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Original poster

I really hate those maths 'games' they send home. Anyone else?

30 replies

BettyPerske · 27/02/2012 19:30

I know, I know they are meant to be fun and interactive and stuff, but I am in despair at ds2 being given a maths game once a week as well as ds1.

I really am. Ds1 loses his every time, to the point where I have told him to leave them at school because there is a charge for lost games. (I think it's a fiver).

We do have a fairly chaotic home and I'm sure we're not the only ones. But it's just the way the school has decided these are a 'good thing', and that they will send them home arbitrarily despite them being objects of value.

I don't want to borrow something that's worth a fiver, especially if it's entrusted to my children.

All this I should probably get over and just suck it up but for the fact that most of the games are inappropriately difficult and the ones that aren't are either impossbile to understand or are so dull as to not be worth playing.

I was hoping it isn't just me. Does anyone else have this? How do you deal with it?

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IndigoBell · 27/02/2012 19:38

I hate them too.

I hate the whole implication that:

  • I don't play enough with my children
  • that maths should be fun (I mean I'd rather spend 2 minutes on a worksheet than 20 minutes doing a 'fun' game that covers the same stuff)
  • that I have to pay for it.
  • that I have to do it with them - homework is for them, not me!

I far prefer worksheets for homework. Let them keep the 'fun' stuff for school :)

Original poster
BettyPerske · 27/02/2012 19:44

YESSSSS!!!! yes on ALL FOUR counts.

Oh I'm so glad, I thought I'd get beaten up on here for not subscribing to the 'parent partnership' bollocks.

I mean yes I may be mildly neglectful of my children but not that neglectful that a maths game is required to stave off SS.

Thankyou.

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joanofarchitrave · 27/02/2012 19:47

I'm intrigued. What sort of games?

Our school does Mathletics which is great from my point of view as it is unlosable but distinctly crap for children who don't have a computer.

TheCrackFox · 27/02/2012 20:05

I am a bit lost - are they sending home board games or computer games.

yellowvan · 27/02/2012 20:10

My Ds had to make a maths game and play it as well!

gabid · 27/02/2012 20:13

I am not sure what maths games you are talking about, but we recently got a booklet home on how to help our Y2 child with maths. Lots of 'fun' game ideas, e.g. snakes and ladders with numbers, subtracting with pasta or some sort of bingo.

DS (6) hates any sort of game and runs a mile when I suggest playing a boardgame.

As IndigoBell said, I get a lot more done with him if I tell him to do an exercise on a worksheet, or 5 of whatever on a computer based activity. We get lots done in 10 minutes whereas it would take that time to just get a game set up and going.

gabid · 27/02/2012 20:17

I find DS feels good, gains confidence when he does his 2-4 exercises well and if he feels he is learning and improving. That is good enough in my opinion.

IndigoBell · 27/02/2012 20:18

They send home board games. Complete with dice and counters that can be lost.

gabid · 27/02/2012 20:24

Well, we wouldn't unpack them, therefore we wouldn't lose them. Smile

Original poster
BettyPerske · 27/02/2012 20:43

I'm sorry, dp arrived and I am still in the mumsnet-as-contraband stage so had to switch off fast.

Thanks IB, yes indeed the horrible laminated things with dice and counters and Oh they don't even fit in the book bag, they are so enormous.

I wouldn't mind if they were useful, appropriate and ds enjoyed them but he hates them as much as I do and they do exactly the same as a worksheet, well, about 2 questions on a worksheet really.

I love doing proper homework with my 8yo, just not these things.

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Original poster
BettyPerske · 27/02/2012 20:44

Gabid...we don't, now, except ds2 is only 4 and unpacks EVERYthing. Am going to have to train him out of it fast.

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AChickenCalledKorma · 28/02/2012 09:29

Sounds like a good thing to talk about at parents evening. Explain to the teacher how awkward they are. It does sounds a bit ridiculous to be sending home something of value, that doesn't even fit in their book bag. I wonder whether the staff have really thought through what it's like to manage them in a house with several children & toddlers. At very least, they need to be properly sealed up in some sort of box or bag - in which case you could find a safe place at home to store them in and only get them out when they are to be played.

We do get some games home, but they are always printed on a bit of A4 paper. Any little "bits" normally have to be cut out - or we use counters and dice that we already have at home.

3duracellbunnies · 28/02/2012 12:52

I find that they are often too easy for mine, and I'm really not boasting. Things like a jigsaw puzzle with a picture and 6 numbered pieces, six pieces is hardly challenging for a 6yr old regardless of maths /spatial awareness. Some were ok, like snakes + ladders. But also is hard when have toddlers wanting to 'play' too. Fortunately seemed to have stopped in yr 2; for the moment. We play lots of our own board games/ playing card games, and they engage much more with those.

gabid · 28/02/2012 20:18

BettyPerske - thinking about it, we have a 3 yo and if its not in DS's book bag, she would take off with the counters and play sweet shop or the like.

Original poster
BettyPerske · 28/02/2012 20:29

Thankyou, sorry, I didn't realise there were more replies Blush

They do come in ziplock bags but these are enormous and have to be carried separately from the book bags. It's hard enough to keep track when everything is in their bags but an extra thing lying around almost always gets separated in the car on the way home, or if it makes it into the house it will get put somewhere, taken somewhere, etc etc and if we can't find it we're stuffed.

I don't borrow things much in everyday life as I don't like the responsibility and frankly it's enough trying to do the basics without added faff we didn't ask for and isn't any use...if someone insists on lending me a book or maternity clothes, I keep them in their bag somewhere really safe for a while before returning them with grateful thanks, having not touched them.

So maybe I am a bit extreme but things do and will get damaged and lost here, it's how it is, there's always paint and tools everywhere for a start.

I might bring it up at parents' meetings next term, till then I'll just confiscate the games as soon as they appear and put them in the car ready to go back!

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blackeyedsusan · 28/02/2012 20:57

FIVE POUNDS

I would be refusing to take it out of the school at all.

my goodness, they do not have imagination.

bottle tops for counters. (ask parents to provide.) photocopied cardboard spinners on the ready supply of too short crayons from foundation/ks1 and plain card games.

these enforced homework thingies have a bad rebellious effect on me.

library books stay in the car. they still manage to get lost but there is a lot less space to search.

Original poster
BettyPerske · 28/02/2012 22:00

Oh don't start me on the library. I have abandoned that concept entirely. Charity shop books were bought in abundance for pennies before ds1 was born and we occasionally splurge on new books now he's old enough to want the latest fiction.

Last time I took him to the library ds1 unplugged all the computers in the children's section by crawling under the desks. Note I say ds1; ds2 has not been to a library...Blush

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EcoLady · 29/02/2012 00:27

Anyone who does want fun maths challenges can try nrich for free - no counters or dice to lose :-) Fab site, all sortable by key stage and/or topic area.

Dustinthewind · 29/02/2012 07:02

'I wonder whether the staff have really thought through what it's like to manage them in a house with several children & toddlers.'

Like we don't have houses crammed full of resources for all the different topics we teach, and children and pets and husbands who don't see the point of storing 'junk'
Maths games are useful for practising skills in an open-ended format and link very well to AT1. Worksheets are often seen as Bad, my head has an attack of the vapours if he sees one and downgrades the teacher in his ranking.
So yes, remembering where the bits go is tricky, which is why they have a lovely ziplock bag.
I hate setting homework, and I dislike being nagged by parents if for any reason I forget. But it's expected, so I usually do it.

Original poster
BettyPerske · 29/02/2012 10:01

Thanks Ecolady, that looks good.

Dusty I'm sorry, not that I don't imagine teachers don't understand how hard it is. I know you are in a difficult position wrt homework.

But I said to the y3 teacher last year, look, we try but most of these games are WAY too hard for ds1, and she actually said, well that's Ok, they are all hugely varied in terms of how hard they are and we give them out randomly. so if your child isn't there yet then don't bother doing the game.

So it seems like they give them out mainly for the 'parent partnership' thing whatever that is, I think maybe a concept of getting parents more involved when actually I find that I want to choose my own level of involvement, being an adult and so on.
It seems like a tick in a box for the school and basically a one size fits everyone approach and that's clearly not helpful most of the time.

OP posts:
gabid · 29/02/2012 10:44

One child who likes the games - fine, I would take them with thanks, the £5 would still worry me a bit.

Younger siblings in the house - I couldn't guarantee bits getting lost, in that case the £5 would put me off and I might not take them.

We do borrow lots of stuff from the library and the toy library. However, neither of them seems worried if things get broken or lost , that's why I enjoy borrowing from them - I bought my DD (3) her first knickers a while ago and she asked me whether we have to return them!

specialgun · 29/02/2012 11:07

How to deal with it? Go into the school explain that your family is so precious and special that you do not accept having the same homework as the other 29 non-special families in the class. Demand that the school accomodates your chaotic lifestyle and only allows home items that cannot be lost, eaten by the dog/baby, flushed down the toilet, drenched by a broken water bottle or washed at 90 degrees.

Alternatively just leave the games in the car/ school stuff box and return unopened the following week. The beauty of games is that nobody will ever know.

Original poster
BettyPerske · 29/02/2012 11:26

Specialgun, erm, thanks ...I'm not sure what your intention is.

Gabid, that's hilarious about the knickers Smile

I wouldn't mind so much having them, but for the stroppy letters we get saying 'where is your game, alternatively please send in ££ to replace it and sign below to confirm that you are a shit parent who loses stuff'.

OP posts:
Original poster
BettyPerske · 29/02/2012 11:27

Several parents have looked at me and rolled their eyes by the way when we were handed the games for reception children the other day.

That's what prompted the thread really, just to discuss whether they hate them too, because that was the impression I got from everyone's look of dread. So why you think I think I'm anything special is beyond me.

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SardineQueen · 29/02/2012 11:43

Specialgun that's really harsh.

I was going to post and say that I think what the OPs school are doing is ridiculous, because we would have the same problem that she has and £5 a go is an awful lot, and I imagine that a lot of people would feel that way. I don't think my children are too "precious" or that my lifestyle is chaotic thanks but keeping track of board games with fiddly little bits with a toddler in the house is going to be impossible.