Helping DD not be bored wth maths...

[PorkPieLove]

I just wanted to compare really...DD has just started year 2...she is doing ok but quite slow to complete her sums...she finds it boring I think...the endless addtion and subtraction...she has to complete about 20 sums for homework nightly and it was a struggle...tonight we did it with a stopwatch and I hyped her up as if it were a game show...she was much more inerested because of the challenge...and she finished the sums in less than 5 minutes whereas usually it would take her up to an hour!

Her teacher isn't concerned and thinks it's something to do with her lack of concentration. She enjoyed doing some that were slightly different to usual ...the ones where it misses out a number in the sum and gives the answer...so she had to find the missing link....the class has only just had these today so she hasn't had time to get bored by the repetition. But I know that in a week or so she will be bored again as once she's mastered something she thinks that should be it!

What can I do to help her? I know she has to keep repeating addition and subtraction in order to get the number patterns in her head...so what can I do? Do all schools keep on repeating them over and over?

20 sums a night sounds like quite a lot of homework for a year 2. :(

My dd is quite geeky about maths and she is always demanding "sums" but if I had to make her do them, I wouldn't be too happy. Why do you think she's getting bored? Is it just the repetition or is she finding them too easy?

20 sums a night sounds a lot for year 2.

my dd in year 2 doesn't get any homework apart from her reading book.

Personally I don't agree with homework until children are in at least yr 4. I wouldn't let your dd do it - I'm not suprosed she's bored - I would be if I had to do that every night

Thanks for the replies... it is a lot I think...but I am trying to work out whether it is boredom or not...when we did the stopwatch she did them so fast that it would seem she is very able to complete them...all the kids in her year get homework...I can't really stop her doing them...she'd be the only one!

Im trying to see what sums other kids do at this stage....could it be that she is ready to try mutiplication? Or should she be constantly repeating addition and subtraction?

I'd be bored having to do 20 sums each night.

My DD school is quite keen to improve their numeracy levels, so have been introducing new initiatives, one of which is numeracy homework. But she only has one sheet (for example, a number cross word) and has a whole week to complete it.

Could you talk to the teacher? Y2 homework shouldn't be a chore as it may turn her off maths completely.

Its important that students understand how numbers work together and it needs to be instant. The school will focus on this.

You could make a game for each question and use props, - sweets, counters, blocks, toys, so that she can physically see the numbers and work them out. It would ensure she fully understands the numbers.

You could make word problems for each question so that she can answer them - would make the questions more interesting.

Speed is something to build up on. If students can instantly answer basic addition/subtraction then they can focus more on the next stage of the question.

Make a chart for her with a time. If she gets 20 questions each week, how long does it take her each week, and then she has something to compare

tHERE are also loads of basic facts games online with timers if she wanted to work on her speed