Learning in the Absence of Education
Essays on Homeschooling
© Beverley Paine
Index
Homeschool
Australia
Learning the Times Tables
The boys have been working out of the '*Plus' maths series, with Thomas beginning '7Plus' recently. Given that his written maths tuition is sporadic I was impressed by how he handled all the revision exercises in the chapters we chose to work on. It soon became apparent, however, that some basic number facts in multiplication were needed to progress without frustration. We put the book away and concentrated on learning the tables.
In the past we sung times tables songs and manipulated tiny Mortensen and Cuisenairre blocks. We've built patterns on paper and with concrete materials. This time I decided to go back to the method I used at school - laboriously writing out the tables, page after page. Normally I would balk at asking any child to complete this seemingly boring, mundane and useless task. But I remembered how, by using this method, the patterns in the multiplication tables jumped out at me. I remember my excitement, as though I was the only child in the universe to have discovered these patterns! Thus began a life long love of all things mathematical. I wanted Thomas to have the same chance to experience this.
He has done three sets of the tables, up to twelve, and isn't complaining. Yes, he is seeing the patterns and learning the shortcuts, in the same way I did. It takes him about an hour to complete one set, and he does it about once a week. We aren't doing any other written maths at the same time. Mostly because Thomas is too busy designing and building a garage for his cubby house, somewhere to park the petrol driven go cart he will one day build with all his collected parts.
I marvel at the fascination Thomas has for the patterns he is finding. He looks at this task no longer like learning the tables, but exploring and having fun. In fact, I don't believe he is learning the tables at all. But he is discovering a lot about numbers. I wonder where it will all lead? Time will tell...
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Excerpt from Learning in the Absence of Home Education: Essays on Homeschooling
© Beverley Paine, 1999
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