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Multiplication Facts Review
By Rebecca in Learning in Freedom
October 25, 2009

I preface everything with too much text so scroll down and click on the hyperlinks to check out some cool multiplication review sites.

Recently, over on the homeschool discussion group, a mom shared that she had discovered why her son was taking too long to complete his math assignments. Apparently, he needed to brush up on his multiplication tables. I know how this kid feels. Sitting here I can admit with confidence that I can count by ones and twos but beyond that I might need a calculator. So, kids shouldn't feel bad if they need some review too. We all need to brush up on our basic math facts, right? It's not just me. Is it?

I know it's not just me because a few years ago we went to UT's open house and I asked an engineer professor, "If you could give a high school student who is thinking about majoring in engineering any advice, what would it be?" And he said, "Know your basic math facts! You would be surprised at how many engineering students come here without any knowledge of basic math!" Whoa... These students obviously did fine in their high school math courses or they wouldn't have passed or been accepted into college.

I remember when my now 13 year old needed to brush up on her basic math facts. We played Math-It and Multiflyer for a few weeks and then she was good to go. It's better to focus on building a strong foundation than to go through the motions of completing work books.

I wanted to share some of the sites that I have used here in my home to help with multiplication review.

I have always loved Multiflyer. It combines Astronomy and multiplication! You are looking through the window of your spacecraft and your first mission is to get to the moon. You can't hit warp speed until you correctly solve about 10 multiplication problems. If you don't have your multiplication facts memorized you can always use the grid for help. Once you solve the problems you are taken to the moon where you can read some facts about the moon. Your next mission is to Mars... After each mission you can print out a score sheet to see what numbers you have mastered. The game is also customizable so that if you need help with say, multiples of 7, you can focus on those!

Not all kids are impressed with a mission to Mars. You can customize and drill basic math facts right on the computer at Math U See's site. "Drill" is just so much more fun it it's on the computer? Well, to some kids, it might be.

This one is new to me: Venn Multiples I like this little activity. It helps with multiplication and with finding common multiples of any two numbers of your choice.

You can search the web using a string like "free online math games multiplication" and probably come up with hundreds of similar activities. If you do search for some more please share the ones you like! I'm always looking for free fun sites to help with learning.

Also check out my old math posts: The lattice method of multiplication which can help a child who is bored with the standard algorithm and more fun free math sites.