Streetlife

I just wanted to say that your phobia is not unusual. I used to break down in tears in maths classes at school.  I thought I was destined to never be able to face some of the most complicated things. 

I then started to study to be an accountant - and in my college on day release, the first time I saw a very complicated formulaed question, I felt myself freezing, upset, shaking in the end I cried. I felt such a fool and my teacher looked shocked. I suppose there aren't many adults that do that in class.

Anyway,  I worked with computer consultants that had all passed their maths degrees and got one of them to teach me. In the end he showed me to look at the symbols as a foreign language and as soon as I knew what they meant, then I'd be able to break down and understand what I was looking at.  It was hard. I did panic, but eventually, I was able to not be afraid and to 'get' them.  I passed enough exams to become an accountant. 

And actually, in life, you do sums for a reason, you make equations and calculations for a reason which can be understood. Maths classes would probably still be a bit scary, but I am not too frightened. 

I just wanted you to know, that it can be overcome.

Good luck!

Hi AK,

I used to tutor maths - first of all to my classmates in school, then to pupils while I was in Uni to help fund my Uni years. It is something that I would like to get back into but haven't had the time. Last year, my flatmate did GCSE maths and I helped her out a few times. I love teaching Maths especially to people who need to know the basics and I have had positive feedback from those who I have helped in the past. If you wish, we can always meet up and you can chat about what you would like to get out of any possible help I can give you? You can send me a message if you would like to know more.

Thanks!!

My other half's late father was a maths teacher at a girls' school with some none too bright pupils and wrote a book that he chauvanistically, but rather quaintly called "Maths for Mums".  I was useless at maths at school having just passed elementary O level and given up on advanced as soon as I got to differentiation, but found this book invaluable when20 years later teaching my children. It is in manuscript and I am willing to lend a copy or you can pay for it to be photocopied if on looking at it you like it.

One of the more interesting points raised was the answer to the question "What are the 10 symbols we use to count with?"  Most people answer right away "One to 10" and of course that is not the right answer....

Let me know if you want to take this further

Chris

This website offers very good math mentoring, at different levels:

http://www.khanacademy.org/

 Besides the short lesson videos, you can also practice with graded exercises. Once you have logged in, you can even access a graph view of each math topic/lesson, how they relate to each other, and in which order you should take them.

And the best thing? It is completely free.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

My heart went out to you reading your post ... I love maths - sums are fun .. and yes I know I am strange.  Only thing I couldn't  understand or get my head around was algebra.  No idea.  It wasn't a figure it was a letter - did give me plenty of mind boggles.

My main phobia was English language.  Precis, comprehension .. words not figures. 

I hope you get someone to teach you the stuff you need not the maths you will have no need for..

Hi AK, 

I can meet with you and see your needs and teach you some basic maths. 

I don't quite know what you know already. 

Message me if you wish to meet to discuss. 

There is a fantastic evening college called The City Lit, which has great maths courses for adults. I know a few people who did courses there and have had great success and new confidence. Its worth contacting them I believe they do certified as well as general courses too.

I do feel for you! Maths is a passion with me and it makes me so cross when I come across somebody who has had the experience you have had. I am a former maths teacher and part of the problem we have with maths in this country is that it is perceived as hard so nobody particularly worries if a child is bad at it or afraid of it - that's perpetuated by adults too who tell their children it's ok if they find it hard because they did too. You often hear people talk about their lack of ability almost with pride - nobody would do the same if it came to reading! However, let me get off my soapbox and give you some practical help!

The desire to overcome your phobia is half the battle believe me. I recently spent some time working with an adult in just the way you describe to help him to understand how the things he knew how to do and had to use regularly actually work. Like you, he suffered as much from fear of the task as from inability to complete it. As a result he is now much more confident and can do things he would never have dreamed possible a couple of years ago. 

There are lots of publications that can set your feet on the ladder - googling "easy maths for adults" will pop up lots of results - and for some reason US ones seem to be less intimidating than others. If you really want to go down the tuition route, my advice would be to make a list of the kinds of things you have to do regularly and to get your tutor to focus on the mechanics of why they work. Developing that fundamental understanding will help you in every other area of maths you encounter.

As an extra bit of encouragement, about 20 years ago - just before GCSEs replaced O'level, there was a study done of people who had repeatedly failed O'level maths. I think the criteria were that they had failed at least 4 times and that their last attempt was at least 10 years ago. They were put through a 12 month night school course and then re-took the exam. They all passed it. The conclusion was that for some people the actual cognitive ability that enables you to cope with mathematical problems develops much later than other skills, hence you have many highly intelligent adults who simply think they can't do maths. It's not usually the case - they just gave up and haven't tried again.

Hi to everybody who responded to my post

Thankyou for your support and encouragement I really appreciate it, I was worried I might be scoffed at, and I have now realised this is where my real problem lies - hating the fact that I might be ridiculed in my attempts to learn in front of others.

Its mad really because I loved school, I've had a life long passion for learning and have attended and enjoyed lots of adult evening classes. In verbal and logical reasoning tests I have scored in the 85th percentile so I clearly have cognitive ability, but when it comes to Maths I just seem to freeze up. (I just had to google percentile because I couldn't remembeer what it was!)

I felt anxious reading the posts - I didn't realise that was going to happen (in my mind I'd got past my biggest fear by admitting I was rubbish at Maths on a public forum). However, when I think of trying to learn this subject in front of people or from people I don't know I feel even more anxious. So actually my initial request of looking for a private tutor no longer makes sense to me.

So thankyou to all of you that offered individual support but I think on reflection that I'd be best suited to practise on my own at home for a while to improve my confidence levels. I've had a look at the khanacademy website and googled easy maths for adults and there seems to be plenty of resources to get me started. 

And most of the topic matter I looked at I don't even need!! As suggested I am going to make a list of those areas that I need in my working life, and from there decide what the best learning route is.

I may possibly progress to group lessons, I guess other adults taking the course are going to probably feel pretty much as I do. The CityLit college looks fantastic, I'm thinking of dropping by and taking a test to see what level I am. After some practise at home and hopefully some confidence building I could see whether any of their maths courses are suitable for me.

If not, it won't be a wasted journey as I was attracted to loads of their other courses, the ones on creative writing looked very interesting to me - if only I could feel the same way about maths!! 

oh, and Chris what are the ten symbols?

I'm pleased that you have found this thread helpful and that you have renewed confidence. It's a sad case that there are many people in this country that feel the same as you and it is only in later years they overcome their phobia about the subject.  

For the life of me I don't understand why the educational authorities cannot design a practical and advanced syllabus. The practical version focusing on maths we use everyday (probability/ ratios/ percentages/ time etc) and advanced (all those subjects and theories most of us have not used again since leaving the classroom).

It makes absolute sense to me and would allow more people to achieve and comprehend a basic level of maths, with those that love the subject Having the ability to do the advanced level.

Going slightly off-topic, but I genuinely believe that maths should be optional as a GCSE choice. The vast majority of people need a grasp of arithmetic and SOME spatial stuff but not much beyond. If anybody can explain to me what value there is in teaching histograms at GCSE I will be astonished.  I wasn't forced to go on and learn about glacial valleys thank God, because I HATED geography. I found it so boring that I used to be near to tears sometimes. Having said that I acquired enough basic knowledge to understand what different parts of the world are like, how to get there, how they developed and how to read a map. If you are competent to understand your payslip, your bank statement and bills, work out how much your tiles or new carpet is going to cost, how to scale recipes up and down, how much more do most of us need? Yes I've used calculus in anger and not just to pass exams but in real life as a design engineer, but frankly we should be leaving those things for people who have the interest and the desire to succeed in the subject or a basic requirement to know this stuff for other fields of study. Instead of which we put kids with neither interest nor aptitude through hell and the stress level of their teachers through the roof - I've been there and I know! 

OK soap box away for the evening!

Answer is 0 to 9 !!! 

(Ten 10) is represented by two symbols!

Once pointed out it is obvious but one has to think logically.  Its a bit like my younger son, who, when asked, "On what side of the road to they drive on the Continent? replied "Both sides, silly... its obvious!"We "think" they drive on the right but we are conditioned to consider only one side of the road

0 was a concept that only originated relatively lately - I understand at about 800 AD in India (but subject to correction) and before that there was no symbol or concept for "nothing"

Good luck

AK, the first thing that struck me was how brave you were to write all this. followed hotly by how easy it would be for you to deal wth the 'fear' of learning Maths before to progress to improve your skills.  once the fear goes, the learning become much easier.

There is a simple  technique called EFT (tapping) which can be used to reduce the stress and anxiety related to learning.  once ths has been delt with, the learning become easy.  

It is amazingly quick to learn and to do, so message me, I can help you if you would like, it's what I do. go to www.lpjhealingenergy.co.uk and click on EFT, it will explain and give you all the basics you need to start!  

I would love to help you so do call. 

Lucinda 

HI AK

Just to let you know I did maths at the City Lit this year.  The courses are absolutely brilliant.  I would really recommend it.  After years of fearing maths, I plucked up the courage to do a course as I needed it for work and  it was one of the best things I have ever done.

Good luck with it all and all the very best.

Hi AK, it's really interesting to read about this - I love numbers (did applied maths in my degree, very good at mental arithmetic, remember dates for many years etc.) but have what I call a "grey fog" when it comes to money - doing my accounts, etc. So some numbers are OK for me, and not others - I dont' really understand it!

In terms of overcoming your fear around this, I can highly commend EFT - I had a "big deal" in my life last year that had me in tears just talking about it, and a couple of sessions with Lucinda sorted that out - and almost a year later, still feeling in a good place about it all.

all the best!

Tracey

AK: no-one in my view has a natural ineptitude for maths.  The problem is that because it is like a building, ie you build upwards, if there is any part that you hadn't quite grasped before you were moved on to the next bit, you are bound to have a weakness in the structure.  That is not your fault, but the fault of the system by which you were taught.  

One of the arguments against streaming was that research showed that those in the bottom of the top stream actually did less well than those in the top of the next stream. One conclusion is that in the top stream the class has moved on before the weakest in the class have really grasped and internalised the previous lesson.

While I was at college (doing a Maths/Education degree) those of us doing Maths had one particular lecture when half of us understand what the lecture was about and half of us had not a clue (I was in the second group).  I repeatedly asked the lecturer to explain it again.  Still no joy.  Afterwards the students in my group got together and one who did understand explained it to those who didn't.  It became clear that the lecturer had used an ambiguous word.

Again, at college, I went through a period of 2 weeks when I could do absolutely non of my work.  As a mature student, I didn't like to admit that I was floundering until a senior Maths lecturer quietly asked why I hadn't submitted any work.  I burst into tears, drove home in floods and spent the next 48 hours crying my eyes out until I was bored with self pity.  So I then sat down and did all the work that, previously, I had been unable to do.

Please do not ever say that you cannot do Maths.  There is considerable intellectual arrogance about the subject - just because someone can do Maths doesn't mean they are 'clever'.

Finally, research also shows that the correlation is not between Maths and Science (Science merely uses a lot of Maths) but between Maths and Languages.  As above, if you treat Maths as a language, rather than a science, it puts it into a different perspective.  Or you can just treat it as a game!

Jane E I agree 100%

And Julie L if any child thinks that they are being "put through hell" when they're being taught anything then that's the fault of the teacher or institution, certainly not of the child or the subject!

Good luck AK

Hi AK 

just seen your post and if it helps i have a phobia for maths too and even though i can get by doing most daily stuff when it comes to doing sums i just get into a panic..its that bad that i missed out on a chance to get into nursing because even though i excelled in other tests a failed the the maths test...i will look into the suggestions that has been posted and hope that it will help me too..good luck to you too

Matthew G - that was my point!

Hi AK,  

I loved Maths so much that I did a degree in it and am now an accountant.  I have often pondered going into to teaching as I know it's a subject which is a struggle for some and I'd love to try to make it a little more enjoyable.  Anyway, I realise you've got lots of offers from lots of people far more qualified to teach than me, but if those fall through - I'd love to help you out.

Either way, best of luck!  I hope you learn to love it!

Hi AK,
I also have a dreadful phobia with maths and anything to do with numbers. I have over the years managed to give the task of working out calculations to my colleagues. Well the time has come for me to stop putting off the inevitable, we have been told to do a maths/calculation test, I become anxious and break out into a cold sweat at the thought of it. As a child I missed a lot of schooling due to illness,which meant I fell behind very early on. I was also called stupid for not being able to grasp simple arithmetic. I don't feel confident going into a class, but would like some private tutoring from someone who is very, very patient.
Many thanks for all the info and suggestions so far for AK and thank you AK for inspiring me to write for the first time on Streetlife. What a wealth of information.

I once worked with a lady whose child was having a dreadful job (in primary school) with fractions and percentages.  I offered to help .. the child just couldn't grasp just how to convert one into the other.  Then I remembered how I was taught .. by using a similar system to a clock face.  The child could tell the time (proper time not digital time) - after that it all made sense.  I put the fractions on the outer circle and the percentages inside the the circle. 

I taught my daughter her sums but was asked not to continue because the school she was at used the 'Smile' system - which I thought was an awful system.  But I did so for a year - her level quickly retreated so I started teaching her again.  Ordinary bog standard basics.  Her standards improved. 

To those 'struggling' - everyone struggles with something - if you know someone who says they don't, they fib.  Me - English language .. can't get my head around it, couldn't pass my O level.  Latin - spot on .. that made sense. 

Vivian: SMILE was a brilliant system for teaching Maths in secondary schools.  It was flexible, materials were written by Maths teachers and tested before being published, and allowed pupils to progress at their own rate.  The problem was that many schools which didn't have qualified Maths teachers used the system badly to compensate for that lack.  Many of the tasks written for SMILE are still being used by commercial and on-line workschemes - those of us who helped write and edit just don't get any credit.

In my school, Maths went from being one of the least popular subjects to the most popular (according to the PE department!)  We had difficulty getting pupils to go home at night.

It may be that, since you say you were teaching your daughter sums, when you taught subtraction the school was using decomposition method, rather than equal additions (sorry for technicality).  The reason the theory changed to teaching decomposition was that the equal additions method (the way I was taught in the '40's and '50's) really made no sense because you had altered the sum by adding 10 to the top and 1 in the 10's column at the bottom,  therefore 335 - 148 actually becomes 3(13)(15) - 258.  If you use blocks or other equipment to explain, the latter method clearly doesn't work.

By all means, ask teachers why they are teaching the way they are teaching.  If you are not happy, talk to someone more senior. Parents do sometime criticise the teachers to the child.  Turning it round, what would you think about a teacher who criticised the parents to the child?  Children need security, not to be in a war zone.

Hello,

The firm I work for, Kippun Associates, has partnered with a Turning Global Tuition.  Shantoba Carew is the head of the firm. They specialize in helping people gain entry into Universities around the world.  Both kids and professionals looking for some tutoring and assistance.

They have a range of tutors that a specialists in different areas.  They have a great success rate and are very friendly.  You can find out more at www.turningglobetuition.com or e-mail Shantoba at shantoba.carew@gmail.com

I do have a professional relationship with this company, which I don't want to hide.  I do think they offer a good service and wouldn't hesitate to use them myself. In fact, when my kids are getting ready for University admissions, I will be working with them.