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9yr old ds having major tantrums about homework and times tables

8 replies

gabriel73 · 19/04/2015 00:03

Would love to hear if anyone else is experiencing major issues with homework and learning timetables with their 9 year olds as well as still experiencing tantrums when effort is required. I feel as though we have tried everything but to no avail. All his teachers say he is a bright boy who is very capable, but he constantly says to us that he's "stupid". We have had him assessed twice for dyslexia (due to him being so averse to homework and reading) and both times were told he isn't - in fact on the second assessment they said he was a very capable student with a higher than average IQ. I get really upset when he refers to himself as stupid and tell him that no-one thinks he is - just can't work out if he really thinks this or if he just hates putting the work in. The problem is not just isolated to school work however, he also has random tantrums if he has become fixated on doing something or getting something and it doesn't happen - today we had a killer because we told him he couldn't wear his football studs while we are out in town rather than normal shoes- it went on for 2 hours. Am totally exhausted and so worried about him as he's a lovely boy but seems to be all over the place right now.

OP posts:
JiltedJohnsJulie · 19/04/2015 20:18

Not sure if tantrums are normal at this age or not but I would repost in Behaviour. This section is more for blog chat.

BeccaMumsnet · 21/04/2015 13:00

Hi there gabriel73 - we're just going to pop this over to a more appropriate topic for you to get the best response.

BlueChampagne · 21/04/2015 13:50

We have a couple of maths CDs that actually get requested in the car! One is times tables, and the other is decimals, fractions, primes etc. It has taken (most of) the arguments out of learning times tables, and might be worth a shot.

www.amazon.co.uk/Professor-Mathmo-Voyage-Times-Tables/dp/B00BIKDF9E/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1429620501&sr=1-1&keywords=professor+mathmo
www.amazon.co.uk/Professor-Mathmos-Fractions-Decimals-Essentials/dp/B00FA7VKZC/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1429620501&sr=1-2&keywords=professor+mathmo

Carrie5608 · 21/04/2015 13:57

We have this problem too and I don't really have an answer for you.

Dd is very bright, her mental maths is fast and therefore she can rush through a couple of sheets of maths in no time. Times tables take time and effort. She just hates learning by rote so u have to make it fun.

If it's just this one issue I wouldn't worry too much but if other issues too maybe make sure no underlying issue like rapid growth spurt. Also check if getting enough sleep with the brighter morning.

olivesnutsandcheese · 21/04/2015 14:00

DSS had big issues with homework in yr 5. A huge battle every week but we stayed totally firm on it that no screen time or playing outside until it was done. He also had to 're-write' it until it was neat enough. Sometimes it went on from after school until way past dinner time. But we didn't waver (a lot of wine was needed). Yr 6 has been much better because they've had homework every day. Or he's finally understood that there's no point creating a fuss as he still has to do it.
Don't despair, be consistent and hopefully this too shall pass Wine Wine

ilovespinach · 24/04/2015 19:33

Totally agree with olivesnutsandcheese.

PowderMum · 24/04/2015 19:56

Not sure this will be helpful but my DD never managed to learn her times tables, every week they were set a task to learn some, she never did, every summer one of her goals would be to learn her tables, she never would. We tried everything including the CDs and bribes and to this day I am not sure if it was she wouldn't or couldn't. For her we were also quite relaxed about primary homework, if we forced her to do it she would often go into a melt down which was counterproductive, so we let her chose what she would do each week, she had a set time for doing homework.

The positive from this is that she is in her GCSE year and predicted an A for maths, and still wouldn't be able to answer what's 4x8 without thinking. She is also very good at time management and in secondary school has always handed homework in on time without any reminders from us.

AlwaysDancing1234 · 27/04/2015 09:58

I don't have the answer, just wanted to sympathise as DS age 7 is like this. Huge dramas every weekend when he has to do homework. But once he stops the silly drama and gets on with it he can actually get it down quite quickly, it seems to be the thought of it is worse than the work itself. Only thing I found is to make sure he doesn't put it off, in other words just say "homework time now" and make him get on with it rather than do it later/tomoroow

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