Today Abacus Math classes have become the synonym of innovation and creativity in the space of education. If you look around, most parents are researching to find the best Abacus classes online for kids at home to help their children achieve excellence in Maths education. In this writeup I will share my insights (as Mathcruise Chief Trainer) with you on this topic. But before we do a deep dive let us understand what Abacus is and Why it is used, in simple words.
Abacus Training is based on a very simple concept of beads, which is used to teach numbers to young children. Remember that beads are the proven most effective way to teach numbers to small kids. You must have seen Abacus based educational toys in almost every household worldwide, be it developing or a developed nation. In the Abacus tool, the beads are structured in a specific pattern within a wooden or a plastic frame and there are a total 5 beads in one column. The number of columns may vary from 13 to 17 depending on the size. The child moves a single bead or a set of beads to represent each digit from 0 to 9 on the Abacus tool, as per the rules taught in Abacus training.
An abacus tool typically looks like as depicted in the picture below.
As a parent you must be aware that Abacus tricks can only be learnt practically when the child has a physical Abacus tool with himself and the teacher guides him step by step during the Abacus class. Some Abacus schools share the following Abacus tricks for beginners, which is good to give the basic context but remember that these are just for overview, not for professional learning.
Trick#1 – Represent 3 on the Abacus tool
The 3 beads in the lower house should be moved to the top.
Trick#2 – In the above example, add 1 to represent 4
Here the child will need to move the bottom bead also to the upward position.
Trick#3 – Represent 14 on the Abacus tool
The most common use of Abacus Maths classes is to develop superfast speed and 100% accuracy in the arithmetic calculations. Believe me 100 really means 100 here in terms of success ratio. Have you ever wondered how people did Maths calculations before the calculator was invented? It was always Abacus since the origin of mankind. A child who has completed the professional Abacus training is called the Human Calculator and truly so, since he can do even the most complex arithmetic calculations (including addition, multiplication, subtraction and division) mentally via Visualization without even using paper or pen.
However there are numerous other advantages of Abacus Math classes, some of which are explained as follows in brief.
Increase Self Confidence and Remove Fear of Maths – The above key benefits automatically leads to tremendous increase in self confidence of the child. He becomes so proficient in the Math calculations that numbers become his best friend and most often Mathematics become his favorite subject. Which parent won’t like this?
10 years ago when I was a regular Math teacher, I heard about Abacus in one of the leading newspapers and some online education forums. At that time I enquired some fellow parents and colleagues about the Abacus course. When I interviewed a few parents I realized that most parents had very limited knowledge about its origin, and how Abacus really helped the child in day to day studies, which was very surprising to me. Even though many parents wanted their kids to enroll into the Abacus course since it is something new, they actually knew very little about the course itself, or where to find the best Abacus teacher. This prompted me to write this article for the parents community to cover the most common FAQ and most common Myths of Abacus, in my capacity as a professionally certified Abacus and Vedic Maths trainer.
Well, this is a great question and something that every parent must assess before enrolling the child into Abacus classes. Honestly speaking, Abacus is a right course for every child in the age group 5 – 15 years, and especially if you want your child to have a strong command on arithmetic calculations in terms of both speed and accuracy. However there are certain situations when you should not immediately enroll in Abacus but wait for the right time. Let us cover those situations in the next FAQ.
As the chief trainer I always personally interact with every child before enrolling into any course with Mathcruise, and you may be surprised to know that we often recommend to parents NOT to enroll kids into Abacus in following situations:
| Situation #1 | If the child is not having a strong Math foundation | If the child is not having a strong Math foundation in core concepts as per his school grade. In such cases parents should go for strengthening the school Maths else the child will keep further lagging in school |
| Situation #2 | If the child is too young (less than 5-6 years) | In such cases the child will not understand the basic numbers 0 to 9 which is a prerequisite to start Abacus training |
| Situation #3 | If the child is b/w the age group of 5-15 years which is the right age to learn Abacus but he already has a great hold on calculations | Let’s say your child is in class-4 and has a strong hold on calculations then it makes more sense to enroll him in Maths Olympiad for class 4, to further develop his analytical and logical skills and prepare him for advanced competition at both national and international level. At Mathcruise we also provide Math Olympiad classes for all grades and we have a structured teaching methodology especially for Olympiads. Olympiads is also another great way to engage children in positive learning and enrolling kids at the right age helps boost their confidence. |
| Situation #4 | If the age of child is more than 15 years | Remember that in Abacus every child needs to start from basic addition and subtraction of single digit, whether he is 5 years old or 15 years old. Abacus is like learning a new language of Maths. And kids more than 15 years of age are learning more complex Maths topics in school, so they generally get bored and do no prefer to do questions like 2+4 in the Abacus training. For such kids, we recommend to go with Vedic Maths which are interesting shortcut tricks and can cover any complex or advanced topic in Maths ranging from Geometry to Calculus. We also provide specialized Vedic Maths online classes with customized course structure. |
There are really no shortcuts and you must do quality research to ensure that you are finalizing the best abacus classes for kids. Especially if you are looking for Abacus classes online, the most important tips to find a good trainer are as follows:
Maths is just one of the areas where parents see the tangible benefit from their naked eye since the child is able to perform complex arithmetic calculations in his mind using visualization. However the biggest benefit of Abacus is the tremendous boost in confidence and brain development, which helps in growth in every sphere of life be it reading, analytical skills, grasping power, or just the ability to handle difficult situations in life as he faces more and more cut throat competition in today’s world.
Mathcruise specializes in only and all the Mathematics courses like Abacus, Vedic Maths online classes and Olympiads in addition to the regular School Maths. Our aim is to remove fear of Maths from the mind of young kids and Abacus classes are best suited to remove the fear of Maths from young kids especially in the age group of 5 – 15 years. We bring you the following unique benefits via our customized teaching methodology.
Q: How Do Abacus Math Classes Help Your Child?
A: Abacus online classes lead to superfast arithmetic calculations mentally with 100% accuracy which boosts the confidence of the child. Secondly and more importantly it leads to brain development and thus higher focus abilities which further helps the child to grasp everything much faster as compared to his peers.
Q: How Much Practice Is Really Needed for Abacus?
A: Believe me, just 10 minutes of daily practice is enough to learn Abacus effectively. But it has to be consistent and daily, that is the key to retain the concepts in mind in the long term.
Q: Which One Is the Best Abacus Model for Kids?
A: We usually go with a 17 rod Abacus model which is enough to cover the basics until the advanced levels. For advanced levels, we may need higher rods but for the first 2 years the 17 rod Abacus will be best suited. You can go with either a plastic based or wooden based frame, as per your choice.
Tanmay Gupta, a specialist in mathematics, possesses a deep passion for the subject. He has been involved with Mathcruise since its inception and takes pride in being a part of the growing Mathcruise family. Tanmay excels in both Abacus and Vedic Mathematics and is particularly interested in developing innovative methods to effectively engage with children, aiming to eliminate their fear of mathematics.
We aim to remove fear and phobia of Maths from the minds of children in the 5 – 15 yrs age group, by using fun-filled learning techniques such as Abacus, Vedic Maths, School Maths.
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