[bizeemommie]

I agree. I am not sure why the kids need to learn 4 different ways to solve for 4 X 7. It is going to be 28 every single time. Why not just memorize it and be done with it?

[Technocrat]

The more I see, the more I am convinced that most math difficulties stem from a poor memorization of the 10x10 addition table. Everything builds on that. If you know that one table cold, so fast that you don’t even think before the answer just pops into your head, then you will have a much easier time learning everything else.

[Resolute Conservative]

Nope, not going to let them. They cannot take time away from learning about the social ills of our country and what great people Stalin, MLK, and Margaret Sanger were while how inept Reagan, Bush and other stalwart patriots were. The are taught our founding fathers were wrong in what they wanted. So they have to just learn the edge of math theory.

[stayathomemom]

I found out a few months ago that my oldest sister, a physics major, had never memorized her multiplication tables! It turns out that when she should have been learning them, she asked my dad, a math teacher, if there wasn't some way to figure out the answer rather than just memorizing them. He said "NO, memorize them" and she decided to prove him wrong. I think it was her rebellious streak. This was waayy before calculators too. She and her fiance pooled their resources and bought their first calculator for their last finals their senior year.

I always liked math, and really loved geometry. It was the homework I could do while I watched TV! Calculus was my downfall. My daughters, on the other hand, had no trouble with it.

[Fundamentally Fair]

It is going to be 28 every single time.

Fascist! ;)