TO make my 9 year old do times tables and maths at the weekend

[plum100]

Sorry if this has been done before - Im really doubting my self here! So parents Eve this week - dd is behind in maths reading and writing. School have just subscribed to a times tables app that I’ve put on her tablet. I Think she should do this each day. I have pay a subscription to an online maths programme.
The issue is she kicks up each time I ask her to do it. It’s a massive battle. And with the maths programme she cries and says she can’t do it.
The thing is she will happily play on her tablet for hours a day playing stupid games like roblix and toca city. My argument is if she can play for hours on those games she can bloody well do 30mins of maths a day - with an hour at the weekend on this subscription. I want to take her tablet away and when she can completed said maths time she is then free to play her games. DH says I am putting too much pressure on her and I’m unreasonable- am I really? She’s behind at school. She needs to inprove. Staring at roblix is hardly going to help is it.

Please tell me am I being a tyrant?

[Kpo58]

Is the maths app that you have subscribed to boring? Maybe that's putting her off.
Have you tried a more fun one like King of Maths?

[Charles11]

It isn’t too much at all but I wouldn’t do an hour on the weekends. Stick to 30 minutes and probably nothing on Sundays.

Ive got friends with kids in private and prep schools and they have more than that and are thriving.

I would stop all access to gaming during the week too. In fact, I did exactly that and my kids are much happier now. They’re doing well school and do more creative and relaxing things in their down time.

Do what’s best for your child.

[Doobydoobeedoo]

I would aim for 10 mins a day to start with. You could possibly have an arrangement where you note the number of minutes she does each day and then let her use the tablet at the weekend for the same amount of time.

So 10 mins x 7 days is 1hr 10mins on her tablet at the weekend. She can earn extra time by doing extra minutes of maths.

[Heismyopendoor]

I think an hour at weekends is far too much, even thirty minutes on a week day is too much. 10-15 minutes most days would sufficient. She must be tired and her brain exhausted if she is doing a full school day, regular home work and extra from you and I imagine she maybe goes to swimming lessons or football, Cubs, etc too.

10-15 minutes before gaming is a good deal. Although from what you’ve said it doesn’t just seem to be maths, so I would probably cycle through each day of 10-15 minutes of math and spelling, one one day and the other the next and introduce reading every evening if you don’t already. And drop a lot of the electrical time.

My dd was struggling with math and spelling and just couldn’t do all the regular homework and additional I wanted her to do and a full school day. She is Home educated now and working at math levels well above her where she was or her peers are at now. Same for spelling.

[MrPickles73]

We only let our kids use tablets to use hit the button etc. They font know of any other 'games'. If she is already spending hours a day on a tablet that is too much. Turn it into a quiz. Our kids really like hit the button.
To foster a love make it fun and give her loads of praise. We have both our kids they are great at maths so now they enjoy it and hey presto they are both top of their respective classes ;-)

[Arowana]

It sounds like she spends too much time on the tablet anyway, so you need to tackle that too.

Personally, rather than saying "do this App and then you can have the tablet" I'd take the approach of "you have x minutes per day on the tablet doing what you like, and that's it, BUT any time spent on this App doesn't count towards your x minutes". That way, when she has used up her x minutes on whatever she likes, you might find that she voluntarily goes on to the App as that's the only way of having tablet time.

You say she's behind in reading and writing too. Do you read with her? I still read to my 9yo and my 11yo every night (as well as listening to them read).

[Passmethecrisps]

Children often find managing timed activities hard. What will you do if she just stares at the screen for 30 minutes? Or actually whizzes through loads in 5 minutes - will you make her keep going?

Make it fun, varied and activity driven rather than time driven. You won’t foster a love of maths or build her confidence by forcing the same task on her over and over again.

Use maths language regularly, do basic numeracy with her as part of day to day life. Ask her to work out what time dinner will be finished at if it takes 35 minutes. Or how many portions of soup etc etc etc. Maths so often gets separated from normal life so children struggle to get the relevance

[toddman70]

Answering your original question OP, you are not being a tyrant. You are an actively engaged parent that is concerned about their child's education. Speaking as a mathematics teacher in the states, I say well done for noticing a weakness and doing something about it. Is the time allotment to much, who knows, if your sitting next to DD then you can tell if she is working or just wasting time. If you need to modify the length of time I'm sure you'll see it in how DD is working, sitting, or even communicating with you.

eddiemairswife - to a large degree yes the art of rote memorization of the math tables is dying or is as dead as the dinosaurs. I have High School students that still have not mastered their multiplication tables 1 - 12.

[MeltingWax]

I don't think 30 minutes a day is too much if you're getting home straight after school and she doesn't have other activities. Bit different if her evenings are already taken up with lots of sports/music, etc.

I get the frustration over watching her staring at a screen when her teachers are already saying she's behind. Make it fun - play maths games, quizzes. Take her to library and get her to choose whichever books she wants.

[TheSandgroper]

I am an unfashionable believer in the rote learning of times tables. Dd tried to understand them so I told her to learn the line. Once one is one etc.

We recited those lines for a year. Here, there and bloody everywhere. But, she is now a bit of an oddity in that she knows her tables.

[happychange]

Times table is all about rote learning!
I come from an Asian country and we spent hours at night just memorising sums!

Interestingly, I went on to do a maths degree at a Russell group university and 95% of the class were Asians.

[plum100]

She only does 1 hour of sport a week after school and Cubs once a week. I want to support her. I want her to have confidence. I clearly need to limit the tablet. I know I need to. Since starting this we’ve made biscuits and she’s now decorating them. I need to be consistent- I guess I’m the biggest problem by letting her on it all the time instead of doing things with her. Thank you everyone for all your replies x

[Chloemol]

If she is kicking up a fuss is that because actually she doesn’t unserstand maths? Not everyone does. Inside of an app why don’t you test her daily with herr times table and make it fun? Would she be better of with a
One to one actual tutor who can help guide her?

[Chloemol]

INstead not inside and I can spell understand

[cariadlet]

I think that if she's behind with her maths then learning her times tables will really help her to improve. If she can become fluent it will help her confidence and reduce the cognitive overload so that she can use her brain power to work on trickier concepts.

30 minutes might be pushing it. Little and often is best. I'd break the weekend session into 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the afternoon.

If she isn't interested in the app that you've got then maybe try some free online games like hit the button.

[plum100]

She does find it hard hence why I want to help her - but she does know plenty of times tables ! Just downloaded hit the button

[grinningcheshirecat]

My mum always taped a sheet of whatever-I-was-struggeling-with at the time (be it 1 times table or up to ten words) on the inside of the bathroom/toiletdoor. Looking at it a few times each day while going to the toilet always got me over these learning bumps.

[Dickensnovel]

An old book, "Cheaper by the Dozen", describes lots of ways for parents to help children learn many types of things, in fun ways. You might read the book, which is totally fun, and get some more ideas?

I used to help my children count things and multiply things while doing other tasks. Count the blue legos, as picking them up to put away; see how many eggs are left in the refrigerator - do we have enough for omelets?; how many cousins are coming for Sunday? etc. And we did flash cards for multiplication when the youngest had difficulty - we made it a game to see how many he could do and how many he had trouble with, until there were none in the trouble pile. You can do this!

[junebirthdaygirl]

Let her do 5 mons of hit the button and focus on her beating her own record. Then before she goes on her tablet give her a l minute quiz on which ever one she is studying. Lots of praise. So sharp bursts.
I teach that age with lwarning difficulties and thats what we do.
Also maths games. Eg for money give her a few coins then ask her to sway saying..deal or not deal. So she has 1.23 and you offer her a pile of coind adding to 1.50 and she decides if its worth swapping. Few shots of that and leave it. Baking is good too for fractions/ weight etc. Its not about study its about integrating it into life.

[Iggly]

I think online programs don’t really suit kids who genuinely struggle with maths. Better to get pen and paper out and work things that way. My 9 year old gets online maths homework and it’s easier when we write it out etc.

For the TimesTables learning - that just has to be by rote but I certainly struggle even now! I try and remind them that multiplication works both ways (so if they know 24 they know 42). Also tricks for the 9 times table (the digits always add up to 9), 11 times table, 10 times etc etc. Also individual sums 5678 is a way of remembering 56=7*8.
As my dcs get comfortable with the principles they’re also getting the hang of learning by rote. But they’ve never been good at parrot learning - neither have I.

[PottyPotterer]

Since starting this we’ve made biscuits and she’s now decorating them. There was an opportunity for some maths, weighing out ingredients, how many grams in a kg etc. This is what I meant by incorporating learning into every day stuff.

[MrPickles73]

Hit the button is great and free :-). We also use squeebles for maths and spelling.

[Charles11]

I agree with writing it down. Listen to timestables songs. YouTube has lots and just write them down and learn them. Work on one for 3 days at a time.
It is a bit dull but it works.
Or use workbooks that look fun. I think I used some letts ones which had a magic theme to them.

Baking is excellent for being mathematical. Find a recipe that makes a lot of cup cakes or biscuits and get your dd to half everything.
Or find one that you can batch bake and double everything.

Give her some money to buy a couple of things in the shops and get her to work out how much it will cost and what change she’ll get.

[marathonwomanintraining]

What have school advised ? (Sorry have only skimmed the thread so you might have said). 30mins / 1hr is waaaay too long, short bursts with good incentives will be more successful.

[plum100]

They’re taking her out for intervention for times tables.
Said to do the tables app every day