School reports just out. DS is struggling. Any ideas for home study during the holidays

[salsa]

Hi
DS basically missed most of reception year as we were abroad. He is now just finishing Year 3 and is still behind. His results were between 1c and 2a. He should really be put down a year but I can't do that to him.
Does anyone know of any material that I could go through with him over the holidays to give him a boost. He tries very hard at school and I am very proud of him but it gets him down when he struggles.
Thanks for your help in advance.

I found the Bond books are really good, you can buy them from waterstones, get the one for his age group, get him to do a couple of the tests, then you can find out what areas in Maths/english he's having problems with and can go from there.

Thankyou very much

The BBC bite sized web site is very good aswell, maybe it's worthwhile looking at that. Sometimes people (adults and children) pick things up if they are made easier to understand or said in a different way. If you find out where his weaker spots are then you can think of another way to teach him the principle. Alot of children pick things up better if they do things, ie, measuring, it's easier to pick up scale if you send them out with a ruler and a tape measurer, then they can see it for themself, the same with weight. Give him some scales and different items of varying weight and get him to weigh them and chart a graph. It's more fun then looking at some numbers in a book.

salsa, perhaps go and speak to his teacher and see the specifics of where he is struggling. Sometimes a child may be ok with addition and subtraction but really struggle with multiplication for example, so it can get really overwhelming when you look at the whole subject area, so the teacher may be able to break it down a bit into specific areas to focus on within the bigger subject area.

There are a LOT of fab websites with different games/activities that are great motivators for learning. The BBC bitesize site that was mentioned is a good one, another great site to check if it is math related is www.mathszone.co.uk where you can zone in on specific topics and will link you to loads more sites. If it is literacy based, crickweb and topmarks are good sites to start with, because again, you can hone in on specific topics that will link you to other sites.

IIWY, I would get more specifics of the areas needing extra practise, and then go from there!
HTH!

Yes, definitely get advice from the teacher, especially about maths. They should know about resources as well as areas of weakness, and will appreciate that you're working with them.

Do plenty of reading, to him and with him, and talk about books and tv programmes or films that he likes. Cook with him and give him plenty of opportunities for drawing and making things, which will be good for his concentration and imagination, won't feel like school work and should be fun!

How about something like this software - friends swore by it. I had other software but can't remember the name now. www.amazon.co.uk/Jump-Ahead-Reading-Maths-Geography/dp/B00005Q6VQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1246650559& sr=1-3

Just doing a search and remember my children liked Zoombinis - although they are out so can't check it was the ones listed herewww.boffinlandsoftware.co.uk/Order.htmIt may be for slightly older (but primary age) children.

They used it at school so worth checking what the teacher says.

A Leapster covers it all! Our 7 year old DD is level 3 in most things and is still getting a good amount of use out of it.
Above all it's fun & can be cheap if you pick up a secondhand one on ebay!

Which areas in particular is he struggling with?

Also try "Schofield andSims" mental maths books.They are in the form of short tests which are fun.I can buy them in the local library.
Also second bbc bitesize and practical things likepaying in shops,monopoly and Risk if he likes board games.

I second the Bond Books - brilliant. They do some free papers for you to print out as well....I'll find you a link in a minute.

here

My DS does the non-verbal reasoning papers for fun! S'like other children like crosswords or suduko - I got the kid who loves NVR!

To be honest I wouldn't try to teach them anything that they haven't covered in class - why not use the summer to consolidate? Talk to his teacher - if you've got time before the end of term.

I'd be very careful that after an initial tests or two to assess where he is at anything you do is based on games so he isn't put off. Practising things he can do now will give him confidence before you move on so start on something you know he can manage.

We used to play lots of card games where you have to count, like cribbage and pontoon. Take him to the library and let him select books to read. Play I spy and hangman and do wordsearch puzzles. He won't realise he's learning.

We are doing Summer Bridge Activities, but I'm not sure there are English equivalents. We have almost 10 weeks holidays, so plenty of time for play as well as study. They take about an hour a day. I've never even thought about extra studying in the UK, but like you we have country hopped and the children have missed some basics (more because of the differences in the curricula). They are both on reward schemes and it seems to make them quite incentivized, as well as showing us where they are struggling. As long as you get a good balance of work and play I think it is OK to study in the holidays, and it can really help with confidence.