People surf the internet and locate times tables worksheets to help support their children.

It is always reassuring when times tables worksheets have been located and you can see for yourself how they are aiding your children in their education.

One question arises though and that is; are times tables worksheets a good way for your children to learn?

Well, you may say, if they are not, it's better than not doing anything to help the children.

You may think; yes I am making a difference, my children are learning the times tables and improving their maths accordingly.

Yes and no! Have you considered that filling in these times tables worksheets could be boring and instead of kindling and interest actually reducing your children's love of maths.

What? Can this be true? Well, times tables worksheets are a very slow way of learning and involve a lot of monotonous writing out.

Children might eventually learn their times tables but they will not learn them instantly. It will be a long thought process to get to the correct answer.

A child needs a strategy to know the answer instantly. Can you imagine if you asked your child's name and it took as long to receive the answer as your child could write their name.

This would be silly and impractical. The writing part would only be good for spelling and handwriting practice. We do not need times tables worksheets to practice these things.

Speaking out loud is obviously a quicker process than writing. If your child was able to think quickly this in turn would prove more fun for them.

The strategy your child needs is one that involves speaking not writing. I strongly believe in the motto 'speak to learn'.

The problem with times tables worksheets is not so much the sheets themselves but the way that they are used.

Most children will think of writing as work and times tables worksheets are in fact called WORK-sheets. Work, work, work! Yuk, say your children. Do children think of speaking as work?

Speaking is easy so have you thought of using times tables worksheets as a method of getting your children to learn times tables by speaking instead of writing. You can do this by using the worksheets for learning and testing, getting your children to say the tables and answers.