to think school should teach times tables?

[hwjm1945]

Just found out that DS1 will have times tables quizzes at school but will not be taught tables,apparently we are to teach them at home.is this the norm?seems bizarre to me,why not?

[ItIsKnown]

I quite like the grid method and wish I had it at primary.

I remember being harangued by a parent who insisted his child (aged six) should be doing higher level maths because she knew how to "carry the one " in addition of two digit numbers.

I gave her three two digit numbers to add up and the units came to twenty plus but she put the "one" down instead of a two and got it totally wrong because she had no understanding of place value or what she was doing with the tens.

[topicsactiveimon]

Our school is the same. Currently drilling poor DC at home! One is dyslexic and he never answers quickly because the question has to filter in, but he does know the tables now. Took AGES, poor thing. Very proud of him.

[ItIsKnown]

That's lovely topics! Well done you and DS

[topicsactiveimon]

Thank you, ItIsKnown.

[ItIsKnown]

[TheBigJessie]

I will go and tell all the RG universities that grant Maths degrees to give their graduands multiplication table tests before they allow the students to graduate, shall I?

Look, some people have difficulty with Maths. Some people have difficulty with memorising times tables. Sometimes these groups overlap and the problems are related. Sometimes, they don't overlap.

Because human brains are rather variable. Let's take autism, a condition that lots of people like to stereotype. You can have dyslexic, HFA maths genii, for example, who have terrible problems with memorisation (and whom, given faulty memory-centric teaching, could be lost to maths forever, because people tell them they're hopeless at maths because they calculate 8x9 instead of memorising it), but will bore your legs off, given a chance post-maths degree, on the intricacies of odd things like topology. And you can have other HFA maths genii who enjoy memorising pi. The first type probably won't turn up in a remedial SATs revision lesson, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

It means your sample is inherently skewed, to hark back to GCSE Maths coursework.

That's within one broad type of mind, where the people are similar enough to have their neurology given a specific name.

I can quite see that tables are useful, even with calculator availability. In them thar olden days, they must have been damn essential for daily life for most people. But I wish people would stop with this idea that a child's mathematical progression is impossible if they can't memorise the things.

[BabyDubsEverywhere]

I don't know many, or very far - and I used to work in accounts without issue

[ItIsKnown]

Interesting post Jessie. My DS is six, autistic, reading age thirteen and predicted to top out at twelve emotionally. He is enormously visual.

My DD was doing all her KS3 maths the hard way which is why she benefited from drilling in facts. Plus, she was hospitalised for a lot of time in KS1 so missed a lot.

[exoticfruits]

It doesn't get away from the fact that the school teaches them but they have to put in the effort and try and learn them. Maybe they will have the sort if mind that has a problem with them,but you won't know unless you actually try and help with them in the first place. If they are not good at simple rote learning there are other things to try like lots of computer games, online for free.

[exoticfruits]

They also need to be able to understand how you can work out 9x from the 10x and that if you know 4x2 you double it for 4x4 etc

[exoticfruits]

I would suggest using Woodlands Junior School Maths Zone

[exoticfruits]

Or BBC Maths Skills here Although it is for adults it can be used by children.

[exoticfruits]

Or for younger children ICT Games

[TheBigJessie]

There is a difference between "try[ing] in the first place" to see if your child can learn the things, and writing children off for inability to learn them.

In the long run, inability to see why 4x2x2=4x4 is more detrimental than inability to memorise 4x4, but at best, actually comprehending how numbers work is regarded as "also important" in general society.

As I have mentioned, tables have traditionally been the only route to not getting ripped off in shops for those who struggle with mental arithmetic, and they still are important, because you look a bit foolish standing there with a calculator! But they're not the skeleton of mathematics herself.

If I could remember tables myself, maybe it would make me slightly faster when I'm checking costs. But as it is, I got proper snarled at for completing a maths test too fast last week, when I was registering with an agency!

[exoticfruits]

I would agree that you have to know 'how numbers work' and tables are only part. They need to have instant recall of number bonds-e.g. you can't start from scratch each time working out that 10-6=4-they just need to know that 6 and 4 make 10 and 60 and 40 make 100 etc.
Even if they find it difficult to memorise tables they need to practise and play with numbers. It can be fun and there are lots of games-children like playing them, and as a supply teacher I found they generally had requests for certain ones if I was in.
As a parent you can just write it all off as 'the school's job' but your child will do so much better if you play with numbers at home. Card games and board games are good. You can get a tutor, but they can only teach it-the child has to practise and it is rather a waste of money if you are not going to follow up yourself.

[SeeLearnMulti]

It's true that the math curriculum is packed and leaves little time for kids to practice times tables at school. It's also true that parents may not have that much time either, once other family responsibilities and other homework are factored in. But there is a way to memorize multiplication tables without endless practice and drills. It's called See and Learn Multiplication By Heart. I developed the method for my son 18 years ago. Colleagues, family and friends tried it with their kids and loved it and encouraged me to publish it, which I did. Now, no child, or adult for that matter, need struggle again to memorize multiplication tables. And they remember them for good, on 7 simple, structured, colorful, images, sort of mental maps, that they store neatly in memory, and retrieve easily on demand. Try it, it works, even dyslexic kids learn them easily with this method. The book (ISBN 978-0973320909) is sold on Amazon. A portable format of the teacher's kit for use in the classroom is coming soon. I welcome your comments about the book and the method, you can email me at [email protected]