I'm reposting this here - DS (7) has 3 lots of times tables to leanrn this weekend -does anyone else think this is madness?!

[UnrequitedSkink]

DS had a note home on Wednesday in his homework folder, the maths homework for this week was a printed sheet to complete (unrelated to times tables incidentally) and the request that children learn their 3, 4 & 6 times tables for a test on Monday. So we've had two evenings and the weekend to learn all these. Before I could even start teaching them I had to explain to DS what times tables actually were - he said they'd looked at them briefly that day in class but he didn't really understand. I know that in Y2 the kids touched briefly on counting up in twos and fives and tens. AGES ago.

We've gone over and over and over the tables but they're just not sticking and I'm pretty sure it's due to mental overload - surely one set would have been perfectly sufficient? As soon as I think we've got one lot down pretty well, I introduce another lot and the ones he did know go straight out of his head! DS is only 7, I wouldn't really have expected him to know his tables until the end of the year. And certainly not by cramming them in like this.

So what do I do? DS is getting more and more upset and bored and frustrated, I feel like an evil dragon mother chasing him down constantly to leanrn and remember them, and I'm worried he's going to be totally turned off maths (as I was as a child). I'm so cross with his teacher for putting our weekend under so much strain.

Seems too much if he genuinely hasn't seen them before. DS2 YR1 has times table tests every week (but one set at a time 2's,3's,4's,5's,6's and 10's)). I know in yr 3 he will have more than one set in a test BUT it is in effect just a refresher building on what they have already done in YR2 and not new work.

IMO the school has no right to ruin your weekend in this way. I'd do no more than 5 - 10 minutes a day and try to make it fun (grouping marbles/blocks/even toy cars) and then leave it, and let the teacher know (politely) that you think this is not on.

Having said that, if it were me I'd find it very difficult to remain polite...

1 lot at a time, and a week not a weekend IMO.

I wonder if it is a poorly worded homework instruction. Last year, when DD was in year 2, i read a similar note about 2s, 5s, and 10s. She said she had already had a test and I had a big panic attack. That Saturday we studied, wrote then repeated and made flash cards and a I quzed her on and off all day long. 10 minutes of work, 10 of play, 20 writing, 20 of telly, and so on. REpetition was the key. She worked very hard that day (as did I). Byt bedtime she knew them all and we have never looked back. Some instruction came home the next week, and the next. And THEN I realised this was the goal for the year and not the weekend. I was annoyed with the teacher for such crap instruction. But, also, on Monday I thought well if she is capable of all that in one day, then why stop there. So we continued through the year, and she just entered year 3 knowing all her times tables (through 12 x 12). So, my advice is not to cram on the weekend but do stick with them little but often. And go back and repeat those already learned all the time. Talk about them in the car, on the bus, through them out here and there whenever you can. But, don't ever do an hour at a time.

Math is fun. :-)