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not enough homework

11 replies

stitch · 01/10/2008 18:31

ds in year three. cannot tell his units from his tens. still adding using his fingers. which would be fine if at least he got the right answers, but not really fine as he cant very well do the more complicated sums on his fingers.
a few sums everyday would mean he gets to revise what they did in school that day. but he doesnt get any reinforcement that way. the rest of his class leartn division a year ago. he didnt. now they just assume he knows how to divide. he doesnt. he can not understand the concept of sharing, and has only learnt half his times tables, but even those only because we sing them.
the school has also decided he doesnt need to see the senco either.
i am at my wits end. how do i help him to learn some numeracy?

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stitch · 01/10/2008 18:31

22 take away 10. he couldnt get the answer.
what am i supposed to do with that level of numeracy?

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ByTheSea · 01/10/2008 18:37

I think you need to push it with the senco. DS1, now 12, has dyscalculia and it is virtually impossible for him to understand basic numerical concepts and remember maths facts. He has been getting special help for years, on school action plus, though, and this has helped a lot. He can now cope with time and money and some measurement, which I honestly think are the most important concepts to master by adulthood.

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stitch · 01/10/2008 18:43

what is discalculia? i have never heard of this before.
he used to see the senco for help with his reading, but last christmas they decided he didnt need t o see her anymore as he was becoming quite fluent i n reading. but this has me stumped. there is also now a child in his class who has sn, the cynic in me says that he takes up all her time, and the school is too stingy to pay for ds's help.

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stitch · 01/10/2008 18:50

he has no problem keeping score in football, but the lef t and right of the numbers rings lots of alarm bells.

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ByTheSea · 01/10/2008 21:12

Dyscalculia

If these symptoms ring any bells, then I think you should push the senco for some assessment.

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sunnydelight · 02/10/2008 01:14

My Y3 son has a unit of his maths workbook to do every night (5 mins or so), spellings to practice using look, cover etc. (we do these on www.ictgames.com as he's slow to write), he has a memory verse to learn and write out over the week, and he's expected to read for at least ten minutes (half to someone, half to himself). He's currently learning to type as, due to his dyslexia we've all agreed that's the way forward, so he does about 20 minutes on "Typequick". Homework is expected Mon-Thurs and I make sure we do reading and typing at least once over the weekend.

Tbh to me this seems like a reasonable amount of homework where he can practice a bit with support, without overwhelming him at the end of a long school day. If you're worried about your son's maths I would look at getting him to do ten minutes a night using a workbook at home, maybe starting with a Y2 one so you can see if he really is as far behind as you might think.

Have you tied cuisenaire rods? - it really helps some kids when they can actually see what a number represents. They are great for showing the concept of division.

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cornsilk · 02/10/2008 03:00

Also second the rods - makes it multisensory. Can use them for all types of activities.

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SuperBunny · 02/10/2008 03:22

You can do work with him at home even if the school doesn't set any.

You could make him a set of 0-9 cards to practice place value or use dice to generate numbers and then add them. Or subtract.

Help him learn his number bonds to ten and one hundred. Fingers are good for this.

1+9
2+8
3+7
4+6
5+5

10+90
20+80
30+70
etc

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Buda · 02/10/2008 06:23

My DS is year 3 also. Homework for the week is spellings home on Monday to be tested on Friday, 2 reading books Mon/Wed/Fri, 2/3 pages of literary and 2/3 pages of maths on a Wednesday to be handed in on Monday.

My DS is also not too hot on maths. I have signed him up for MathsWhizz online after recommendations on here. Bit of a battle to get him to do it. There are lots of other online sites that might help.

I had a thread a while ago about DS - got lots of suggestions - will try and find it for you.

You can buy maths workbooks everywhere now. you could get a couple and work through them with him.

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Buda · 02/10/2008 06:25

Here is my thread. Lots of suggestions for help.

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stitch · 02/10/2008 13:16

thank you for all your suggestions.

some of the symptoms do ring bells.

part of the problem is that his younger sister is a whizz at everything she does. reading, maths, spelling. yesterday she wasdoing some number work in a workbook of her own accord that was not too different to what ds was doing last weekend/ he needed lots of help, whilst she was working it out on her own. i dont want to use the same workbooks as her, only to have her whizz through them, whilst he struggles.
ive asked for an appointment to see his set teacher, rather than the classt eacher. dh thinks he just needs a tutor.

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