Good maths textbook?

[ShakeaHettyFeather]

Ds has just started Y7. He has ASD and can't concentrate on videos which aren't interesting, and tunes out both if he already knows the content or if he doesn't understand.

So maths homework which is 'watch this video then do these questions where even the first will require you to have understood the entire thing' isn't going well. The videos assume the viewer knows all their times tables back to front and sideways, which doesn't help as ds doesn't, though he understands them.

Can anyone recommend a textbook that uses all the modern terminology and has clear worked examples, for KS3? If he can go at his own pace and then do 10 questions, it'll work much better...

I know I am not going to suggest what you were asking but it might be worth looking at www.blutick.com

Depends on the exam board they take in year 11

It might be worth exploring different strategies with the video. Using the pause button after each step, copying out the example as the video does it (pausing as necessary), re-watching once he's started looking at the questions (still ready to pause as necessary). Are you able to watch them with him? That would enable you to do the pausing, and check he's understood each bit.
(Where it's stuff he already knows, different strategies apply - my DD worked out how to watch them at double-speed!)

Have you done anything to tackle the tables? It really does help to get them learned, as having to stop thinking about the problem in hand while you work out 6x3 makes it harder to keep track of what you're doing. There are apps around that help with learning them - we liked squeebles (although it's no longer free, and there may be other new apps that are).

CGP books are highly rated by many parents (and me as a teacher too!). Study book for worked examples and workbooks too.

CGP books are great. They’ve recently published a range of KS3 Maths Catch Up Books that are fantastic.

Also try Corbett Maths. It’s all free but it is much easier if you can print the worksheets. They have “chunks” of video and then tasks that go alongside.

Will try CGP, thanks.

Have tried many many things for the tables. Thing is,when not under time pressure he can answer questions in a reasonable time - it's a panic stress response. He'd learned 2, 5, 10, 11 and was getting the hang of 3x, in Y3, then they introduced Time Tables Bloody Rock Stars and the next 2 1/2 years it was an achievement not having him hide under the table in a lesson...

It's remarkably hard to find an app that doesn't focus on time limits and speed - the only one I could find was foreign and used a colon for division so he wouldn't use it. I'll look at that squeebles one.

KS3 maths study guide from CGP for "how to" and a handful of questions. The workbook if you want extra practice.

For tables practice, have you got access to a printer? I've generated many a worksheet at maths salamanders and printed them off. You can adjust the tables, the number if questions etc, and because it's a sheet, there is no time pressure.

The problem with untimed tables apps is that then you don't need to learn them - because if you can count up the table until you get there, you can do that. However good your understanding, it really is useful to be able to do up to 10x10 instantly. (11s and 12s are another matter; a Chinese parent asked me why we don't stop at 10, and it's really historical - 12 was useful when we used feet/inches and shillings/pence, but nowadays is of less value than 15, say. I wouldn't worry about 11/12 with a secondary-aged child.

What can be a good idea is to concentrate on one table at a time, then gradually add in more. So if he can do 2, 5, 10, 11, set it up (I know you could do this with squeebles when we used it) to just test those four. Then either add in 3s, or do them on their own for a bit first. Squeebles keeps a note of the ones they get wrong, and so you can have a round of "tricky tables" when you feel like it - and if there are only three or four in that list then it does help get them learned.

Hopefully apps at home can be less stressful than TTBRS, as he's not comparing with other kids. (I hated TTBRS too, but for completely different reasons - DD's school introduced it when she already knew her tables, so the time she spent trying to be top was educationally a complete waste.)