Math Help for Children Taught at Home or at School

We all know the parental involvement necessary with homework, whether your children are taught at home or at school!  These tips are from a wonderful homeschooling mom in Florida, Debbie Klinect!

 

In learning your multiplication tables I find it easier to learn them backwards from the 12 times tables down to 1.  When we used to do it starting at 1, we would get to the six tables and my kids would freeze.  Then I decided to try an experiment and started at 12 and by time we got down to 6, they knew them all because all they had to do was the reverse: 12 x 6 = 72, 6 x 12= 72. 

 

Here are some other tips for the times tables:

1 times any number is that number.

2 times any number is like adding that number twice.

5 - look at a clock and remember how many minutes that is.  5 x 6 is 30 because on a clock it is 30 minutes.

9 times any number - just subtract one from the number you are multiplying, and that is your first number in your answer.  Then make sure the second number you write down makes your answer add up to 9.  9x6 is 54 because 5 is one less than 6 and 5+4=9. 

10 times any number, add a zero to the end of the number  5 x 10, just add a zero to the back of 5 to make it 50.

11 times any number up to 9 is two of those numbers, 9 x 11 is 99.

 

One summer I wanted to get my youngest son to know his multiplication facts before we started the new school year.  So, I got a deck of flash cards at the Dollar Store and starting with the 12 times cards we went over them.  I played this game with him where I would hold up the card and slowly start lowering it face down to the table.  He was to try to get the answer before it hit the table.  I also told him when he got all of the 12 times cards memorized, I would give him a dollar.  We did that each week of the summer, adding one more set of cards to the mix each week.  By week two he had the 12 and 11 times cards to go through.  By the end of the summer he had $12.00 to spend on whatever he wanted!  I also taught him those tips I listed above to help him memorize them.  For some kids the 7 and 8 tables are very hard, so we got out a jump rope and he would jump to those answers.  For some reason saying the answers and the jumping together helped make the answers stick in his brain.

 

Eventually our kids will memorize their times tables, especially if you use a curriculum that is heavy on drilling like Saxon Math.