Algebra help - Yr 7

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Hello,

child is struggling with algebra in maths & i’m no help. Can anyone recommend any good workbooks, resources?

BBC Bitesize algebra is quite good, I used to use with my children and they all did well at maths.

Thanks, forget about that!

Algebra is such a common Year 7 wobble. It's the first time maths stops being just numbers and starts using letters, so loads of kids who were absolutely fine at primary suddenly feel a bit lost. And please don't feel bad about the "I'm no help" bit, my DH is the maths one in our house and even he found it tricky to explain it the same way the school does.

A couple of things that worked for our DS. BBC Bitesize (as PP said) is good for the explanations themselves, and CGP do a cheap KS3 algebra workbook that's genuinely well written if you want something on paper. For daily practice we used mathstutor.me. Full disclosure, my DH actually built it, so take my plug with a pinch of salt, but it covers all the KS3 algebra topics, adapts to your child's level so it won't throw questions that are too hard or too easy, and the free tier gives 8 exercises a day, which is plenty for regular practice. The thing that made the difference for us was that it's gamified, so our DS would do a few questions without me having to nag.

The main tip really is short and regular. Ten minutes most days beats an hour at the weekend, and algebra clicks with practice more than most topics, so a bit every day now will pay off fast.

thank you