Times Tables the Fun Way Book for Kids: A Picture Method of Learning the Multiplication Facts Spiral-bound – March 31, 1999

Background: My son is nine. He's in the third grade at our local academic magnet school into which he test in kindergarten. He was a micro-preemie and suffers with all of the attention span problems inherent from that--in addition to having an extremely ADHD father and a mother who has trouble completing her own projects. He is also completely verbal and literal in his learning methods. He never misses a spelling word after the second study session--even the really tough ones they add in just to challenge them. Reading? He picked that up in two months the summer he was four. Math? Not. A. Chance.Then: We tried learning multiplication the old-fashioned way: drill. practice. play games on the internet. (Well, that's not so old-fashioned. But it's still repetition.) 0s, 1s, 2s, and 5s were pretty easy. 9s were doable because there was an easy question and a pattern. Then along came the 3s. We drilled in different locations. While jumping up and down. While standing on one leg. We wrote. We hollered. We cried. I actually said, at one point, "if you can remember that c-a-t spells 'cat,' why can't you remember that 3x4 is 12?!!! You're smarter than this."Thank God I vented on Facebook and a friend from high school who teaches gifted kids told me about this book.I ordered it that night and asked for one-day shipping.Now: Xander aced the test on 3s (100 problems in five minutes) BECAUSE of this book. We had only two days of studying for the 3s using these stories and pictures, but because he now had a visual--pictures, words, a funny story--he had his own cues for answering the problems when he paused instead of trying to access the foreign-language-that-is-math. He has passed every other test (4s, 6s, 7s, 8s) without any trouble. There has been NO strife in our home over math since I ordered this book. I WISH I'D HAD IT WHEN I WAS IN 4TH GRADE learning my own multiplication tables. Perhaps I'd have remember that 7x8 is 56 because 8 is a trampoline and 7 is leaping onto his 5 diving board to dive into his 6 pool.Extras we added: I read the story out loud to Xander while he reads along. He reads the summary below the picture out loud. He traces the numbers in the picture silently. Then he traces the numbers in the picture while saying the problem out loud. Uh. May. Zing. difference. His teachers are glowing in their praise and impressed with the difference in my child.I wish I'd known that there was an Addition book back in first grade. He still uses his fingers for addition, but I bought that book and am hopeful that it will have the same kind of success that the multiplication book has had. He likes to read it at night before bed. Not because I make him. What????? We also own the Story Problems book, but we haven't worked any problems in it yet. He's just reading the stories in it--because he wants to--right now.

My daughter was struggling a little with addition facts & then was totally lost when her class moved on to multiplication. Her frustration resulted in frequent shut downs & tantrums. My husband would work with her every day after school for more than an hour, reteaching the basic concepts just to get through the homework.I panic-bought this book. Each night, right before bedtime reading, we go through 2-3 of these stories. Some are so crazy and make no logical sense, YET... she remembers them! I quiz her randomly throughout the day and she just rattles the answers off. My husband said to "make sure you write a review, because this book is amazing!" Homework now never takes more than 30 mins. Her teacher wrote me an email saying, "whatever work you guys are doing at home is working. She is lucky to have such overwhelming support at home." We are only half way through the book.I also purchased the addition one, so we can go back and solidify those facts as well.Make math crazy and nonsensical. I do not understand why this book works but it does. And there is little work you as the parent need to do. It's honestly, the craziest thing I've ever seen.

We spent all summer trying to teach my daughter her mult facts, but they just wouldn’t stick. And the process was like pulling teeth. Then I bought this book and the flash cards and she basically taught herself all of them last night and this morning. I cannot believe it. Some of the stories seem kind of random (the one about the army was a missed opportunity. They could have rhymed sign with nine) and I’m not crazy about the message of one them, but I don’t even care because the pictures and mnemonics are so memorable. I just crossed out the part about the pregnant mouse being worried about birth defects. Totally unnecessary. The kids need to be able to read a clock for the 5s trick and add up to nine quickly to do the 9s, but it wasn’t an issue for us. I love this book. And the flash cards were key.

Its worth a buy if your child is afraid of times table. This will create interest in learning times tables. I got it for my second grader, but my kindergarten son also loves to read the stories. He shows off now with atleast 10-12 multiplication he has learned. Now he is eager to learn all times table and is not afraid of learning tables. He really learned multiplication by 0 and 1. When someone asked him 0 times 1, even though it may be tricky for a 5 year old, he answered confidently.As for my second grader, she learned good deal from it as well. Especially the ones she would always forget, we read the story again and again and she remembered the hard ones. The stories are only for 3, 4, 6, 7, 8. For 0, 1, 2, 5, 9 it gives you the concept. Like anything times 2 is when you add the number to itself. Kids learn that well. To make her learn all the tables, this book is not enough. They may not remember all stories or will not read it many times to remember. Buy some flash cards for multiplication (containing 0-12 times). That will give your child the practice and remember random ways.This book is definitely expensive but a worth buy anyway if your kid is afraid of times table. Its good specially for younger kids who are not under the pressure to learn it right away but generates interest and curiosity. Good for older kids who are struggling with times table and are under pressure since all their friends know it. Definitley add flash cards and have them review it everyday for a week.