Times Tables: the Confidence Key at school

Some people may say the title of this blog is stretching the truth just a tad, but I’m not so sure.

Having taught primary age children for 20 years and tutored teenagers in Maths, there seems to me a direct correlation between a child’s learning confidence and his ability to master the times tables. Put simply:

Confidence with times tables = confidence with Maths = confidence with learning everything. Double that with boys (most are right brained and this is their forte). When a boy is confident in Maths he feels capable of anything and that confidence spills over into all subjects. And vice versa. Times Tables are as important to Maths as the alphabet is to reading.

Times tables are the foundation stone of all maths, from simple multiplication and division, to fractions, measurements, algebra and right thru to calculus. Students hit fractions big time in year 7 and 8 and it is almost impossible to master them without tables. This is often the chapter and the time when a student will come crashing to a painful and humiliating halt in maths, confidence starts spiraling down, behaviour and concentration often going with it. ….all for the lack of mastering times tables.

So here is my advice to parents who don’t want to spend their hard-earned cash on maths tutors in high school:  drill those times tables into your kids while they’re young. The time you spend will pay you back in bucket loads, mostly with the satisfaction and pleasure you will get in seeing your child enjoy school and learning. So

• Have a ‘Times Table of the month”
• Invent prizes for every Times Table mastered
• Use car time to drill (kids actually enjoy little ‘tests’)
• Don’t try and learn all 12 in one go. Just four at a time is best, and stay on them for at least a week.     eg just the hard ones of each table

                        3 x 6

                        3 x 7

3 x 8

3 x 9

• Stick a chart on the toilet door and circle the week’s four.
• And finally, DON’T just buy a Times Tables cd and stick it on whenever hoping the kid will learn it by osmosis. Believe me, this is time and money wasted and you’ll still end up paying for a tutor in High School. Times Tables are still learnt best the old-fashioned way… spoken and drilled.