Last week, I received this email:

“I have to tell you on a personal note what your book did for our family. My kids are now 27 & 29 and both kids struggled with math. My 27 year old daughter was introduced to this book by a teacher and it changed everything. She has always had a fantastic imagination and when she could put stories to numbers, she finally was able to do multiplication. Today she is a Special Education teacher and still talks about this book. This is why I wanted to get her the teacher manual to help her make multiplication understandable to her students. Her students are 4th graders who are lower income and are struggling not only financially but more so academically. Thank you for creating this concept and opening doors to those that strive to understand math.”   Heidi Schiller, Woodstock, IL

Meet Allison

I spoke with Heidi’s daughter, Allison, the other day and she told me her story.

When she was in 4th grade, she got anxious over the Mad Minutes timed tests. She felt like she was just getting further and further behind and started thinking she was dumb in math. When her teacher brought Times Tables the Fun Way to class a light bulb went off and she finally was able to remember the stories and the facts. The teacher let her take the book home.

At the Kitchen Table

She remembers the days after supper when her mom would gather Allison and her brother around the kitchen table and practice the stories. She said she never liked math, but the Times Tables the Fun Way made her excited to finally learn the facts because the pictures and stories were easy to remember.

Now a Special Education Teacher

Allison’s success with finally learning the math facts encouraged Allison to help other struggling learners to find unique ways to learn.  She was inspired to become a Special Education teacher and has been teaching kids with learning differences now for six years. Allison works at AJ Katzenmaier Academy as a Special Education Resource Teacher. She says she loves teaching Special Ed because of the challenge of trying to figure out the unique ways that students learn.

From Kid to Adult Allison Still Remembers the Stories

Allison says that as an adult she still remembers some of the stories and pictures of Times Tables the Fun Way from her childhood days and uses them for reference when she needs the answers.

Allison just completed a Masters in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and will be graduating in April.

A Creative Way to Teach

When asked to share a story of how she comes up with unique ways to teach her students she tells about the day she used the tiles on the floor to teach a complex math concept:

“I taped a number line on the floor and had my student pose as the numbers we were plotting and sequencing. They seemed to be really engaged in their learning and all were successful with understanding this complex visual strategy.”

It warms my heart to know that Allison learned Times Tables the Fun Way as a child and is now using our program to teach her own students. She is using the Book for Kids to tell the stories and show the pictures along with Online Times Alive for independent learning of all of the times tables 0s -9s, based on the Times Book. Online Times Alive uses animated stories, songs, and games to teach the multiplication facts. The progress report shows student scores and progress.

Thank you Allison for being a life-time fan of our program. And thanks to her mom Heidi for reaching out and sending me Allison’s story of learning Times Tables the Fun Way as a child.