Feel a bit annoyed. Not sure whether I'm being a bit unreasonable.

[dollywashers]

I had a letter from my daughter's teacher tonight to say that she needs more practice on her times tables 7s and 8s because they are moving on to 9s, 11s and 12s. It looked like she had sent this letter out to several parents as it had a space to write her name in the gap. She is in year 3. Her current homework is 15 mins a night reading, maths 2x a week which takes about 30 minutes each, 20 spellings every week and a writing task every week. She does several other activities in the week too (Brownies, swimming, running etc).

My issue is a) I do try and do times tables in the car but just feel like there is not much time for other academic stuff.

b) if there are several in the class still getting the hang of 7s and 8s couldn't they continue to work on them too as well as the 9s, 11s and 12s.

Probably being a bit unreasonable. Just wondering how I can fit even more into our evening routine with combusting,

Not unreasonable at all. 7's and 8's are the hardest to learn, makes me wonder why they have done them before 9's and 11's which are easy-peasy. My DD2 is also year 3 and there has been no mention of learning 7's and 8's; they have a timed test every week and she tells me that the majority of her class are tested on their 2's, 5's and 10's, at the moment, she is being tested on 3's and 4's. If I were you I would do little and often but don't sweat about it.

I'm having the same issue with my Y3 DS and the volume of homework (though he has fewer spellings and only 1 piece of "big" homework a week although he also has music practice).

His school are very hot on times tables though. Last term they had to learn 1 a week and this term they are expected to know all of them and to be able to recall them in every increasing times. I'm not sure they actually cover them at school as such - once you know the theory of times tables there's not much to teach - it's all about practising recall which I kind of agree with the school is best done at home.

Interesting that every school has different expectations at this stage.

Was the letter really just a way of keeping you informed rather than extra homework? So that you could support the learning in school?
Maybe they are doing extra support of this group of kids, do you know for sure that they are not?

Yes interesting to see what the different expectations are.

Seems like quite a lot (but not all) the parents got a letter.

Will just have to squeeze it in somehow. Sigh!

And the next message down is going to say "My child is bored because they're still working on 7s and 8s times tables because a few in the class haven't mastered it, surely they should be moving those who can do them to other tables"....

My 1st thought was exactly the same as satdown.
DS (yr 3) has taught himself the 9s, 11s and 12s, off his own back, without any effort at all (should point out he is not top set, just a bit above average), but there has been no talk of 7s and 8s in his maths set yet. I would presume that she'll get the 9s, 11s and 12s pretty quickly, so just put your effort at home into the 7s and 8s. (And if you haven't tried them yet, Percy Parker tables are great! You can get them on iTunes.)

You are not unreasonable at all. Not sure why the rush to get on to the next ones before they have mastered the previous ones. And at this age, even the ones who have already learned them are quite liable to forget if they are not practised.

I'm quite surprised at how much homework you get. And not that I get to hear all that goes on at school, but I was under the impression that ds1 (y3) has only recently started with tables at all.

I think it's unreasonable to ask children to do so much concentrating after school, when it's fairly full on for them while they are there. I really worry about burn-out, and developing a distaste for learning when any pressure is added. Am about to search for the Percy Parker tables to see if that makes them any more fun!

I can't quote exactly what the governments guidelines are (I'm on my phone) but they are a lot more then what your school is expecting. I think the key thing here is repetition and 5/10 minutes a day doing spelling and tables practise does make the world of difference. With all the best will in the world schools do not have the time or man power to achieve this and so it really does help if parents can support. As you said practicing in the car is perfect. Snatching moments is the key, I know that's how I learnt.
They are expected to know all their tables by the end of year 4, so your school is obviously ahead of the game.

i still dont really know my 7 and 8's. i use a time table square! im 33 btw!

YABU - if the school didn't let you know you'd be complaining. They have need to keep going at a reasonable rate or they wont cover the curriculum. Tables are easy to do at anytime, it's not like handwriting or something where she needs to be sitting at a table.

Just out of interest - how are all of your DC learning their tables? Our school does the 3,6,9,12,15 rather than 1 3 is 3. 2 3's are 6, 3 3's are 9 and to me it's sooooo pointless as then to know what 43 is they have to go 3, 6, 9. - it's 12. rather than knowing 4 3 =12. I just can't see the point in it.

It's another case of the school just not being able to win IMO. They are letting you know. A lot of parents moan they don't know where their child has got to / what they are learning / what they will be doing next. If you don't want to, or don't have time, then don't do them, however, timestables are the sort of thing you can learn when walking / in the car / in the bath / having tea / etc., it's not like you need to set aside 2o mins to sit and do them.
Agree with satdown though about these 2 usually being the last 2 tables I'd do - 9s, 11s, and 12s have much easier patterns.

ChippingIn... Why on earth is your school teaching them that way? That is counting by rote, it is not LEARNING X tables; A child should be able to know them forward, backward, randomly and with the division facts.

If I were you I would do the 1x3=3, 2x3=6 malarkey at home, regardless of how they do it at school. Believe me, it will be time very well spent.

If your daughter has done up to the 6 times table then 9, 10 and 11 are the easy ones. This leaves only 7x7, 7x8, 8x8, 12x7 and 12x8.
I know this because I've just done them last term with dd, year 4. She still doesn't know them all instantly, but knows enough to work them out if she needs to, iyswim
Hope this helps.

Hi dollywashers

It sounds like what you DD needs is some practice time and something that preferably doesn't involve you in a lot of time.

If your DD likes video games can I suggest two free learning resources:

Tux of Math Command
This is like the old video game space invaders. You can select difficulty and the type of problem reviewed (so multiples of 7, for example) and then your penguin shoots away problems coming down the screen by you typing in the correct answer. It gives a bit of excitement/ stress to recalling the times tables and after a few plays you find that most of the number facts stick.

Info here: tux4kids.alioth.debian.org/tuxmath/

Timez Attack (there also is addition, subtraction & multiplication)
You can pay for the game with all bells and whistles - but there is a free version which has two levels (a dungeon and a castle). You chose to be either a boy or girl monster. The game initially tests your skills and decides where to start with you. You run through the castle or dungeon and solve multiplication problems first by visually seeing multiples (so 4 groups of 7 - which turn into snails that you collect up and then throw at a wall). After a few walls you get an ogre to come out and have to answer repeated questions. Once you have reviewed all the problems at that level a gian ogre comes out and asks much more questions (more like a dozen). This can be a bit stressful (especially for little ones - KS1) - but it is great fun, and really helps you learn those times tables.

Info here: www.bigbrainz.com/

Hope that helps.

It's funny how the opinion on homework varies so wildly - when I read it initially I thought, 'wow, that's not much homework!' when I read the other comments I see that other people think it is alot. When my DS1 was in yr3 he was doing at least 1hr a night which I thought was quite fair. Incidentally the school are always moaning to me about times tables and although he knows most of them we still haven't mastered them all ... life goes on ;)

Thanks Pastsellbydate that's great. :)