Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Tagged: Flash cards, Math drill, math facts, math games

This topic has 11 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 6 months ago by 5heartsathome.

Viewing 12 posts - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)

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July 23, 2015 at 10:24 pm
mamakof4
Participant
I really need suggestions as to the best way to learn math facts. I will be totally honest, I have never liked math but it stems from not being confident in my math skills. I was always failing math in school and I never got math facts memorized. I really do not want my children to have this problem, but as of now they do not know their math facts either. My oldest is 9, doing Beta book for Math U See and while she does great with math in paper, she does not know answers from memory and I am really not sure how to get them down. We all really need to know them, are flashcards a good way to go? I have awful memory too, so I would probably have to stay on top of memorizing them again and again, ugh. Suggestions and advice are much appreciated, thanks!
July 23, 2015 at 10:50 pm
Wings2fly
Participant
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.
July 24, 2015 at 9:14 am
retrofam
Participant
Right Start math card games are helpful too.
MUS has a skip counting songs cd that helps some types of learners.

July 24, 2015 at 1:40 pm
albanyaloe
Participant
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
July 24, 2015 at 8:44 pm
Alicia Hart
Participant
Right Start math games has worked best for us.
July 25, 2015 at 3:28 am
mamakof4
Participant
Thank you all for the many suggestions, I feel like I have a good idea of options now!
November 5, 2015 at 11:01 am
mtnmama
Participant
What I found is that some kids aren’t ready in 3rd or even 4th grade. It is just such an uphill battle and so discouraging for all.
My oldest waited until 5th grade (did skip counting for multiplication problems until then) and now he knows them all without really trying.
My second memorized the facts in 3rd grade as easy as breathing (isn’t he lucky!)
November 8, 2015 at 8:17 pm
suzukimom
Participant
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….
November 8, 2015 at 11:01 pm
psreitmom
Participant
No matter what method you use, I wanted to mention that in Math On the Level, math facts are learned 9’s down. Normally math facts are learned starting with zero, but by starting with 9’s, the harder ones get more practice.
November 8, 2015 at 11:35 pm
Kelley
Participant
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!
November 9, 2015 at 6:19 am
Melanie32
Participant
Timezattack was the ticket for my daughter to memorize her times tables. I never worried with having my kids memorize addition and subtraction facts. I’ve found that it happens naturally as they work on those skills through the years. Multiplication is a whole ‘nother ball of wax IMO. Trying to add eight 9’s in your head could get tricky but figuring out 9-6 in your head? That’s not so difficult as one matures.
November 9, 2015 at 7:06 am
5heartsathome
Participant
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.