any idea where on the internet i can get some help for dd with maths?

[canella]

dd (nearly 9) is really struggling with problem solving maths questions.

for example - bob wants to buy a comic for £2.50, a chocolate bar for 55p and a DS game for £20. He gets £40 a month pocket money.

they are sometimes expected to make up the question themselves but even if it says "how much money does he have to put in his savings?" she still cant extract the facts and decide on the right sums.

Its not the sums themselves - she can do fairly substanial ones no trouble - eg 2345 + 6734 but its seeing past the facts to get the right answer.

does anyone know of any websites i can use to help her with this - we're not in the UK but she's bilingual and i'd be better with some english language websites if i want to help her!

or any tips?
Thanks

can you not just make up lots of examples for her and get her to extract the sums from the words ? Use similar format but vary the combinations etc.

www.themathsfactor.com - excellent, but you need to pay.

Try making the sums a little easier, eg Bob buys just one thing, how much does he have left, then when she understands that concept, increase the sum to Bob buys 2 things etc. and build it up slowly.

I think many children find word problems tricky when they first start them.

Try making the sums a little easier, eg Bob buys just one thing, how much does he have left, then when she understands that concept, increase the sum to Bob buys 2 things etc. and build it up slowly.

I think many children find word problems tricky when they first start them.

Try Top marks Lots of free activities.

Type the topic you want to practise in the search box and it will find lots of activities to try.

You can refine the search by key stage and school year too.

try first with the how much does it all cost approach

then bring in the how much change element

most kids can identify that the price of things need to be added, do this in the supermarket etc if you have time

another tip is to use small quantities so they can be done in the head first, then bring in written questions

will have a look at that website bonsoir! thanks!
think i've gone the wrong way about it this week (altho i was trying to help)! i bought her some books from Aldi that were crime solving wee stories (only 2 small pages each) with some sums to solve. but she just doesnt get any of them - she's such a great reader i thought she'd get them better if she read a bigger story around the word problems but i was very wrong.

think JGBmum - you've got a better idea to make it simpler first.

throcketholt - nearly all the word problems are the same just different measurements - weight, money , length but no matter what she cant extract the numbers she needs!

thanks for the tips!

what I meant was work through examples with her - pretend to be shopkeeper and work out change etc - say it in words and get her to write it in numbers.

Really just lots and lots of practice in extracting the numbers so that she loses her fear of it.

My sympathy - I have a ds of the same age with the same problem.

I was going to suggest mathletics (also a paid site) as it's very good and fun, but tbh I'm not sure that any of the online sites will help with what seems to be a very specific issue. It's not the mathematical concepts that are the problem, it's extracting the information. I would think that working through examples with her as others have suggested is really the best way to go.

I think wordshark does a maths bit (mathshark?) iirc this is free.

I get my dd to underline the important bits of the 'story' so it is easier for her to extract the info.

Perhaps find a lot of questions like that and - for now - just get her to find out what the sum should be, not do it. It'd make it less complicated. So to your OP example she would come up with:

40.00 - (20.00 + 2.50 + 0.55)

had a look at some of those websites - thanks! will need to spend some time going thro them and seeing if they are worth the money!

some good tips also - thanks - like the one about underlining the important numbers to see if it helps!

i want to help her now with this - i'm sure these kind of problem based questions will follow her for the rest of he school life! and only get harder!

I have some draft notes of a blog post on this subject and I've copied them below:

Try this;

Sit down for 15mins, set a timer, and looking at some questions with your child, work out:

what the question is asking and
what arithmetic is needed to solve it.
Don't work out the answer.

Move on to the next question.

This separates the problem solving aspect from the arithmetic aspect and focuses on the problem solving aspect.

Repeat daily or weekly as time allows.

Sorry it's a bit brief, I'm off to catch a flight in 2 hours

thanks for that caroline maths - think that was along the lines of what someone else had suggested too! she has not trouble with the arithmetic aspect but i like the idea of letting her not worry about having to do the sums.