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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Maths homework - or lack of it?

24 replies

OneMoreCupofCoffee · 20/02/2010 08:33

From what I've read on here and drawing from our own experience too, schools seem happy to hand out lots of reading books and spellings but are reluctant to give any Maths homework - even fun stuff like games etc.

Surely maths like reading needs practice & reinforcing. It would be useful from a parents point of view to know what exactly your child is struggling with in Maths and help them to understand it, given that teachers don't seem to have the time to give your child one-to-one to help remedy the problem.

Is reading seen as fun & interesting and Maths hard & boring? Or why do school decide that parents can help with reading and spelling but not maths?

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Marne · 20/02/2010 08:49

Dd1 (6) has never had any maths homework, just reading and spellings. I'm not too bothered as she's only 6 and i don't really agree to primary children having any homework. Dd1 is interested in maths anyway and does do maths at home (her choice). It does seem odd that they push reading and spellings but not maths.

mrz · 20/02/2010 08:53

I send home "A Minute a Day Maths" homework for children who need extra help. We also offer individual support in school.
I find many parents are less confident in helping with maths - "it's all changed since I was at school" is a typical response.

Elibean · 20/02/2010 09:14

Very good question, OP. Though dd1 gets some maths homework every week now in Y1, and (to my surprise, she's more of a wordsmith) mostly really enjoys it. Perhaps it depends on the teacher and how they feel about maths

ArthurPewty · 20/02/2010 09:15

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MmeBlueberry · 20/02/2010 09:22

My 7-year old gets maths homework every day.

Original poster

OneMoreCupofCoffee · 20/02/2010 09:45

And if your 7 year old is getting Maths homework everyday - then you know where they struggle and where they need a little extra help...I think this is really important - gaps in knowledge can cause long term damage in a child's relationship with Maths.

My dc(1) was in the below average camp last year - not bad enough to warrant extra attention but certainly not good enough to feel happy & confident in Maths....clearly the teacher didn't feel it was a big cause for concern so it was left till the end of the year to let me know...but my dc not having confidence in Maths was a big cause of concern for me.

I now help my child with maths and my dc is of the funny opinion that maths gets easier every year, such was the cloud of misunderstanding he fell under last year. He gets a real buzz from understanding how to solve problems, it's a shame I don't feel able to leave the responsibility of teaching Maths to the school anymore.

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mussyhillmum · 20/02/2010 09:50

My DS (Y3) has only ever had one small piece of maths homework sent home by his school. Parents have been told to "make sure they know their timestables", but have been given no guidance as to which timestables they should be learning. Thank goodness for the MNer who recommended "Maths for Mums and Dads" - perfect for mathematical dinosaurs like me! It tells you what your child should be learning and how it is taught.

MY DS only has 20 spellings a week as homework. He doesn't have set readings to do at home, although we still read together. Unfortunately for him, mean mummy gives him some maths problems to solve every day to sharpen his mental maths.

Goblinchild · 20/02/2010 09:57

One piece of homework I give, in addition to tables, is playing shops. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, two step problems...
That's before you get into percentages and sharp business practices.

castlesintheair · 20/02/2010 10:01

In KS1 at our school they get the odd maths game as homework then suddenly in Year 3 DS is coming home with fractions and long division. It's one of the reasons so many parents pay for Kumon in our area.

Goblinchild · 20/02/2010 13:10

Two or three dice are great for maths skills; roll and score, add two numbers and subtract the third, make the largest/smallest three digit number you can, multiply two of the numbers and add the third.
It puzzles me when a worksheet is seen as the answer. Maths is one of those things that you can support and work on in real-life situations. Like science.

mussyhillmum · 20/02/2010 13:41

Goblinchild - couldn't agree more! My DS absolutely refuses to do worksheets on the basis that they are "boring, boring, boring"! However, bring out the dice or a maths focused board game and he is 100% focused. The daily maths problems I set tend to be word problems based on my son's current interests. Maths is not seen as a chore, but as fun.

smee · 20/02/2010 19:12

DS year one has homework once a week. Autumn term it was all literacy based, this term so far all maths.

lovecheese · 21/02/2010 09:34

Ditto most of posters, homework at KS1 is all literacy based. However, I have a DD in yr4 who "doesnt like maths" because of a few gaps in her knowledge=barriers go up, hence am determined that DD2 in yr1 "does" a bit of maths each day, and fortunately she likes doing activity bokks and bitesize etc, and when the older one is being pinned to the floor to practice her X tables, DD2 joins in too. I think keep it short and fun at this stage.

lovecheese · 21/02/2010 09:36

I mean joins in with X tables by the way, not pinning her sister to the floor!

LoveRoses · 21/02/2010 10:10

IMO (as a parent), a good grounding in reading and comprehension can not be underestimated esp. as it would come in handy later one when kids need to tackle "Word Problems" in maths which would comprise any combination of: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Fractions, Decimals, Percentages, Data Handling, Shapes/Space/Measures, Interpreting Graphs, etc.

Having said that, DS in yr1 only gets sent maths homework once a week which comprises of 2/3 worksheets.

I supplement this with at least 30mins of maths everyday. I try to make this as much fun as possible as he's still very young.

However I've got (a colourful) 1 - 12 times table chart, an "additions/subtraction number facts" chart and a "Shapes" chart pinned on my kitchen wall

So, it's maths, maths, maths wherever dc look...

Strix · 21/02/2010 10:44

I agree that math does not get enough attention at our primary. We do Kumon as a direct result of this lack of attention at school. Reading is important. But, not so impotant that we should neglect other subjects in order to teach the world to read at age 4.

megapixels · 21/02/2010 21:02

Dd1 has only just in Year 3 started getting a Maths worksheet now and then. I agree that Maths should be given equal weight as literacy, especially since practice builds confidence.

LoveRoses isn't 30 minutes of "supplementing" every day rather OTT for a 5/6 year old?

megapixels · 21/02/2010 21:04

I missed the at least 30 mins of Maths every day .

smee · 22/02/2010 09:44

Have to say, I was a bit at that too.

Strix · 22/02/2010 11:26

I think it depends on what you are doing for 30 minutes. If you are counting, adding, subtracting trains and talking about how many are red, and how many are pulling trucks, etc. that is fine. If it is a sit down and focus times table test than that is a bit much.

It's a bit like how old should they start full time school. Well, it depends on what they are going to do while they are there.

Northumberlandlass · 22/02/2010 12:13

DS in Yr1 gets a maths worksheet every Friday to be handed in on the Monday, the worksheet reinforces the work that has been done that week.

LoveRoses · 22/02/2010 16:27

Hi Megapixels,

Nope a daily average of 30mins worth of Maths work is just about right for ds. As ds is very keen to learn, I use grab the opportunity to feed his quest for knowledge. Methinks this might change when he gets to the stroppy teenage years..

But as I mentioned earlier, I try to make it as much fun as possible as children learn a lot (unknowingly) through play.

Take for example one of the maths homework sheets given to ds to work on over the half term. This was based on understanding the concept of measurement; i.e: how many yourghurt pots will fill (a) A saucepan? (b) a bucket? (c) a carton of orange juice? (d)a jug? (e) a kettle?...etc.

To do this, I collected the reqd. items, filled the kitchen sink with water and got ds to do the measurements himself - i.e fill each container with water, write his answer in his worksheet, guess if the next container will take more or less water, measure, e.t.c

Reason for doing this was to make him understand the practicality of it as maths is much more enjoyable if a child can picture & do what the task entails, rather than having to think "abstractly"

This task for example took well over 30mins as there were 10 different items to measure and ds was keen to do more - even though he'd completed the task

LoveRoses · 22/02/2010 16:30

Oh, and ds also coloured in the pictures too. As far as ds is concerned, no task is completed if not coloured in...presentation skills I guess

megapixels · 22/02/2010 21:15

That sounds like fun LoveRoses. My dd had something similar with weights, and she wanted to weigh everything in the cupboards :D.

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