So, er, how old is/was your DC when their schoolwork baffled you?

[MutteringDarkly]

It may have been a while ago but I did more than my share of getting educated.
My child is only year 3 and their school work makes my brain hurt. Just me?

I'd love to say it's that they teach things differently these days...but I fear I've been secretly atrophying! Anyone else struggling not to lose the respect of their offspring?

Year 5 English grammar and maths. And I have an English and maths a level.

Oh, and today I had to teach a KS3 class about modal verbs. I did a lot of Googling beforehand! I am not an English teacher.

I have 2 degrees but needed 2 attempts and much extra tuition to pass my maths gcse.
I can remember when my son was in RECEPTION class we would both sit at the kitchen table scratching our heads over those questions
“Peter has 60 pence and his favourite sweets cost 5 pence for 3 etc etc”
My son used to make me laugh by making up alternative stories about Peter, ie, he went to visit his gran and she gave him a pound AND a bag of his favourite sweets so problem solved.🤣
I handed maths homework over to his dad.

I am completely befuddled by YR2 English, despite having got an A at GCSE. I am having to prepare in advance, as I have no idea what things like ‘expanded noun phrases’, subordinating conjunctions and imperative verbs are! I’m also learning a whole new way of doing Maths! (I was also thrown by ‘number sentence’).

When DD was struggling with maths I used to log on to the MyMaths website and teach myself so I could explain it to DD. I think I am better at maths now than when I sat my O levels!

By the time DD was taking GCSEs I was starting to struggle. At A level for chemistry and biology no chance. She wanted me to test her when she was doing revision and she used to laugh at my bad pronunciation of words I had never heard of.

It's on and off, there were things right back to KS1 (maths by chunking?) and as for the grammar in year 6 SATS (the current version), no chance. However I'm fine with a lot of the GCSE stuff, or I can pick it up very quickly from a CGP book. GCSE English Language is hard though, and I got an A in my O level.

university degree here and in no way do i get phonics...so reception :(

When I was in school I remember my parents being baffled at the way we were taught to ‘borrow and pay back’ in subtraction. Then my dc went to school and they’ve changed the method back. I think 1970s education was just a giant experiment.

Year 3 going by the fractions work today. I'm an accountant and not exactly stupid..but my god. 7 year olds work has had me baffled at one point today (well several if I'm being totally honest!)

So glad it's not just me! The look of pure derision my 2 give me certainly stings!

The odd things from yr1 & 2 just by using daft names for something very simple. But almost completely flummoxed by nearly all yr 3 work. My grammar is awful though they didn't teach it at primary for a few years along with dropping times tables so I'm hopeless as some very basic things.
I managed to get great grades throughout my education though and I'm on track for a first in my degree so I can't be that stupid.

I am clearly NOT ALONE. especially to the fellow bar model / year 3 sufferers!

Well, the other week I had to look up how to subtract numbers that are double digits (I.e. when you have to borrow a 1 from the column to the left) to teach y2 dc.

I am a scientist. I have a PhD. I didn’t realise how infrequently I ever actually do any maths by hand.

Year 3 with fronted adverbials and year 6 maths !!

I am sooo glad DH teaches maths! I have a law degree and am a solicitor - none of that counts for primary English or maths, never mind secondary......Luckily DS1(14) is pretty self sufficient.....

My y1 ds had maths that mentioned the "array" a lot today. No idea! I asked him what the array was and he said "that thing there" which didn't really help. I have also been confused about part part whole models and split diagraphs!

Whispering ... don’t you think that a lot of the primary maths is overcomplicating it a bit? Like needing to use lots of different strategies when the kid knows a really easy intuitive way to do it already? Or having to draw arrays all the time?

What am i missing ?

@Greenandcabbagelooking It's called a Carroll diagram because it was invented by Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland). I've never heard it called a 2 way table before.

An array is a pattern.

so 2(columns) x 3 (rows) = 6
or 3 (rows) x 2 (columns) = 6

My school has taken on the mastery approach of teaching maths - using a LOT of diagrams and bar models/part whole etc.
Some seem to really help with the understanding. My y6 (highest ability) are reticent to use diagrams until we came to some problems with missing values where the diagrams really helped.

They are supposed to deepen the understanding of how the maths actually works, rather than relying on the child just learning processes. But sometimes even I find them confusing and doubt if they help.

DrMadeline — I think that is it. The hope is that they deepen the understanding. Have you any view as to whether it helps lower ability students? I was never intuitive at maths, but got it after a lot of repetition and rote learning. I wonder if I would have got it quicker with this method? Can’t really remember My early maths learning. Just reciting times tables and borrowing from the tens for long division...!

My mum was a primary school teacher, I had no idea what she was talking about half the time. I've never heard of a 'grapheme' she taught Reception and KS1

I've seem my lower ability (and some of the middle of the class-ers) choose to use the conters/grids methods rather than the more traditional column subtraction/addition, which I found very interesting.

But I also found, due to only taking on this new approach this year, that some of the ones who struggle due to poor memory were still struggling to remember the steps of what to do with the counters too!

I’m very interested in different “types “ of brains, and skills. I’m more of a languages person, and can very easily understand and mimic foreign languages, for example, but really struggle with mathematical concepts. Others are whizzes with shapes, imaging 3D spaces for instance (architect/engineer types) , or visual stuff eg putting colours together is something I just cannot do.