Have you learnt your timetables as an adult?

[PurpleBlis]

I struggled with certain aspects of school particularly learning to read, spelling tests and time table tests. I never learnt my times tables, I'm not really sure what the specific issue with them was. I was so compliant, always wanted to do well and I always worked really hard. I just didn't get how chanting them would make them stay in my memory and they didn't. Also I think the pressure of learning them for a test just made the whole thing just too stressful for me to even learn.

Anyway I can see that my 5 year old potentially has some of my issues and I've been able to help him learn to read but I don't know how I am going to teach him to learn his time tables because I haven't done it myself. Ideally I want him to learn them at home with me before he had to learn in that pressured way for school timetable class. So I want to teach him with no stress or pressure so he actually has a chance. But technically I don't know how to teach him.

I was diagnosed dyslexic a few months ago. I'm mid thirties.

If anyone has any tips I'd greatly appreciate it n

I'm going to be zero help...I actually did very well in school but I've never been able to learn my times tables (beyond the easy ones like 2, 10, 5).

I hate that they've made them a bigger deal at school because they're just so unnecessary to know.

I guess I just wanted to say that I hope your DC don't take it to heart. It doesn't mean anything in terms of how successful (whatever that means!) they'll be or how intelligent they are.

Some brains just aren't meant to hold some information - I always say my brain filters out shit it doesn't need to know to make more space for better stuff!

Have you tried searching YouTube?

May be some good tips on there!

I hate tables homework with my dc! I don’t know how I learned them exactly (intense fear of the teacher probably) but they’re so ingrained in me I couldn’t not know them. I find it really frustrating waiting for my dc to come up with an answer.

We played lots of games - ds likes to jump on the trampoline to do his, but his recall off the trampoline isn’t great.

We used to sit on the back of the sofa and when they got 3in a row right, I’d push them off so they landed in the cushions.

And we used to make a train and chant the tables as we marched around the kitchen, but the train would stall if we missed one.

I get them to skip count on their fingers and I say stop, and they have to look at how many fingers they have out, and tell me the sum.
eg. “3, 6, 9,12” STOP, they see they have 4 fingers so they say “4 times 3 is 12”. That’s fun because they try to get faster and higher before I can shout stop.

And we play duels, standing in a duelling position with backs facing each other. You turn and shout the answer miming shooting the other. Silly fun.

Even with years of this, ds only knows the 8s fast, and has to think a while for the others. And he has a calculator now, so …🤷‍♂️

No. Never did as a child either. I don’t filter out unnecessary details as it is, I’ve never felt the need to deliberately add more useless information. I’ve always just calculated them, as have dc. But we are all fairly mathematical so I’m not sure if that’s useful advice for everyone.