galaxy Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 My 8 year old just can't seem to get through his times tables. No matter how many tricks, games, cards, focused walk throughs we do. We will recite 8x8=64 10 times and then I'll ask him what 8x8 is and he has a blank stare on his face. Oh, and no, he has no learning disabilities whatsoever, he's just not retaining his times tables. And yes, it's been verified that he has no learning disabilities. Any advice welcome. Sorry if I sound short here, I'm just frustrated with this one. We need to move on, but I fear moving on without mastering the times tables will hurt him later on. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jann in TX Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Some children can memorize 'skip counting' much easier than naming the facts. Skip counting is easy to carry over (build on) and also helps a LOT with division and reducing fractions! My girls learned their multiplication facts by first skip counting-- we made up rhythms/chants and jumped rope to our skip counting. Whole-body involvement made learning them so much faster! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldberry Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 My DD didn't really know her times tables until last year (6th grade). Yes, we worked on them, but it just didn't click until then. So I think maybe some kids take longer. (She is WHIZZING through pre-algebra this year though...:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Have you tried the Times Tales DVD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alicia64 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Yes, I have a suggestion: try Times Tales. I have two eight year olds w/ very different learning abilities/styles and they both loved Times Tales. It's a supplement for whatever kind of math you use. Alley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparrow Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 My son really struggled with multiplication facts (but understood higher math concepts :confused:). This book helped him memorize the facts: Times Tables The Fun Way He remembered the colorful pictures in detail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Princess Peach Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 I really like Xtramath. Alternatively, he's really pretty young and it's more important that he understands the concept of multiplication at this point. You could always print out a multiplication chart and let him use that for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galaxy Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 You guys are awesome! Thanks so much. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 (edited) My 8 year old just can't seem to get through his times tables. No matter how many tricks, games, cards, focused walk throughs we do. We will recite 8x8=64 10 times and then I'll ask him what 8x8 is and he has a blank stare on his face. Learn the 3's and 5's. 2's - double 4's - double twice 8's - double thrice 6's - triple then double 9's - either use the hand trick or multiply by 10 and subtract (e.g. 7*9 is 70-7) (ETA: fixed the typo above, 70-7, not 70-9) Learn the 7's not covered above. 11 - times 10 plus one more instance 12 - times 10 plus two more instances Much easier than skip counting. Edited January 23, 2012 by nmoira typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
virtual_twins_mom Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Great ideas, everyone! Just remember, the "want to" has to be there for ANYTHING to work. ;) Sometimes with my ds, I've found that he needs .....how can I say this without sounding like a behaviorist.... a good reason to apply himself. Small "rewards" for small goals is the way to go. Also, he is one that gets easily overwhelmed. We are also working on the times tables, so I've had to severely limit the number of "facts" that we include in any game, drill, etc. Sometimes it's just 2 or 3 facts from which to choose. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalicoKat Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 My 8 year old just can't seem to get through his times tables. No matter how many tricks, games, cards, focused walk throughs we do. We will recite 8x8=64 10 times and then I'll ask him what 8x8 is and he has a blank stare on his face. Oh, and no, he has no learning disabilities whatsoever, he's just not retaining his times tables. And yes, it's been verified that he has no learning disabilities. Any advice welcome. Sorry if I sound short here, I'm just frustrated with this one. We need to move on, but I fear moving on without mastering the times tables will hurt him later on. Thoughts? We stopped and got out the math blocks. Build it to know it. Know it, you don't have to build it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in AL Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Yahtzee. Lots of Yahtzee. Dd was stuck when she was 8, too (many years ago), and I stumbled upon using Yahtzee when I realized she could just look at three 2s and know they totaled "six". When I explained to her that was 2x3, a light bulb came on. I got inventive with the dice (by adding more dice) once she had mastered all she could with the Yahtzee dice. She used to think she was dumb at math (her words), but now does math very fast in her head. Nmoira, your rhyme sounds really cool. I'll have to revisit that when I don't have a headache, because right now, that is going over my head. :001_huh: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenniferlee Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Times tales! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Learn the 3's and 5's. 2's - double 4's - double twice 8's - double thrice 6's - triple then double 9's - either use the hand trick or multiply by 10 and subtract (e.g. 7*9 is 70-9) Learn the 7's not covered above. 11 - times 10 plus one more instance 12 - times 10 plus two more instances Much easier than skip counting. :iagree: When I was teaching 6th graders who had never learned theirs, and I used to drill them, I would just wait. It doesn't matter how long it takes you to get it if you know how to get it. Yes, it's better to memorize for fluency, but it's also good to have tricks for calculation. And the above is what I often taught kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 (edited) :iagree: When I was teaching 6th graders who had never learned theirs, and I used to drill them, I would just wait. It doesn't matter how long it takes you to get it if you know how to get it. Yes, it's better to memorize for fluency, but it's also good to have tricks for calculation. And the above is what I often taught kids. Thanks for quoting. I saw my typo and fixed it :) Edited January 23, 2012 by nmoira Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Times Attack is fun for kids. Also, just move onto other math academically while letting him do Timez Attack, xtra math or similar and loop back periodically to check multiplication. Division, fractions and applied math will help make the multiplication more memorable and relevant. Memorization alone should not be the test here before moving on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Math Shark http://www.amazon.com/Educational-Insights-8490-MathShark/dp/B00000IRMM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327351483&sr=8-1 My son thought it was so much fun we used to take it in the car with us on car rides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama2cntrykids Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 My DD didn't really know her times tables until last year (6th grade). Yes, we worked on them, but it just didn't click until then. So I think maybe some kids take longer. (She is WHIZZING through pre-algebra this year though...:-) My oldest ds is 11 (5th grade) and he's also just now learning his times table. My youngest ds is 8 (3rd grade) and is also struggling. I've resorted to letting him have a "cheat sheet". I may look at the times table dvd someone mentioned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 My 8 year old just can't seem to get through his times tables. No matter how many tricks, games, cards, focused walk throughs we do. We will recite 8x8=64 10 times and then I'll ask him what 8x8 is and he has a blank stare on his face. Oh, and no, he has no learning disabilities whatsoever, he's just not retaining his times tables. And yes, it's been verified that he has no learning disabilities. Thoughts? We used rods with DS and sometimes sang silly songs while clapping like, "8 by 8, it fell on the floor. When it stood back up it was 64." DS prefers practice via the keyboard. Linky follows... http://www.mathusee.com/wp-includes/popup_math_drill.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtnTeaching Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Another vote for Times Tales. Absolutely NOTHING worked for my dyslexic dd until we got Times Tales. Four years later and she still uses what she learned with Times Tales to do her math work. Recently, for the fun of it (did you hear the evil laugh there?), I drilled dd (now 7th) and ds (9th) with some times table questions. Dd was faster to answer than ds (who takes Art of Problem Solving classes). Having said that, ds despised Times Tales and would not use it. He just does not learn that way. Dd, on the other hand, is very artistic and I think the pictures in Times Tales was perfect for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Try Speed!. Wonderful, fun and even my 6 year old is learning his times tables. For some reason I can 't find the link, but we got it on Amazon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinmami01 Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Facts First worked great for my boys. After we completed the multiplication section, they do extra drill on xtramath.org. Now they are working on the division section of Facts First. One lesson covers 2 facts at a time. Painless and it worked for us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamrachelle Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Just thought I'd chime in here too... Times Tales worked great for my oldest... and memorizing skip counting worked like a charm for my youngest. Try one, and if it doesn't work, give the other one a shot. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mytwomonkeys Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 definitely times tales. we have the book and it worked perfectly for my daughter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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