Times Tables the Fun Way Book for Kids: A picture and story method of learning the multiplication facts

I've now done this book with 3 kids (a boy and 2 girls), and it's so easy and, yes, FUN. One girl was here visiting and picked it up because of the colorful cover and asked me to go through the book with her. She's a 5th-grade ESL student struggling in math. She was blown away at how easy this was and surprised herself at how well it helped her remember her facts. Even my 5yodd (who is also attracted to the colorful pictures and stories) remembers some of the facts.All the pages are sturdy un-bendable, water-resistant extremely heavy cardstock. It comes as a spiral-bound book so that you can bend it back and show the big picture (trigger) on one page while you read the (short) story to them from the facing page. Each section has a little memory review and there is a pre/post test at the end to measure your progress. Also, as I stated before, the book is very colorful and fun to look at, so kids can't help picking it up and flipping through it. The student book is really the only thing you need (there are other bells and whistles, but they're not neccessary) and well worth the price. Kids can read through this on their own and at their own pace. Whether they're learning all the facts from the beginning or brushing up on just a few that they just cannot seem to remember, this book can do it. A table of contents at the beginning tell them exactly what page to turn to to learn which fact.It is SSOOOO important that kids learn their facts cold before going into higher maths. Standardized tests are timed and they cannot get bogged down and side-tracked with what the answer to 7x8 is.I wish something like this was available when I was a kid.BTW, for more really great (easy) trigger memory systems (not by this author) check out "Yo, Sacramento! (And All Those Other State Capitals You Don't Know): Memorize Them All (Forever) in 20 Minutes Without Trying" and "Yo, Millard Fillmore! (And All Those Other Presidents You Don't Know)" by Will Cleveland and Mark Alvarez. My 10yo learned all the States/Capitals and all Presidents/# effortlessly and in only 40min (total) per book.

My wife homeschooled our 3 children through elementary school over 14 years. When our oldest son was so frustrated with not remembering his times tables despite flash cards and other math games, my wife was shown this book. She reviewed the stories on a daily basis instead of reviewing flash cards. He was able to memorize his times tables consistently and enjoyed the stories. He even drew his own stories for the fives. When it was time to teach our daughters their times tables, she used the book with them and they enjoyed it too. They each had different learning styles. The book can be used by parents with students in any school setting to help practice times tables. My wife still suggest this book to other parents with children learning times tables. To address the one start reviews: any learning by elementary school students needs a certain amount of repetition and breaking the material down in manageable sized pieces. The material should still be presented a few stories at a time with time to practice in between. The visual pictures and auditory stories decrease the amount of repetition needed to master the skill and engages multiple learning styles. The pictures and stories make the repetition more fun and the students can gauge that they are making progress and not dread math. It was exactly what our frustrated math learner needed and prevented the same frustration for our other learners who followed.

I am still slightly shell shocked that this book is working so well. At first glance, it looks like a convoluted and overcomplicated way to learn math facts, but my child's instant improvement says that it's exactly what some kids need. My child has a diagnosed rote memory issue. For him, remembering information that has no meaningful context to him (like math facts) is extremely challenging. He can discuss things like historical timelines and physics with you in great detail, but struggles to recall our zipcode. He also has a processing speed issue so combine those 2 challenges and things like timed math fact tests are a disaster. This book combines a story and visual image for the math facts and that provides a meaningul context in his brain and he remembers the fact. It would never be the way I would learn or memorize something, but it is working for him and I'm still slightly awestruck. If your child is having trouble with fact recall, I highly recommend this series. Everyone's brain works and processes information differently and this alternative teaching method is just what some kids need!