What do you think of this?:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31079515

Personally I think it's a good idea.

When I was at school (!!!) there used to be tables on the back of all excercise books and large posters of tables on the walls. We were encouraged to make our own posters to put on our bedroom walls with the idea that you put up one poster near your bed for a while, then changed it for another.

At one time, tables went "out of fashion" because critics said it encouraged children to run through a table instead of "instantly knowing" what a particular multiple was but I found that once a table had been thoroughly memorised, you "instantly" knew what the multiple was.

As to literacy and spelling.......... oh dear, there's some fine examples of "how not to" on here......?

One thing that stands out is the growth of sans serif typefaces with Arial and Helvetica leading the way?

I like the old style typefaces with serifs because I think they're easier to "instantly" read.

What typefaces are used in textbooks today?

I like these:-

Times New Roman.

Century schoolbook.

Bookman old style.

Book antiqua.

An example of why I prefer a typeface with serifs can be found in the thread title "Illiteracy.."