What worked for your child in basic adding and subtracting?

My 11 year old brother had problems in math also. I got him flash cards Adding-Going Forward Subtracting-Going back Like rewinding and fast forwarding. Get your Daughter Flash Cards at Your Local Dollar Store.Cheap and Great!

my daughter is in 1st grade as well. what seems to work is the use of objects like you said so she can visualize what's going on rather than just thinking about the numbers. Having those 20 pennies in front of her & counting out 8 & taking those 8 away makes it easier to come to the conclusion that there is 12 left. (Instead of 20 minus 8 equals 12). As things get easier this way, you can move on to still having those pennies there, but not counting out the 8. Just thinking about it. That should suffice for 1st grade. I am just taking it 1 day at a time because stressing too much about the academic side of 1st grade will bring too much stress on yourself and on your daughter. You gals deserve the rest & together-time more!! =) Good luck and much aloha!

I have used a white board that you can use dry erase markers on like the schools have,and dry erasers. My daughter and I would make up numbers and I would help her learn how to do basic adding and subtracting that way. The cool part about using one of these white boards is that it can be used over and over again,and it is also very helpful for when the children start getting into the more difficult math problems as they go up to the next grade level.

My sister is in 2nd grade now, and my stepdad (math nearly-genius, although he has problems with some 7th grade math problems) taught her some tricks. She counts on her fingers. She gets extremely frustrated all the time, though, and isn't patient enough. Just keep her calm, and maybe play some number games with her.

flash cards work really good use money not just coins play shop or something like that i work at a school mainly with k-3 and the 1st graders we use money to count and add and subtract.

Flash cards, adding or subtracting household things, and Sesame Street (the older episodes on video like "One Two Three Count With Me) worked great with all of my kids. The trick for them was that I never made it seem like a lesson. We would be getting meals ready, or doing laundry and we'd do mental math right there. That always worked. They also loved the cheap workbooks you get from the dollar store. Those helped too.