Tuesday, November 11, 2008

begging to multiply!

okay, i've gotta be honest - at 6th and 5th grade, my boys still - STILL - do not consistently know their times tables. i know i need to get to that, and it's slowing down our math progress, but it just hasn't happened! i mean well - we have flash cards, and every-so-often, we dig them out at dinner. perhaps it's because i had a "crisis" as a kid when i got spanked by the principal for not knowing mine on time, and then talking back to the teacher about it. eek!
flash forward to this last week, when we received a little bundle from trigger memory systems, as part of our journey with The Old Schoolhouse TOS Crew. they included some adorable chore flip charts and - lo and behold - Times Tales. Times Tales is an awesome system of line drawings and "picture stories" that teach kids their multiplication facts, almost without their knowing! the proof is in the pudding... at 11 and 10, brian and joshua are eating it up. at 8 and 5, anna and ethan are begging - BEGGING - to "do Times Tales" every evening.
after day 1, in which we spent about 1 hour reading through the first section and quickly learning the little stories, we pulled out flash cards (included, both with and without picture cues) at dinner with daddy. the kids floored him with how much they'd learned in one day. now, let me be direct and say, i won't go around telling people to spend their hard-earned, carefully-budgeted funds if i don't believe in something. but i am telling you, get this product! if you homeschool or not, if you have kids who will ever need to multiply, go to this site and order this product. may your precious ones be spared childhood multiplicatory trauma!
p.s. - yes, we are homeschoolers, and yes, it is 10:57 am, and yes, they are doing math in - or out of - their pj's!

2 comments:

Funchaosx4 said...

I am especially loving the out of PJ's part, reminds me of my little man. Too cute.
P.S. Will check out the times tales.

Michelle said...

Thank you for the honest review!