As a homeschooling parent teaching your children multiplication can be quite a daunting task. There are many questions that you are dealing with, and you want to make sure they understand it. If you are like me you want to skip the traditional multiplication textbooks and teach multiplication to them in a way in which they can easily the grasp the concept. Like many, I was taught multiplication by simply memorizing my multiplication facts. While I learned my multiplication facts I did not fully grasp the concept of multiplication.
One of the easiest ways to teach your child multiplication is by teaching them how to skip count early on. Once the foundation of skip counting has been laid you can build upon it later. If you are confused by the term skip counting, this is counting by two’s, three’s, four’s, five’s and so on.
Once your child knows how to count by two’s you can show them that 2+2 is 4, 2+2+2 is 6, and 2+2+2+2 is 8. Then once they understand that concept you can introduce multiplication by showing them that 2+2 is the same as 2×2, 2+2+2 is the same as 2×3, and that 2+2+2+2 is the same as 2×4.
Another thing to keep in mind when starting out with multiplication is to watch the language you use when you are talking to your child. Instead of saying two times two is four, tell your child that two two’s is four, three two’s is six, four two’s is eight. Only introduce the language of multiplication once they have a good understanding of how multiplication works.
As a homeschooling family, a lot of our learning is through the use of games. We find playing a game so much more fun than filling out a worksheet, which I am sure is true for most anyone.
Yahtzee is a great game to play when learning multiplication. By recording their score in Yahtzee they are practicing their multiplication facts. For example if they roll four fives, they have to multiply four times five to calculate their score of twenty. If you are working on a paticular fact family you adjust the game to reflect that. If you are working on four’s you can have your child roll for four’s only, and then calculate their score.
I have also heard of many parents who play a game of War with their children to help them practice their math. But instead of playing it where the biggest card wins the child must multiply the two cards together. For example if you turn over a seven card and they turn over a five card they must multiply seven by five. If they get the answer correct they win the hand, if their answer is incorrect then you win the hand.
The most important things to remember when teaching your child multiplication is to make it fun, and to work at a pace that suits your child’s needs, they do not have to learn multiplication overnight.
