Advice on how to approach dd's lack of confidence in maths (year 4)

[Sinkingfeeling]

We got our reports today - literacy and other subjects fine, but dd has only made one sub-level of progress since the beginning of the year, and is now 3c. Teacher's comment is 'X has made some progress in numeracy this year and is beginning to develop in confidence. She needs to have faith in her own ability and use this to push her understanding to the next step. It is clear that she has a good grasp of the place value system and other fundamental principles of mathematics but needs to believe in her own potential'. Does this suggest her lack of progress in maths is mostly down to huge lack of confidence in herself, and if so, how can I best help her? I'll talk to her teacher when I'm next at the school gates of course, but interested in other mners' experiences and suggestions.

Dd (just finished Yr 3) lacks confidence in maths too. One of the things that helped her most was going to a tutor. Her maths teacher would tell me what they had done that week and I would pass it on to the tutor with her maths homework.

The tutor helped her de-code the lessons and understand the homework tasks. It was much better than me doing it as I can lack patience and the tutor did not.

Having a safe maths environment and succeeding at tasks with the tutor really did help.

Many thanks, Goosey - that's very interesting. I did wonder if we should go down this route too, though I'm a bit reluctant because I don't want to heap on the pressure for her at quite an early age. DH and I are both fine at maths (not brilliant, but fine!) and we could also help her more by trying to do 20 min with her over the summer holidays. I'm wondering if a tutor might do a better job than us at building up her confidence though. Do you mind me asking how long you used a tutor for, and how often - oh, and how you found one in the first place?

I could have written your OP so we're not alone in having dds who lack confidence mathematically. Phew!

I don't know about your dd but ours hates doing maths infront of/with us, so trying to help her ourselves isn't doing a great deal. I'm watching with interest...

We did try MathsWhizz for a few months but dd just isn't interested in computer stuff so it was more like punishment for her. Ditto maths workbooks from WH Smiths!

Would your dd do anything like that?

Have you tried maths games?

We enjoy snap+2, snap+3 etc - so basically you have to add/subtract that number from the cards to get a snap - so if a 3 is on the pile, the next card needs to be an Ace or 5 for a snap (obviously for +2!). Ace is above king and a one, so makes a whole circle.

Another game is a board based game - we got it from Mike's Maths games (google it for lot of ideas of maths games). Needs a little prep, you need to print the board and suitable questions/specials - they have a link for specials, and you can make your own suitable level maths questions.
www.dr-mikes-math-games-for-kids.com/times-table-board-game.html

I did times tables, adding, adding 3 numbers together, fractions to percentages, and numbers you had to subtract from 1000.

Mathletics is quite fun online maths, challenging kids in real time is fun - especially if they are in different countries!

Snap! Dd knows that she lacks confidence in maths and wants my help to gain confidence.
I had a chat with dd and I am going to help her 20 minutes a day over the holidays.
She is most nervous about mental maths so I am going to start with that.
She also freaks at the thought of dividing despite knowing her tables so I am going to work on that too.

OP, I feel your pain.

DD has had this said about her since reception.

Her end of year report for year 8 said, you guessed it, 'DD needs to have more confidence in her mathmatical abilities.'

I think everyone is puzzled as she is in the top sets for every subject and is one of the top students in MFL, history etc. She got the top score for the whole year in Biology by a country mile. But those maths...

Can it really be an issue of confidence?

Have been looking at The Maths Factor online - it looks good and is £15

Have been looking at The Maths Factor online - it looks good and is £15 for the Summer Camp. I'm going to try it for my DD (age 8)

Good (I think!) to know that other people have a similar issue with maths too. Wordfactory, my dd sounds very similar to yours - doing very well in every other subject (apart from music ) but really struggling with maths. I can't really work out if it's lack of confidence or lack of interest/ability. Haven't been able to see her teacher yet. Jenny, thanks for the suggestions - she has a Mathletics account through school so I'll have another go on that with her in the holidays. She loves the idea of competing in real time with other children, but gets discouraged very quickly when she isn't fast enough to answer. Maybe we just need to work at a few levels below where school thinks she is and build up again.