maths help for able 8 year old

[Suki2]

I have a very able 8 year old, and I'm wondering what the best maths practise is. There's a wide gap between he's English and maths skills, and I have a strong suspicion it's because we don't focus on maths at home; we all love English! (DS is supposedly g@t in English).

A few months ago I bought some year 5 maths workbooks, and I'd say his maths has come on leaps and bounds through looking at these together. I found it very time consuming though. (He's in year 4, but his maths set is working a year ahead of themselves).

I recently registered him with the maths factor (Carol Vorderman), and he's practising the 3 and 6 times tables. He's not learning anything new with this course; but he's getting lots of practise, improving speed, and I don't have to input.

The problem is now he's doing the maths factor we don't have time for his workbooks, so he's not learning any new concepts, just consolidating what he already knows.

In a nutshell, what sort of practise do you think is best? What should the balance be; pushing ahead or practising the basics? Grateful for any thoughts!

Practising the basics. You cannot push ahead until you have done this. This is true of Maths at all stages: each new topic builds on a previous.
Make sure he is sound in a topic before he moves on.
But there is no hurry, it's not a race.

At 8yrs the best thing is to know all his tables, backwards, forwards and inside out! There isn't anything he can do that will be a better foundation.
Place value is also very important.
I would forget Maths books and play games.
The Woodland's Junior School Mathzone is excellent see here

I would agree with the others about the X tables - make sure he knows the related division facts too ie 3x6=18, 18/6=3, 18/3=6 etc.

You could use a DIY Kumon approach and focus on the number and algebra parts of the maths national curriculum. After tables and division, try long division, multiplying/dividing, then adding and subtracting fractions, then order of operation (BODMAS)before moving on to basic algebra. These topics can be done in bite size chunks and although appearing to be difficult, only require lots of practise rather than analytical skills.

Thanks for the input; thinking about it, I'd feel happier knowing he has solid foundations in maths; ie if he knows the basics inside out.

I'm still a little concerned about his ability to decode some of the word problems he sees in maths.

Plan of action is to carry on with the mathsfactor for 6 months and see how he progresses. I say he knows the 6 times table, eg, and he does, but I've also seen him hesitate at the occasional question, so he probably could do with the practise.

Caroline, I was very interested by your video link; think it reiterates what others are also saying re knowing the basics.I know my son would follow this approach, as he's very compliant, and enjoys working. Don't think there's any way I could get DS2 to do all those worksheets though!

Play games and try and make thinsg as real life as possible. SO get him to help you plan meals for £10 etc. There are maths card games like 'fraction action snap'. Marks and spencer do some really good fun maths workbooks for that age. If you really want him to move on engage a tutor who can stretch him.

I think the BBC skillswise site is good for tables here