Learning Times Tables

[browndmb]

Had the grandchildren here for a few days and noticed that they did not have a grasp of the times table. As it is now a few years since I learnt them but it was by rote. Every morning we would sing out the tables and all in the class could do them but this does not seem to be the way now. I am at a loss how to get the message of the importance of knowing this skill across.
It appears that the computer is used but in looking as to how they did this guesswork was used and any number of chances used before the correct answer appeared.

Help I need to solve this as they could be left behind at this early stage.

I remember with my own going over them on car trips and such

Thanks for any tips

[woofgang]

So are you saying that the rest of the class know them and your grandkids don't? If not, I am not sure how you mean that they are "left behind" What do their parents think? I am not sure its right that you should be involving yourself in their education without discussing it with their parents, even though personally, I find having the tables by rote to be very useful.

[jno]

I still recite the tables in my head, which saves me having to find a calculator (up to 12 12s, anyway); but the assumption these days is that everyone has some sort of calculator and the important thing is not memorising the answer but learning how to find it.

So it may depend how old your grandchildren are: old enough to have learnt how to use a calculator?

[ummmm]

I was in the pub the other day watching the ladies playing darts. Their basic maths was appalling. Grown women more or less using their fingers to add 12 and 5.

I was chalking up as a child without the aid of a calculator.

[jno]

nothing like practical use for making the sums stick, ummmm. (Playing cribbage helps too.)

[ummmm]

Yep...used to play lots of crib with my dad and uncles.

I remember trying to explain to my friend how to subtract sums really quickly but I just confused her. Like...if you need to take away 18 then take away 20 and add 2....

Get your grand kids into darts, browndmd :-) You're dealing with single numbers, doubles and triples and it involves adding up and taking away.

[browndmb]

Probably I should keep out but life would be easier for them if the answer was in her head rather than on a calculator screen.
Best of intentions and will keep quiet and let them get on with it.

[vulcan42]

I'm old fashioned but believe knowing the tables is essential. Using a calculator is useful but if you don't have a rudimentary knowledge of the tables, how do you know the calculator is giving the right answer? If you have the time and their parents agree, teach them yourself, it isn't exactly interfering with their education.

[ummmm]

I wouldn't keep quiet. My nan was always teaching me stuff. It wasn't that my mum didn't but my nan just made it more fun with rewards of ice cream.

[woofgang]

I am not saying keep quiet. I am saying if the OP wants to get involved in the children's education, then he/she needs to discuss it with the parents first. Playing games and doing activities that need maths is fine, teaching children different methods from those that are being taught at school can be confusing and counterproductive.
"I am at a loss how to get the message of the importance of knowing this skill across."
and
"Help I need to solve this as they could be left behind at this early stage."

made me think that the OP is running the risk of causing difficulties for the children,albeit with the best intentions.

[douglas9401]

It's a conspiracy to keep folk as dull and thick as possible except for our betters of course.
How else do you explain the continuing soaraway success of The Sun for example?
I suppose it would be a good idea to check with their parents though as you may end up with grandkids much quicker and more mentally agile than their classmates and that is frowned upon by pupils and teachers alike.
Who knows, they may even ask questions of their professional educators and that would never do.

[smoneybags]

If you want to help your grandchildren learn their table: start with the easy ones- 10x, 5x and 2x. Make a 100 number square and let them colour in the ones they know down and across, then move on to the others. 4x and 2x go together, 3x, 9x go together, learn any little rhymes to help them and any little tricks you know (9x is easy- the first figure increases by one and the second decreases by one, after 18, and the two figures in each number add up to 9)

[sddsddean]

I don't think its just the times tables, but mental arithmetic in general. Whenever we go to our local pub for a meal (which nearly all the 'kids' in the village work in at some time) you can do your order and they will reach for the calculator rather than add up 3 numbers (which I can do before they have punched the first number in!). When they say thats clever or something, you have to explain that to add 8.99, 10.99 and 12.99 you just add 9,11 and 13 and take 3p off (rather than adding all those 99's). No one has ever taught them how to do simple mental arithmetic.