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Primary education

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DD struggling with numeracy

7 replies

Lagoonablue · 07/10/2013 20:38

She is the youngest in her class, only just 7, year 3. She just doesn't 'get it'. Tried to help but she still struggles, is getting extra support at school. What can I do? Should I consider a tutor?

She has so much homework I feel, is hard to fit extra in.

5 pages of a book per night.
A comprehension each week.
A descriptive paragraph to write.
Revision for spelling test.
Revision for a times table.

So hard to fit in extra maths too. Any ideas?

OP posts:
thestringcheesemassacre · 07/10/2013 21:25

My DD struggles too, she's in Yr2.

I got the tutor, she comes once a week for 30 mins. The tutor (a teacher from school) goes over the work they've done in class that week and reinforces it. And she tells me what to work on. So I might go over counting in 2, 5 or 10 on the way to school. Or she might count and add up pennies from my wallet. Seriously 5 mins every morning (like a game) and she's doing so much better. It's hard to fit in, but what else can I do?

I wasn't great at maths and I don't want that for her.

Periwinkle007 · 07/10/2013 22:06

how long does it take her to do the homework she is bringing home?

5 pages reading isn't (in my opinion) that much really (although if the books are deathly dull I can see it would drag) and even if a chapter book shouldn't take longer than about 10 minutes I wouldn't think. We have been told to try and do 10-20 mins reading a day rather than a set amount of a book. so those who read fast will obviously get through more book but it also means that those who read slow won't be sat for half an hour finding it heavy going. I would perhaps change it to an x amount of time instead of 5 pages.

We do about 5 mins on spellings a day, if easy then about 2 mins, if harder then might do them a couple more times but no more than 5 mins.

don't get times tables yet - only yr1.

we haven't got any other homework at the moment but I am sure I have seen people on here say for yr2/3ish that an exercise like the paragraph or the comprehension shouldn't be longer than about 20 mins work. if it is taking them longer then people suggest just writing underneath - this is how much she did in 20 minutes.

so that would leave you with 2 lots of 20 minute exercises which could be done at the weekend? (assuming they give them over the weekend), 10 mins of combined spellings and tables and 15/20 mins of reading every day.

would this enable you to fit in 30 mins of maths on a weekend?

Periwinkle007 · 07/10/2013 22:09

can you do the tables or spellings on the way to school like stringcheese does with counting? or in the bath, make it fun (somehow - not sure how)

Lagoonablue · 08/10/2013 07:34

Thanks for ideas. I work full time as as you might imagine we don't have much time in the evenings.

I think I will get a tutor. Just to give her a boost.

OP posts:
simpson · 08/10/2013 09:45

Have you got an iPad or tablet?

You can try her with the squeebles games. They are fab. My DD ( yr1) loves them. She plays the maths bingo one, the addition/subtraction one and there is a times tables one too.

PastSellByDate · 08/10/2013 10:34

So absolutely there with DD1 (now Year 6) - although much less homework from school.

Advice on spellings:
Have a serious look at the list and see if you can work out any groupings of words (similar endings or phoneme (oi or oy) etc...). Then split them into those groups. So you might get a word list with choir, oyster, buoy, royal, android, appoint, appointment, etc... Separate the oi words from the oy words. Make it clear there are these two groups of words this week. I was very old fashioned and would have DD1 write a sentence with the word but we stumbled onto a game of trying to use as many spelling words correctly in a sentence as possible and if she used all words that week, I'd make a cake. Really great about getting at other meanings of words.

Day 1: Write sentences with spelling word(s)
Day 2: Quiz 1 (write missed words 5 times)
Day 3: Quiz 2 (write missed words 6 times)
Day 4: Quiz 3 (but this time oral) - write missed words 6 times
Day 5 & 6: Paper quiz (but add oral quiz on walk/ drive to school) - and get evil - write missed words 10 times.

Never takes more than 30 minutes/ easy to do whilst cooking or after school whilst DC is having a snack.

Advice of Reading:
5 pages shouldn't take too long - but you can cheat - there's no rule that says she has to do all the reading. DD1 really struggled so needed to practise reading out loud (which she hates) - but we had a deal where if she read a sentence perfectly I would have to read the next paragraph. If she read a paragraph perfectly, I would have to read the next page. Frankly now she does almost all the reading, but 2 nights a week DH or I read to them.

Best time to read is around bath time. I tend to read with one whilst the other is having their bath. We read to both girls after bath - things like the Hobbit (our policy is no movie until you've read the book) or Lemony Snicket. We read A Christmas Carol (a chapter a night) in the run-up to last Christmas Eve and then watched the Muppet Version on Christmas Eve. DH & I watched the marvelous Alistair Sims version after little ones were tucked up in bed.

Advice on Numeracy:
Maths are great for video games and there are some fantastic on-line tutorial sites out there that provide clear explanation of how to perform calculations and lots of practice. Lots of us (including me) have been on to variously sing the praise of:

komodo maths: komodomath.com/

Maths whizz: www.whizz.com/

Mathletics: www.mathletics.co.uk/

Mathsfactor: www.themathsfactor.com/

All of these will test your child and start them from where they're at. They are subscription and prices vary, but most will offer a free trial - so you really have nothing to lose to explore your options.

We went with mathsfactor when DD1 (now Y6) was at end of Y2 and unable to take 1 from 10. She's improved beyond all recognition (and I do mean phenomenal improvement - now being put forward for L6 KS2 SATs paper in maths) by simply faithfully putting in 1 - 1 1/2 hours a week (5 videos/ practice sessions) - which frankly is the equivalent of two or three cartoons and most kids watch a lot more than that each week. Carol Vorderman (of countdown) presents this and her enthusiasm for maths is contagious. My DD2 got so jealous I had to start her on it as well.

If you go for an on-line tutorial - I think all of them will send you updates on how your child is doing and ideas of more things you can do at home to support them at whatever stage they're at. It is an investment in time, but I actually found once we had a routine established (2 practices in the week & the rest at the weekend) it was easy to use. You probably will have to do a lot of the typing at first, but they will want to take over because eventually you'll be typing too slow for them to do well in the games.

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Finally if you are finding fitting all this in a struggle - really review your tv viewing (especially children's) or children's game playing (DS/ Wii/ APPS/ etc...). We found no tv or video games until homework/ music practice is done really is an incentive. We also found that if evenings are busy with lots of after school activities or long days (2 days a week I work until 5 and children are at after school club) - that doing things in the morning for a 1/2 hour before school really does add up over a week (DD2 practises her instrument & DD1 reads or does on-line maths).

HTH

Lagoonablue · 08/10/2013 14:39

Thanks. Lots of helpful advice. Will check out the online stuff definitely.

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