This is interesing.

I loved math, too.

I grew up in the country on a farm. My mother had been a pulic school teacher. She taught me my tables while in the fields hoeing acres of corn and beans. She made a game of it.

I learned spelling while I was in the barn with my parents when they were handmilking the cows. My Dad would give me a word to spell and help me with it and then have me run to the other end of the stable and spell it to my mother. Sometimes I had to go back several times to my father before I could get it right for my mother. What wonderful memories this brings.
ivamae

Here are two books by Marilyn Burns that I would recommend (public library may have them):

Math by All Means: Multiplication, Grade 3

Lessons For Introducing Multiplication, Grade 3

If arithmetic came naturally to you it might make it harder to explain to a child who doesn't "get it" right away. Try to be patient.

It may help your son (?) to see that multiplication is like addition if you can use something he can see and count, not just numerals. For instance, I like getting graph paper with the big squares and having students cut rectangles that are 3 rows by 5 rows, 7 rows by 8 rows, etc. Something they can hold onto, look at, count how many squares. They can write the equation on the back.

There's nothing wrong with flashcards and there is also computer software to help kids practice math facts.

Henry Anker created "Mr. Anker Tests" for math skills, and they work well for practice. I'll put a link below to one site you can try, but I'm not sure it works for all computers. Use the pull-down menu in the center for "multiplication" and the one to the right called "multiplication families."

Here is a link that might be useful: Mr. Anker tests

I just looked this up today! I found out some tips and tricks that just made my jaw drop....I wish I'd had a dynamic teacher in math at some point during my school years. My daughter is in grade 1 and I think I'll start showing her this stuff next summer. I think that kids will want to learn if it "wows" them and if they can use it as a cool trick to show their friends.
ANYWAY... look up "Vedic Math" ...it's amazing and sooo easy. Good luck in teaching your kid that math doesn't have to suck!

Our kids started with a new program in elementary school called Everyday Math. At first I was very concerned, but it was a great program. There were a couple of different way to multiply and each child used what method worked best for them. Even now DS is in 10th grade and in honors geometry, he has showen his teachers a few new tricks.

My grandaughter is in Gr 3 and having real problems with math,so I'm going to suggest those books to her parents and see if they help.
I think she may take after me,because I hated math all through school,and suffered through it because I knew I had to have the credits....I still hate it,,,thank God for machines!

I think the most important thing to understand at a younger age is to learn how math works... explain what 8 times 9 means. That is really is just 8+8+8+ (nine times). If your son has a hot wheels case with rows and columns to store the cars .. show him how the rows and colums added together equal the total amount of cars that can be stored in his case. You can even use an egg carton to show what 6 X 2 means, a stamp book, even a calendar with weeks and days, etc... get out some coins and put them in rows and columns if you must. Any Visualization (like using coins, counting wall tiles, etc..) will help instill the concepts. It's really important that they grasp the concept of what they are doing and don't just go for memorization or tricks. Although it may seem like a quick fix, the basic understanding of math can often be lost if you only do that. And it's very hard to pick up later in life.

Now, with that being said, if they do understand what they are doing, of course they should be able to also use memorization to help come up with answers quickly. Being able to do so, may keep their interst sparked in math, which is also very important. So a basic understanding coupled with some time spent memorizing the times table is probably your best bet at this age.

Lynda, I couldn't do Geometry. Nothing about it made sense to me until I took drafting in college. That's when the light bulbs turned on - waaay too late LOL.

Kicky, I looked it up and find it very interesting. Thank you for the suggestion. My only concern so far is while the tips & tricks are great, they take as long or longer than factoring the multiplication problem. Only thing is I didn't read very far yet, but I don't doubt he will be able to find some of the concepts helpful in school. Others will be helpful just knowing them and to get the practice. I really find it all very fascinating.

Petaloid, I'm going to look at that website, too. Thanx for the recommendation.

Eliza Ann, show her the way Carla explained it. I showed Jordan how to follow the numbers through, and he whizzed through his homework that night. He can follow that way pretty well - 8, 16, 24, etc. or 9, 18, 27, etc. to arrive at his answer. I can't believe my daughter nor his teacher nor he had thought of doing that before. But, it's relieving him of the chore so that he's more comfortable that I want to try doing.

Carla, I hadn't thought of some of those. Good idea for him to add rows and columns like that in every day life. I think we'll make a game of it. Will be lots of fun with the three of us. His brother, Aaron, is 19 mos younger and answers some of the questions I put to Jordan. LOL He's so proud of himself doing multiplication in 2nd grade. "Let me show you how I did it, Grandmere!" hahaha He tickles me.

Bestlawn,
When I was homeschooling Alyssa, this is how I got her to learn/memorize her multiplication facts. I found a website on the internet that a Mult. Facts worksheet. I printed out lots of copies of the worksheet. Then I printed out a multiplication table and cut it out to size, and laminated it. Each day, I gave her a worksheet and her table and would set the timer for however many minutes, and she had to see how many she could get within the time alotted. The result being that the more times she did it, the less she had to look for the answer on her mult. table. We did that every day until she was abhle to zip right through the worksheet without needing the table anymore.

My third grade teacher had a square chart of the multiplication tables. She had a large poster on a bulletin board and gave each pupil a copy. We drilled those tables every day for ten months. One times one is one, one times two is two, etc.

Thanks for the suggestion Bestlawn,,,she's visiting us on the weekend so I'm going to give this little trick a try and see if I see any light bulbs go off.
Give this little girl a story to write,and she's off and running,but math just stumps her!

Here's Juliet and her poppy working hard on her math homework last time she visited.

Eliza Ann