The Importance of Knowing Your Multiplication Facts

i think there's a dangerous nartive around knowing, and the importance of knowing. We're drawing ou line in the sand if you don't know multiplication facts by nine years old. i'm automatically assuming that we're doing what most schools do - which is up to 12. Whether even the 11 times table and the 12 times table are as essential as the rest in terms of memorization might be something that we we get into.