Maths for 6 years old

I have a 6 year old daughter in Year 2. Throughout this year, she brings home math homework every week, which seems like it's for me, because she has no grasp at all of most of it. Multiplication, division, story problems... she has no idea what she's supposed to do with it, and it seems like she's not being taught anything there except cultural and religious variety.  I seriously worry about how far behind she's going to be, will they be starting calculus next term for crying out loud? When a teacher tells me at each conference for the past two years that she's not confident, I could certainly point out why she's not.  

Is anyone else going through this?

Well obviously the teacher is not doing this right.  I am going into education and am so angry when I see what we expect of our young children.  They're kids, not miniature adults for crying out loud!  Anways...are they using manipulatives in her classroom?  Many students have a much better understanding of how to do multiplication and division after using cuisinaire rods or base 10 blocks.  You may want to ask her teacher if they use any manipulatives at all and if not, they should be.  Also, you could ask if she is letting them explore mathematics or if they are simply practicing algorithims with pencil and paper.  Your daughter probably won't fully understand math at all if the teacher has turned them into little monkeys "do what I do on your papers."  Traditional math such as that is what I experienced, and I didn't get most of it.  Anyways a lot of advancements have been made in teaching math in the last decade or so.

Plus, the purpose of homework is to reinforce what has already been learned, not to make students struggle or have their parents do this.  I would have a chat with the teacher and see if it gets anywhere.

We had this problem with our oldest.  She was having more and more piled on when she really didn't seem to have a grasp of simple arithmetic.  She ended up really struggling and we went private.  She started Kumon maths www.kumon.co.uk which is basically just practicing by rote.  It really worked for her and she eventually caught up with her peers and is now doing fine-she's in year ten.  But it was a struggle and she was frustrated.  Our second was always in accelerated math and had no problem with the extra stuff.  We're still keeping an eye on the little one but we have discussed sending her to Kumon too.  

I would, if I were you, send back the homework unfinished, with a note to the effect that she was unable to do it because of its difficulty.  And you'd be well within your rights to say why you feel she lacks confidence.  Tackle this now, because it tends to be sink or swim in the Juniors.  

Kumon is pretty okay, and works for many though they do not get into true diagnostic testing to determine where the real problem is.  I know Sylvan is just starting in the UK and if they do get one nearby I do recommend them.  Though to be honest at that age hiring a really nice private tutor that your child feels confident with will do miracles for her.  It takes out the struggle of the parent child relationship in learning.  Manipulatives are great and work for very visual kids. Try to explore what type of learner she is.  If she responds and remembers more via auditory then she will need things explained to her and also perhaps allow her to "teach" them back to you.  We also found that having some kids write out the concepts helps.  Unfortunately there is no magic formula for the tables.  It is rote memorization -though even there there are wonderful computer programs and things like multiplication wraps to aid kids in learning.

I also would suggest setting up some type of motivation thing with her to help boost that confidence in math.  It can be in the form of tokens, stars whatever.  Positive reinforcement of small steps and small concepts helps them gain the confidence they need to tackle those bigger ones.  I know this is not dealing directly with the maths situation in the UK, but it's stuff you can try at home to help combat it.    

Youe dilemna seems very similar to some of the kids on the ABECA program here in the USA.  Rest assured though they do eventually come out okay.

Even if you don't use the tutoring services.  Sylvan does have E-Sylvan for their Math Essentials program which might help from a diagnostic perspective to identify areas of weakness.  http://www.esylvan.com/  -though it says it starts at 3rd grade..The skills your child is learning are really at that level here in the USA.