“What’s wrong?” I asked my grumpy ten-year-old in the car as we drove home from school.
“I have a lot of homework,” he sighed. Then, he whined “And it’s traditional math and I suck at traditional math!”
Wait. What?
“I have to do traditional math and I DON’T KNOW HOW!”
When we got home, we looked at his Everyday Mathematics homework. Yup, he had to do long multiplication the traditional U.S. way.
He seemed almost near tears.
I, on the other hand, was practically giddy!
I. GOT. THIS. I can DO long multiplication! And I did. Dare I say it was almost fun?
And, contrary to his belief, my son understood traditional math and did his homework without too much help from yours truly. Maybe that’s because traditional math MAKES SENSE!
Take that, Everyday Mathematics.
Until next time.
I might be calling on you in the future then, I am totally crap at maths and am dreading this type of thing already…
Lou Lou recently posted…Friday Sorbet
Lol! I can’t understand much of what my kids bring home anymore! I don’t even try with my older ones. My husband is on the internet searching out videos to learn so he can help!
Leah recently posted…Quote of the Week
I don’t understand any of this. How are there different ways to do multiplication? My oldest kid is only 6 years old, so I guess we just haven’t gotten there yet.
We live in CA, which has recently moved to the Common Core standards. Part of this is apparently explaining answers to mathematical equations, not just providing the correct answer. I do want my kids to learn critical thinking, but it’s pretty confusing trying to explain WHY 2+2=4.
Frankie Laursen recently posted…Embracing the “Bully”
I’ve spent most of my life trying to make sure my everyday doesn’t require the use of math.
And I’m so confused when my son brings home his math work sheets filled with equations to solve straightforward addition problems. I’m always like, “Why are you doing all this extra work? You just do this. See? Takes two seconds.” And he’s like, “But we have to do it that way.”
I was completely confused when the introduced borrowing and carrying, because he kept calling it by some other name. I had no idea what he was talking about.
Colleen @ MommieDaze recently posted…How to Make a Despicable Me Minion Costume
The Everyday Math way is really odd – I hope there’s solid research to back up that their new-fangled methods are the way to go, and it wasn’t just some excited salesperson who sold the curriculum all over the midwest and made a huge paycheck!
Katy @ Experienced Bad Mom recently posted…My Daughter Said WHAT?
I’m a total math nerd and think any math is fun math.
Ashlee recently posted…Blog Announcement
Laughing. I couldn’t help my kids with math if I tried. I am terrible at it. And now that they are older and taking more advanced classes, forget it. Good thing they didn’t get that lack of skill from me. They all LIKE math!
Michelle recently posted…How to Go From Zero to 50 Comments on Your Blog Posts
I can do basic statistical tests at my work like ANOVAs and linear regressions…but Lord help me when I have to help my kids with algebra in middle school!
Everyday math is the WORST!! Every day!!!!
And I’m just so glad to see that I am not alone in this. Laughing.
Great read as well. It’s really hard to understand kids these days, and adding Math to it just makes things harder to get by.
Jennifer Brown recently posted…The Secret Of Teaching Kids Language
My kids love Everyday Math. It’s funny because Everyday Mathematics was published way before Common Core even had a foothold in our schools yet it’s still being used. Showing multiple strategies to complete a problem and then having students pick a strategy that works best for them is the cornerstone of most of the Everyday Math units.
Now that I’m on my second child going through Everyday Mathematics, I’m much better prepared and even open to its ways! Thanks for commenting.