Crys by math homework

Silver Member Joined: Nov 07 2010 Age: 33 Posts: 782

My 7 yr old ds hates to go to school cause he says he hates math and when it comes time to do homework tonight he just sat there crying and in the end he didnt do it. I spoke to his teacher and she said that she will try to help him with it. 1 -10 hes good at but now they are doing - 20 and he was sick a bit so he missed out and the teacher trys to help him with that. but today he throws tantrums and I cant stand it. Any advice?

Posted: Thu, Mar 22 2012, 5:21 pm Post subject: re: crys by math homework

I get a sense he's crying because he's frustrated himself. If he's ok with 1-10, reinforce till he's completely confident and give him encouragement/tell him how well he's doing. Arithmatics and mental maths are just plain repetition (like learning to play games or musical instruments or football). Make sure he can break 10 into different pairs (3+7, 6+4, etc) Could it be he's struggling with the concept of carrying over/borrowing? Subtracting 4 from 19 is much easier than subtracting 7 from 15. Make sure he understands the concept of digits.

Not sure if that's for you but Kumon also believes in gradual but repetitive worksheets to allow students to gain confidence. Allow mental maths in daily life situation--like shoppings, setting tables, counting sweets etc (a bag of 20 chocolate bars and 13 children, how many left?). Whatever youdo, it's not productive to force him to do once he's throwing a tantrum.

Diamond Member Joined: Oct 25 2007 Posts: 4861

I can also highly recommend Mathnasium, a similar approach. My son went from a similar situation to absolutely loving math.

Diamond Member Joined: Aug 07 2006 Posts: 2556

Crying and tantruming over homework is not normal - assuming your son is generally calm and cooperative, it suggests that the assignment is overwhelming for him. Of course you "can't stand it" when he throws a tantrum, but please try to be compassionate. I'm not in favor of homework at this age, but in this case it's a "window" into what is (or is not) happening in class.

Schedule some private time with the teacher. Be prepared to show her exactly what your son has problems with in his homework, the sort of questions he can and cannot do, the comments he makes about the lesson, etc. Remind her of the dates he missed school, so she can see which lessons were skipped.

Ask her to show you a lesson, and how to explain it to your son so you can reinforce it at home. Are you strong in math? If you have "math anxiety," it may show when you are reviewing homework with your son. If you cannot explain the lessons to your son, don't be embarrassed to let the teacher know. She may need to give your son (or you) more instructions.

If the teacher is not strong in math (not unusual among elementary teachers, unfortunately), you may need to hire a tutor. Explaining math in a different way so a child can "get" it may be impossible if the teacher doesn't truly "get" it herself.

Hope this helps!

Platinum Member Joined: Aug 17 2011 Posts: 5988

Active Poster Joined: Oct 06 2010 Posts: 44

A good strategy that might help is using doubles and doubles plus 1. 5+5= 10, 5+6=11,. Another strategy is using counters to reinforce the addition and subtraction facts.