How can I help my child with their school maths?

Parents often comment on how they have either forgotten the maths they learnt at school, or they did not learn maths the way their children are now taught in school.

They have said that maths scares them and they do not feel able to help their child when they are stuck on a maths problem.

The Maths National Curriculum that was implemented in the 1990s, and has been in force up to the last academic year, focused on a more progressive approach to maths that was virtually unrecognisable to many parents. I

n my opinion, it was muddled, lacked the application of proper technique (algorithms) and encouraged schools to jump from subject to subject with no systematic approach to maths.

The new Maths National Curriculum takes a more systematic and organised approach and goes back to the way maths used to be taught within the schooling system.

In the AE Publications Maths workbooks and testbooks that I have written, I purposefully based the books on this more logical, systematic approach to learning maths.

The ‘how-to’ workbooks teach children the information that needs to be understood, shows them the technique that should be mastered and gives them exercises to practise the technique they have learnt.

Many of the parents who have worked with their children through the Maths workbooks tell me that, not only are they able to help their children through any of the maths problems they then come up against, but they are also picking up the same maths skills that their children have acquired.

Some of these parents even say this is helping them in their own day-to-day jobs and activities.

I do not advocate simply giving a child a workbook or testbook and just ‘leaving them to get on with it’.

I encourage parents to sit down with their children and work through the workbooks with them.

Not only does this encourage the child to do the extra work at home, it also helps parents to monitor their child’s progress and help them pick up areas and skills where they are not as strong.

This helps parents to know what areas need more work before moving on to the next level.