Gini Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 My 13 yod has never been able to memorize her multiplication OR addition facts. ( She can get by with the adding, but not quickly.) I have tried all kinds of things since her 3rd grade year. Quarter Mile, flashcards, abacus, the actual table right in front of her. All to no avail. No matter how much she looks at the answers, she can't seem to remember them 5 minutes later. I am using R&S math 5 for her as a foundation taking leave of it to delve into concepts she doesn't understand. I can't take her into any higher math until she gets those tables down pat. Does she just need some more time to "mature"? Does anyone have any ideas about what I could try????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 then I think you have to move on. I would put up facts charts and let her refer to them. It's not optimal, but I don't see what else you can do at this point. Maybe with continual use she will start to remember them. My Dd has learned her facts at least twice, maybe three times. First with Saxon, then with flash cards, then with Quarter Mile Math. I have found that she just needs to always practice them. She is 13 now and still does Quartermile Math a few times each week for about 10 minutes. This has kept her proficient, and she doesn't mind because she likes the program. I am afraid to let her stop, LOL, but I don't put it on her daily list like I used to. She is doing Saxon Algebra 1, and she needs to know this stuff pretty fast to be able to get through the problems and not forget what she was doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbajgrow Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 What about songs? I still remember the skip counting songs from third grade. The jingle might help the memorization. I know Math-u-see has a CD. And here are some from RR: http://rainbowresource.com/search.php?sid=1255744751-2094681 HTh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 Skip counting:-) Seriously!! CC has a great skip counting cd. You might check it out... it's simple but even I know the songs. Then, she can quickly figure out multiplication. Here's a good way to present the facts... http://www.mathmammoth.com/ (you can watch the video and use it without purchasing any materials from her:-) And, while doing flashcards, do it with the answers... first... stick with one family then move to the next. I wouldn't say give up. I came home from public school at the end of 5th grade thinking that I could never do the math facts. In two weeks I did. I still remember that they were large green flashcards... with yellow numbers:-) Here's the deal. If she can't remember poems, simple songs and such.. sure... move on... otherwise, I think she can do it:-) Make it fun! Just do this and no other math for a while. (Maybe 2 weeks) Try 15 minutes 2x a day... or so... Carrie:-) PS, tell her my story! I really thought I just couldn't do it... Get out the m&ms for treats for both of you... get her hyped up about it... Tell her that I think she can do it:-) I'm not sure it's so important to her math.. but rather so that she knows that SHE can do IT:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariannNOVA Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 I don't know if this will help, but my kids love it and it has helped: TimezAttack Go to TimezAttack.com -- it's free. I first used it two years ago, and this week the twins began using it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori C- Texas Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 I am right there with ya!:) My dd12 is the same way. She will know her facts one day and forget them the next. I will be keeping an eye on this tread!:) :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 I have never been able to memorise my multiplication facts. I am alright with math, just Dyslexic. I remember doing exams at high school, and getting permission to take in a math times table chart. I got straight A's for math in high school in spite of not memorising my times tables. If someone hadn't let me progress in math because I couldn't remember my times tables, than I would haven't got very far in math at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jann in TX Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 IF--and only IF she understands what multiplication and division are, please move on and let her use a chart (NOT a calculator). I allowed my dd to use a chart as long as SHE filled it out. I printed up a blank one (used an 11X11 grid) and she filled it out herself. When she misplaced it I would just print off another blank grid... She had her last chart for YEARS. Some people will NEVER fully have their basic facts memorized... BUT they can still go on to major in Science, Math and engineering.... or what ever they desire. My DH is an engineer--but NEVER--and I mean NEVER ask him what 8 times 7 is!!! My dd knows 'most' of her facts and is doing well at the local CC--(all A's so far this semester!!!). She will still need a calculator (or a chart) if she works a math problem---but she KNOWS what the processes are---and that is the important part. While I like to see students enter Pre-Algebra/Algebra 1 with their basic facts down cold--I KNOW that about 20% of my students will not be there--and may never be there--but they can still be successful at upper levels of math! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdeveson Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 I don't know if this will help, but my kids love it and it has helped: TimezAttack Go to TimezAttack.com -- it's free. I first used it two years ago, and this week the twins began using it. Ditto. We've been using it for a year and ds knows all his times tables up to the nines (the level he's currently working). A few months after we bought it, when it was clear to me that it was working, I splurged for the $39 version which has robot world levels. The free level has everything -- all you get for $40 is robots instead of little monsters in some levels. I got it as a reward for ds who was doing so well. Since ds loves computer games, it was a natural fit. Now he spews his times tables on command, or just to impress his friends. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birchbark Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 Also check out Times Tales. http://www.timestales.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdeveson Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 Some people will NEVER fully have their basic facts memorized... BUT they can still go on to major in Science, Math and engineering.... or what ever they desire. My DH is an engineer--but NEVER--and I mean NEVER ask him what 8 times 7 is!!! This is true. Best case scenario is that your kids learn the times tables, but if they don't, it's not a show stopper. This reminds me of my first statistics class in college. I was a straight-A student and then I registered for statistics. I had to learn how to do ANOVAs (analysis of variance) in one term. There are a dozen steps to doing one by hand. It was awful. I had to hire a tutor. I couldn't believe scientists had to do this in order to make sense of their research. The week before our final exam, our professor gave us each our user ID's to access the school's mainframe and get into MiniTab, a statistical program. He handed out a sheet with short instructions for plugging in our data and getting MiniTab to do the actual work. We were all thunderstruck. We asked why he had made us do ANOVA's by hand for four months when a program existed to do it in seconds. He laughed and said, "We'd never get any science done if we had to do it by hand! I just wanted you guys to know how it works. You'll never do an ANOVA by hand again." Your ds needs to understand the concept of multiplication. If she does, that's what matters. Some people memorize things, others don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 IF--and only IF she understands what multiplication and division are, please move on and let her use a chart (NOT a calculator). I allowed my dd to use a chart as long as SHE filled it out. I printed up a blank one (used an 11X11 grid) and she filled it out herself. When she misplaced it I would just print off another blank grid... She had her last chart for YEARS. Some people will NEVER fully have their basic facts memorized... BUT they can still go on to major in Science, Math and engineering.... or what ever they desire. My DH is an engineer--but NEVER--and I mean NEVER ask him what 8 times 7 is!!! My dd knows 'most' of her facts and is doing well at the local CC--(all A's so far this semester!!!). She will still need a calculator (or a chart) if she works a math problem---but she KNOWS what the processes are---and that is the important part. While I like to see students enter Pre-Algebra/Algebra 1 with their basic facts down cold--I KNOW that about 20% of my students will not be there--and may never be there--but they can still be successful at upper levels of math! Didn't your dh gets entire problems wrong, though, because of one error in his calculation? My ds13 also doesn't know his math facts - we work on them daily and it is slowly improving. But how frustrating for both of us when he gets a word problem or long division wrong because he didn't know what 7+6 or 8x7 was. OP, I have asked the same exact question a while back. For now, we are doing Timez Attack, flash cards, learning tricks and strategies and playing addition/multiplication war. My son has a slow working memory so this will just never be easy for him, I guess. Good luck!;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 I am sorry if this is redundant, but how about having your ds fill in 2 blank 100 grids daily with skip counting. The grid is 10 rows by 10 columns in a square formation. I tell my ds to skip count by 4, starting at 4. I pick 2 different numbers to skip count by daily. You could add another row or 2 if needed. I also have my ds do about 10 addition and multiplication fact problems each daily. I also have my ds watch Rock N Learn Addition and Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division regularly. There are also math games free online to re-enforce math facts such as the BBC site that I let my son use. I think that you could move on and continue to practice math facts daily at the same time. Hopefully, he will be able to get them with repeated practice and I think it is worth the effort:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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