Trigger Memory Systems

Do your kids have trouble remembering their times tables? Trigger Memory Systems has a wonderful TIMES Tales program that makes remembering them fun and easy. I bought this program 2 years ago when Ryan was learning his multiplication facts, but I wanted it to be fun, not just drill. It was a wonderful program then and even better now, as they've added the upper 3 and 4 multiplication facts!

"Times Tales is a creative, innovative mnemonic-based program that makes it fun and easy to memorize the upper multiplication facts. Times Tales uses cute, simple stories to provide students with a "memory peg", allowing them to quickly recall otherwise abstract facts."

For example, 9 is shown as a tree, and the page for 9X9 is below. You teach the kids the characters, tell them the stories, have them retell them to you and then move to the flashcards with the pictures, and then the flashcards with only the numbers. It is a fast and easy way to learn the "hard" upper multiplication facts. It took us about 30 minutes on two consecutive days for Ryan to learn them all. After that, I reviewed the stories occasionally, but usually just verbally quizzed him on the facts when we were waiting somewhere or driving in the car.

With Ryan, I noticed for awhile he would have to think of the story, but then the facts became automatic as he used them more. And he knows if he ever gets stuck, he just has to think of the numbers as children, snowmen, or trees and he'll have the memory trigger to recall those facts.

The program is non-consumable, so you will be able to use it with all of you children.

This is by far the easiest way to learn those tricky multiplication facts that I have ever seen. The program doesn't teach the concept of multiplication, it just helps you get the facts memorized faster. Kids will still need to be taught why you multiply, but having the facts ready for instant recall makes actually doing it much easier!