Why I don't torture my kids with Times Tables
When I was a child there was this fashion for parents to teach their children times tables no matter what.
Times Tables = Smart kids = Some sort of approval in the Society
My mother would wake me up at night asking me Times Tables. Until now I remember crying my eyes out because I couldn't remember them all and I was "tortured" even more to learn them.
I would be denied access to friends and TV, until I knew my numbers.
It was like a torture, but the "fashion" was to know the times tables by heart. Make no mistake, it was a deal breaker for many parents.
When I became a mother, alongside many "DO NOT" promises , one of them was to NEVER torture my kids with learning the times tables by heart.
One day my then schooled child ( yay for homeschooling now) came home from school. Tears, denial, anger. He failed his timetables, the teacher made him as an example for the entire class, he failed they all failed. You work as one organism talk..blah blah blah. And as much as I encourage team work I was furious.
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| Stock image by PEXELS |
I believe in children learning by doing. By experimenting, by touching, by seeing. They learn by making errors.
And before anyone give me a critique about my methods I will point this out again. It works for us.
By letting my kids use the calculus, abacus or a even a calculator I'm educating them about being resourceful, about following technology, I'm exposing them to visual aids which will eventually embed in their little minds and they will memorise the calculations.
There is nothing wrong with letting your child to used aids. They are there to be used. Don't get caught in the " My Kids are the smartest" race. Let your children be they way they are. And not the way everyone wants to see them.
Your child will benefit from the stress free task, they will learn that asking for help is ok and one they they will thank you for being the greatest mother.
Peace and light..
HQ
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