My 4th grader is struggling with basic multiplication...... anyone have any tricks or advice when helping him?

Question

I've taught him the "nines with your fingers" trick, and of course he can do the 2's and 5's pretty well, but otherwise he really struggles. I don't know how to help him or make it any simpler because it comes so natural to me. I don't want to make him feel stupid, but sometimes I think he catches onto my frustration. If anyone has any advice on teaching him I would so appreciate it!!

Answer 1

I agree with "grindk1ng." My mom did the exact same thing. During the summer of one year, every day, she would make me learn multiplication tables. One day, I would do the threes. The next day, I would do the fours. The next day, I would do the sixes. She would write them down for me, she give me time to memorize them, then she'd test me. I instinctively knew the twos, fives and tens and elevens, so that wasn't too hard. She only made me learn up to twelve. Don't force him to learn the thirteens and so on. Don't let him do this:

If he need to learn 8 x 3, don't ever let him do 8 + 8 + 8. It's just good for him to learn that once, and understand it. If you let him do it, he'll start depending on it. He'll be counting them on his fingers. It's bad practice. Make him memorize them. That way, he will be able to quickly recall them, instead of having to count on his fingers. Let's say he's taking a timed math test at school, and has to do things like 8 * 6. It's gonna take a while to do this; it's a waste of time.

By the way, no offense, but you should have started him off with multiplication tables two years ago. I'm pretty sure I started in second grade. My mom tested me very thoroughly, NEVER asking the multiplications in order (3 x 1, 3 x 2, 3 x 3, etc). She would always mix it up, just in case I was just memorizing them in order.

Answer 2

I have been a failure at math all my life, but I can say I know my multiplication tables. The way I learned it was by making flashcards and drilling with them several times a day (usually I got my dad, who worked a lot to help out with this and we got to spend some time together too.) Start with a few tables (ie, 1-3) and once those are down, add a few more. Rote memorization can't be beat, and will help your kid in the long run, instead of depending on writing stuff out and using his fingers. It may be tough at first, but repetition and practice is the key. Good luck!

Answer 3

I would suggest to let him practice using flash cards. Normally what I do is to remember those number that are multiple by 5
like:
1x5=5,2x5=10,3x5=15...10x10=100

So let him practice multiplication by multiplifying any number by 5.

Note that the product of a numbers multilplied by 5 is the same as taking the half of the multiplicand and mulitplied by 10. Since it is easier to divide a number by 2 and then multiply it by 10.

example:
160x5= 800 (half of 160 is 80 and if you mulitply by 10 is equal to 800)

Then once he is familiar with multiples of 5. You can start to teach him to multiply any number. If he has difficulty try to let him try this scheme.

Let him remember the multiples of 5, then trace the number you want him to be multiplied which is closer to the multiples of 5.

Example1:
4x6 is closer to 4x5=20 and then add the multiplicand "4" to have a sum of 24. Or 4x5=20+4=24

Example2:
8x7 is closer to 8x5=40 and then add the multiplicand "8" twice to have a sum of 56. Or 8x5=40+8+8=56

Good luck...

Answer 4

One trick is to add a number to one product that you already know.

If he is doing 8 X 7, he knows 8 X 5 =40. So add 8 twice to 40

40 +8 =48
48 +8 =56

Answer 5

When I was that age I just memorized them, but I have rather good memory. What some of my friends had was this tray with a square of buttons, put in the appropriate rows and columns to demonstrate every basic multiplication problem, and they were written on the buttons, and when you pressed down on the button, you could see through it to see the answer, and then they just memorized them like that. Though, what's he doing learning multiplication in 4th grade? Your school system must suck, I learned that stuff in 2nd grade. Try homeschooling.

Answer 6

I had a friend who knew a finger trick for all multiplication problems, but the way I learned is by memorizing the facts, like they do with adding.

Here is a website that shows how to do them all on your fingers...

http://mathforum.org/t2t/message.taco?thread=5245&message=2

Answer 7

For example, when 7x3 then tell him to write out each one
7+7+7 = 21
or
3+3+3+3+3+3+3 = 21

Answer 8

nowadays a number of Cd's and cassettes are available on tables(multiplication).this may help.more than anything else you have to give the child plenty of time.some are naturals and some take a little while to get used to certain ideas

Answer 9

i also had hard time wih my times tables. and i never wanted to sit around looking at flash cards. so what i did was think of the numbers in groups. for example 3x3. tell him to think of it as 3 groups of 3. and write it down ex. ( ...) (...) (...) then just have him add the dots or whaterver you use. i did this for a while and eventually i kinda just stuck in my head.
hope it works.

Answer 10

okay my mom did this to me
write down the 2's and 5's with the answers and tell him to memories it for one minute and then take the paper away and ask him the times tables