How to make maths more fun
Whether children love or detest maths invariably comes down to the way it is taught – fun and fascinating lessons have a greater impact than dull and dreary ones
My Year Six daughter gets upset every time she does her maths homework. She hates the subjectand is defensive when I try to help her. I wasn’t any good at maths at school myself and can’t help her with things such as fractions and decimals. I’m worried that she’ll be put in the bottom stream at high school next year.
So many adults were turned off maths due to their own bad experiences at school. As teachers and parents we have to try to remove the fear and frustration around this important subject.
The good news is that recent studies show that fewer pupils claim to hate maths than previously, and generally youngsters are more motivated. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to have filtered through to your daughter.
Confidence is always the key to becoming proficient at any curriculum area. If your daughter is constantly struggling with homework and her confidence is in a downward spiral, the first thing you should do is meet with her teacher so she/he is fully aware of the situation. Maths homework should be reinforcement of what has been taught so it would seem that your daughter has not understood the concepts that have been covered in class and may need extra help or require a reassessment of her homework tasks.
Perhaps her teacher can also recommend online activities that she could do at home which are not too onerous but would help to increase her understanding.
