How do/did you encourage your dcs to learn their times tables?

[Elf]

DD1 isn't quite at that stage yet but as we are home edding and thinking about education in a more free kind of way (man!) I was wondering what happens with something like the times tables.

Surely, this is just something that HAS to be learnt by rote and in a Dickensian way. From what I remember of my own experience, you just have to say them over and over to yourself to fix them in your brain.

When you are at school it is probably given as some sort of homework and you just do it but at home, would the incentive be there? Do you bribe them? It just seems a wierd one and I want to be prepared! Thanks people.

traffic jams

When we were children at this stage, my mum used to write up each table on a strip of paper and tape it up somewhere where we would be likely to be stationary and would just read it for lack of anything else to do. Typically, in front of the loo and on the underside of the shelves above our beds. She would switch them around or replace them with new numbers every week or so.

Have always thought the backs of cereal boxes would be the ideal place for tables and a bit of poetry.

I have been thinking about this recently too. DD had homework on Friday that was a sheet of multiplication sums, she was able to do them because they were all in 5's and she can count up in 5's so used her fingers to count up.
But she doesn't know any of her tables and talking to her about it seemed to cause massive confusion!
So I have been wondering about ways of helping her to learn them too.

You can buy good singalong tables CDs for the car (ELC do these). Learning parrot fashion is the best way though IMO. Also practise saying them backwards as well as forwards. DS and I practise them on the way to school. x

Oh cd's, that really is a good idea. DD has a little cheap mp3 player that she is permanently attached to. Would be really useful to get something like that on there, mixed up with all of her disney songs :D

Will go look for them now, thanks!

thank you for your thoughts everyone. Any other home ed people out there?

Rainforest Maths - lots of Maths games on here, including multiplication.

It's a learning style question ...
We had one of these Times Tables Colouring Books and ds (who's very very visual & pattern-based) seemed to just absorb his tables from there.

I think he wouldn't have learned them from hearing/singing & maybe not from lists - it was the shape of the patterns they make which worked for him.

Yes it will depend very much on the style of learning your child prefers - visual, auditory or doing.

I've looked at the rainforest maths site and it looks really fabulous, thanks. And the times table book is worth a look too I reckon.. Thanks.

I have a times table tester on my site. It worked for my daughter. Try here.

There's a wonderful Times Tables DVD sold by the Early Learning Centre (am I allowed to link to a product? If so, it's www.elc.co.uk/toy-34552?&parent_category_id=535 )

With that sort of resource, it's easy to get to know the times tables without boredom or drilling. There are some lovely craft ideas (not quite for all the tables but for most of them) so that's a fun thing for parent and child to do together once child knows the DVd quite well.

Incorporate tables into everything, when you're shopping etc and repetition is the key, you need to learn them like a poem so you can quote from any point not just from 1x but randomly.

Make it fun and don't push the child too hard (just a bit!) and suddenly the penny drops.

A friend of mine just told me about the Timez Attack computer game. Her kids are 3 and 5 and really like it - there is a free version that you can download from www.bigbrainz.com which she says is enough at that age. I've just ordered the full version for DS2 (8) as he thinks it is the coolest thing ever and it's a good way for him to spend some time learning independently.

SunnyD that is fabulous! I've downloaded it now and will do a test run on DD later. What a great idea.

SunnyD, I've just downloaded it for dd1 who is really struggling to remember her tables, and she loves it. Thanks

Glad people are finding it useful I'm finding homeschooling a non-reader hard so anything that allows DS2 to spend time learning indepdently is a real sanity saver.