Best Way to Learn Math Facts

xtramath.org is free and works like flashcards, keeping track of their progress and giving them the right mix of facts.  I used it myself to brush up on my division facts.  It takes a few months or so for the kids to get a score of 100 and pass to get their certificate.  They get smiley faces for correct facts done within 3 seconds.  It really helped when I got my children to understand that it is more important to get it right than to get it quickly, but speed comes with time.

If I look back over our 10 years plus of homeschooling, I’d have to say what was “best” for learning math facts differed from child to child, and from season to season.  I too, do not have math confidence.  I discovered pretty early, that the less intimidating it was, the more they remembered.

Here is a mixture of the (many) things we have done.   As you can see, it’s a very varied approach 😉

Flash cards ( old fashioned, but some children love ’em)  We used the CLE set which comes with a daily plan, whereby you store familiar cards at the back of the pack, sort of like the SCM Bible Memory system.  It is excellent.

Triangle flash cards are excellent, if you cannot purchase them, I think Donna Young has them on her site.

I never timed the children with these, and gave them the answer, for reinforcement, rather than waited for ages for an answer.  Sometimes they got a counter for every correct answer, and then a little reward.  Some experts suggest showing ONLY flashcards that have answers on them.  I think this may be something for some children.

Games: board games for all 4 operations, starting with just addition.  I do not know the US names of these, I live in South Africa and used what we had

Dice and card games, if those are allowed in your home.  These can really be made up, but if you’re stuck use google and many ideas will come up.  I think I also found ideas on Practical Pages.com

Skip counting is a fun way to lay the ground work, before you start on tables

Audio versions of the times tables set to music (I think MUS also have a set)

Using a hundred chart.  From simple addition, hop forward twice, what do you get, to coloring in the 5 times tables, or whatever.  If you are not sure what activities to do, ask here, or Google.

Made up games: use old board games, or print a game board.

Work sheets: we used “drill sheets” very seldom.  I often used these to assess which facts still needed coverage.  I’d watch which ones the children dawdled over, and concentrate on them.

Websites: I second Xtra Math, my children do not “love” it, but it is free and certainly does the job.

Times attack is a game you can download in free version.  It now covers not just multiplication, but all the other operations too. I do  not really like the big guy in that, but my children do not seem to mind him one bit.

I hope that helps you somewhat.

Kind regards,

Lindy

Just wanted to note that xtramath.org doesn’t work for all kids….  Even setting it to 6 seconds, my son has not mastered any of the operations.  (I eventually moved him from working on addition to working on multiplication.)  He is 12.   He was working on it for ages and ages and his score never improved over a certain number.    Same with his sister, although she did eventually pass 6 second addition, but is stuck with the multiplication.  (we never did subtraction on xtramath with either.)

Their younger sister passed the 6 second addition and is working on the 3 second addition….

We tried xtramath also, and it stressed my daughter out a lot!  She can arrive at an answer, and can do so in a fairly timely manner, but if she’s being “tested”, she shuts down.  I figure accuracy is more important for a 7 year old than speed, and I’d rather she not hate math!

Ditto Right Start Math Games. We love them. They are great way to practice the concepts in a fun way so the memorization comes naturally. I hope you find the right fit for your child.