My child took Kumon, took him 2-3 months of daily 100 practices before moving on to division.

Five and under are kind of easy, the hard part was 6 to 9s.

Our kid did mathagon for rote memorization of multiplication facts in third grade. Not sure if it costs money or how much, his school provided access and it was required to do it every night m-th.

Anonymous wrote:Not the right forum for this question. AAP kids learn multiplication facts through immersion in a mathematic world.

Goodness gracious, as if no kid in AAP has ever been the type to prefer direct instruction and deductive learning.

Not the right forum for this question. AAP kids learn multiplication facts through immersion in a mathematic world.

I wrote this a while ago so ignore the gender. I'm dyslexic and still struggle with multiplication facts and adding in my head. I have a degree in math and I am a CS engineer.


1st, I don't think you really need to totally memorize multiplication facts but you need to know how to get the answer. Your child can learn, but maybe can't memorize... and recall quickly.

Print the tables.... like this one.... https://www.mathsisfun.com/definitions/multiplication-tables.html

You will see she already know 1, 2, 5, 10... mark them in Green highlighter to show her how much she already knows, columns and rows.

Learn 11, they are easy. 11x4=44

then

Learn 4.... trick, she can count by 2's so touch your wrist, say 2, top of thumb (1st digit), say 4 (4x1=4), skin between thumb and finger, say 6, then top of finger, say 8, (2x4=8), then between fingers, 10, top 12 (3x4 =12), each bottom number you ignore, each top # is 4 times the digit you touched.

then

Tricks for 9

hold your hands out, palms up.

starting from the left, your left thumb should be the 1st digit.

9x4.... count 4 digits (left to right)..... ring finger on left hand, lower that finger to your palm, you have 3 fingers left to the left of the finger and 6 left on the right side of that finger.... answer is 36

9x5... count 5 digits over, pinkie on left hand, lower that finger to your palm, you have 4 to the left, 5 to the right... answer 45


I don't have a trick for 3, 6, 7, 8 but since you know 0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 10 and 11 all you need to memorize is..

3x3
3x6
3x7
3x8
6x6
6x7
6x8
7x7
7x8
8x8

You only have to memorize 10 more.

She should try to memorize the diagonal, knowing squares will help her with algebra, so that only leaves 6 to memorize.

Here is a hint for 8x8=64... i ate (8) and ate (8) and got sick (6) on the floor (4).

Now you only have 5 to memorize.

Signed, Math Geek

Thanks, everyone! This is very helpful!

Anonymous wrote:Swear by this: https://www.lakeshorelearning.com/products/ca/p/LC1168/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=performancemaxnontop&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwoa2xBhACEiwA1sb1BB7OWM-mqLQp0GJ7CsS5HIlnJgsIM7OWCXM4vSK7QO6fjKIWm8WgXhoCd80QAvD_BwE

We had all four.

NP and this is a good recommendation, PP….but my kid’s fav was this:
https://www.lakeshorelearning.com/products/math/basic-operations/multiplication-power-pen-quiz-cards/p/BD527/

Disclaimer: I don’t work for Lakeshore. It’s just a good product.

They are basically just multiple choice flash cards but with a fun self-directed gimmick. The end of the pen lights up GREEN when the tip of the pen touches the correct answer, and RED when it touches an incorrect answer.
There is also a sound effect switch that you can toggle on or off that will give simultaneous responses “Yay!” (with cheers) or a buzzing sound for incorrect.

One of my kids hated the sound effects but liked the light-up. And the other one liked both.
As a mom, I liked that they could be working independently (and had the space to practice the skills without me always hovering) and I could glance up from across the room and see how they were doing just by looking at the red/green lights.

Just give your kid a stack of ten a day over the summer and have him/her repeat the stack until he/she gets all green four times in a row. Then move to another ten the next day. At the end of the week, mix up 40 cards they’ve done for review and see how many they can get.

They’ll be pros by end of summer!

Anonymous wrote:Reflex

+1 The consumer version is called Time4MathLearning - it's the exact same thing as Reflex Math. It's all about repetition.

We also practiced it when we were in the car, fun and effective. Kids loved it and remembered so well.

Swear by this: https://www.lakeshorelearning.com/products/ca/p/LC1168/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=performancemaxnontop&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwoa2xBhACEiwA1sb1BB7OWM-mqLQp0GJ7CsS5HIlnJgsIM7OWCXM4vSK7QO6fjKIWm8WgXhoCd80QAvD_BwE

We had all four.

My DD (also in 3rd) always asks us to give her random multiplication and division problems in the car, at meals and other random times. She’s gotten pretty fast with that practice and clearly thinks it’s fun. DS (6th) used to do the same and it worked well for him.

Reflex

Chant them with her until she gets it. That worked for my kid. We also did multiplication fact hop scotch where they had to say the answer before hopping on each square. And then there's xtramath.com if you like using tech for this sort of thing.

I hope this isn’t too pedestrian for this group, but what’s the best approach to multiplication fluency? My third grader understands multiplication (and can solve problems easily), but hasn’t memorized the “times table”. They’re generally great at math and have the critical thinking skills, etc., it’s just the memorization that slows them down. Old school flashcards? An app? Thanks!

Please save the snarky comments about my child’s aptitude or criticisms toward me. Seeking genuine recommendations only.