To think that THREE lots of times tables to be learnt over the weekend for a test on Monday is asking a bit much?

[UnrequitedSkink]

DS had a note home on Wednesday in his homework folder, the maths homework this week was a printed sheet to complete (unrelated to times tables incidentally) and the request that children learn their 3, 4 & 6 times tables for a test on Monday. So we've had two evenings and the weekend to learn all these. Before I could even start teaching them I had to explain to DS what times tables actually were - he said they'd looked at them briefly that day in class but he didn't really understand. I know that in Y2 the kids touched briefly on counting up in twos and fives and tens. AGES ago.

We've gone over and over and over the tables but they're just not sticking and I'm pretty sure it's due to mental overload - surely one set would have been perfectly sufficient? DS is only 7, I wouldn't really have expected him to know his tables until the end of the year.

So what do I do? DS is getting more and more upset andbored and turned off maths, I feel like an evil dragon mother chasing him down constantly to leanrn and remember them, and I'm worried he's going to be totally turned off maths (as I was as a child). I'm so cross with his teacher for putting our weekend under so much strain.

Aaargh, what a nightmare. Sounds like far too much to me; frankly just one times table can blight a whole weekend, in my experience. I also think it would be better if they learned them in school and practised at home - teachers are there to teach them after all (and I am impatient and not ideal teacher material).

YABU

I would check withthe teacher

If my DD brought home times tables and really didn't know how to do them at all, I would be asking the teacher about it.
And I would ask in case DD was assuring me that they had not covered it when actually she had just not been paying attention.

Is this Year three?

What I used to do in Y3 was set 3 tables for the term, but test them weekly so that I could see which children were improving. Check with the teacher - it sounds like a similar set up if there was also an unrelated homework sheet.

I always tried to set 'learning' homeworks in such a way that the children could compare their marks to previous tests so that they could see easily that they were improving. It tended to increase morale!

Try turning it into a game - a pairs card game with the calculation on one card and the answer on the other, a bingo game where you have a selection of answers on a card, and random calculations are called out or a dice game where the answers are on a card and you roll two dice, multiply the numbers and colour the answer your colour.

YABU - it's not an onerous rask, you turn it into play, ok it means some effort from you, but it's worth it.

We've just spent the weekend doing 15. 16 and 17 times tables (believe you me I was rusty) and that is yr4.

Ps - easier said than done, but don't stress, DS will pick up on that. Just try and make it fun - try the bitesize site www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/maths/number/

YANBU.

Some kids could do it, some couldn't.

DS1 could have easily, but refused to learn his tables (luckily he can just to mah in his head quickly, so never really needed to learn them any way)

There is no way on this planet DS2 could. If we made it really fun, with lots of rewards, and devoted the weekend to it he might just manage 3 or 6. He's the same age as your DS.

But then he would forget them pretty soon after, bless him.

They shouldn't have just touched on tables last year - the end of year 2 expectation is that the children know the 2,5 and 10 times table.

It does seem an awful lot to learn - I would have just stuck to the 4x to start with. Maybe they are going to be tested on these tables for quite a few weeks and they'll be able to see howmuch progress they're making?