Ways to memorize addition/subtraction/multiplication facts

[No More Perfect]

My children (9yo and 8yo) struggle with learning addition/subtraction/multiplication facts. My fourth grader still has to count on her fingers to do any of those. We use MUS and I am wondering if the dependence on the blocks is part of the problem. Anyway, I have tried buying CDs that teach them the facts through song, continued repitition with mom, worksheets, etc. They just don't get it and I am baffled why my children can't learn these.

 

Any ideas or suggestions?

[pitterpatter]

As in facts up to ten or twenty or so? I think memorizing doubles up to twenty for addition and subtraction will take them far. Then, teach them how to recognize and compute near doubles. Most basic addition is very simple after that. We use Singapore and I'm really not familiar with MUS, so that's all I've got.

[Hwin]

xtramath.org is a website and we also just downloaded mathemagica which is an app, if you're looking for drill and if your kids get excited about screen time (mine does).

 

 

I feel that practicing addition facts helped my son a lot, but we took a break and didn't "drill" subtraction, as he understood the process and was able to use addition facts to figure everything out fairly quickly. We haven't start multiplication facts yet, but we will probably do drill because, well, isn't that how everyone learns the times tables? ;)

 

ETA that one thing I like about xtramath is that it drills the way the previous poster suggests- starts with 0+, 1+, goes into doubles, and kind of works its way outward. (You've got 5+5 down pat? Good, then you won't have any trouble with 4+5 or 5+6, and once those are solid, it's on to 6+7 and 3+5).

[LittleIzumi]

My oldest needs daily work on it besides her regular math. We use MathRider and Math Bingo and a few other math apps.

[No More Perfect]

Thanks especially for the app recommendations! Hopefully it will encourage them to try a little harder because it will seem more fun.

 

Just looked at the xtramath website. This is exactly what I need.

 

Thanks again!

[Critterfixer]

Stick em on the walls.

We drill multiplication daily, and it helps having the charts right there to drill and also to consult when they get stuck. Math anxiety is gone, because they know that the tables are there. And I am religious about running them through the facts daily. Best thing I ever did for fact memorization.

 

Now if you are actually seeing them struggle with the concept, that's quite different. Memorization isn't the way to solve that problem.

[No More Perfect]

Stick em on the walls.

We drill multiplication daily, and it helps having the charts right there to drill and also to consult when they get stuck. Math anxiety is gone, because they know that the tables are there. And I am religious about running them through the facts daily. Best thing I ever did for fact memorization.

 

Now if you are actually seeing them struggle with the concept, that's quite different. Memorization isn't the way to solve that problem.

 

 

 

Good ideas! They are not struggling with the concepts, just the memorization of the facts.

[zenjenn]

I've been drilling one of my kids DAILY (including using xtra math) since she was 7 yrs old (she's now 10 1/2) and she STILL struggles. She knows mental math tricks now so she can calculate anything, but she's kind of slow so I'd rather she memorize, but it doesn't stick. We used mnemonic tricks for multiplication/division since she can't use mental math for all of those facts, but it makes my eye twitch that in 4th grade she still is slow with addition and subtraction. I just keep drilling. We've done everything - flashcards, c-rods, xtramath, math rider. Sometimes she'll *have it* and then something comes up (a vacation, summer camp, whatever) and then they are lost again. Not sure why there's an issue, but we keep plugging away. She is able to pick up new math concepts without much fuss though.

 

Her little sister (7 yrs old) having been in the vicinity of all this, is lightning fast with all the facts.

[dbmamaz]

my kids gain fluency with the facts as they move forward in math. But we have also used this book, which is visual with picture stories for multiplication facts, Timez Attacks which is a free video game which also now covers addition and subtraction. i made up a simple dice game - buy 2 10-sided dice at a game or comic book store, then you all take turns rolling them. State the problem (2 plus 8 is 10) and if they get it wrong, just correct them. whoever gets the highest sum that round wins a tally mark. keep playing until you get tired of it. but my boys LOVED this (we used it for multiplication)

[Sameera]

Try A Beka, Jones or Ray's arithmetic.

 

http://www.donpotter...pages/math.html

 

My kids used an abacus for addition and subtraction. I made one using a wooden frame with string & beads.

 

I wouldn't worry about them using fingers, once they use enough manipulatives (oranges and apples, beans or marbles) and start Ray's arithmetic doing mental maths they'll be fine.

 

With multiplication, once they understand how to multiply (using manipulatives), then you can ask your kids what is '3' times '2', etc. Do one table per time, they'll soon catch up.

 

Best Wishes

[heyyou]

I second Timez Attack. It is a flashcard replacement game that builds rote memorization for all basic facts, not just multiplication. After my dd had passed the times-2s, I had her switch to MathScore.com to drill them. After passing that level in MathScore, switch back to Timez Attack to memorize the times-3s, and so on, back and forth. MathScore drills ALL the facts she knows simultaneously -- built-in review -- so I think that helped. And when she forgets them, MathScore will drop her level so she can review. In three months she made two years progress on those multiplication facts during the summer between 3rd and 4th grades, and she was a tough case, trust me! (She came out of a year of Rod and Staff math knowing NO facts at all.)

 

This method is just computerized flashcards followed by drill sheets (which is what you are doing), and it's what I had previously been doing too. I don't know if the computer was the game changer, or if she was just more mature at that point and the new format freed her from any negative associations she might have formed before.

 

Take a page from Kumon. Work on it every day: Christmas, birthdays, Sundays. Every. Single. Day.

 

Twenty min. isn't really so much to ask out of a 14 hour day.

[nansk]

The game that is worth 1000 worksheets.

[Eagle]

We play Tux Math on the computer. My son wants to save the cute penguins so he has learned a lot of addition/subtraction facts to be able to type in the answers really quickly. It has multiply/divide too, we just aren't there yet.

 

http://sourceforge.net/projects/tuxmath/

 

Math Bingo on the ipad is also great.

[Georgiana Daniels]

Drill, drill, drill.

 

For addition and subtraction, we used a worksheet generator. Now that the girls have moved on to multiplication, we simply write each one 3x each, daily. But not 1-12, lol, that would be too much for either of them. This week my daughter is doing 6-9's.

 

Repetition, for us, is key.

[Saraswati]

Another vote for Timez Attacks. My dd9 plays it regularly, and enjoys it - it has really helped her with her facts. There is a free version, and a paid version. From what I understand, the free one goes through all of the facts; however, the scenery doesn't change much. It also has a division version, but we haven't given it a try yet - we plan to soon. They usually have a 20% discount at HSBC.

[No More Perfect]

I have tried daily repetition but perhaps I need to stick with it and hopefully I will see fruit. Combining that with some of the games and apps will hopefully do the trick!

[Jane in NC]

Peggy Kaye's Games for Math has a number of reinforcement games for math facts. Maybe your library has a copy?

[weederberries]

My kids have no excuse really for "struggling" to memorize. They memorize everything else quickly and easily. It's an attitude and laziness problem. Still, we struggle, struggle, struggle.

 

The first resource that got us over the hump of the mental block of there being "too many" came from the book Multiplication in a Flash. Once you learn the trick for 0s, 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s, there are very few facts left. We used a multiplication chart and Xed out the the ones we knew. X all of those I listed before. Then X one of each duplicate (8x7 is the same as 7x8). Get through it and you'll only have 15 left. My kids thought that was pretty cool and felt that it was easier for them to do than looking at a chart of 100 facts.

 

The next thing that they raved about were cootie catchers. They're self checking, but also fun to fold and fun to play with a partner. I used Fun Flaps Multiplication and copied them, but you could create your own. These are cute because they have a pun, joke or "fortune." under the flaps.

 

I also introduced the facts from 9s down. (learn 0s, 1s, 2s, and 10s first) When you start with 9s and work down, they get the most practice with the harder facts and they get easier as you go, which is highly motivating.