Mumsnet Talk

Ds seems to have a real aptitude for Maths and always has, to the point where it sometimes seemed almost freaky- eg he could burn a CD aged 4 and knew how long he had left if he'd used 26.34 minutes of a 30 minute CD , and which song was 3.26 long and would therefore fit. He would come out with random observations that involved numbers and would always be right. He thinks Maths and speaks Maths, eg he is 'only seven eighths' sure of things etc. He is top of the year in Maths and finds his Maths homework very easy.
I am not remotely mathematical and have no idea how to help him, push him on etc or whether I need to, even. I mean, do I need to ask more questions at school, or what? If he does turn out to be very able in Maths what should I do or expect the school to be doing?

If you want harder work than the homework set, I would recommend these books:

level 3
And
level 4

If he is an able mathematician, he should be at least a level 3.

nrich.maths.org/students

You could try iVYKA.COM. The site I think is still being developed but it shows your childs progress and strengths and areas for improvement in diff skills. I use it a lot for my daughter (year 3) and will surely recommend.

Like mrz, I would recommend nrich. It asks children to think mathematically rather than just 'doing harder arithmetic', and a lot of the activities can easily be done at home with ordinary equipment.

With childen who are very able in maths, parents (and many schools) often think that the only way they can be challenged is through 'acceleration into the syllabus for future years'. nrich, instead, gives them a wider experience of maths and maths concepts (sometimes through deceptively simple activities).

You may find, by the way, that your child may have some areas of maths that they find more tricky. My ds is exceptionally able in the area of number and caculation (could add and subtract 3 digit and negative numbers in Reception, for example) but finds shape - for example visualising 3d shapes, rotating or translating 2d shapes - much trickier. Soetimes it can be fun to do simpler challenges in these areas rather than harder and harder challenges in areas that he finds easy.

Thanks do much for these helpful ideas, will definitely try all. Like the sound of nrich as I had been thinking ds should try level 5 work but that suggests a kind of linear development that I'm not sure about , as it's all the concepts that he needs to secure, not just jumping into trickier sums etc- don't want to do more harm than good. Maths teachers at secondary schools I have worked in are dubious about early entry GCSE for this reason.
I just want ds to keep enjoying the challenge, and didnt know where to turn as for me Maths just equals terror!!
I do worry that his school Maths is a bit unfulfilling as he is in top set, but seems to do an awful lot of learning how to tell the time

SO much, even!

Absolutely agree - NRICH maths (Cambridge University programme) is an outstanding resources for more able DCs.

Other resources may include:

Maths extension worksheets at end of this *pdf grouped by year: www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/12212/mathspuzzlesall.pdf

maths challenges able pupils Y3/ Y4:
education.staffordshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/54834A83-C56C-467F-8B41-8A886C57EDD1/83798/MicrosoftWordMathschallengesbookletwithlessonplans.pdf

Website with Y3 math weekly math extension games: yr3christchurch.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/mr-winkworth-set-maths-extension-games.html

Centre for Innovation in Mathematics - (just select appropriate Year level): www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/default.htm

All sorts of on-line games/ activities from Woodlands Primary school: resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/