority of us probably questioned why we had to calculate mentally.  But as adults, we all recognize the importance of calculating mentally and wish that our children were good at it.

What does that have to do with the history of Abacus, you ask?  Sorry about my rant, but it just leads back to the the innovation of mankind, and how “necessity breads ingenuity”.

You can find a number of wonderful blogs with a lot of  background on Abacus, but here is a quick synopsis of the history of Abacus.  Additional links below for those who want more…

Abacus is a Latin word that has its origins in the Greek words abax or abakon (meaning “table” or “tablet”). The abacus is among one of first counting devices which are used to count large numbers.

The abacus was invented somewhere in between 300-500 BC.   Like most things, the abacus has also transitions as it was adapted in different civilizations across the world.   Different times brought different changes in the forms of the abacus as its usage was adapted by races from China, India, Korea, Persia, Rome, Japan and Russia.

The abacus in ancient days was used purely as a calculating device. Every bead was assigned a value starting from a units place moving towards the left. The beads in the upper section had different values than of those in the lower section. The calculating process required the use of both hands of the person using it. All the calculations were based on the movements of the beads.

Abacus was probably one of the greatest invention of the ancient days that helped the merchants and traders keep track of inventories and accounting.

The Suanpan, one of the modern age Abacus was a Chinese adaptation and had 2 beads in the upper section and 5 beads in the lower section.   Due to its complexity, it was replaced by Soroban, a Japanese abacus, which was developed further by a famous mathematician Seki Kowa who removed one bead each from upper and lower decks to make it 1 bead in the upper section and 4 beads in the lower section.

Abacus most educational institutes use and teach today is the Soroban abacus.  That’s what we will be using in our lessons and worksheets.

For more detailed information, checkout this link https://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/abacus/history.html

In this age of calculators, computers, and Artificial Intelligence, why are we talking about Abacus Math?

We are talking about it for precisely that reason.   With all the technology our children can now access, as parents, we all want our children to have the ability to calculate quickly in their head.

If surveyed, most of us equate this ability to mental sharpness, good grades, admission to great colleges, a great job, and a great future.

Some children are born with the natural ability to be great at Numbers and Mental Math.

The GOOD NEWS however, is that, this ability CAN BE TAUGHT.

With practice and the right guidance, any child can learn and develop the ability to visualize and do math mentally.  Not only will they learn Mental Math, but also benefit from all the other advantages of developing this skill.

Abacus Math takes advantage of plasticity of  a child’s brain to develop Visualization.  This helps the child develop not only Mental Math skills like those in this video but also delivers other lifelong benefits through Visualization and Right Brain Development.

Abacus Math Taps Into Plasticity Of the Brain

Without getting too technical, which honestly is beyond me anyway (LOL), I am going to lay down some geek talk that explains plasticity of a child’s brain and how it can be trained to develop amazing mental math ability.

At birth an infant has all the neurons (neurons are basic cells making up the brain) that it will ever need.  The brain weighs approximately 2/3 pound.  The brain starts to develop and different neurons begin forming connections (synapses) to each other.

During early and middle childhood, the brain forms and refines a complex network of connections.  It is a period of rapid change in the brain.  Although the process of forming these connections  is biologically driven, individual experiences alter and promote these connections in a big way.    A great example is language.  During early years, the brain strengths connections for the language that the child hears regularly.  Over the years, the brain eliminates connections for other sounds due to which most adults have a difficult time learning new languages.

By the time the child is 5 years old, the brain increases to 80% of its adult weight (about 3lbs).   A child’s brain reaches its adult weight by the time the child turns 14 years of age.

Prior to age 14, repeated experiences can form and transform various important connections in the brain. Connections strengthened through regular use become stronger and more complex.

On the flip side, connections in the brain that are not exercised are considered non-essential.  The brain prunes them over time to allow the brain to operate more efficiently.

Abacus Math learning takes advantage of this plasticity to build brain connections that help children excel at mental math.   In fact, by using the Abacus, children are simultaneously developing their abilities to visualize –  Visualization & Mental Math go hand in hand.  By Visualization, children learn to see picture of the abacus in their brain to “see” the answer rather than “calculate” the answer.

The window of opportunity to develop this amazing ability is best taken advantage of during age 4 to 12.

Abacus Math Leads To Right Brain Development

For those of us not in the medical field, we’ve all seen enough pictures to know that our brains have a vertical ridge running down the center of our brains.  That ridge divides the brain into almost two equal sections.  One section is called the Left Hemisphere or Left Brain and the other section is called the Right Hemisphere or Right Brain.  Although they look very similar, they are very different in the functions they perform.

With that said, it’s important to understand that both sides of the brain are important and work together all the time.  However there are some interesting differences in how they operate.  The left brain is sequential in nature.  It is logical and analytical.   What and how we learn in school stimulates and exercises primarily the left side of the brain.  On the other hand, the right brain is simultaneous in nature.  It has the ability to see the big picture and interpret things contextually.

Said differently, we can also say that Left Brain is about knowledge.

Right Brain is about Creativity, Big Picture thinking, Focus, and Concentration.

In the global economy today where knowledge work (left brain activity) is exceedingly outsourced, it is important to exercise the right brain just as much to develop creativity and outside the box thinking.

If you want to dive deeper and really geek out on the difference between left and right brain, there’s a wonderful book by Daniel Pink – “A Whole New Mind.  Why Right Brainers Will Rule the World”.

Conclusion

For all the reasons discussed above, Abacus Learning delivers huge benefit to children in the ages 4-12.  It does so by taking advantage of the brain plasticity at that age.   Not only does the child develop amazing mental math skills which can lead to a great educational career;  like getting into Gifted and Advanced Programs early in school, excellent grades, and great colleges;   they also develop and hone their visualization abilities.  This gives them an advantage to write their own ticket in their professional life by become a creative worker.  Professions like architect or a designer rather than a knowledge worker who follows predefined steps to accomplish their work.

Download this FREE Parent Guide to learn how Abacus Math delivers amazing Results for children in a relatively short period of time – “Shockingly Simple Path to Early Math Success”

Benefits of Abacus Math are many.  Without rehashing they why and how again in this post, as covered in “Why Abacus in this Age of Computers?”, Abacus learning produces best results for children in the ages  4-12.  Not only is the child able to develop Mind Math skills, but also develops Visualization to improve big picture thinking, creativity, concentration and focus among other benefits.   All these benefits last a lifetime.

These results come from Abacus Training strengthened through routine practice.  There are two core components for Abacus Training and both are equally important.  These are:

• Learning to use the Abacus
• Visualizing Abacus for Mind Math

Learning to use the Abacus

Abacus training begins with easy numbers.   Every week the program teaches one or two basic techniques on the Abacus.  Even though the numbers are initially small and easy to do mentally for some students, it’s essential that the Student do these questions on the Abacus.   The numbers continue to get difficult week over week and if the child fails to master basic usage of the Abacus during earlier weeks, it is likely to slow down their progress in the program and possibly lead to unnecessary frustration.

The program is designed for typically 60 minutes of Abacus work a week completed in two 30 min sessions.   Pick two days of the week to do the Abacus work.  We recommend Sat and Wed as the two Abacus days – Saturday for learning the new technique and Wednesday to complete anything left over from Saturday.

Visualizing Abacus For Mind Math

The end goal with Abacus Training is Mind Math.  To achieve that goal, we recommend starting work on Mind Math with the student early in the Program.    We recommend that the child work on Mind Math about 10 minutes a day for 3-4 days of the week using the Mind Math worksheets included in the program.  So if your Abacus day is Saturday, spend 10 minutes after the Abacus Work on Mind Math.

Spend 10-15 minutes for Mind Math on Monday.

Do Abacus Work on Wed.  Spend 10 minutes after Abacus Work on Mind Math.

Spend another 10 minutes for Mind Math on Thursday.

Here’s a typical weekly routine for Abacus Training.  A PDF version of the routine can be downloaded here.

Day of the Week	Abacus - Time	Mind Math - Time
Saturday	30 minutes	5 minutes
Monday		10 minutes
Wednesday	30 minutes	5 minutes
Thursday		10 minutes
Totals	60 minutes	30 minutes

Achieving the desired results for 90 minutes a week of Abacus Work is a no-brainer!

You’ve selected a very fulfilling undertaking if you are embarking on teaching Abacus to your child or others in your area.

If you watch any of the videos on YouTube where children perform spectacular mind math exercises, you are probably intimidated at that thought of teaching this skill.   Logically, you probably think that unless you are able to develop this capability yourself, you will not be able to teach it.

Fortunately, that’s not the case.   The good news is that your job in this role is that of a Coach.   Like a good Coach, you need to know how you can guide your students to success.   It’s not important or expected for you to perform at the level your students will be able to achieve.

If you haven’t read this post “Why Abacus In the Age of Computers?”, I would suggest reading this now.   It will clarify why adults have a more difficult time learning new techniques while children can absorb it like a sponge.

Your role as a Coach is critical to deliver spectacular results for your students. Here are 6 simple tips for new teachers:

• Stay ahead of what you will be teaching your student.   At the onsite, we suggest practicing first 8 weeks of student material yourself prior to starting a lesson with a child.
• Complete every problem on every worksheet yourself.   Follow every rule that you expect the student to follow.
• That is the only way you will be able to identify if your student is not following the technique.
• Be mindful of all the rules and be prepared to correct your student when they make mistakes.
• Give equal priority to Mind Math and don’t hesitate to challenge your student with Mind Math.
• Be encouraging and work on speed rather than complexity to develop visualization early.
• Be sure to grade all worksheets and have the child correct any mistakes.

As part of our course, we’ve built training video lesson and step by step guide to help teachers understand how to teach the material.  Once the teacher gets more comfortable with the content, we’ve also developed some shortcuts for the teacher to accelerate their learning of the content.

To learn how to work with your child/student on Abacus Mind Math to experience amazing results, register today for a FREE Value Packed Training – “5 Key Steps to Learn, Teach, and Achieve Amazing Results from Abacus Mind Math for your Children/Students”

Remember, each child is different. Patience and encouragement is key, so don’t cut corners.  Follow each lesson in the course and make sure all work for the week is completed before moving on to the next lesson.

Remember, Abacus training is a marathon, not a sprint!

The question we often get asked is

• How long does it take to learn abacus mind math?
• How long before my child can calculate quickly in their head?

Both great questions, but please understand that learning Mind Math, like anything else worth pursuing, takes time.  This implies that learning abacus and developing mind math skills is a process that is best developed over time with consistent practice.

But, it does NOT mean that the child has to continue working on the Abacus year after year for the rest of their lives.

In fact, the best part is, Abacus Mind Math is a finite program with a finite curriculum the child in master in a relatively short time period.

Unlike remedial tutoring programs where children can attend classes pretty much from kindergarten to high school, Abacus Mind Math has a set curriculum that the child can learn over just a few months.

With that said, you will see constant improvement in their Mental Math capability starting with the very first month in the program.  This capability will continue to expand and become automatic as they advance through the carefully structured program.

Once they complete the program and develop these admirable Mental Math abilities and powerful Math Fluency, they are exceptionally equipped to take on advanced Math topics with confidence as they advance to higher grades.

But parents take note, over-aggressive practice on a weekly basis will not deliver long lasting results any quicker than working the lessons at a steady consistent pace week after week.

Abacus Training develops the Visualization muscle of the brain over a period of 12-18 months with consistent weekly exercise. This rewiring of the brain occurs over a period of time and the brain makes that wiring permanent so that this amazing capability a child develops, stays with them long after they complete the Abacus Curriculum.

Learn Abacus At Home core curriculum is designed for a period of about 18 months.    For detailed curriculum – see here. We’ve broken the core curriculum into 6 units, with each unit containing 11 weekly lessons.    The core curriculum covers arithmetic operations like Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, and Decimals.

At the end of this 6 Unit, members will have the option to access additional lessons and practice materials that teach more advanced operations like squares and square roots for students who want to go even further.

Timeline of results you can expect from your student

• After Unit 1, a child will be able to add and subtract string of simple single digit and double digit numbers in their mind.
• After Unit 2, a child will be able to calculate string of complex single digit and double digit numbers in their mind.
• After Unit 3, a child will be able to calculate long strings of simple and complex two digit numbers in their mind much quicker than before.
• After Unit 4, a child will be able to do any two digit number and simple 3 and 4 digit numbers mentally. They will also be able to calculate 2 digit by one digit multiplication mentally.
• After Unit 5, a child will be able to do any two, three digit addition/subtraction and any three digit by one digit multiplication. They will also be able to do simple division in their mind.
• After Unit 6, a child will be able to do any addition, subtraction, 3 digit by 2 digit multiplication, and 3 digit by one digit division and some three digit by two digit division in their mind

As expected, results may vary by student. Some students may hit the milestone sooner, while others may take a little longer. Assessments included in the course are strongly recommended at the end of each Unit before progressing the child to the next unit to measure their progress.

To learn how to work with your child/student on Abacus Mind Math to experience amazing results, register today for a FREE Value Packed Training – “Prepare your child for Early Math Success”

Ready to get started on this rewarding journey?  Try free for 7 days.