DesertBlossom Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 What are some easy resources for memorizing multiplication facts? When I pulled DS out of 2nd grade public school at the beginning of the year on of the first things he did was 10 Days to Multiplication Mastery. This year he's been working through MM4B and now BA4A. He's got a natural talent for figuring out multiplication. For example, for 7x9 he'd work through it out loud like, "Well, I know 7x10 is 70, so minus 7 is 63." Nobody taught him those tricks, he just does it. Anyway, he's doing really well in the MM and BA books, but because he still relies on mentally working through the multiplication facts, it slows him down when he's doing harder, double digit multiplication problems. He's highly allergic to anything that looks like review. So I need something fun to help him memorize the math facts. Any ideas? Like an online game with an emphasis on speed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 I just had my boys learn them. There was some resistance at the very beginning (as we moved from the fun learning the concept and playing around phase to the drill-these-facts-to-automaticity-phase) but in the end, they just buckled down and did it. We didn't use anything special... Can you do the 10 days again? Or maybe 5x5 =/= 10 I have heard of an online game service that puts math facts at the heart of the game and some kids find really fun, but I can't think of the name of it and we never used any thing like that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 We did Times Tales. Our library even had the DVD! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SierraNevada Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 Timez Attack Video game for learning multiplication tables. Very effective and there is a free version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 Beast Academy 3B has a chapter just for learning times tables. There's a nice blend of repetition and variety. My DS is really having fun puzzling through the incomplete-table problems. It might be worth picking up at least the Practice book for that level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homefree3 Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 My seven year old BEGS to do Timez Attack. He does 15 minutes before breakfast every morning. I purchased the extended worlds because he loves it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HS Mom in NC Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 We did the skip counting songs from Math U See. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrunchyGirl Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 I hate to even suggest this but those horrible multiplication rap apps for iPad worked beautifully around here. Be prepared to buy some ear plugs though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acurtis75 Posted April 15, 2014 Share Posted April 15, 2014 We used iPad games like math rocket and math bingo. There were others but those are the names that I can remember Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted April 15, 2014 Share Posted April 15, 2014 He sounds a lot like me. I didn't get my times tables memorized and stop using those tricks until calculus. Frankly as long as he has a strategy for computing them I wouldn't worry excessively. If he computes them enough times he'll memorize them. Just don't let him use a calculator. Even when you get to algebra and precalculus, calculators should only be used for problems that require them, and even then only at the final step. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted April 15, 2014 Share Posted April 15, 2014 I have never advocated memorizing facts and I was a math teacher for years. As the complexity increases he will see a need to learn the quick facts. Moreover, his tricks show a conceptual understanding far more important than memorizing. He understands what he is doing and that is the most important. If his frustration becomes immense, ask him if he wants to do some flash cards. Some kids love flash cards as a challenge after they understand the concepts, but not when they are just expected to regurgitate. Some kids hate them. Don't push it. I had time tests in school - five minutes to do 100 problems. You had to have 90 percent accuracy. It became a game for me to see how fast I could do the problems. Each test was on a specific number (8's or 3's or whatever) and a few were over a range like ones through fives. You can still google these and get stacks of them for free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertBlossom Posted April 15, 2014 Author Share Posted April 15, 2014 Thank you for all the responses! Those are some great ideas! He sounds a lot like me. I didn't get my times tables memorized and stop using those tricks until calculus. Frankly as long as he has a strategy for computing them I wouldn't worry excessively. If he computes them enough times he'll memorize them. Just don't let him use a calculator. Even when you get to algebra and precalculus, calculators should only be used for problems that require them, and even then only at the final step. I have never advocated memorizing facts and I was a math teacher for years. As the complexity increases he will see a need to learn the quick facts. Moreover, his tricks show a conceptual understanding far more important than memorizing. He understands what he is doing and that is the most important. If his frustration becomes immense, ask him if he wants to do some flash cards. Some kids love flash cards as a challenge after they understand the concepts, but not when they are just expected to regurgitate. Some kids hate them. Don't push it.I had time tests in school - five minutes to do 100 problems. You had to have 90 percent accuracy. It became a game for me to see how fast I could do the problems. Each test was on a specific number (8's or 3's or whatever) and a few were over a range like ones through fives. You can still google these and get stacks of them for free. And thank you for this perspective as well. As he's been working through MM and BA, I feel like it's been really slow. Not that I need to push him to finish the books faster. But even 8-10 problems on a page looks overwhelming to him because it takes so long. I often let him cross a few problems off (which is fine because he doesn't need that much practice either) but I also feel like he would enjoy the more complex problems if the basic facts came faster to him. Because he rebels against "easy" stuff, I would like to make it as fun as possible and these have been some great ideas! Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted April 15, 2014 Share Posted April 15, 2014 As he's been working through MM and BA, I feel like it's been really slow. Not that I need to push him to finish the books faster. But even 8-10 problems on a page looks overwhelming to him because it takes so long. I often let him cross a few problems off (which is fine because he doesn't need that much practice either) but I also feel like he would enjoy the more complex problems if the basic facts came faster to him. When my son had an instance like this, and he was so stubborn he was not seeking the limitation being memorized facts, I asked very straight forwardly. "Do you want me to level with you about how to make this easier?" At first he said no, but quickly he came around. I didn't eliminate problems, though. You are nicer than me :). FWIW I detest decimal division and multiplication for the very tedious nature of the problems. I can do them, but I do not like them. He needs to know the process, but the skill has largely been replaced by calculators. This is not to say that I am a calculator advocate. I'm not. All I mean is that this is not an area which needs massive repetition. If it drives him crazy, don't let it kill math. He is going to have to do multiplication and division in much more engaging form as he continues into algebra and fractions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Targhee Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Lots of geat resources out there, but I just wanted to drop my $.02 in that I don't think you need to focus on memorizing the facts. I tried this with the oldest and it only caused frustration. I gave a multiplication chart to use while doing more complex and meaningful problems, and after she'd looked things up 100 time she new it. I will add that she made her own chart after the first I had given her. It is based on colors, and each multiplyer has a color. The products boxes are the color blends (eg if 5 is red and 8 is blue then 5x8 box is purple, though she had a more complex variety of colors). The key things for her success were 1) the pressure was off, and 2) she found a system that worked for her. My son made a multiplication chart too. And then he wanted a printed one. He learned his quickly by using the chart to solve more interesting problems as well. He never got times drills, flash cards, multiplication fact games, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbgrace Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 One of mine learned through Times Tales. The other learned through Timez Attack. I had a son who did the tricks you mentioned. He's a natural at mental math. However, as you mentioned, it was slowing him down. A lot. I would agree with some thoughts above about the conceptual understanding being huge. I even agree that, for some kids, it's best to let it go. However, he's awfully young to do that in my mind. I'd at least try a couple of other options to see if something sticks. We, especially one of mine, still does review. But it's been very helpful to just have those facts down. If you can get there without tears, it's worth it imo. If you can't do it without tears, I'd use a chart and let it go for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 I still do the subtraction thing for 9x and it doesn't seem to slow me down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwg Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 He sounds a lot like me. I didn't get my times tables memorized and stop using those tricks until calculus. Frankly as long as he has a strategy for computing them I wouldn't worry excessively. If he computes them enough times he'll memorize them. Just don't let him use a calculator. Even when you get to algebra and precalculus, calculators should only be used for problems that require them, and even then only at the final step. Well thank goodness. I have tried everything! The kid has a memory for everything it seems except multiplication. He does have strategies though that boggle the mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertBlossom Posted April 23, 2014 Author Share Posted April 23, 2014 I still do the subtraction thing for 9x and it doesn't seem to slow me down. Well, that's a fast one to compute mentally. But he breaks down a lot of problems that way. Like 6x7. He says "3 times 7 is 21. So 2 times 21 is 42." I'm thrilled that he has such a solid grasp on multiplication. But eventually it would be easier to just know 6x7. I haven't started any additional multiplication work with him. He's working on the multiplication section of BA 4A. He's lucky to get through 2 pages of problems per day in part because the problems are pretty complicated for an 8 year old. But keeping him focused can be a challenge as well. So I haven't had the heart to make him do any more math each day. I may try one of these ideas over the summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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