AIBU?
AIBIU to expect that child 8 should know her times tables? Aaaaaagh
earlgreyplease · 18/06/2015 20:23
AIBIU to expect that my child age 8, who is at a fee paying school (or at any school for that matter) should know her timetables by now?
We are given a different table every week to do at home, but on top of the homework and reading every night, inevitably it feels like the last straw, and gets left till the last moment. I am getting crosser and crosser that the school have not managed to do this during school hours. Please advise
PHANTOMnamechanger · 18/06/2015 20:27
they need loads and loads of repetition, in class they will chant them and do rapid fire questions, in school your DC might be able to get away with mumbling along. why don't you see it as one of your jobs to teach her/help her teach herself, with lots of games to make it fun?
ilovespinach · 18/06/2015 20:28
Some kids have more difficulty than others. I say that as the mom of a 9 year old who is still have problems remembering his tables.
Getting cross isn't going to help. We made a list the other day of 1. The ones he could say confidently, 2. The ones he needed to use his fingers with and 3. The ones he felt he didn't know.
It's helped. We choose one and practice. He seems to have learnt his 8 times table this week so there is hope for everyone.
Preminstreltension · 18/06/2015 20:29
I think it does require reinforcement at home. It's a tedious thing to learn and can't really be taught as long as they understand the actual process - beyond that some memorisation is required. Komodo Maths online really helped my DD with the practice and repetition and now she's very secure with it.
EddieStobbart · 18/06/2015 20:30
My DD just turned 9 and she doesn't. We went through a period of making a real effort to learn but have slipped a bit and am sure she'll have forgotten just about everything now. If I think she's really falling behind with division and fractions (so it's affecting her ability to move on) then we'll have a big push. When we did that before it did make a difference.
Having watched her take what felt like ages to learn to sound words out and now with seeing her nose permanently jammed in a book I'm not going to get stressed about it. It's just a bit of rote learning that will make more sense to her the more she realises what it connects to.
momb · 18/06/2015 20:32
Ha! My YD (10) Y5 STILL doesn't know them by heart, and she's top set. I've started playing a CD of them in the car as she seems to know all the Michael Jackson lyrics by heart. Even she is aware that her maths takes her longer than it should as she isn't number-fluent enough.
It will come OP, and not from the limited time your child has at school, but be repetition at home.
cardibach · 18/06/2015 20:35
I am 50 and I don't know mine. I have an otherwise excellent memory, but I just can't do tables or arithmetic of any kind. An expert I worked with suggested discalculia.
Your DD might find them unusually difficult, or she might not be focussing, or any number of other factors might be in play. You do need to try to help her in a low stress way, though - CDs in the car? Run through them before other homework?
Mistigri · 18/06/2015 20:39
In my experience times tables can take years of reinforcement to become really automatic (depends on the child and how motivated they are). My DD didn't confidently know her tables until secondary school. It didn't stop her getting 99% in her maths mock this year.
80sMum · 18/06/2015 20:42
To help DS learn the times tables, we turned learning the tables from 2 to 12 into a game. We wrote each one onto a small card (ie 3x5=15 etc) and put them all in a drawstring bag. He had to pick them out of the bag at random and see how many he could get right in a row.
When he started getting very good at it, we added a prize. If have could correctly answer them all, picked at random, on 3 consecutive days, then we would buy him a bike.
He rose to the challenge and reliably learned them all - and duly got his bike.
He was 7 at the time.
PerspicaciaTick · 18/06/2015 20:46
I'm 45 and don't know mine. Didn't stop me getting an economics degree with elements of statistics and working programming financial systems for computers as a career. I've noticed that the methods I use to work out calculations in my head are just as accurate and speedy as other people, despite my not being able to do the timestable instant recall thing.
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