I'm a bad father

[mattx]

I did my oldest son's homework last week [ First ever time - Maths ] - because he was staying with his grandparents for the weekend.........On looking at the feedback from his teacher......

 

'Good effort, but you made some basic mistakes.....'

 

I'm currently googling 'Maths Night School Classes' for my area...........

[synaesthesia]

That's not bad fatherhood, that's just bad maths

 

Just wait until parents evening and see if the maths teacher appears to be berating you instead of your son

[mattx]

Well my excuse is I took my 'O' level 3 times before I got the mark I needed..... 'c'

Was a terribly long time ago....

[bloxy]

i have just got up and am feeling the worst for wear this fine sunny morning, thankyou for making me laugh out loud and starting the day with a smile.

[p858snake]

They didn't invent Wolfram Alpha for nothing....

[synaesthesia]

O levels? Says it all

If it was that long ago, forgetting is a damned good enough reason for anybody

[mattx]

i have just got up and am feeling the worst for wear this fine sunny morning, thankyou for making me laugh out loud and starting the day with a smile.

 

No problem - always best to start the day with a smile......

[laserblazer]

My daughter came home from school looking a bit worried. In her planner the teacher had written a note for me "Please do not teach your daughter your way of doing long division. It only confuses her"

 

The funny thing is they now teach it my way

[mattx]

O levels? Says it all

If it was that long ago, forgetting is a damned good enough reason for anybody

 

And it's all changed [ the methods ] which has really thrown me too.

[mattx]

My daughter came home from school looking a bit worried. In her planner the teacher had written a note for me "Please do not teach your daughter your way of doing long division. It only confuses her"

 

The funny thing is they now teach it my way

 

I think [ in my opinion ] that the new methods are just too complex - keep it simple is my motto.

[maniac]

And it's all changed [ the methods ] which has really thrown me too.

 

Reminds me of Tom Lehrer - new math. (Bear in mind this was written in the 60's)

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Vb8CWJ-Ho]YouTube- Tom Lehrer New Math[/ame]

 

(There is another version with the proper introduction he made to this song, but the only full version on youtube is some idiot standing there miming to it)

Edited January 30, 2010 by maniac

[synaesthesia]

I've sat in plenty of primary school maths lessons and it really is scary how much basic stuff I've forgotten :|

[p858snake]

My daughter came home from school looking a bit worried. In her planner the teacher had written a note for me "Please do not teach your daughter your way of doing long division. It only confuses her"

 

The funny thing is they now teach it my way

More like the teacher going "No! No! No! you can't do it that way" even if they are getting the correct answer.

 

Although I can't do either style....

[synaesthesia]

That gets on my nerves and I will thoroughly berate any moron having a go at my son if, when he goes to school, he goes about something a different away to get the correct answer. Human minds are not robotic and every single one is different, and if schools wish to try and mould them in the same way which may not work for some as well as others, they will find it counter-productive and possibly harmful.

[mattx]

That gets on my nerves and I will thoroughly berate any moron having a go at my son if, when he goes to school, he goes about something a different away to get the correct answer. Human minds are not robotic and every single one is different, and if schools wish to try and mould them in the same way which may not work for some as well as others, they will find it counter-productive and possibly harmful.

 

Amen to that.

[SYNACK]

If you are looking for some truly good video tutorials on most levels of maths and a whole bunch of other topics there is a huge collection of them avalible here.

 

Khan Academy

 

They are quite good as far as I have seen at covering all sorts of school level topics.

[StewartKnight]

I had to get a GCSE in maths before the'd let me on my course. The pass mark was 50%; I got 52%, which I believe is 14% over what I needed.......

[chrbb]

@mattx how old's your son? Under 9? Then seriously worried about your maths ability:D:D:D:D

 

If he's over 9 then fair dos maths can be tricky:D

[mattx]

@mattx how old's your son? Under 9? Then seriously worried about your maths ability:D:D:D:D

 

If he's over 9 then fair dos maths can be tricky:D

 

He's 9.5 - what do I win ?

[chrbb]

:D It's all changed since we took O levels, no wonder you're confused and got it wrong:D:D

[mattx]

:D It's all changed since we took O levels, no wonder you're confused and got it wrong:D:D

 

Tell me about it !! It's a nightmare !!

[tech_guy]

The bad news is that a scientific study has shown that once you start getting past 40 years old you start to completely forget everything that you were taught when you were a child in terms of maths and suchlike. That's my excuse for being totally rubbish at maths and I'm sticking to it.

[tech_guy]

And don't get me started on grammar! Modal verbs anyone? I can recall the lessons but I couldn't remember anything much more than that. I had to Google when my daughter started going on about examples - she's doing A-level English - the syllabus of which is like a foreign language!

[PiqueABoo]

I did double maths at A-level and lots of truly evil engineering stuff after that, and I don't understand the questions in some of Sprogette's Y2(!) maths homework. Plus some of those off-the-shelf-homework-sheets-from-hell contain questions in areas they haven't been taught (and won't be for 2-3 years) so I can't always interrogate her for clues on what she's supposed to do. We sometimes write notes to teacher..

 

I think I might be bad father coz competitive parenting sorely Ps me off and I won't play. Don't know if it's just here, but if any kid in the class does anything then theirs must do it too at all costs, preferably twice as often so they get a better collection of badges/certificates/whatever. Most of the mums, and it is the mums, do a lot of frantic mileage ferrying their kids around a truly punishing schedule of outside-school activities.

 

Sprogette is six years old.

 

It's insane.

[mattx]

I did double maths at A-level and lots of truly evil engineering stuff after that, and I don't understand the questions in some of Sprogette's Y2(!) maths homework. Plus some of those off-the-shelf-homework-sheets-from-hell contain questions in areas they haven't been taught (and won't be for 2-3 years) so I can't always interrogate her for clues on what she's supposed to do. We sometimes write notes to teacher..

 

I think I might be bad father coz competitive parenting sorely Ps me off and I won't play. Don't know if it's just here, but if any kid in the class does anything then theirs must do it too at all costs, preferably twice as often so they get a better collection of badges/certificates/whatever. Most of the mums, and it is the mums, do a lot of frantic mileage ferrying their kids around a truly punishing schedule of outside-school activities.

 

Sprogette is six years old.

 

It's insane.

 

I know a few set of parents like that - then they wonder why their kids are irritable and moody.....!! Errrr - maybe their cream crackered ?

Mine only do two activities after school - swimming and a single club.

 

Now I work in a private school & all I can say is thank god I'm not a teacher because you mentioned 'competitive parenting' That's all I'm saying.