Maths....

[oldbirdy]

My ds (9) is very good at maths. Never managed to get school to do anything extra but git him an 11+ tutor recently who is very excited about him, says he could do higher maths GCSE now with just a little teaching of content. She is talking about maths Olympiad etc when he's older and says he's the most capable mathematician she has ever had. She can't keep him on after Feb for personal reasons, and I don't want to let him drift again like I did for all these years at school. She will 'pick him up' again end of the year but does anyone have any suggestions for good resources he can work on in the meantime? He's better than me already, my maths is very average. Are there junior equivalents of the Olympiad for example or other organisations for talented mathematicians? He comes alive when he's working on a really hard puzzle, bless him.

Ds's grammar had 16 doing BMO1 this year, 14 last year. They do have probably over 80% of the sixth form doing A level maths, but the senior challenge isn't compulsory except for the double maths students. They put ds in for the senior challenge in y9, just told him the day before! They don't do much ukmt-related stuff in class time so far - I don't know if they do in sixth form though, they might well do.

Wow, that is really impressive for a school.

DS has set it as a personal wish to do the BMO

I could offer him no help. It would have to be self-motivated/researched or teacher helped.

Get the school to contact the UKMT. They run a mentoring scheme, and a bright student who has potential to do well in BMO can be assigned a university undergraduate to coach them through problems via email.

which year is he in now yoyo?

primary 6

cool :) and what has he done in the way of comps so far? (asking so I can point you in the right direction of resources)

He does the junior,intermediate and senior UKMT challenges and has got to the kangaroo in the senior for 2 years.

If he is in year 6 and already getting gold in the SMC, he is really good. He might need a proper coach/mentor to go further. When he did the Intermediate challenge, did he get to the Olympiad round and how did he do in those if he got through. There is step up from the individual challenges to the Olympiad round but for someone that good, it shouldn't be a problem with some coaching. His school can get in touch with the UKMT so he can register in the Senior Mentoring. It is difficult to get specialist coaching from school in general.

And it is so true that IMO is so different from research!! It must be rather difficult to adjust to the idea that there may well not be a solution.

Not really. Many IMO competitors (myself included) do naturally progress into research. While research problems do not necessarily have neat complete solutions, they can be broken down into parts. Solving each part is satisfactory in itself, even if this does not lead to a solution to the overall problem.

I'm not sure he is ready for senior mentoring yet if he hasn't had any olympiad experience, but school can phone ukmt and ask for guidance. The challenges are rather different from the olympiads. If he is in primary, then unless he is in a school that goes through into senior school he might struggle to get a mentor at this school. A good secondary teacher should be able to guide through intermediate mentoring.

and welcome to the discussion user :) I suspect the poor op of the thread is rather bemused by the turn of conversation!

Where in the country are you?
There's a school specialising in able Mathematicians and scientists in Cornwall. If you're in the area, might be worth a look.

On the subject of why maths seems to be the subject as opposed to English etc

I think it's because maths just IS. The answers are clear, non subjective in the way that English is. Aside from spelling. Maths has patterns which appeals to young brains. Shakespeare of course has patterns but, Ye Gads, I struggle with it and I've played Viola

I find it fascinating reading about the subsequent careers of those who have excelled in Maths Olympiads. Recently I read about Simon Norton in The Genius in My Basement. He was a precocious – and eccentric - talent who shone in the Olympiads. He peaked at a young age and then seemed to be overtaken by others whose gifts developed more slowly. And then you’ve got someone like Terence Tao who is fulfilling his youthful promise.

It’s hard to know how things will pan out eventually.

I know this is the Gifted and Talented board but I’m just amazed that so many of you have DC requesting extra maths! I have a DS who is not motivated in that way at all. He is enjoying an extended childhood of dreamy indolence. And the thing is, I have the opposite problem to some of you in that I do know something about maths and would love to work with him and extend him a little!

This has been a very interesting discussion to read. Thank you everyone!

He has done intermediate Olympiads. He stopped doing the junior ukmt just before it had an Olympiad. I think he should still do it as he lives the ide a of medals etc ( he is still very young). Showing all the working can be frustrating for him ( I have not actually looked at a solution/ paper properly).

you are right, he is still very young. It's brilliant he is so interested, but keep also encouraging interests in programming, music, theatre, museums, sport whatever you can do to keep him as well rounded as possible. Mental health is so very important.

He absolutely should be doing age appropriate olympiads - partly because it is very nice to do well, but also because they are designed to encourage the depth of understanding needed to progress on to the next step.

In your case, I'd start him off looking at the junior mentoring here he should start at october and work his way through consistently, not skipping questions just because he doesn't like them. But don't coerce him into doing them either, it's supposed to be enjoyable and as he is still quite little the absolute last thing you want to do is put him off. :) You might find someone in school who can manage to help him if he gets stuck - help should be hints, rather than showing the answers.

I am reading the thread with great interest and gratefulness. I have a very enthusiastic mathematician (just 9) however by no mean is talented. I google like mad tonight to understand all the terms you mentioned here. Thank you.

There are some children who are capable of sophisticated mathematical thinking but they are just not fast. The against-the-clock UKMT challenges might be demoralising for them.

My DS’s school also promote another sort of maths challenge that you can do at home over a half-term holiday and send in your solutions.

www.maths.liv.ac.uk/~mem/challenge.html

This is a good resource for children who are more contemplative than quick or who have some dyslexic traits.

It’s really for secondary school children but I think you could have a go at an earlier age if you have an innate talent for maths/logic puzzles.

I've not seen those before Out :)
it's true that the challenges can be pretty stressful because there are lot of questions for a short space of time. The olympiads are better for those who hate the timed aspect of the challenges.

For all of you who have children love maths and being serious about it and do well, please can you share your stories here how did you survive through primary and the interest hadnt died. How did you help your child. Any material you would recommend. I have to build hers back. It hasnt completely gone, her strength is still maths although she isnt as advanced any more and hasnt progressed for more than a year or so. I guess its the result of 15mins maths homework a week from state primary school only the last more than a year.

with dd it was simply murderous maths and she would compose her own problems from them. She read them over and over. All of her interest was self generated with us just supplying her with books.

oh and code breaking and programming.

Youbad: how does she start with code breaking and programming? I dont trust my just turned 9 yrs old being with a computer on her own during the day without me at home. We will need to revisit murderous maths, we did a (very quick)round reading the series last year.