It sounds like he is really worried that he can't do the times tables. What about this? http://www.visualspatial.org/Articles/mthstrat.pdf

Linda Silverman really pares down the number of facts that kids need to memorize.

My DD8 really loves the Sir Cumference series:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/104-7402237-7050343?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=sir+cumference

The books can be used to teach math at several levels.

Cathy