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2e DS8 has trouble memorizing math facts. Any tips?

I found a workbook yesterday at the book store that teaches kids to look for patterns in the times table. DS did a few pages and actually enjoyed it. He plans to take it to school tomorrow to show his teachers and ask if he can work on it there.

He doesn't have to do timed fact quizzes at school. It sounds like he still does the problems but they let him take as much time as he needs and he uses a fact chart that he made.

His school isn't pushing it but it seems important to know.

I'm not sure if it would be helpful or not but maybe look into TimezAttack. I know it helps with memorization and you can slow it down if you need to… there is a free version so you can try it out.

http://www.bigbrainz.com/Downloads.html

We used Times Tales when DS was 5 and he picked up all his multiplication facts in 2-3 days with that program. We used the book format which I bought on amazon. I believe that they have DVDs and apps now. It is a mnemonics based program and tells a story for each multiplication fact which makes the facts easy to remember. My DS used to get confused by 7 times tables and I wanted to teach it to him in an effortless and fun way and this helped. My son is a visual learner and once he saw the stories behind the multiplication facts, he could easily recall the facts immediately.
http://www.timestales.com

About TimezAttack - big fail for my DS. He is riddled with timing anxiety and had meltdowns of epic proportions when he saw the timer ticking and ran away a few times in tears. He could not distance himself from the person trying to rescue someone in the storyline and was worried that his mistakes might make someone a prisoner for life. So, if you have an anxious kid who does not like being timed, be warned that there will be panic attacks.

We used TimezAttack a bit, but my non-competitive child didn't like the speed, and wasn't motivated by gamification. The cousins liked it quite a bit, though.

There are also lots of little shortcuts:

x2 doubles
x3 doubles plus one more
x4 double 2s
x5 most kids can count by 5s
x6 5s plus one more
x7 5s plus 2s
x8 double 4s, or 5s plus 3s, or 10s minus 2s.
x9 10s minus one, or the hand mnemonic
x10s move the decimal point one place value
x11s 10s plus one more, or duplicate the digit (up to 9) or add the two digits together and put them between the original digits of the number (for two digit numbers to 18--e.g., 12x11: 1+2=3 --> 132).
x12 10s plus 2s.

DS loved Timez Attack and that was how he was able to learn all of the multiplication facts before first grade. I had gotten the game to try to teach DD. She didn't like it as much, and was frustrated by the timing. She made it all the way through the game, though. I think it did help.

Thanks everyone. I will look into those.