Maths books for 12-year old

[ToffeeWhirl]

Hello, we are effectively back to home educating again (DS1 managed one term at secondary school, but couldn't cope because of his anxieties, so he is off sick longterm) and I am struggling with getting him to do any work. We read together every day and he uses BBC Bitesize (well, he says he does, but he is usually sneaking onto Minecraft, his favourite game), but I'd like to get him using some workbooks. Any ideas on any good Maths workbooks? I need something that explains each concept, then provides a worksheet, plus answers for me (as I am really awful at Maths ).

Thank you.

Hi Toffee,

I strongly recommend the beautifully presented and well thought through "So you really want to learn maths" series of books from Galore Park www.galorepark.co.uk/product/parents/65/so-you-really-want-to-learn-maths-book-2.html. Each concept is carefully explained and plenty of practice provided before the next topic is introduced. You'll need to buy the separate answer books. I also recommend Mathletics for fun and revision www.mathletics.eu/. My 12-year-old uses both these resources and has progressed extremely well.

Thanks, LastSummer. Both those resources look good. The books look far more helpful than the workbooks we've seen so far.

Can I just ask - how long does your child spend on Maths on one day? I just wondered what is reasonable. And does he/she do it every day or several times a week? I want to follow a structured programme of learning, otherwise DS would just spend all day on the computer building towns on Minecraft , but I'm not sure how much to ask of him.

There's a great deal of ground to cover in maths. My daughter has done one hour a day, five days a week, with me for the past three years and (topped up with solo sessions on Mathletics whenever she feels like it) that seems about right. You'll be able to gauge your son's progress by using the free tests at emaths.co.uk/KS3SAT.htm. Mornings seem best for absorbing new maths concepts. Having a decent size wall-mounted blackboard is extraordinarily useful: my daughter and I almost never do maths on paper!

That's really useful to know, Last. We'll have to make it part of our morning routine. Do you have any other tips on structured learning? If so, I'd love to hear them. We already do reading together first thing every day (currently reading 'Holes' by Louis Sachar), but I'm not sure what else we should be doing. As I say, DS is not a willing leaner, but then he has a lot on his plate at the moment, dealing with anxiety issues, so that's not surprising. I have been very relaxed about learning with him so far.

Children can find learning a foreign language especially rewarding (and affirming of their worth) when they have an attentive teacher/parent providing one-to-one lessons three or four mornings a week. Lots of scope for fieldwork! Again, I'd recommend "So you really want to learn French" but lightened with other material and websites because it can seem a little heavy going at times www.galorepark.co.uk/product/parents/47/so-you-really-want-to-learn-french-book-1.html. Reading together is an excellent idea! Asking a child to write English essays once or twice a week can improve their handwriting, grammar, spelling and communication skills. Check out Spellodrome . . . www.spellodrome.com/

Well, we are going to Spain in June, so learning Spanish together would tie in nicely . I like the Spellodrome website - thanks. Reading to my children is one of my absolutely favourite things. DS is not a great reader (unless it's a 'Simpsons' comic), but he still loves to be read to and has heard a lot of great books that way. I get him to read a few pages to me too, so that he also gets some reading practise.

I have just ordered a Maths book from the series you recommend, plus the answer book, and will make a start on it with DS next week.

Thanks again for all your useful advice!

I second Galore Park Book 2, my daughter uses that and she manages well. We also do about an hour of Maths daily. Friday is our off day so we only have Maths in the morning and this tend to be revision type questions to cover most topics so she doesn't forget the concepts. I got that tip from someone because once you cover a topic in Galore Park you may never return to it that year and it might be a strange concept when you re introduce it.

My daughter is 12 too.

We have just spend a month touring Andalucia in Spain and we stayed in a village where no one speaks English (not even Hello or Bye.) We had learnt some basic Spanish before we left and did some whilst out there but we could hardly understand what they said. They are pretty fast whereas with learning CDs, they speaks are VERY slow, however the greatest advantage of immersion was it made Spanish alive to my daughter. She knows now the whole world doesn't speak English, in resort loads do speak basic English but outside of these its another thing.

It depends what your goal in Spanish, if you just want it to be more academic then those CD will be OK as its about vocab. For me I would like my daughter to converse and really know the language to near fluency so we are concentrating on that. At present we use Plimseur which is a CD for conversational Spanish. Its a little slow and dry to be honest. I have found that you can get Skype lessons online for US$10 per hour from countries like Guatamala in South America. There are loads of these and at the moment I am looking at reviews so we can try them out. It takes quite a lot though learning Spanish, we were doing it nearly everyday and now do it at least 3 times a week but our progress is painfully slow as I decided to learn it too.

That's a great tip about revising Maths on a Friday, Munashe.

We are going to Costa de la Luz, which is not very touristy, so I think we will have to learn some basic Spanish. Like you, I just want DS to be able to converse. Maybe we'll add a bit of geography to it by learning more about the place we're visiting before we go. I think I need to disguise learning with DS. As soon as he gets a sniff of 'schoolwork-type stuff' he loses interest.

How fantastic that your DD was able to spend a month touring Andalucia with you. A definite advantage of not being at school .

"Maybe we'll add a bit of geography to it by learning more about the place we're visiting before we go. I think I need to disguise learning with DS. As soon as he gets a sniff of 'schoolwork-type stuff' he loses interest."

We did the exact thing too and touched on impacts of Tourism. In Costa de La Luz there is a one of the biggest Wetland park nearby called Donana. If you get a chance to visit it will be great for geography. From Costa De La Luz you can go on the boat tour. It not the best tour but it gives you an insight. The future of the wetland is under threat because of illegal farming nearby where they use boreholes and irrigation which are banned. In addition use of industrial fertilisers being used on nearby farms have affected vegetation here too. If you don't get the chance to go there you could just find it on the map and tell him a bit about it. There are also some good youtube video on how this park and its widlife are under threat.

While we did little formal learning, most was just absorbing what Spain offers and there is no greater education than that. If you happen to visit museums and cathedrals I found the guide (those portable litttle stuff) worth getting as they had English ones and daughter enjoyed listening more to these than me explaining anything to her. Enjoy your trip to Spain, there is so much more the country offers.

I'm not a home educator, and this is not a workbook as such, but I really recommend "The Number Devil" - it is a chapter book/story with a lot of mathematical ideas. You could maybe read a chapter together and then try the maths investigations the Number Devil describes.

Munashe - thanks, I'll look into Donana. I didn't know anything about this subject so it'll be a good topic for us to explore together. We are visiting Seville on the way, so we'll definitely be visiting some cathedrals (not sure we'll have time for museums). Am hoping this will spark DS's interest in new things.

Himalaya - I have just ordered that book, after reading your post and then all the excellent reviews on Amazon. I think the book may work for both my sons as the older one hates Maths, whereas the younger one (only six, so maybe a bit young still for the book) says Maths is his favourite subject. Thanks for the recommendation.