Mental Maths

[Whyamistillawake]

DS is year 3 and is really struggling with his mental maths. I've had him in tears this evening because he's so 'rubbish' at maths and the worst in his class.

Background is that he's not rubbish at maths but he is rubbish at mental maths and struggles with times tables etc. They just don't seem to stick (and DD in year 2 is starting to overtake him). The school sets for maths and he's top set and at the end of last year I was told top half of top set.

I briefly spoke to his teacher about whether he should go down a set and she said no but we have parents evening this week so I'll pick up again in more detail.

In the meantime, any hints for how to get these times tables to stick? He's not completely automatic with the two times tables so is really behind and it's massively stressing him out.

In case it matters, both my sister and I struggle with mental maths (despite us both having advanced maths and my sister being a mathematican) so I think there is a genetic element at play here. It's more that 'play a cd' level - DD picks them up from that but lot DS.

Any help appreciated. I hate seeing him so upset.

I think I understand how different people learn but I still have the opinion that for very simple tasks, you should do it using the simplest method. By overcomplicating the process, you make the brain works harder and because of that you forget what you need that step for. The amount of children I see at the beginning of year 7 in grammar schools and now at a top independent school in the country still using tricks like the one for the 9 timetable is staggering. Another one is doing mental addition using number bond. By breaking down calculations in many steps, the brain has to deal with so many things at once, it is impossible to keep track of why they need to do those in the first place. For able children, they can deal with that without any problems. For less able children, they will not stand a chance when the maths gets more complicated because their brain is processing too much information then.

I coach quite a lot of kids for Olympiad in the last few years so I know the type that don't need repetition. We never do the same problem twice. But for less able kids, repetition is the key and need to be made as simple as possible so they can take it in.

The point I have been making is for average and less able kids. If I want to discuss a very able pupil, I wouldn't talk about it in this board actually.

Yes, yes, yes, that's why I am confused about your opinion, GHGN.
OP clearly says they are genetically good at maths, but her ds struggles with memorising times tables/mental maths, even though he is( and teacher admits) very able at maths.
Chanting until being sick may work for average kids, but this seems totally different.

sorry I have been very busy and tired in the last few days so didn't read the original post carefully enough :)

He thinks he's rubbish and he's really not - he's very strong.

I think they do confuse "good at maths" with "quick at arithmetic" at that age. There's not much to school maths that isn't just arithmetic yet.