Deb Russell recently wrote an article that you can read at about.com (mathematics) entitled ‘Times Tables in 21 Days’.

She highlights how essential it is for a child to learn times tables well for both school and for their later lives and points out that teachers have little time these days to make sure that children have learned the tables well.

If a child does not know the tables this could have detrimental consequences for school success.

Deb therefore reviews and summarises a number of the ideas that are used in an attempt to increase children’s abilities to learn times tables.

We love Deb’s article and would like to help parents further by highlighting the very best method that enables your children to learn times tables easily, quickly and with an Instant Recall ability, and yes, we do mean a 100% INSTANT RECALL ability.

How do you find out what the very best method is?

To answer this we would like to take you through the methods listed in Deb’s article and then reach a conclusion as to what we think and know is the very best learning method for times tables.

First, Skip Counting - Children can use their fingers to count and a method that uses fingers is called ‘skip counting’.

With skip counting, a child can count, 2,4,6,8,10 or say 10,20,30,40,60 with their fingers and it is often said that this is a good method to learn times tables.

In children’s early years learning using their fingers to work with numbers is great as children are learning by doing something physical. The problem with the method is that counting on fingers is not so great later on when your children need to know the answers to tables instantly.

The point is that when children use their fingers to work out a times table answer it makes finding the answer very slow when a fast answer is needed.

Doubles – You can learn times tables by learning doubles, such as 3×3,4×4, and 6×6. The suggestion is that if children know a double, such as 6×6, then they will find it easier to calculate the tables above it, in this case the 6 times tables above 6×6.

To get to a correct answer children have spend time working out the answer and this of course takes time and effort and is an obstacle to learning times tables effectively.

Children will learn times tables far better if they use a method which leads to them learning with an Instant Recall ability that takes little time and effort.

Rhymes – The idea with using rhymes is that by remembering the words of a rhyme; children will be able to learn the times tables by knowing these words.

To be blunt, with this method children do not learn in a way that gives them the answer to a particular times table instantly.

Instead children have to work their way through the rhyme to get to the particular answer that they are after. This takes time and a lot of effort and is a method that we do not agree with’ other than for having some fun when teaching very young children.

Joint learning of opposites – Let me say at once that this method holds the beginning of the key to a child being able to learn times tables with an Instant Recall ability.

The joint learning idea is simple, for example when you learn say 4×6, you at the same time learn 6×4, and the same goes for all other tables.

Learning opposites like this makes learning easy by reducing the time and work required to learn times tables.

However, in helping children to learn an effective method like this you cannot assume that opposites will be learned at the same time. Even if you highlight this to children it will not necessarily sink in or be acted on.

What the parent or teacher needs to do is to strongly and actively encourage this method by making it clear to children that this is the way to learn and to provide them with a method by which it can be done.

Conclusion – Other than the last method these ideas take a lot of time and effort, are not particularly effective, and do not result in an ability to learn times tables with an Instant Recall ability.

To really learn times tables and the answers without thinking about them, what children need is a method by which they can know them with 100% Instant Recall.

The very best method to learn times tables uses joint learning of opposite tables as part of a very clear and easy plan that achieves 100% INSTANT RECALL.

Whether you are a parent or a teacher, your children can easily learn times tables so that they know the answers in an instant, without having to think about the answers. The method they need makes it very easy to learn times tables and it will now come as no surprise to hear is called the 100% Instant Recall Method.

To learn the secret of exactly what you need to do to give your children an instant recall ability when they learn times tables can be found at this website; www.TimesTablesMaths.com.

If you use this method your children will learn times tables so that they know them instantly when asked.Your children will know the times tables so well that they know them as well as their own names, that’s how good the 100% Instant Recall Method is.