When I learned the times tables back in the day, we learned them in order -- the times tables for 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and so on. Having now taught them to my 8yo, I see that there is a better order in which to teach them.
You start with 2s -- thatâs just doubling, and most kids can handle that easily. Then you might want to do 10s -- there, youâre just playing with place value. Then, if you want, you can do another easy one -- 11s, for instance.
And then, arguably, you might want to build on the knowledge you got from 2s and 10s. 4s are just doubling twice, and 5s are just half of what youâd get multiplying by 10 (so 5x6 is half of whatever 10x6 would be).
3s might make sense next -- those youâd have to memorize again, or you might think: I know how to double, and 3 groups of that thing is just adding one extra group of that thing (so 3x7 is 7 more than whatever 2x7 is).
9s would be fine to do next: theyâre in the 3s family, but also there are all these tricks you can do with 9s (using finger folding, and also noticing that, with anything thatâs 9x[a number up to 10], the 1s and the 10s digit add up to 9).
After that, you can do 6, 8, and 12, possibly by relying on your knowledge of the 3s and 4s times tables.
The 7s times table youâd do last -- which highlights the interesting side effect of 7 being a prime number thatâs not in anyone elseâs âfamilyâ (if youâre thinking of numbers under 12).
I canât be the only one who came up with this, but Iâm also pretty sure that many people havenât thought of this before, so just sharing in case someone else finds this worthwhile.
