Maths at home......Year 4

[sejme]

Hi! I'm new to Mumsnet. I have a lively,football mad 8 year old. He's not keen on school and hates maths! He doesn't seem to 'get' it at all. He doesn't seem to see any patterns; have any logic - he never remembers anything so times tables are a nightmare! I have been helping him at home with times tables, multiplication, division, decimals etc - just a little every night - but he really hates doing it! He always either has a tantrum; runs upstairs and hides, screams and shouts or says I hate you to me. It becomes very wearing! Any ideas on motivation; engaging him, rewarding him or any other tips to make life easier?? Incidentally the teacher hasn't mentioned any problems although he is in the bottom group. Maybe I am just a pushy mum!
Thanks

Could you try something computer based, like Mathletics?

It was at this point that we got DS (now 12) a tutor. She established what he did and didn't know, went back to basics. He had half an hour once a week and he didn't tantrum at all.
He's at High School now and in the 2nd from top set.

I also got a few books to work through (with reward) from WH Smith and one of those naff singing times tables CDs.

Yes we have Mathletics - although not used it for a while - so I could start that again. Also got the naff CD!! But it's good for in the car. May have to consider a tutor again. We tried once before (a teacher friend) but I think she was too soft on him! Maybe try someone different!

Yes, we got a tutor who was someone we didn't know because he wouldn't be all friendly with her. Even if they could confirm that your son is capable it would be a move forward.

I guess I've come to the conclusion that little & often works best with him - having tried a tutor and even private school for a year - he still hasn't risen above the bottom group now he's back in his old state school. What sort of rewards do you use? I've tried a star chart and small amounts of money etc - but seems to lose interest after a week or so. Also not sure whether its better to get it out of the way when we first get home or leave it until later!

Is it just maths? How does he settle for other homework? Or things like writing thank you letters?

No unfortunately it is everything! No powers of concentration, can see no point in learning anything, and doesn't seem to care whether he is good at something or not! Would much rather play football outside or on the wii, or binweevils or something.(usually outside in the summer - not so much now) - but really doesn't like sitting still and doing anything that involves holding a pen or pencil! Doesn't do lego either.

Have you tried www.sumdog.com? Free of charge and you can set the level of questions the child works at. Really, really good games that the children actually want to play, and each correct question earns a coin that can then be used to buy clothes etc to pimp your avatar with! www.arcademicskillbuilders.com (can be played on the wii) has some attractive games for the 4 number operations too.
If he's in the bottom group in year 4 I would be very surprised if he's ready for decimals yet (my bottom group certainly aren't). He needs a strong grasp of addition before he can tackle multiplication (as it's just a quicker way of doing repeated addition) and needs to be secure in a times table before he can learn the related division facts.
My favourite tables game is multiplication wars - take out the picture cards and any difficult numbers from an ordinary pack of cards. Deal the cards between 2 players. Both turn over their top card at the same time. The first one to shout out the product correctly gets both cards. In my experience this really appeals to boys who are into top trumps etc as the game is won when you have all the cards.
If he doesn't like doing things with pen and paper, then don't do it with him that way! Do you know how secure he is on number bonds to 10 and 20? If he doesn't know them yet (and a couple of my group don't) then he's not ready for multiplication. I'd set him a small target ie how many 2 times tables questions can you get right in 1 minute, do it every day for a week, record the score and then he can see it grow, hopefully. I would do it by having all the questions written on cards and turn each card over one at a time for him to answer. A boy in my group who was really struggling at the beginning of the year has responded well when his mum drew the dots (arrays) for each multiplication and division - if he's very visual, that might help him.
If he's that weak, he'll need it all broken down into micro-steps so he can see tangible progress. I'd be getting him to graph his results too in excel so he can see the line going up, which it should do if the targets are small enough.
Hope this helps.

Toomuchicecream - what have you done? My 2 dcs are now enjoying maths on a Friday night and they normally hate maths - what amazing websites, thank you!

That's great to hear BettyBathroom!

Thanks for all the messages - There are some really great ideas there to try at home. We will definitely have a go at all of them. Thanks for your help!

Try Timez Attack for timestables - its a computer game!

Website to download Timez Attack is here www.bigbrainz.com/

There is a free version of this, or you can pay for more elaborate versions of the game (basically more worlds to play in). There also are addition, subtraction & division versions.

Another good game (also free - this is open source) is Tux of Math Command: Based on space invaders, the sums come down the screen and you blow them away by typing in the correct answer. You can select skill level and the type of problem you want to solve. You can download & find out more from here: tux4kids.alioth.debian.org/ or heresourceforge.net/projects/tuxmath/. Not sure why - but tux4kids webpage not working today for some reason.

Hope that helps