Is my child too young for maths tuition?
Wonder if your child is too young for maths tuition? The good news is that making a decision to send your child for extra maths tuition has nothing to do with their age. Nor should it be about benchmarking your child against what they “should” be able to do by now. By worrying that your child should be at a certain level of mastery or is too young for maths tuition, you are focussing on the wrong points.
We all finds different things easy or difficult
While there are accepted norms that your child should be falling into, the reality is that children learn at their own pace. Some catch on faster than others and some are really strong in one area of the subject and tend to struggle in others.
For example, in maths, we commonly see that children will eventually be able to handle simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, but they may not so quickly grasp more complex problems such as long division, the ability to add time (dealing with the conversion from seconds to minutes to hours), and of course, the dreaded “problem” or “model” sums. You know the type – algebraic questions disguised as a problem – the ones that (cough) even you struggle to answer!
Is the problem reading rather than maths?
Your child may also get off to a slow start in maths if they struggle to read because, to answer a problem sum, they need to be able to read the problem and comprehend it before they can even make a start at tackling the question.
Maths also builds upon knowledge so once your kid starts to fall behind, it becomes harder over time to catch up.
Or are they simply bored?
But it may not even be that your child is struggling. They may be bored because they find it too easy. That can kill a love for maths as soon as having difficulties keeping up. So in that case, sending your child for tuition classes that challenge them at a higher level might be what your child needs. The concern should be nothing to do with whether your child is too young for maths tuition. It’s about ensuring that you keep the love of maths alive and have a happy child who is confident in their own abilities and challenged enough to keep the interest going.
So should you send your child for maths tuition?
The answer to that lies in how your child is coping with the subject. If they are showing anxiety and a reluctance to learn maths, or even developing a dread and hatred for it, then you should act sooner rather than later. Don’t let the bad feeling fester into a life-long aversion to the subject.
Maths should be fun for kids. Kids love challenges. They love puzzles to solve when it’s presented as play. But if they feel they are constantly failing, that love and natural enthusiasm and curiosity will disappear fast. Before that happens, it’s important that you get your child the support they need so that they continue to love maths.
Do keep an eye on milestones they should be attaining, and give leeway knowing that they are naturally going to be better at some things than others. But your barometer as to when to take action should be your kid emotions. If they are unhappy or anxious when they sit down to do their maths homework, or they aren’t being challenged enough and are losing interest, it’s a problem best nipped in the bud with tuition that will give them the clarity and confidence they need so that they will develop a life-long passion for maths and the joys of problem-solving.
Talk to a maths tuition centre about having your child’s maths abilities assessed so you know where the issues lie and can take positive action to set things right. Your child is never too young for maths tuition if an emotional issue has been identified. In this case, maths tuition should result in a happier child and parents!
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