Memory Joggers has a fun and innovated way to teach math facts to beginning and struggling learners with their Memory Joggers Multiplication and Division Learning System, Deluxe Edition. This is for ages six and up or students who are struggling and need some reinforcement.

Memory Joggers Multiplication and Division Learning System, Deluxe Edition cost is $49.95 and comes with:

Memory Tips for Math: Using Mnemonics to Teach K-5 Math

Multiplication & Division 0-9 Parent/Teacher Guide 

Multiplication & Division 0-9 Story Cards  

Multiplication & Division 0-9 Activity Book  

Multiply and Divide By 10, 11, 12 Story Cards 

Multiply and Divide by 10, 11, 12 Activity Book 

Multiply and Divide by 10, 11, 12 Parent/Teacher Guide

Memory Joggers recommends that students have a basic understanding of how the concepts of multiplication and division work before beginning the program. If the student does not know the basic concepts,a part of this program lays out several activities to teach those concepts. Many of the activities are written for a classroom setting. Most are adaptable for the homeschool setting.

Memory Joggers uses mnemonics in learning how to recall your math facts using numbers with rhyming words and shapes to help memorize. Every digit is an object and rhyme to help form an association in your brain to enhance how you retain the information. Example: Three sounds like tree or six sounds like sticks.

The first step is learning the visual objects that correlate with each of the numbers. The numbers keep the same “character” throughout. The number seven is a boy named Kevin and three is a tree, and so on. Those characters are used to tell a story that rhymes. The characters and story aid in remembering the story that helps to make a concrete association with the multiplication and division facts. This program should appeal to all learning types from visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners.

The cards are full-size flashcards on a heavy-duty cardstock. Multiplication & Division 0-9 Story Cards there are twenty-five cards. On one side of the card is the illustrated story. The numbers are red and within the characters. This makes it easy to see the numbers. The other side of the card is the parent side. It has step by step instructions on each card for you to easily teach the facts to your student. Each card is numbered, and the facts are already mixed up randomly rather than in order. This is done to prevent them from counting. The zero, one, two, and five facts are taught as individual groups. No more than two card stories are recommended at a time.

Reading the stories aloud with enthusiasm makesthem fun. The fact family is integrated into the card for multiplication for example 4x6=24, 6x4=24, 24÷4=6, 24÷6=4. The student sees the correlation at once between multiplication and division. I found it interesting that the division facts are built right in with the multiplication cards. I do not recall seeing this with any math fact program I have used before.

The next step is going over the fact family provided on the card. The cards also walk through all the steps such as visualizing the fact by tracing it in the air. Also, on the card is a reinforcement activity of drawing and coloring the story using only red for the numbers and black and blue for the picture. Students can write the fact family on the back of each picture. Each day students review two cards already learned. All the steps are provided on the cards saving the parent/teacher time by not having to flip through a teacher guide each time.

After working with the card students follow up by using the Multiplication & Division 0-9 Activity Book. The activity book presents the activities in the same order as the picture-story cards. There are sixty-six pages in the activity book. The pages are black and white illustrations. There are a variety of activities from coloring to math problems. Another activity is writing your own story using your “sound-alike” numbers character for the story. The illustrations and the lay out are simple and do not have a lot of distractions on the activity pages.

Multiply and Divide By 10, 11, 12 Story Cards 

The cards for the Multiply and Divide By 10, 11, 12 Story Cards includes seventeen cards. Memory Joggers recommends not starting this set until the student is proficient in the 0-9 math facts. These cards are laid out differently. They are not numbered, and they are busier with math problems. Parents may need to be work with the student to solve the problems on paper or a whiteboard.

Let me share an example for the ten-card story. The card teaching to multiply and divide by ten reads like this, “10, 10, a big, fat hen, Layed [sic] an egg and did it again.” The zero is an egg 10x4=4? You then add the “egg” which is the “0” after the 4 to make it 40. The card has, several multiplication and division problems to work through with the student.

With this set, students work through only card per day including both sides of the card. The parent or teacher asksthe student which symbol is represented by each digit. Parents point out the sound-alike association with the answer to the math fact. After working through the card, students work on the Multiply and Divide by 10, 11, 12 Activity Book.   

Multiply and Divide by 10, 11, 12 Activity Book has more math problems both number and word problems to solve. Some of the activities are to write a story, write your fact family, and other activities in this twenty-page activity book.

Each set of cards includes a teacher guide. The Multiplication & Division 0-9 Parent/Teacher Guide is a sixteen-page set of instructions. It is divided into two sections. Section one has several ideas on teaching the concepts of multiplication and division. Some of the activities are for a group setting in a classroom. Some of the activities can be tweaked to use with one child. There are several activities for individual students also. Section two is the information on teaching the Memory Joggers system step by step.

Multiply and Divide by 10, 11, 12 Parent/Teacher Guide is only one page but, after you have done the 0-9 facts you will see that the format is the same.

Memory Tips for Math: Using Mnemonics to Teach K-5 Math is a resource for teachers and parents. It is a plethora of resources from information on how the memory works. It explains how mnemonic, visual pictures, rhymes work in helping your student retain what they learn. It addresses the different learning styles and memorization that pertains to those styles.

The book is full of fun activities to teach math from money, roman numerals, decimals, measurement, fractions, basic math concepts, geometry, basic algebra basics, and much more.

It is a treasure chest of ideas to help with math concepts and terminology. I wish I would have had Memory Tips for Math: Using Mnemonics to Teach K-5 Math when my kids were younger. It would have been extremely helpful in aiding me to teach math to my daughter. There are also several reproducible masters that you can reproduce for your student.

I have been using this with my sixteen-year-year old daughter with special needs who needs some extra reinforcement. She tends to forget some of her math facts after learning them. She has always done well with stories and being able to recall them. I was intrigued to see how she would do with the mnemonic and rhyming stories.

After she learned thevisual objects that correlate with each of the numbers, she did well with catching on to each of the facts. I spent a week getting her familiar with the characters. With my daughter's special needs, we proceeded at a slower pace. We ended up doing one new card two times a week and added in review the other days. I did the cards and activity book in forty-five minutes with her on the days we introduced a new math fact family to her. My daughter works slowly so I image for most students you could do this in thirty minutes. It worked well with pacing for her so she would not get overwhelmed. I like that it is flexible enough to schedule and to adapt it to your child’s needs.

After two weeks she would finish the stories for me when we reviewed the cards. She is catching on quickly. I have to help her sometimes to separate the story from the math fact. I am excited to see how well she will retain her math facts in the coming months.

I am slowly marking up my Memory Tips for Math: Using Mnemonics to Teach K-5 Math for next school year to apply the techniques to help my daughter and my son with math. This is a great resource to add to your homeschool for teaching math.

The Memory Joggers system is very flexible and affordable. They have several other subjects that I have been looking at for my daughter that I would like to add to my homeschool. Memory Joggers Multiplication and Division Learning System, Deluxe Edition has so far worked well for my family. I love that it is flexible and affordable.

Product review by Renee Knoblauch, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, July 2019