Kriston - didn't think of the dice game but that is great! I could even use it at a restaurant with the kids or anywhere we have to wait. It could be modified for DD5 so she can be included.
This is very tricky. I love the idea of doing as Kriston did and going broad for Math, but I will be very amazed and do a little happy dance if you can get your school teacher to 'get' this. I would suggest instead a huge parental investment in getting both kids over the 'Memorization' hurdle. It was a problem at our house,and for me as a kid as well, and in the end, what worked was that DH used the morning school drives to verbally 'drill and kill.'
I think that the idea of skip counting at obscenely early ages is the only way around this one. I would do all the tricks noted with DS, and spend a lot of time skip counting with DD. Maybe set a goal for yourself that for a week, you work skip counting into every activity with DD:
"Let's see how long it take to walk to the mail box, skip counting by 5's." (10s or 3s are also good)
"Let's see how long it takes to put your shoes on, skip-counting by 2's"
"Let's mix the cookie batter skip counting by 3's."
Let DS overhear. Act suprised that skip counting is related to Multiplication if you think you can get away with it - LOL!
Afterall, we are talking about a memorization skill here, not a math skill. It may help to explain to DS that this isn't about Math, it's about Memorization, another important skill, and occasionally show him cool Math stuff.
I never got around to ordering this game - but it looked so cool!
http://www.mythmaticalbattles.com/ I will admit that I had forgotten my 6x6 up to th 8's. I relearned when DS was relearning, with a cool game called Sequence. DS just watched me play. Did it help him? I doubt it. Sadly, I've re-forgotten those tough ones, but I'm hoping the Russian Finger game will help, and am going to try again.
I did explain to DS that some topics are such that you learn them, use them or forget them, but that when you go to relearn them, the 'grooves are already there' so it's faster and easier to relearn, and then you forget again, unless you use it, and then you learn again, even faster.
((shrug))
Also - some people can do mental math on a little blackboard in their heads. Some can't. Some do better on paper, some verbal/hearing. Figure out which is easiest for DS as you spend time hothousing him. This is one of those areas where hothousing is the way to go. ((Doesn't mean you can give him a calculator and more interesting Math seperatly, just that the price of waiting on this one may be too high.))
Love and More Love,
Grinity
