Times tables are not learned by quiz
Published on August 27, 2026
A quiz tells you whether the answer was right just now. It says nothing about whether it will still be there in two weeks, which is the only thing that matters with times tables. Lalo Academy — the follow-up to Lalo, for children aged 6 to 9 — is built around that difference, and it is on the App Store from today.
Fifty-five facts, not a hundred
The tables from one to ten look like a hundred things to learn. They are fifty-five: 7×8 and 8×7 are the same fact, and learning both is wasted time. Lalo Academy tracks the canonical facts and introduces them in the order school does — 2, 10, 5, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 — which is not numerical order but the run from easiest to hardest.
Known means something else
A fact does not become known because the child answered correctly. It becomes known after several correct answers spaced out over time, which is the working definition of knowing it. On the map every fact has three states — to learn, in progress, known — and whatever causes trouble comes back just before it would be forgotten. That is why five minutes a day beats an hour on Sunday.
Typed, not picked
The answer is typed on a keypad rather than chosen from four options. Those are different exercises: choosing lets you eliminate, typing forces you to retrieve. And a brand-new fact is not asked at all — first it is shown, as an array of objects to count, and only afterwards recalled from memory. Fluency is measured silently, with no timer on screen: a visible countdown at eight years old produces anxiety, not speed.
Nine subjects, and a PIN for the parents
Beyond the tables there is column arithmetic with carrying and borrowing, illustrated word problems read aloud, dictation and spelling in a natural voice, numbers, telling the time, money, shapes and the calendar. Times tables and numbers are free; the rest opens with a single purchase, no subscription and no ads. The parents' area sits behind a four-digit PIN rather than a sum, for a simple reason: at this age they can do the sum.
The app in pictures
Get Lalo Academy
On the App Store for iPhone and iPad. The Android version is in preparation.