Son is struggling to understand division with remainders

[confusedinlondon]

How long would it take for a child to master a concept in maths, I don’t know if I am expecting too much or not.

I am trying to teach my son (year 4) division with remainders. I have explained how it works and watched some YouTube videos but he struggles to fully apply it. For example if we do 39 divide by 5 using the bus stop method he would put 35 where the 7 should be.

Or if it’s 10 divide by 3 he won’t automatically work out 9 divide by 3 is 3 instead he will count out his timetables 1x3 is 3, 2 x 3 is 6, 3 x 3 is 9, 4 x 3 is 12, 12 is too much so it’s 3x3 which is 9 r 1.

he scored highly in his weekly times table and division tests at school.

Does anyone have suggestions or any ideas how I can help him.

Have you spoken to his teacher? Things seem to be taught so differently these days that I think it can be confusing trying to help at home if you are using a different method.

I would go back to basics and use concrete objects like sharing out sweets between 5 children and seeing how many are left over. It sounds like he doesn't understand the concept and memorising a 'method' won't help.

Ex primary teacher here. Use actual items to start off. Sweets, lego bricks, whatever. Get the concept firmly routed before teaching a method.

The khan academy is brilliant for simply explaining all things maths.
I'm a visual thinker so having it set out visually is so much easier to understand.

Try this.

www.khanacademy.org/math/arithmetic-home/multiply-divide/mult-digit-div-2/v/division-2

I remember using bowls of conkers with my DC, but they were much younger.

Go right back to the basic concepts of Number. Your DC may not have quick recall mastered. Is your DC covering this in school, if they are then you might inadvertently be confusing them with various methods. If they aren't then it's because they still need work on the basic concepts.

It sounds like they don't 'get' the link between times tables and division.

Take it back to grouping with real items or counters or cubes. Draw 2 hoops on paper if you are dividing by 2 and 3 hoops if dividing by 3 etc, 'how many left over (remain)'.

For times tables they need to understand that counting along a number line in 2's, 3's etc is "counting on in 2's" all relating the 2 x table.

For division they need to understand concept of sharing into groups equally. It's quite a skill plugging the gaps and you prob need to spend time on concrete objects first.

Is he learning this at school? You need to use the same methods as then otherwise it'll be too confusing for him. Methods have changed so our school does workshops with handouts for that parents can see what topics are being taught and the methods used.

If that was addressed to me they certainly do in Early Years and I think this might be something he missed out on. He might have a phenomenal memory for tables etc. but that isn't enough.

Year 6 TA here. As others have said use concrete objects. Counters, Lego anything really. Division is initially taught as sharing between groups so in your example 39 / 5. Count 39 objects and share them into 5 equal groups. How many in each group and how many left over. The other way is to think how many groups of 5 can you make with how many left over. He should have been taught arrays in year 2 and 3 which show how multiplication is commutative e.g if you know 7x5 = 35 then you also know 5x7=35. Arrays also help show the link between multiplication and division. 35/7=5 and 35/5=7.