galaxy Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Hi everyone, My 8 & 10 year old still struggle with times tables. We've done the deck of cards game, khan, multiplication(dot)com and doing the table together. What other tips or tricks are there? We literally went 3 hours yesterday playing games and going over and over the tables. Then come testing they had blank stares and couldn't get it done in the alloted time. Links to any online games or thoughts to memorization would be great. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jplain Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Timez Attack has a free version. It's overstimulating for me, and I thought my daughter wouldn't like it (she's not a gamer, and it's kinda dark), but she loves it. Go figure. :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuovonne Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 The Times Table Series of posts at the Let's Play Math blog has some good ideas. http://letsplaymath.net/tag/times-table-series/ I just did a variation of this with my DD. Before I started this method she knew a handful of multiplication facts, got had some mixed up with others, and drew complete blanks on the rest. After this method she was able to write her entire times tables in 15 minutes. I don't use exactly the same strategies as Denise, but I use many of the same ones. We played "once through the deck" (described on the blog) with each of these strategies until DD had them down: x 1 (same number) x 2 (double) x 4 (double, double) x 5 (take half and that's your tens) x 9 (tens digit is one less than the other number, and digits add up to nine) x 10 squares Then I taught the following strategies / tricks commutitive law 5679: 56 = 7 x 8 Next door neighbor (described on the blog) Those ten tricks cover the entire multiplication table up to 10x10. When DD can write the entire multiplication table up to 10x10 in under 10 minutes, I'll teach her the distributive law to get her to 12x12. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galaxy Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 This is excellent, thanks so much you guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celia Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 I don't use math-u-see as a program, but did buy their skip counting CD. Learning to music has worked well for them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miracleone Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 My daughter knows the skip counting but I need her to learn the times table by memorization instead of using her fingers when she is multiplying. Is there a website or song information that I can get (preferably free)? Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acurtis75 Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 One of the things I think works well with the mus curriculum which could be applied to whatever curriculum you use is to learn the facts one at a time. I think when we started gamma which is the multiplication book the order we learned the facts was: X 0 X 1 X 2 (we already knew how to skip count so this was easy) X 10 X 5 Those were the first 5 of 30 lessons and we finished those in about 2 weeks. Because of the skip counting foundation and learning them one at a time it was relatively painless. X 9 with tips listed by previous poster covering the pattern & skip counting X 3 utilizing skip counting and patterns X 6 same as above...and pointing out that there is a pattern X 4 skip counting We went throughout all of the above relatively quickly but didn't move to the next fact until we mastered one. That left x6, x7 & x8 which were the ones that took the most work I think sometimes when people read the descriptions on mus and discuss. mastery Curriculums they envision moving really slowly but the concept is move at your child's pace. Memorizing them one set at a time builds confidence. Taking the time to learn a table before moving on saves a lot of finger counting time down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicalTwins Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Try http://www.xtramath.com it is free also. You can track their progress too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjcmehl Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 We just solved our multiplication problem for the oldest two in a matter of an hour...the best $30 I have ever spent. Times Tales DVD...I am loaning it out to all my friends and family...and then will donate for the homeschool group library. I had the book of a similar title, but this is way beyond that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celia Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 A cool trick for making the 9's easy is this: Hold your hands up in front of you. If you're multiplying, say, 9x3, put down your third finger. To the left, you'll have two fingers standing, to the right, seven. So, the answer is 27. Works for all of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mytwomonkeys Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 we just finished times tales with my daughter. we started it in mid august and finished it 2 weeks ago. we now drill with flashcards and online websites that are game oriented for times tables (specifically, she likes a fairy website). she knows her times tables & division facts through 12 now perfectly (times tales doesn't cover all though - just the upper). i would highly recommend it. we used the book - not the dvd & definitely preferred it. i found it used here for $16ppd. hth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LavenderGreen Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 You mentioned that you were looking for "links to any online games or thoughts to memorization" I thought you might want to check out watchknow.org. Registration isnt necessary to view resources. The site contains links to tons of videos and songs that other educators found useful, in all subjects, not just math. My four year old listened in and enjoyed the multiplication songs/ videos as much as his eight year old brother. Btw, there are also apps available for watchknow for ipad and android, but I could never get the android version to load. They were free apps, and I think they still are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsabelC Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 (edited) We've had some success with Timez Attack. Also just printing off a colorful table with all the facts on it, and then several copies that are either blank or partially filled in, and letting the child notice patterns, fill in the missing numbers, and generally play with it. Another strategy I have never been sufficiently committed to finishing, is just doing one fact every day. If you do it on weekends as well, it will only take a little over 2 months to cover them all (assuming that your child understands that they're commutative). Edited October 11, 2011 by Hotdrink Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veggiegal Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Have you tried this honeycomb activity? ("60 seconds sweep") For some kids, this looks a lot less intimidating than a traditional times table chart, or countless flashcards/worksheets. It's also quite a different way of reinforcing the multiplication facts, as the answers are given, and the child needs to supply the question(s). (FWIW, I am currently working on getting my 9-year-old comfy doing the sweep in 3 minutes. We'll work up to 60 seconds). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 We like the Schoolhouse Rock Multiplication Rock songs. They are available on Youtube. You may also want to make this Lift-the-flap Multiplication file folder practice sheet for your kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 we just finished times tales with my daughter. we started it in mid august and finished it 2 weeks ago. we now drill with flashcards and online websites that are game oriented for times tables (specifically, she likes a fairy website). she knows her times tables & division facts through 12 now perfectly (times tales doesn't cover all though - just the upper). i would highly recommend it. we used the book - not the dvd & definitely preferred it. i found it used here for $16ppd. hth Yes, I would recommend trying the Times Tales DVD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mytwomonkeys Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Yes, I would recommend trying the Times Tales DVD. they have a youtube channel with samples of the dvd here we actually went with the book, as we preferred that, but it was nice to watch the videos first to get a real feel for the program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LavenderGreen Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Thanks for the link- This honeycomb idea is great. I have never seen it before, and I had never thought to drill his tables in reverse, so to speak. (Guess I havent been doing this long enough!) So I printed it out, and was impressed by how easy it is to use. It really challenged my eight year old to try to figure out the factors from any given product, and I like how I can tuck it my purse or post it on the wall for a quick review. I can even imagine doing this orally in the car... just giving him a number and asking him for any two factors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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