Learning times tables at a young age?

[Halcyon]

dS6 is beginning MM 3a in a couple of weeks (he places into MM3 a couple of months ago but I decided to backtrack and solidify some things in 2B first). My older began learning his times tables when he was around 7 1/2 and became solid with them around the beginning of 4th grade.

 

Is it too much to expect DS 6 to master his times tables at his age? He is still nailing his subtraction facts. Should I focus on those first, or should be just mix and match and work on times tables too? He knows his 2's tables and 5 tables well and his 3's tables are just about there, but I don't particularly want to divert attention away from subtraction facts at this point, but MM 3 has a lot of multiplication in it, so.......:confused:

[EKS]

Just work on as much memorization that he feels comfortable with (and I'm sure that you'll know when he is not comfortable!).

 

There may be some period where his lack of fact recall makes doing the problems in MM tedious, but he'll get through it.

[Shawndrese]

My son is the same age and loves his multiplication problems. He doesn't like doing subtraction much, but I make him still practice those so he gets more comfortable with them. So we work on both right now.

But no, I don't think its too much to ask, as long as he's willing/ready for multiplication then I say go for it! :001_smile:

I was even reading somewhere the other day that they teach subtraction last (after addition, multiplication, division) Let me see if I can find the link....

 

 

Found what I was looking for....its from a post by jenbrdsly (its her blog)

http://teachingmybabytoread.blog.com/math/

But I thought this way of teaching math sounded interesting....

Edited April 1, 2012 by Shawndrese

[lewelma]

We ran into this problem. I decided that the multiplication tables were more critical to be able to do his math at that time, and subtraction he could always "figure out". So we left the subtraction tables behind and came back to them a year later after the multiplication tables were mastered.

 

This is how he ended up memorizing the subtraction tables while concurrently doing AoPS intro algebra :001_huh:

 

Ruth in NZ

[plansrme]

I had my daughter learn them at that age so that she could keep moving through math. We used Times Tales. I was afterschooling at the time and didn't want to drill her, and Times Tales worked in the promised 30 minutes. We never drilled subtraction facts, so I can't help you with the "what comes first" argument.

 

Terri

[2smartones]

My older learned to multiply before he learned to add. :001_huh: He's always been a bit of an oddball learner anyway.

 

That said, I've never put any focus at all on learning facts. They'll come. If you're getting into algebra and still stumbling over facts, yeah, you should probably spend a little time on it, but at 6-7 years old? Nah!

[chepyl]

My son became bored with addition and subtraction after months of doing just that. He was not perfect with his facts, but we moved on to multiplication and division. we still practice addition and subtraction in length and weight word problems but he is also learning multiplication and division. It is working fine. As long as he is keeping the functions straight, it should not be a big deal.

[wapiti]

I'd probably mix it up, subtraction on some days, multiplication on others. Multiplication is more fun.

Edited January 12, 2016 by wapiti

[lewelma]

We haven't put much effort into learning facts either - they usually do just come (depends on the kiddo).

 

Consider yourself sooooo lucky. My ds (now 11) spent YEARS learning the facts. They just would not stick unless he did them 3 times per day for 3+ months! Too bad it took me 2.5 years to figure out that trick.

 

Ruth in NZ

[boscopup]

We did times tables around that age. He had them down pat before we started MM4B at less than age 7.5. YMMV though!

 

I found that DS did best with those 5 minute drill sheets from math-drills.com. I would get a sheet for just one table (like x3's), have him spend 5 minutes on it (telling him ahead of time to skip anything he didn't know right away and to not worry about finishing it, because I didn't expect him to finish all 100 problems in 5 minutes ;) ). He LOVED these drills. Go figure. At the end of the first one we did (x3), he had skipped 3x6 and 3x8 (and 6x3 and 8x3). As I went over the page with him standing right there, every one that he got wrong or skipped, I asked him as I was correcting. By the end of the page, he'd done so many repetitions of 3x6 and 3x8 that he knew them cold! It was great!

 

I'd tried computer stuff like xtramath.org, but he can't type as quick as he can write, so that was a bust. He kept typing the wrong thing and getting things wrong. The paper 5 minute drill was much less stressful for him, and it got the job done. We just did one per day.

 

Also, when correcting his paper, I put check marks by all the correct answers, rather than marking the wrong ones wrong. Then he was trying to beat his previous score for number correct (which tended to be in the 50s or 60s out of 100 problems). So basically, I focused on the positive, and just used the wrong answers to orally drill only what he needed orally drilled. :)

[MissKNG]

We are in SM 3a and I haven't pushed memorization of times tables due to her age. I have gently been working on addition/subtraction facts with her and it worked. I give her "weekly assignments", which are four or five pages I printed off and stapled together. They contain 'fun' exercises to work on math facts (ie. color by number). She has the week to work on the assignment so there's no pressure. She can work on as many pages as she wants on any given day during the week. It's just due by Friday.

[Halcyon]

Thanks all. He is getting very bored with addition and subtraction, so I think we'll switch around with multiplication. We have Times Tales and he really enjoys using it, so we'll start with that. Conceptually, he gets what he's doing and he really wants to beat his brother at Speed! so that will probably be enough incentive. We will pick back up with subtraction facts in a bit, and keep using Math Rider.

[Iucounu]

It's certainly not too young time-wise, and in general the early math facts, including addition and multiplication, are all cross-reinforcing. I wouldn't delay. (Incidentally, I'd check out IXL for fact practice; DS learned his times tables very quickly in not very many sessions at 5, using IXL and a couple of simple techniques from MM.)

[acurtis75]

Dd had them down at that age. I don't think it is too young at all. You know your son. I think for my dd moving ahead helped her lock in the understanding of things she previously learned. She knew her facts but would occasionally get them wrong. I realized she was bored. The faster we move the better she seems to do.

[Sctigermom]

My son is 5 (6 in May) starting 1b in signapore. He will start learning multiplication and division around his 6th birthday. I dont think it's too early at all.

[melmichigan]

DS6 has them almost all done here. He is determined to one up his older sisters, that is a lot of motivation. ;) He might surprise you.

[Greenmama2]

I haven't pushed it in the slightest with DD5 and she has 2x, 5x, 10x down and 3x are on the way. I may encourage a little more if she isn't done by 6.5.

[Bang!Zoom!]

Halycon, here, when we hit a wall with the drills, we moved into volumes & measurements work, and that worked nicely.

 

But you might find that the facts end up being like honey sweet easy for your child.

 

Good luck with it - it's interesting when they start applying it.

[Rivka]

Yes, Alex learned her times tables at 6 in MEP 2b. She has most of them memorized, but figures some from near neighbors.

 

I didn't ask her to do timed drills at all. Besides her MEP practice book assignments, we played a game in which she started at the bottom of the stairs and I stood at the top with a treat (like a few mini marshmallows). Each time she got a multiplication problem right, she could move up a step. Each time she got one wrong, she had to go down a step. When she reached me, she could have the treat.

 

Another thing that was really helpful was giving her a 10x10 times table and letting her color in the facts as she learned them. It was really motivating to see how the commutative rule meant the table filled up fast. By the time you get to 8 and 9 there are just a couple of blanks, and you already know all the rest.

[musicianmom]

My 6-year-old is having a lot of fun with the games on http://www.multiplication.com . They're not timed games, so she doesn't feel any pressure. She has learned her 3s really well. She still is skip counting for 5s, and she uses an addition trick for her 4s (for 9x4 she'll think "9x2 is 18, 18+18 is 36"). I know she'll get it.

 

The funny thing is that my 4-year-old, who can't count to 20 or add yet, has learned all the 0s and the 1s from playing the games with her sister. She told me today she's ready to learn the 2s. Silly baby.