Memorize in Minutes: The Times Tables, Teaching Manual

I decided to teach my son the multiplication facts the summer prior to entering 3rd grade so that he would be better prepared. He has learning and attention issues. I knew that he would not do well with the traditional way of teaching multiplication which was rote memorization, so I researched different methods online. I came across this book Memorize in Minutes: The Times Tables and was intrigued after reading the reviews. I knew that he was a visual learner and felt that perhaps this picture story method would work for him. When I got the book, I thought the stories seemed silly and some of the rhymes (mnemonics) seemed far-fetched, such as the Denty Chef's Van as the mnemonic for the product 27. But I decided to try the method, first by teaching him the 2 times table two to three at a time. Each day, we would review the previous day's lesson and keep adding on. Later, I started teaching more facts each day as he took to the method. Once school started, he had learned all the facts. And when the teacher started to teach the multiplication section, he was ready and did well on the quizzes. He was also able to reverse the method for division. So for example, 12 divide by 3, he just had to remember that the mnemonic for 12 was Elf, and knowing that 3 was Tree, he remembered the story of the elf with the Tree with the Door so the answer is 4 (Door is the rhyme). He is still able to remember the facts after 6 months. The only complaint I have about the book is that it doesn't include the facts for 12 times table so I had to be creative and make up my own stories in the style of the picture stories in the book. This is why I deducted 1 star from the rating. 0 and 1 times table are easy ones to learn without picture stories so the picture stories start with the 2 times table. The picture stories are provided only for 2 through 9. 10 times table and 11 times table follow an easy pattern so you teach them patterns not picture stories. I shared this method with my son's teachers and they were amazed that this method worked. This method will not work for all children as different methods will appeal to different learning styles, but if your child has strong visual learning skills, you should definitely buy this book or similar books.

This was very confusion at first and I thought that it was going to be difficult but once I took the time and studied it, it became easy. You should take it slow. My granddaughter has ADHD and dyslexia. This book states that it is for kids with ADHD and dyslexia and it really works. First teach your child, what the 2's, 3's 4's, etc. mean then the 10's, 20's, and 30's means once they understand that read them the stories and sometimes read the stories over a couple of times. What I did was find pictures on the internet or make several pictures of the ones in the book then let them color them, make flash cards and make it fun. Let them make pictures and let them tell the stories so when they see the flash cards with the picture they can let them tell the story so when they see the flash cards,they will feel comfort and they will remember the stories. Once they remember the stories ask them to just give you the answers. When my grnaddaughter got home in the evening we would do her homework then we would spend about 1 hour every afternoon Monday thru Thursday (4 days a week) reviewing the flashcards after about 4 weeks from beginning to ending she remembered them, on the 5th week I did another set of flash cards with just numbers Example. 3x4, 4x3, 2x6 and 6x2 and told her to just tell me the answer because all four of them had the same answer and she would tell me 12 (the same as Elf) Last week her whole class stood up and her teacher would ask one student at a time one multipilcation question, if that student got it correction, they remained standing if they got it wrong they had to sit down. At the end of the time my granddaughter was the last one standing and the straight A students were shocked on how well my granddaughter was and they did not even know as many as she did. Everyone was amazed. I highly recommend this book

I am a home schooling mother and was quite skeptical after reading the method in this book. I feared it was going to make learning the math facts time consuming and more confusing. I did not understand how silly little stories and odd pictures could support long term memory and also feared my children would not learn to quickly recognize the math fact and recall the answer if they had all of these stories swimming around their heads. I'm not a very "silly" person, and felt the stories were just too simple and silly. I'm thrilled to say all of these fears were unfounded and in fact I've recently seen a TED talk on developing memory, how world champions memorize, and it is by using this exact method.... The sillier the story, the more neuronal connections required, the more memorable. My second grader and I learned one math fact a day until we were through the 12 times tables. At first she needed the stories for recall, but soon easily recalled the facts quickly without the need for a story or rhyme. We used this method at the end of second grade, then we took off 3 months for summer break. I was astounded when we began 3rd grade after such a long break and she recalled (quickly and easily) every math fact... no mistakes!! She is now a 6th grader and has retained all of them, without effort, (other than learning the original story picture/ rhyme) I'm currently using this book with my younger daughter (2nd grade), again, doing one math fact a day (4 days a week)It is easy, fun, and yes, silly. I can't recommend this book highly enough. I hope anyone who purchases this book will keep an open mind, push aside any skepticism and just try the method. You'll be amazed at the results. Neither of my children are visual learners and neither of them enjoy "babish/ silly stories" much, but it has been a breeze for them to use this method, despite the superficial "silliness" of it. If you have a child bored or struggling with math facts, this will cure it!!

I remember this program from when I was in elementary school and I still remember the stories and images! This is a very effective way to learn the times tables:)

Much more interesting for kids than just rote memorization. The short stories and word associations stick in their little heads better. Lol.

My 7 year old daughter has really struggled with learning her tables and this book has been amazing! She's a visual learner and the book uses visual memory, rhyme and humour to help kids learn and then file the tables so they can recall them later. I can't recommend it enough!!

grandson found it confusing.