conuly

I had huge problems with "math" in Elementary School, even though I was great at math concepts. The only thing that worked was years of regularly doing math. By about partway through fourth grade I'd done enough that it clicked enough in my brain that I was alright. I think you shouldn't discourage her using her fingers, just keep her regularly doing math. If she does it enough, bits of it will start to stick in her brain, and she'll use slower tools less as she needs them less. And hey, I still use fingers now and then, and I think that's okay. I didn't run into serious problems with math until calculus 2, so what I did worked well enough.

As to Evangeline, why have her slow down? Sure, she'll be bored in school with her math work, but you wouldn't deliberately slow down someone's reading development for that reason. Slowing someone down can really kill their enthusiasm and hurt their momentum. I say let her keep advancing. If she has a natural gift for arithmetic, then let her enjoy that, progress in it, and be good at it. And if it saves her time later, she can put it into any subject she finds more challenging. She's unlikely to be equally good at everything. And if she ends up having all her homework being really easy, then you can work with her on other things outside of school that suit her abilities.