Any alternatives to Kumon for maths? Something like reading chest?

[gardenplants]

My DS is in Y1 and is a little behind with everything due to mild SN.

I started him on reading chest a couple of terms ago and this has gone really, really well. Previously at school, he had been in the remedial group for reading but he is now keeping up with the majority of the rest of the class, which has done wonders for his confidence and he is no longer in the remedial group.

He is still in the remedial group for maths and as far as I can work out, he is at the bottom of that group. I need to help him but I don't know what to do with him. He is willing to sit down and work with me at home for 5-10 mins a day, but I have no idea what he should have learnt at school. Is there anything like reading chest/alternative to kumon as I would prefer to help him at home when it suits him, rather than taking him to a class.

Any help appreciated!

Have you looked at BBC Bitesize? The KS1 games are fun and pretty easy to help build his confidence.

Just looked at the Bitesize. The games do look fun and I think I will do them with him in the future. However, at the moment, even on the easiest setting, the standard is a bit too difficult for him I think.

www.iboard.co.uk/curriculum.htm?launch=3270#maths-strandReception2numstrategy_yearreception

To be honest Kumon, sounds exactly what you are after, yes you do one class a week - but the real effectiveness of it, is the 10min that they are meant to do every day......I have just looked into it for DS.

Thanks for the link mrz, I think reception level is about the level my DS needs.

mrslaughan - I am still considering kumon but am very indecisive!

Personally I would avoid Kumon

out of interest mrz why would you avoid kumon?
DD started it a few weeks ago mainly for confidence and we're really pleased.

All of the children I know who have done Kumon for years can't do real maths they can only do kumon worksheets. If you want your child to do lots of drill then you can find lots of free resources on line

so you don't find it transfers to the classroom then? We were hoping it would,as i said though she certainly has more confidence,which was the problem really rather than any problems with ability.

I have never met a child who has done kumon who can do the kind of maths required in schools.

mrz My DD2 - who loves maths - asked to do kumon for fun; apart from the cost, and after a lot of research, we decided that we could do a better job ourselves with workbooks or websites or good old pen and paper.

OP, sorry, tangents.

Kumon teaches children discrete facts and no way of transferring those skills into applications of maths. Give maths everyday contexts, weigh when cooking, add up the shopping etc. Try and have fun with maths as many children are put off it by uninspired teaching. There are many activities you can do which are fun and open ended with lots of opportunities for talk. Perhaps look at books by Adrian Pinel - available on Amazon.

There are loads of free websites that are very entertaining for kids, but the most important learning is by using maths practically. Children learn lots on computers but dont always translate it to real situations and as your child is very young it is worth starting practical maths now.

Board games, shopping, cooking, outdoor games etc is the best way to learn.

Drilling with worksheets turns kids off

dd's school signed up to Mathletics (it's an online maths game thing) and she enjoyed that very much.

Kumon maths is good for learning things that are best learnt by drill such as number bonds, time tables etc.

Have a look at

www.powerof2.co.uk Books by David Sharp: Plus 1: an introductory maths coaching system. Uses a similar tick-box marking system to that in Toe-by-Toe. Book,

I did Kumon for a couple of years with my boys because I discovered that, despite their good conceptual understanding of maths, they didn't know their facts and this was slowing them down and making them lose confidence. Was it worth it? Yes, in some ways, as it got DS1 over a hump of getting sidetracked in calculations and it made sure he knew his tables really well. My sons had no trouble transferring their Kumon skills, but perhaps that's because they both 'got it' anyway. It did what I needed it to do. It is very tedious and was a source of lots of fights, so I'm sure there are better and cheaper ways of achieving the same thing. The routine is what works and having a routine imposed by someone else is easier sometimes.

We have used maths workbooks -letts etc with our 7yr old. It has helped us to have a framework to help her, and she gets a sense of achievement and stickers when she does some. She is very proud of her progress, and it has given her real confidence to then go back in the classroom and apply the ideas. She has moved up maths tables as a result of doing them and more importantly her confidence/enjoyment. I do have a background in maths so I am lucky in being able to help, but many of the methods have changed. I don't let her just do them on her own, we do it together. They only cost a few pounds, and we can take them anywhere.

I realise that the contextual stuff is also vital Mrz, and we do that too, but when they are still doing worksheet exercises at school, worksheet exercises do boost their confidence. Have never done Kumon so don't know how these workbooks differ.

Hi gardenplants:

We use mathsfactor: www.themathsfactor.com/

It's at your own pace and very visual (based around video tutorials with carol vorderman) & video game practices/ homeworks.

In KS1 I had to sit with my girls to do it, so I could help with typing in answers, but it mean that I was very in touch with whether they understood or not.

The pace is fairly slow (which helped DD1 who was seriously struggling with maths - as in unable to subtract 1 from 10 in March of Y2) and you can set your target for each week. 5 homeworks a week is recommended, but you can do less if desired. There's also a worksheet version - which may be less pressured than the tutorial version.

We've had great success with this and seen huge improvements, our DDs mental maths are honestly better than ours now (been doing this 2 years), so I would heartily recommend it.

It does cost £14.99 a month - but that may be cheaper than Kumon, I don't know.

Oops, that was meant to go on my report thread post, not there