How do you help your child with maths?

[Cloudminnow]

Due to previous lack of strictness about homework, my 13 year old DS has big gaps in his mathematical skills. I know it would only be matter of going over long multiplication and division methods with him, and repeating lots of examples until it is embedded, but he totally refuses to be helped. The last two nights have been awful - yelling, slamming, crying etc. He also refuses to do it on line. What can I do? He now 'hates' us for trying to help him? Any suggestions?

Start with easier stuff he can already do, so you break him in gently?

Do less - just get him to agree to do one thing, say watch you do one question while he listens to you explaining it as you go along. Once he understands it, he can do one question. Baby steps.

Anything to recover the situation and make it positive, even if there is little progress to start with.

I think you need to speak to his maths teacher tbh. See what he needs help on and then get him a maths tutor. He may well respond better to an "outsider" helping him.

DS1 (yr10) did not want help from us setting up a revision table for his exams. But yet, whilst we were away (grandma and grandad looked after the DS's) my uncle came up to see them all and DS was all for him helping with the table and he also stuck to it too .