Homeschool World Forum

[ontheprairie]

I started homeschooling our grade 4 and grade 5 student in A Beka DVD prorgram a week ago and they are doing well in all subjects except for Math. Both are having a difficult time. I love the program - the emphesis on memorizing the tables.

What is the best way for memorizing the tables quickly so that my kids will be able to enjoy their math program?
Thanks.

[4given]

For my oldest son.... flashcard drills worked best.

For the second eldest... writing the facts over and over. He had already been skip counting just for fun. Therefore, when we came to multiplication, he just had to put it all together in his brain.

[4given]

Oh. I forgot to mention... incentives worked well, too. I would have them shoot hoops for every right answer. The object was to keep a smooth, fast-paced flow. They loved it!

[ontheprairie]

thanks so much for your reply - I will do that.

[mamaholly]

I've just had a break through with my DS. I agree with incentives helping. I offer him a penny every time he does a round of flashcards or some other drill with his facts. At the end of the week, each penny equals one minute of video game time. (We ration video game time each week and he's usually spent all of his tickets before Friday. He considers the pennies a real bonus.) He even asks if he can do the flashcards now! I also didn't put any value on them being correct, he just had to try. He has anxiety issues so just seeing flashcards was enough to send him hiding in his room for hours.
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[ontheprairie]

Thanks so much for the penny idea - that would work very well for our son too.

[mbark]

There are many web sites (with interactive features) you may use to practice multiplication facts.

http://www.aaamath.com
http://noetic-learning.com/mathdrill
http://www.gameaquarium.com
http://www.multiplication.com/interactive_games.htm
http://www.bigbrainz.com/

[ruby.mein]

thank you for sharing the link to us... this will help my little brother....

[Sheepdog]

For some reason, many kids don't mind doing "flash cards", or equivalent, with computer. Less embarrassing when wrong answer given, maybe.

I refer the "simple" programs which just give problem after problem after problem. Some of the "fun" ones have so much sugar that it gets in the way of the work.

Let the computer exercise the child... and give careful and extensive human support, in the form of asking what the pupil's latest score is, etc, etc.

It also helps to break the task up... learn portions of the matrix at a time. Good drill programs allow you to cause questions to come from just part of the matrix.

Tom
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[Stuart]

Easy!

I've done this hundreds of time with success in my classroom and my own kids.

Let's assume you want your child to memorize his multiplication tables up to 10 x 10. Okay, make, or find a 10 x 10 grid (or use grid paper).

Write down 1-10 across the top and along the side. Then, have your child fill in the missing products (products are the result of multiplication questions). When your child is stumped, have him look at a complete multiplication chart (oh, you'll need one of those as well) and fill in the missing product that he didn't know.

Finally, agree with your child on a seriously good reward when he completes the entire chart without looking.

Good luck.
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[Sheepdog]

Grid... and the suggestions re showing interest in child's progress... excellent way to START process of learning tables.

It soon becomes, however, an exercise in counting in 2's, in 3's in 4's, etc.

And the task is not "bite sized" enough.

Once the child is doing well will getting answers by counting up, etc, as soon as possible, if only with shuffled flash cards, move on to questions presented in a random sequence. Those questions can be only on problems up to, say, 5 x 5 until the pupil is fluent... and even a little bored... better bored than overwhelmed.

Computer based practice really comes into its own at this point. A quick test of a random 10 problems, with a "time to get them right" (and no penalty, beyond the time wasted) for wrong answers score is easy for the computer to offer.

[dkocur]

[Theodore]

If you have more than one child, you can use a set of flashcards and turn it into a competition to see who can answer the most questions the fastest. Any math-based game such as Yahtzee, Muggins, etc. may also help.
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[Dr. Moti Levi]

Another method is to have them just write the table (2x1=2, 2x2=4...) few times a day. Then, they should just fill it. Then, ask them randomly. When they can answer to random ones immediately without a mistake - they are done.

And of course, incentives always work
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[MathonDVDs.com]

Hi,
You should try the Flashmaster, which is an electronic flashcards for learning the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division tables. It is simply amazing. Just go to flashmaster.com. My DD is 6 years old and just loves it. She chooses it over her DS!
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