One or the other of the babies has been up since 4:30 AM, so I've been playing with the Montessori math games at

http://www.our-montessori.com/home.html. 

I'm trying to figure out how to multiply with the checkerboard.  It's tough!  Especially since I was taught multiplication by rote.  I have to stop and think about what I'm really doing with the bead bars, and so far, I haven't totally figured it out yet.  One part of me wonders if this isn't needlessly complicated.  Another part of me sees it as a game or a puzzle.  Maybe it would lead to a deeper understanding of the why's behind the math... and it would definitely help a child who doesn't know his/her times tables yet to perform really complicated multiplication.  So many times kids are ready for bigger concepts before they've memorized the facts.  Keeping them on the facts can result in boredom and even a decline in confidence, since they never get to move on.  (As was the case in my 6 yo daughter when I was on bedrest and all she did was flashcards with her grandmother.)   Then they think they can't do anything harder because we're not showing them anything harder.

Not in all cases, of course.  But I think it's a big hang up with multiplication in particular.  Just because the quantities are so large.