Can't do my 9 yr olds maths homework! Help!

[Solo2]

I got a 'C' at Maths O level, 32 yrs ago and haven't done any maths since - except the usual stuff you do as an adult - with a calculator!

My 9 yr old twins have lots of Maths homework to do these hols and because of being away and then currently all v sick, haven't had time to tackle it. We tried some this morning, before DT1 vomited yet again - having had 10 days of sickness now - but, I hasten to add, not brought on by the maths!

I think I'd nowadays be called dyscalculic but I also think the homework may be pretty hard anyway. So I need some help. Here are some examples:

"(xx) squared = 79xx What is x?"
"(aa)cubed = 10388 What is a?"
"yy multiplied by 5y = 3942 What is y"
"mmm multiplied by mm = 43956 What is m if it's the same digit throughout?

Can anyone first tell me the answers and secondly, help me to explain in a crystal clear, easy way to two 9 yr old boys - who are in Yr 5 middle set for Maths - HOW to start tackling these?

Apparently, they haven't done anything as hard as this at school so far. I vaguely remember there's a way to tackle these but believe I did this kind of sum at age 14 of so, not at age 9 - or am I just so crap at Maths?

I would have asked him to write down the answers there and then... don't let him make you feel so uncomfortable that he can wriggle out of actually answering your questions.

There's no way I'd let this twit loose on my kids - he needs to remember who is paying his wages and climb down out of his own arse....

Children of this age need a good solid background of understanding - you cannot 'play' with numbers until you understand them.

I would consider myself pretty good at math, I looked at those like , the last one was easy but the others are mad. As everyone here has said.

"If she asks him a question he laughs at her, and offers to drop her a level."

FFS! You've complained, right?

I'm certainly not a genius but I am pretty good at maths (hence doing a degree in it now) - never had any struggle with it. I really hope I'll be a good teacher, I was a good piano teacher anyway so hopefully that's a start. I do find the empathy difficult - say if my DSD is struggling with something for HW, but I am very aware of this and never show any frustration. When I was a piano teacher I taught all abilities and this really helped.

Interesting views about maths HW - I agree that it's bad to get into fancypants puzzles etc before a child has the basics. It can be so devastating (that is no exaggeration) for some children to be given work that is too hard. The HW in the OP should've at most been for the very 'brightest' (ie if they have an extended group, some of us used to go out of maths class weekly to do this sort of thing)

This is why I want to be a primary teacher - I think it's vital to get to kids while they are young and give them positive experiences of maths before it is too late and they have irreversibly had the confidence drummed out of them.

Do you have the solutions yet OP?!?

OP here again - delayed owing to v sick DS1 trip to A & E etc etc as outlined in other threads on Childrens Health and Lone Parents.

Been less focused on the Maths situation but heard from DS2 that the teacher had suddenly realised, when going over the homework with the class, that at least one of the sums was written incorrectly...well, duh.....

I don't have the actual answers and haven't had time or incentive to chase this up but have little faith in this teacher. I don't think he's either that good at Maths (he's a form teacher too but mainly teaches sports and ICT) or a particularly good teacher.

He kept making excuses to me that this cohort of children had failed to remember all they'd done in Yr 4 maths, forgetting that he'd told me on a different occasions that the turnover of teachers whilst the cohort were in Yr 4 had meant they hadn't had the usual grounding in Maths.

He also told me that my DCs had got the lowest level homework for the middle group yet another boy who was given extra higher Yr 6 maths as well, as he's doing fine, was given the SAME homework that my sons got. this boy's father is a maths whizz yet thought the homework was ridiculous.

This teacher talks non-stop and barely gives you a word in edgeways. In my discussions, I've really had to push to get a word in and he spouts a lot of what feels like 'school policy' as if he's learned it off by heart and has set things he says.

When DS1 is better and I have further news about his health (problem with his heartbeat diagnosed after 2 weeks recurrent gastro enteritis bouts culminating in a 4 day long one so severe we ended up in A & E all night with him undergoing lots of horrible tests), I'll take things further with the teacher.

Hi, Solo2,

I really hope your ds1 is feeling better, soon, and that the problem with his heartbeat doesn't turn out to be anything serious. I also hope that particular teacher makes a sudden disappearance from the school staff payroll!!!!!

oh solo sorry you're having such a rough time :(

I admit to being a tad biased but primary schools just should not have teachers who can't do maths decently (or at least, if there are teachers who struggle with it they should delegate to a more confident teacher)

FFS I wish people would realise what a big deal maths can be to a child if they struggle with it. Your DS is so lucky to have a parent who is fighting his corner!

Hope all is well ASAP :)

You have a lot on your plate at the moment solo2, hope all turns out well.

I would reiterate what pretty much all the posters have said - this H/W is bonkers - it just doesn't make sense! Alarm bells also rang for me when you said that the bottom maths set was taught by a TA? That surely doesn't seem right!

Hope you get it sorted - my DS is doing maths and further maths to A level, and he couldn't make head nor tail of them...

Solo - I hope DS1 is feeling better soon and you get to the bottom of what's wrong with him (hopefully something very minor and easily fixable!!!).

Maths teacher sounds like a complete waste of space - I hope when you get DS1 sorted out you go in and kick up a big fuss - maybe they'll move him sideways out of teaching maths.

People like that can ruin a persons relationship with maths for life!!

Squidgy - you do realise these kids are 9 (nine) years old? Even the teacher said at least one of them had been written incorrectly! Madness I tell ya, madness!

I am amused that the answer to the last question appears to include the number 666 - quite an appropriate number for a teacher to choose when giving such questions to 9-year old boys over their Christmas holidays. Is the teacher's name Damien? In any event, he should definitely have a lecture on the importance of clarity and how to achieve it. I hope he never writes exam papers.

The teacher sounds like a total arse, and I think you could take this up with the head of maths, maybe even in the attached senior school.

It sounds as though this teacher actually does not understand the maths properly himself. Do not let this silly man intimidate you.

I hope your son is feeling better soon.

Thanks. DS1 is seeing a Consultant Paediatrician on Friday and I've bene advised not to let him be at all active till then - eg can't do sports or horse-riding (his all time favourite activity). I am incredibly worried.

Meanwhile, just to clarify re. the Maths bottom set, Marlinspike, that set has a qualified teacher who is actually the head of maths for the school - but a v v scary man (my twins are terrified that they'll end up with him. He's v old-school and strict).

However, that's the only set that ALSO has a TA for every maths lesson who is someone I know and who previously tutored my sons in Maths and she's a whizz at it and really good with children and has a son who is a literal maths genius (wins UK competitions). This bottom set only has 20 children so the ratio of adult to children is 21 to 10.

In some ways, I almost wish my sons were in that bottom set as they'd get much more help. The middle and top set are taught by young men who are 'cool' but much less sensitive to children's needs, in my experience and each is the only adult with a class of 26 for maths.

The school maths situation sounds like a right nightmare tbh.

Please let us know how you get on on Friday, I'll be thinking of you and DS1 x

Thanks for the support re. sick DS1. See Children's Health thread - but he's probably OK and has been referred to a Gastroenterologist about persistent vomiting and is about to have a 24 hr ECG trace fitted and a heart scan - but the heart-related things are precautionary and they think he has a benignly 'abnormal' heartbeat.

I am hugely relieved but waiting the outcome of all tests before taking a v deep breath...

Meanwhile, more advice needed re. Maths homework! They have exams coming up soon and DS2 (the not sick one) particularly struggles with Maths and has been told he must revise several weak topics.

I started to try to help him with one of these tonight - turning fractions into whole numbers plus a fraction - eg 12/7 would become 1 5/7 (that should be "one and five sevenths" IYSWIM!)

DS2 seems completely and utterly lost in understanding how to do these. I am completely lost in knowing how to help him. I've tried saying things like - divide the top number by the bottom number and then see what's left over which would be the remainder over the bottom number (5 over 7 on the above example)

He doesn't 'get' it. I've tried drawing 'cakes' divided into segments but he still feels confused. I'm sure it's partly because I'm not comfortable with Maths and don't know how to explain it, nor have any idea how it's been explained to him originally at school.

This is just part of several topics he needs to improve on in the next 2 weeks.

How would someone much better than me at Maths and good at explaining to children, explain this to a 9 yr old who may be slightly dyscalculic, as I believe I am???

Get two pizzas. Cut them both into 7ths, does he recognise that these are 7ths. Ask him then to get 12 of them, does he agree he has 12/7ths? ( If not, you need to find out why not!) Then ask him to build the first pizza ( onto the base is good as he can then see the correct size) so he now has 1 pizza and how many 7ths left? He should say 1 pizza and 5/7ths. Repeat with different fractions until you are sick of pizza!