Parenting Insights
Do you recall those tedious afternoons spent at the kitchen table, aimlessly flipping through flashcards, all while dreaming of the freedom to play outside with friends? I certainly do, and it was quite the ordeal. For me, mastering multiplication tables felt like scaling Mount Everest in elementary school. So, when my eight-year-old son came home one day effortlessly reciting them without ever touching a flashcard, I was both astonished and a hint envious.
How could this be? Somehow, he had not only grasped all the multiplication tables from 1 to 12 but was having fun in the process. A flicker of jealousy emerged, wishing he had endured the same struggles I did, but the feeling dissipated quickly when I realized I wouldn’t have to endure that frustration with him.
I pleaded for his secret, and like most children, he eagerly shared it. His enthusiastic teacher, whom he admired greatly, had introduced them to the concept of skip counting using familiar nursery rhymes. The once-daunting strings of numbers became as easy to recall as the lyrics to “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” It felt like magic.
Over the next few months, I would watch him at the dining table, diligently working on his math homework, pausing to hum a quick tune while using his fingers to keep track of the multiplier. He never faltered, growing faster at multiplication to the point where I had to practice just to keep pace with him.
By the time my younger daughter reached third grade, I was fully convinced of the method’s effectiveness. We found ourselves singing these catchy songs during dishwashing, belting them out on car rides to gymnastics, and even at the table during homework sessions. My five-year-old picked up on most of them, and surprisingly, even my three-year-old could chant a few. In fact, it might just be true that his only familiarity with the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” is the multiples of seven. Is that odd? Perhaps, but I’m perfectly fine with it.
Naturally, I shared this fantastic math strategy with friends and family. I explained which tunes corresponded to each multiple, but many struggled to fit the words correctly to the melodies without hearing them first. When they expressed this challenge, I did what any resourceful parent would do. I decided to have my son appear in some YouTube videos. Okay, “appear” might be overstating it, but he helped create fun videos for each song paired with simple animations.
Our goal was to reach as many people as possible to spare trees from becoming flashcards, save parents and children from homework-related stress, and essentially contribute to a happier planet. Here are our seven “Skip Counting” videos:
- Skip Counting By 3s: “Where Is Thumbkin”
- Skip Counting By 4s: “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”
- Skip Counting By 6s: “London Bridge Is Falling Down”
- Skip Counting By 7s: “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”
- Skip Counting By 8s: “This Old Man”
- Skip Counting By 9s: “Ten Little Indians”
- Skip Counting By 12s: “Jingle Bells”
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In summary, this playful approach to learning multiplication has transformed my children’s educational experience and fostered a love for math that I once thought impossible.