Multiplication Theory

It's a rainy day today which, while very refreshing and  much needed, means that the kids can't play outside....

...and while The Man is home to help keep them entertained, late stage pregnancy and an insecure little Frog means that no one is getting much sleep.

Except The Jord, who seems capable of sleeping through a nuclear disaster!

So The Man is upstairs having a snooze. I'm considering doing a bit of tag-team napping/parenting. It's almost time for his shift.

Back to the cooped up kids..

 The Jord was a bit behind in his maths this year, specifically multiplication.

And while he had a fantastic teacher this year (who was supposed to be his teacher for the coming year, but decided to go travelling around the world instead...) I'm not fully on board with the way this kind of stuff is taught in kiwi schools.

So just how exactly do you teach the theory behind multiplication?

Sure it's easy for us - we know what 6 x 6 is. And I could make him recite times tables over and over and over again, but he is the kind of kid who is going to understand concepts alot faster if he is taught why from the beginning.

And so I found a website that generates free maths tests (www.freemathtest.com) that are customisable according to ability.

And I sat him down with some graph paper and made him colour the blocks in.

6 x 6...
colour 6 blocks across, and 6 blocks down.
Make it into a square and count how many you've coloured in.

He seems to be getting it. The underlying concept, that is...

Anyone have any other ideas? Maybe I should make him count little piles of raisins...