Maths Comprehension in Boys

[glasshouse]

My nearly 8 year old boy has problems with his maths. We were doing some homework yesterday (with much tears) and I discovered that he really doesnt have any comprehension of units, tens etc. How can I help him. He is really anti maths but I think this is because he is not confident. He was the same last year with his reading. Would it be worth getting a tutor to help him get over the 'hump'. He is supposed to be getting extra help in his lessons but this does not seem to be achieving anything. Any ideas on this would be great - I hate to see him so upset.

A good tutor could be very helpful. You could also do a lot yourself though if your ds is the sort that will work easily with a parent. Some children just won't and it leads to stress, arguments etc.
As maths is a linear subject, children often get gaps where they've not been given enough time to assimilate a concept. Then this leads to shaky abilities in more advanced skills. Sounds like you are beginning to identify some of these gaps ( like 10's and units). Manipulative materials such as base 10 equipment may be useful, but you can also make your own 2D versions from card.
www.newtonresources.co.uk/primary/education/1,32,0/553/Base_Ten_Set.htm
www.math-drills.com/baseten.shtml
lrt.ednet.ns.ca/PD/BLM/pdf_files/base-10_blocks/base10_tens_ones.pdf

You might find something like Cuisenaire rods help so he can physically see the difference.My ds uses numicon and I think this has really helped.

Have a look at primary resources,maths zone and woodlands junior also to see if there are any games he might like.

I'd also go and see the teacher and ask advice.

Some of the paid online maths programs are really good at demonstrating maths concepts. I reviewed Maths-Whizz a few weeks ago for my maths website. As well as great animation, solid explanation of concepts and work geared to each child's "maths age" the parent reports produced are good for seeing how your child is performing.
There's a link to a free Maths Age assessment and 5 free lessons at the end of my Maths-Whizz review.

One thing which may also help is to use coins since the money system is based on tens and units; also try the buddy system.

I've quoted one of the commentators from one of my articles who explains both methods really well:

"Use pennies to represent the ones column and 10p's to represent the tens. When carrying or borrowing, exchange a 10p for ten pennies. This helps to make the action more obvious and less like a magic trick. After some practice, add pound coins and work with 3-digit numbers; seeing that the same concepts still apply gives kids a real sense of power."

"Practice adding LOTS of numbers in a tall column using ?the buddy system?: Every 1-digit number has a 1-digit number that is its ?buddy? to add up to 10. Thus, you can approach the tall addition problem by looking down the ones column for buddy pairs, marking them out, and counting the pairs with your other hand, then writing the number of pairs in the tens column; if you reach 10 pairs, write a 1 in the hundreds column. After marking out all the pairs, you have just a few numbers to sum. Then do the tens column the same way."

Hope this helps

Ahem - it's practise adding lots of numbers. Sorry.

Thank you all for your help. I've printed off loads of stuff and will give it a go with him. Will have to see if he will do it with me though - without 20 minutes of tears beforehand!