Math for Love Multiplication by Heart

In general, I hate flashcards and avoid them entirely. I've only used flash cards before with multisensory (Orton-Gillingham) reading programs as a small part of the review. That said, these are amazing! My upper-elementary age child with dycalculia and dyslexia is just starting multiplication. She enjoys these, understands them, and is learning her multiplication tables in far less time than either of my other children did (and they're begging to go through these now, too, just to see how well they have things memorized). The visual aspect makes perfect sense to her. Ironically (or not), she easily "reads" the pictures and tells me the answer, and has a harder time reading the set of numbers at the bottom in the correct order, but understands them and their commutative properties perfectly, so I'm not worried about that!We've finished four days (I love the little spinner that tells which sets of cards to do each day), and she has the 1s, 2s, and 3s tables memorized, along with everything up to 5x5. I know it will get harder here on out, but it's amazing that she has had no trouble up to this point, and really understands how multiplication works!

My daughter is enjoying using this tool to help learn multiplication. Sessions are short and sweet and so not a lot of push back to do them. Are designed to have the ones that stump your child repeat until they know it. We are on day 10 and she's already made progress which makes her happy and more inclined to continue. I love that it's a whole system and I didn't have to organize it! So it's easy for me as a parent to use. I wasn't really sure if the big deck was supposed to be shuffled for adding the 10 cards into pocket A or if they were supposed to be taken in order. But my daughter picked up the box holding the top and the way it is designed, the bottom fell out and all the cards went flying anyway, so that way that, they are shuffled! I thought it was a bit pricey when I bought it, but since she's engaged and making progress and it's easy for me to use, it's worth it. Very pleased with this purchase!

It took me a few tries to really learn the program, but it’s more on me for not focusing than bad explaining from the author’s part! I like how the cards visualize multiplication concept and the program is well designed! Less work for me to keep track on things!

Finally, flash cards that live up to their hype! We have a right brain thinker. Just asking for the mental math, which he's good at, the answers don't come as quickly as they do flipping through these cards. They are nice and big (where some card decks, etc., are deceptively small). The box is good and sturdy. This literally, really, takes only a few minutes a day, if that. I love the system being "written" out for us with the spinner. Makes it super easy to follow. And playing the games is definitely a challenge to your normal way of seeing and thinking, which is good! Wholeheartedly recommended, especially if your child is a right brain thinker (imaginative, spontaneous, emotional, does things "outside the box" despite instructions, expressive, doesn't "get" "typical" math easily). If you have more than one child, you almost certainly have at least 1 right brainer... look into it if you've never been able to figure out why they are "different" (and not in a bad way) than the others.

When something is presented as a game, it should be fun or at least it should *try* to be fun. I don't know if we were doing this wrong or what, but I know that it didn't hold my kiddo's attention and we're donating it to her classroom instead. Then again, my youngest kiddo has ADHD and mild autism -- so maybe it's just not the right tool for her and that a neuro-typical student would have no issues. I think the cards were very sturdy and durable and for a skilled teacher or someone who is setting up 'stations' in a grade school classroom, these could be a real winner. At home though, it's a little less enticing.