The amount that children now have to learn at school has increased and is now much greater than it used to be. This has led to the time teachers can give to teaching times tables becoming less and less. This means that the parent has to take the initiative and do some of the work in helping their children learn times tables.
The methods available for learning times tables appear vast.
How does a parent know where to start?The pressures on parents in terms of work and bringing up children mean that parents are time poor and have to decide what to do to help their children with times tables with little knowledge.
Most parents do not realize how big an effect this decision has on their child’s future schooling.There is little proven research to help make an informed decision.
The times tables are one of the basics that absolutely have to be learned well to provide a sound basis for future maths progress.Get this wrong and your child will struggle at maths, and as a consequence, other school subjects will seem harder.This can then lead to a lack of confidence in mathematics.
In that learning times tables is so important and so many learning options are available, a major question arises; what should you be looking for that will bring success to your children?The aim of learning times tables should be to be able to recall them instantly and without having to think about them. You may ask, why?
The reason for this is that times tables is the very first starting point of mathematics. Tables are the key to multiplication and division and unlock the door to algebra and all the other hugely important maths ideas that will form part of your children’s future learning. This point here is that if you cannot get the simple things right at the start and quickly, then your chances of picking up and understanding new concepts are lessened, as you are spending more brain power recalling the times tables, instead of knowing them instantly and focusing on the next things.
This is such an important point to grasp. To do this, try answering these quick questions – What is your name?
Your didn’t have to think about the answer! Now try ‘what is the name of your child or one of your children’?
Were you able to think of the answers as quickly as when you answered the first question? How long does it take for you to get to the answer what is 8 x 7? Did that take a bit longer? Let’s build this up – What is 7 x 8 and 9 x 7? Did you know these tables as well as you know your name? Because 8 x 7 was changed to 7 x 8 for most people this will have taken a bit longer. Most people have to do a different calculation instead of the same one.
The target for your children is to have them know their tables as well as they know their own names. When children can do this then building to a higher level of mathematics becomes much easier for them. This shows that the aim for your children is to learn times tables in a way that they can recall them instantly – as well as they know their names.
The method that does this is the 100% Instant Recall Method which you can find out all about at Learn Times Tables or Learning Times Tables