[hamiriver]

A quick discussion with one of the kids teachers this morning revealed that he was quite "low" in his mental maths book and he is not focusing at the start and wanting to go to the bathroom, get water etc.
That automatically tells me he is avoiding doing it ...!

However, the maths book is for the year above them. Its not fair to make us both feel pressure that he is not up to standard if they are teaching" up" before he has learnt the basics. Some kids unfortunately just take longer to get the principles at their age . They are grade 2.

In addition to being alarmed that this wasnt brought to my attention earlier, I then have asked the question as to what the gaps are and what the school should do about it. I also need to attack this at home as well and need to find a easy way of reinforcing the basics as he is quite a negative / and dare I say lazy, so it will be a struggle getting him to do extra work.

We have study ladder, but not finding it that helpful. Does anyone have any comparisons of Studyladder, IXL and Mathletics or just go back to the good old workbooks.
thanks

[jupiter71]

My kids find studyladder awful (school provides the subscription) They love IXL though, if your child is having trouble you can take him back a few levels to work out which concept in particular he started having problems with. It's to the National Curriculum as well, and builds on the skills.

[lazycow]

My kids use Mathletics (school supplies subscription) and they seem really enjoy using it. DD1 spends quite a bit of computer time on it and it seems easy enough to get started on, even my 5 yr old sometimes uses it.

[librablonde]

My kids have Studyladder and MathsMadeEasy and prefer Studyladder. I like Studyladder and that I can closely check their results. Also, the audio was really annoying on MathsMadeEasy. I also like that Studdyladder can have so many printable worksheets so it's not all computer based.

[Georgie Boy]

Does anyone know any for high school maths?
I though macdonalds had something for high school students looking at something for yr 7
Louise

[gab72]

I think Mathletics is great. My son is now in year 10 but found it particularly helpful in yrs 7-9.

[LiveLife]

only used up to year 5 but have used IXL, Mathletics and Study Ladder. IXL is by far the superior for maths by a country mile. Schools often purchase mathletics because of the superior teacher controls +/- the games and other novelty features of "attraction" for children but on all other ways of comparing these programs IXL is WAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY superior. DD is yr 3 and doing yr 5 on IXL on a home account and yr 5 on Mathetics on a school account--> she can blitz mathletics because it is so easy to predict the program, she can get everything correct without even knowing the maths concept yet IXL is presented in more complex ways, in progressively harder contexts and you have to understand the maths concept to progress.

however if you are purely trying to master mental maths year 2 can I suggest timezattack--> it is a fun computer game with all four operations to master and is timed to ensure speed is achieved.

[mum850]

What live life said!
There is a think called 'mathsonline" for high school - it used to be free when it was sponsored by McDonalds
or mathemafix

[Grumpy1]

My DD has also had problems with maths since year 4 - she is now in year 4. At their school they have matheletics and are sort of expected to do about 15 mins a afternoon on it. Like you my DD is NOT keen as she is far more interested in pursuing her own interests and ideas after school. Therefore I just couldn't persude her to spend any time on it. I had her tutored for 6 months last year but still didn't help.

I finally decided that I should do the tutoring myself - no small feat as she is very resistant and resents having to do it. We just do about 45 mins together on Tuesdays. At last I am seeing results. Things seem to be starting to gel for her. Not sure if this will translate to her report card? What I discovered is that she had never fully mastered the basics and no one had taken the time to make sure she had. Also they have strange new ways of teaching maths these days that many parents will not be familiar with. Drilling the times tables is no longer done. In fact I have been told by teachers that it is up to us, the parents, to drill them in their times tables. Wish someone had told me that 2 years ago! I am pretty critical of the way they teach maths skills these days and I think that it is presented as far more complicated than in should be. In addition I think they move to rapidly tthrough the maths curriculum, due to pressure from the new curriculum, (I'm in Qld) and as a result many kids just never have a chance to fully understand or consolidate...

I have taught my daughter how to tell the time. I just foucsed on that for a few of our sessions and presto she understood. Why can't this be done at school? I also get her to sing along to a CD her times tables. Then I work on things and I speak in plain English not fancy terminology until she fullly grasps what we are doing.

Don't know why your child has higher level maths than he should? Defintely ask the teacher about that one. But also get a handle on how maths is taught and you may understand why he is having problems. You'll probably have to spend time teaching him yourself as a lot of school work seems to be out-sourced to parents and tutuoring schools these days...Good luck

[Grumpy1]

Meant to say DD's problems started in year 2 not year 4.