Feb 2023 New: Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Home Tuition for Kids Learning in School

A detailed summary of how abacus and mental arithmetic can help your child with maths home tuition.

I'm the author of this article and I'm a qualified abacus teacher, answering questions from around the world online abacus and various questions from online-soroban.com students.

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Abacus was designed in ancient Mesopotamia to help the traders and merchants get their calculations faster. While the device is simple enough, it is not exactly the easiest thing to get a hang of. Most people who are learning abacus by themselves are bound to run into one or the other type of roadblock. This basically happens because the abacus is slightly different in terms of its structure from the rest of academia. But despite these issues, we should learn abacus because learning abacus has so many great benefits. Let us learn more about the problems that people usually face when learning abacus by themselves and see if there are workarounds.

1-1.Why Learning Abacus and Mental Arithmetic on Your Own Can Be Difficult Without Home Tuition

"There are multiple reasons why learning abacus on your own can be difficult. Let us look at some reasons here: 1) Lack of explanation: This is probably the biggest reason why most people who begin learning the abacus give up in the middle. When we try to learn the abacus on our own, we go through youtube videos, read blog posts and play with a virtual abacus. The problem with all this is that the efforts that you are investing in curating the materials should be used in going through the material itself. This is why it is much better to learn from a concentrated source that already has all the material gathered and ready for you to start munching on. 2) No proper structure: Course structure is an important thing when it comes to learning anything, and it applies to the abacus too. When we learn abacus from broken sources online, we do not learn in a structured way. This causes problems in two ways, firstly we end up wasting efforts in structuring the course as we go along, secondly, we lose our sense of direction. Without a sense of direction, even the fastest ships will go off track because they will be traveling in a completely wrong direction. 3) Proper materials are not available: lack of proper materials is another big issue when it comes to learning abacus by yourself. Sure there are tons of materials available online for free, but if you really think about it, there is a lot of fluff in it. Fluff simply means that there is a large quantity of material out there but it is repetitive in nature. So even if you technically did all of those materials, you would still be pretty basic at doing abacus.

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1-2.Types of Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Learning Problems and How to Solve Them With Home Tuition

"Types of abacus learning problems There are multiple kinds of issues that new learners face such as: - Having trouble sticking to a schedule that works for you is a common problem with a lot of people. They simply are not able to find a good time for them to start and stick to the schedule that they have decided for themselves. - Understanding the maths of the abacus is also commonly seen as an issue. There are certain math concepts that are employed in abacus such as the system of complementaries that are not included in the standard math syllabus. When people are introduced to new topics like these they often get overwhelmed. How to solve these problems The problems mentioned above might seem too difficult to solve at first but they really aren’t. Let us see how we can crack down on them: - The most common issue we have with people not being able to stick with their schedule is that they do not take into account the things that prevent them from sticking to their schedule. A schedule is all about building a healthy habit. If we stop seeing it as a schedule and instead start seeing it as a habit, we will have a much easier time following them. - When it comes to the particular kind of maths we have to learn to do abacus, the best thing we can do is to practice a lot. This goes with pretty much anything related to maths. The saying, practice makes a man perfect serves really well in this case.

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1-3. Learn at Home With Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Home Tuition

"Online abacus courses are the best to learn abacus from. Let us look at some places where you could learn abacus from: Online Soroban: Our soroban school is the number one source for online abacus classes. No matter what skill you wanna learn, make use of the foundation of the abacus to make learning efficient. While the courses are paid, they aren't expensive when considering the number of techniques they cover. Moreover, the video lectures are complemented with exercises notes that explain the topics properly. Online Soroban is a popular name in the abacus niche. They make some of the most comprehensive and well-laid courses that are out there when it comes to the abacus. These courses come with virtual exercises and fun games that make learning with them a joy. Requirements for learning abacus at home Apart from the psychological needs of discipline and mental hard work that goes into learning abacus daily, having the following items can enhance your abacus learning experience online: - A stable internet connection goes without even saying. Not having a proper internet connection is such a big issue these days. Children simply cannot withstand a laggy video and crappy audio. They absolutely have to have the best experience as far as video and audio are concerned. - Moreover, having a good quality webcam to attend live lectures and a clear audio microphone are also necessary. They are the best gifts you can to your child.

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Overall  
Some subjects are simply better learned with a teacher. An abacus is one such device that is best learned through a direct medium of instruction. That is why learning on our own can create so many problems as we discussed above. Sure one can always try to tackle a problem. But the best thing to do would be to simply enroll in an online course. That will ensure that you learn the most with the least effort and in the minimal time required.