My husband is and Electrical Engineer with a minor in math, and he told me to chill when I started putting pressure to bear for my son to speed up and to memorize his times tables. He said that he himself still doesn't know them all by memory and that many of the top mathematicians don't either, because they approach math differently.
I totally agree. I have a BS in Math (and comp sci). I'm quite sure I didn't know my tables by heart until high school level math, and I never would have won any speed drills. I can't even tell you how many years I remember wiggling my fingers under my desk. But I never got below an A in high school level math. And mostly A's in college level math for that matter.
I think the emphasis on speed and drills is ridiculous. I think as long as a kid gets them down by the time they get to algebra, all is well. Much more time could be spent presenting more interesting math concepts. And the thing is that if you present more interesting concepts, they learn their facts while working on other, less painfully boring things.
We homeschool. My 9 year old started algebra this year and tested at end of 8th grade level in math last spring. He's never done a speed drill after 1st grade. He played games like Timex Attack and just moved at a slow to comfortable pace for him. We do lots of complex word problems.
