MATHS - How to keep kids interested?

[Doug99]

My 11yr old grandson is a sharp cookie and his favourite subject is maths. When I put any problem to him relevant to his age grade, he fires back the solution with little thought.
My worry is that he will lose interest when he moves up to the local Comp in September.
Does anyone know of any reading material for his age which makes GCSE Maths interesting, so that he can press on early with the subject?
The only books I can find are about GCSE past papers and seem to be more focused on those already in Comp.

His teacher doesn't appear to be interested in pushing him beyond the current age curriculum

Cheers All
Doug

 

[big-all]

havent got a clue
if he is at all autistic try him with perhaps bus and train timetables as in planning a journey and times for lunch between connecting service including fares cheaper times quickest journey or perhaps dinosaurs timeline that sort off thing and see how it goes
if you try and get him further ahead on his school work he will get more bored perhaps??

 

[The Samaritan]

Sadly a fact of life re schools.
What my family does is that the parents and grandparents make time to keep the kids interested.
Interests may change. He must be finding it interest like our grandchild does all
you can do is to advance him to the next stage.
Private tuition is the way forward but as we both know its expensive.
Possibly give him targets and rewards at the end of it?
Good luck.

 

[Doug99]

My grandson's command of maths in not an autistic trait. He just finds his current classroom maths boring as he always knows the answers.
As for other interests , its local under 12 football. He goes coaching most evenings during the week and plays a competitive game every Saturday.
He's just a bright lad.

 

[Deleted member 292770]

put it on tik tok. Not rocket science is it?

 

[big-all]

My grandson's command of maths in not an autistic trait. He just finds his current classroom maths boring as he always knows the answers.
As for other interests , its local under 12 football. He goes coaching most evenings during the week and plays a competitive game every Saturday.
He's just a bright lad.

people who are different should be celebrated as individuals if you /we dont understand someone that usually means they are not the norm/ different when in fact 90% off the time most do not fit fully within "what some call normal"
in other words most do not conform to some arbiter standard the ones who think they are important set
in general the ones that think they are important are very ignorant about the world in general and think there thoughts should apply to the real world where they have little or no connection to what so ever

 

[securespark]

I know this is second hand, but maybe good?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Maths-Ages-11-12-Workbook/dp/0713671289

 

[securespark]

There is also a series of KS2 books 10 minutes of maths

 

[noseall]

His teacher doesn't appear to be interested in pushing him beyond the current age curriculum


Doug

That’s surprising really. All the teachers I know have loads of spare time between 2:00am and 6:00am.

 

[IT Minion]

Mathematics for the sake of it, or mathematics with purpose?

Pure maths is not my area of interest, but if he enjoys the puzzle aspects of maths then physics, engineering or AI are there. Using more targeted topics can help to keep maths relevant.

See if he enjoys the book Godel Escher Bach. It should be beyond an 11 year old but it's a brilliant book.

 

[Deleted member 18243]

The only books I can find are about GCSE past papers and seem to be more focused on those already in Comp.

When you say past papers how far back are you going? We are in the age of "dumbing down" so maths as taught today is far less complicated and rigorous than in the past.

Look at, for example, the maths O level paper from 1974 on this site:

https://www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/our-research/archives-and-heritage/past-exam-material/maths/

...and compare it with a more recent equivalent, say the 2018 higher maths GCSE from here:

https://www.aqa.org.uk/find-past-papers-and-mark-schemes

Get him on some pre-1980s papers, or better still pre-1970s as with those he will have to think in old money, which might sound irrelevant but it adds an extra few calculations therefore is good exercise.

His teacher doesn't appear to be interested in pushing him beyond the current age curriculum

Teaching nowadays is concentrated purely on passing the exam and not on any wider knowledge or interest.

His teacher doesn't appear to be interested in pushing him beyond the current age curriculum

Many teachers now are degenerates only interested in drugs and left-wing politics. (I mention that for the benefit of Notch and Noseall).

 

[ETAF]

My youngest was very bright at school at got easily bored, i saw the teachers a few times, and they said nothing to be done, they have a curriculum to follow , and cannot do much more , this was 20years ago now.
we could not afford , private education in any form, and if he stayed at the school that would just make it more boring.

He was identified as gifted, but again the options where very limited and he was interested in all sport and so wanted a balanced education.

The good news is , he went to University, Oxbridge was on the cards, BUT he cruised through the exams and didn't quite get enough A*
But got a first and now has fast tracked to a very high paid , senior role, at a very young age. And really enjoying life - well upto covid ......

So providing he does not go backwards and has a good all round education, pushing him maybe sometimes be the wrong thing.... and have the opposite effect

 

[The Samaritan]

Sadly a fact of life re schools.
What my family does is that the parents and grandparents make time to keep the kids interested.
Interests may change. He must be finding it interest like our grandchild does all
you can do is to advance him to the next stage.
Private tuition is the way forward but as we both know its expensive.
Possibly give him targets and rewards at the end of it?
Good luck.

Some poster said "autistic" - the person starting this thread never mentioned that.
Thanks

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Does anyone know of any reading material for his age which makes GCSE Maths interesting, so that he can press on early with the subject?
The only books I can find are about GCSE past papers and seem to be more focused on those already in Comp.

Introduce him to spreadsheets on a computer - Excel, or freeware equivalents.

 

[Deleted member 18243]

Introduce him to spreadsheets on a computer - Excel, or freeware equivalents.

Excel spreadsheets are very useful but they are not a way of teaching a child maths; rather, they are a means of avoiding having to do maths. The OP wants the boy to have a mathematics education. Learning Excel is training, not education.