Thanks again!! Many great thoughts, I appreciate all of them
You are so right about the 'not worth fighting' this particular battle - obviously this is definitely worth it, and about learning from the failing!
I think part of my slack on this one was that I guess maybe in the back of my head I thought, well, he's tackled that already, why fuss? Also we were dealing with a somewhat depressed/anxious guy, so maybe I was too kid-gloves, but since he is coming along nicely with this mood (mostly happy) I guess I am ok with being a little behind on the times tables again.
(In a way I am not too worried about it, but I know he has a tendency to really beat himself up about it. )
The ideas about 'repetition' just being the key are very much what I need to hear - I keep thinking there might be some way around the boredom...lol!