So, multiplication is one of those things that has to be memorized, but how do you make it fun? My dd doesn't want to even look at it any more. How do you guys do it?
Brushing your teeth isn't fun either. Neither is taking out the trash or eating healthy food. But they still have to do it. I get my kids to do multiplication the same way I make them do anything. I know some are going to disagree, but I've done the games, the songs, all of that, and my kids still hate times tables. I've just accepted that they can't enjoy every activity. They just have to get it done. When it gets to be too much, we drop it for a while. Oh, and I never do it for more than 15 min or so at a time.
We use Math-U-See. It teaches skip counting with a visual. Say you are learning 3's, they show a box three spaces wide and ten spaces long. The child fills in the blank in the boxes at the far right for 3, 6, 9 and so on. They see what multiplication means and they understand why they are skip counting to learn the facts. It didn't seem to take long using this method and they get to use multiple ways of learning rather than just memorizing facts on a flash card. They also have a CD with skip counting songs, but we didn't really use them after the 2's and 3's. Edited to add....the MUS website has free online drills if that might be of interest. You can choose to drill on just one or multiple tables at a time.
I also taught it through skip counting. When preschoolers are learning to count, it takes time and practice, but eventually, they don't have to think about it. It's the same for us with multiplication. The facts just start to "click" after a while so they don't have to be counted anymore.
I never made my children learn multiplication tables. We merely did long multiplication and there was a chart on the wall and they were always allowed to ask. Eventually they know them and stop asking. If your child is getting burn out, I would take a break from multiplication for a while. There are a number of educational games they can play and websites they can visit that may help. My children did a lot of those, although the name of any escapes me right now.
My kids love to practice using domino's for everyone right they got 5cents and for everyone wrong (when they got better) they had to give it back. Then they were able to build with the domino's when they were done. We also did some at night with mother may I, but they had to be in the mood for that one.
We had great success with Times Tales and then played lots of games with flashcards and websites. We used the big blackboard and fun worksheets. We would run errands and I'd have ds figure out the unit prices and how much a certain number of items would cost. Ds also watched some Khan Academy videos. I'm a strong believer in having those basic math functions down pat - it makes all the higher math easier to learn and understand. I'm a mathy person and I love finding ways to make it fun.
Whatever method you use, it's worth it. I had to learn my tables up to 12 by the age of 6. I've never forgotten them. Even now, you can quote me two numbers, and I can multiply them in an instant. It may not be fun learning tables, but it's a very valuable life skill. Incidentally, attending a typical Cornish primary school, our teacher made us sit the entire afternoon with hands on our heads because someone was heard to say "two twos is four" instead of "two twos are four." We were just a bunch of country yokels!
