I never learned my multiplication tables, because it was stupid memorization, with no bearing on real life. I needed context I was never given.
We had to do timed tests, and I always failed. This led to me being set behind a level in math.
Then we hit algebra and I skipped a level of math to be back in the top tier and am finishing my doctorate in aerospace engineering.
Rote memorization sucks. To this day I figure out 8x7 by 8x5 is 40 plus 8 is 48 plus 8 is 56. I often do this faster than people who have memorized it. Memorization without application is, in my very humble opinion, not only useless but hazardous. It gets kids into the mode of regurgitating facts without understanding them.
Yeah, I linked to a page with the lyrics from the shorts, but you can still buy the videos on Amazon.com too. That’s the way I finallly got my tables straightened out. When we were having to memorize the Preamble to the Constitution in American History class lots of my classmates said they had to repress doing it the Schoolhouse Rock! way. I did, too.
Start with a 10 x 10 grid. Write 1 through 10 down the left side and across the top. It’s easy to fill in the cross sections for 1 X each number. Then you fill in the other easy ones – the 5s and the 2s. The reciprocals quickly become obvious: 8 x 5 is the same as 5 x 8. The patterns and relationships are readily apparent. it Next do the 3s, which are almost as easy. Then the 4s. The 5s have already been done, as have most of the rest. Each time, since you fill in both a horizontal and a vertical column, the grid starts to fill up quickly. Soon you realize that the only left are the middle products like 6 x 7 or 7 x 8. So you now only have a few to memorize, because you understand the reasons for the rest.
Once the grid is filled in, throw the paper away and start over. This time it’s easier. Lather, rinse, repeat.
I’m not really sure what you can do other than make him repeat them every day.
My father taught me all the multiplication tables from 2-20 when I was 6. I had to repeat them every day (up to the multiple of 10) till I was 13 years old. Along with some Hindu slokas. It was a night time ritual…my sister and I would stand in line and chant them out. He taught them to us over a month…each day we had to repeat the ones we had learned previously.
When I taught at-risk teenagers I was alarmed to learn how few of these kids understood the concept of multiplication…forget the memorization (heh)
I started each math class with a 4 minute bonus exercise: fill in an empty 12 x 12 multiplication grid. The exercise started at the bell (this got the kids into their seats on time) and was worth roughly one homework grade each time they could demonstrate some growth in speed or accuracy. After a few weeks, they started discussing patterns, tricks, and tips amongst themselves, and I would actually overhear students explaining the process of multiplication to each other. By the end of the year I only broke out the grids a couple times a month for fun and frolic. 100% success rate, and I feel I gave each of my students a lifelong gift despite what some critics of rote memorization believe.
My dad just sat me on the couch and drilled me fpr 1/2 hour a day. He didn’t back off if I started crying, which I did. I learned them in about 2 weeks. Still know 'em, too.
Frankly, as an educator who assesses children, rote memorization of the multiplication products is best for quick problem solving. At a minimum they should learn their tables 1-12 although I’m pretty impressed that anu-la1979’s dad did it from 13-20, too.
Flash cards work pretty good.
I highly recommend this math homework generator site. I used it to teach my kindergarten students addition, subtraction, fractions and how to tell time the last five years.
I learned by doing these time-tests where we had a page full of multiplication problems and we tried to do them fast as we can. I did them over and over. My dad used to reward me for practising at home with chocolate chips. In the process of doing those I not only learned the times tables, I learned how to multiply small numbers really fast (can’t do over 12, though). More interesting than rote learning, adds an element of competition and chocolate.
Does your son understand the concept? If he can’t get 8x7 by flight’s method, he’s got no business doing any memorization until he’s got the concept down.
Here’s an easier thing to remember:
Anything times five is half that, plus a zero on the end. (If you want him to get this concept, give him a calculator and ask him to find a pattern when he multiplies something times five. Give him as long as he needs to figure out the pattern–don’t tell him, just give him guidance and encouragement).
Once he’s got that, give him the idea that he can build on what he knows.
Want to know 17x17? I betcha he can figure out 17x2, right? Then slap a 0 on the end for 17x20. Then subtract 17 three times, and you’re there, right at 289.
He’s gotta learn the concept. Once he has the concept, once it makes sense, then he can do some memorization, because the memorization will be relevant and useful to him.
Until then, money is a poor substitute, in my opinion, for the motivation of understood knowledge.
In the spirit of your asking this question, you can learn from others how they teach multiplication. Children in India are often taught Vedic sutras that yield basic truths about mathematics, one could call them “tricks” for learning multiplication and addition.
Here are some of the basic “rules” of mathematics. There are examples which you can teach your son.
One more vote for online practice. We had great results with it. Can’t remember the website offhand but I’m sure there are plenty of them.
Also, in third grade, my son’s teacher gave five tests: Each one had twenty simple multiplication examples, e.g. 6 x 7. One minute for the test. That’s three seconds per example. My son and I practiced two or three times a week online in the fall, then upped it to four times a week as the tests got closer. He did great, and now that he’s in high school I think he still benefits from that experience.
Okay, I read over the section on multiplication facts in my Math for Elementary Students book, and it had some good ideas:
Make sure your son knows the commutative property: he needs to understand that 2x3=3x2. Moreover, he needs to know why this is true. You may find that representing the problem as a rectangle with a 2-unit side and a 3-unit side will help explain why this is true. He should understand that it’s true for all multiplication problems.
The zero-times problems are easy. There’s your first nineteen problems solved (I’ll assume through this we’re learning the facts up to 9x9)
The one-times problems are easy. There’s your next 17 problems solved.
The five-times problems are almost as easy. Have him work with these until he’s got them, and understands why he’s got them. There’s your next 15 problems solved.
The two-times problems are almost as easy: they’re just doubling the other number, and he should be able to get these if he understands addition. There’s your next 13 problems solved.
Have him look at the nine-times problems, and figure out as many patterns as he can from them. Two patterns should jump out (it’s best if he finds them, but you may want to help him along). First, the tens digit is always one less than whatever you’re multiplying 9 by. Second, the ones digit plus the tens digit always add up to equal 9. Knowing these two things, 7x9 or 9x8 should be a breeze: figure out the tens digit, then figure out the ones digit. That’s your next 11 problems solved.
So of the 100 facts we started with, we’ve done 19+17+15+13+11, or 75. Of the remaining 25, I think 10 of them are mirror-images of one another (4x3 and 3x4, for example). For these, you can teach him some more difficult strategies: 3x4 is also 4x3, and 4x3 is double double three. Double 3 = 6; double 6=12.
8x7 is sort of like 9x7, only it’s one fewer groups of 7. Figure 9x7, and subtract 7. Once he can do that, 7x8 is easy.
For these few remaining ones, try to get him to figure out strategies for solving them that make sense to him.
Once he understands why each multiplication fact is the way that it is, it’s going to be much easier for him to memorize them: he’ll have an understanding to hang his hat on.
I did, too.