this is 2nd grade math???

[jen0610]

Yep, we have "the new math" ie Everyday Math here, too. There have been days when not, 1 or 2 adults have tried to help, but 4 of us (DH, my mom and dad, and me).

Now does the school allow the kids to bring home their hard bound book, that show examples....Noooooo. They might not get them back to school. Well my answer to that with the principle, don't send home homework, that we as parents don't know how to "teach" our kids, because the schools have gone with a program that is butt backwards to how we were taught. If you want us to help you "teach", then you had better give us the tools, the math books, to do it. Needless to say, both of the kids have gotten to bring their books home and they have NEVER forgotten to take them back to school the next day.

We have even had to brake out the dictionary to make sure what they are asking for is what we think. And they start algebra and geometry in the elementray grades

 

[angel's momma]

My 2nd grader does the "carry the one", but they call it something different (and I just can't remember what it is.)

They also have to draw a box to write the 1 in.

 

[Laurajean1014]

All the math and social studies is to teach you how to handle college level, better. With more and more hs grads going to undergraduate, graduate and above, academia is dictating what the lower grades are learning to make college a choice for everyone.

Frankly, I don't like the reason, but like the fact that kids are learning more, faster. Retention is the key. My son gets book reports but they are not what I did (which was a summary of the book). They are questions that you need to answer. This way it puts a so-called better understanding of the character instead of a good understanding of the book.

It's different and I like it.

 

[Cool-Beans]

They have to come up with different stuff. They are not content to teach regular stuff. They trot out something new ever ten years or so. They explain how it is so much better and the kids will be so much better off later.

Then 10 years later, they say that they have something much better than that old way that wasn't working.

 

[Jpgirl]

Ok I must be a dinosaur. My kids are 21 an 19 and I had to relearn math to help them-I barely passed Trig in High school. But what the heck?? I have no clue what the purpose is here. I learned the way old way of carrying numbers. But here's the real question...will they be able to reconcile their checkbooks/budgets and make change, because I'm getting REAL tired of showing almost every teen I come accross how to make change without the register computer!! The look on their faces makes me feel like I'm trying to explain quantum physics!! And my 21 year old dd just can't get the checkbook thing-so she just does the debit card and relies on the bank balance online . Thank goodness I don't have any little kids because I just don't have it in me to learn math a third time!!

 

[Wishing on a star]

it's all part of the Evil Education Agenda (EEA) to teach kids that their parents are idiots - you'll see the fruits in the teen years...

 

[wvrevy]

Believe it or not, it is much easier to add two-digit numbers in your head using this method (and I've been doing it since I was a kid). In fact, I used to get in trouble in math class for doing problems "backwards"...in fact I was just adding the numbers in my head and writing the answer without going through the whole "carry the one" process. My teachers didn't know what to make of me :teeth (But I never even came close to failing a math class).

Kids can handle this kind of stuff, if we just shut up and let 'em. I had a third grade teacher that was teaching the class algebra (basic concepts), and most everyone "got it"...and that was in a West Virginia classroom twentymumble years ago.

The simple fact is that the world is a much more complicated place than it was even that twentymumble years ago. Back then, barely anyone had a computer in their home. Math is much more important to success in life now than it was back then. Personally, I'm very glad that they are starting to push kids.

 

[Wishing on a star]

Our son started Kindergarten this year and it's even worse. They are doing things that our daughter didn't even do until second grade. DH and I have had enough. We decided it was time to take back our children and educate them at home next year.

And, what is so sad is that this seems to be the only option.

What we need to be 'Taking Back' is our insane, overdemanding, out of control Educational System.

 

[RedxPanda]

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

what ever happened to just adding?

maybe they think "carry the one" is too hard to understand ?!?!

I don't think i heard the word algorithm until college! Although maybe thats why I started to suck at math at that same time

 

[Cindy B]

I was working today in a 7th grade French class (I substitute within my local district)

Two 7th grade students are in the accelerated 8th grade math class.

These students are doing velocity physics equations. The text was photocopied from a college textbook. I was looking at the material and they stated that some of it was "easy trigonometry".

 

[RedxPanda]

I was working today in a 7th grade French class (I substitute within my local district)

Two 7th grade students are in the accelerated 8th grade math class.

These students are doing velocity physics equations. The text was photocopied from a college textbook. I was looking at the material and they stated that some of it was "easy trigonometry".

Man, I was in the accelerated 8th grade math class in 8th grade not seventh, but I think all we were doing was HS level Algebra/trig/geo!

Hmm, maybe they've realized that kids can actually handle a lot more complicated math than originally thought. It will probably help alot when they get to HS and later on in college. Calculus kicked my butt in school because i never saw it until college

 

[momm2four]

When you teach the child to add 35 + 71 by doing partial sum, you are teaching them that what you are really doing is adding 5 ones to 1 one, which gives you 6 ones. Then they learn that the 3 and 7 represent 30 and 70. By breaking down each place value, they discover they are adding the VALUE of the number, not just simply adding the digits.

Having said that, my son has been taught to multiply in a way that is driving me crazy.

35
X15
-----
25
150
50
+300
-----
525

I understand the thinking behind this method, but he constantly makes mistakes when doing this, and Lord forbid that I try to show him another way. What would I, a 7th grade math teacher, know about 4th grade math?!?!

Lori P.

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

All these new ways of doing math are HOGWASH. I went to a college prep high school in Chicago that adopted an "integrated math" approach. It was a JOKE! I learned NOTHING and despite being a very bright student, tested into remedial algebra when I came to college! Luckily I've learned a lot since then, but it's no wonder so many kids can't count out correct change or add in their brains. I just wish they would stop coming out with new methods every few years and just stick to the basics!

AGREED. I'm the same age as you and that happened to me too. I had to take remedial algebra when I started college

 

[elan]

We did the "new math" adding in 2nd grade and now we are doing the "new math lattice" multiplying in 3rd grade. I've learned along with my DD. She can add any number using the system and can multiply numbers I would not of been able to do in 6th grade (heck we were still working on multiplication tables). At first I thought it was foolish but I see the results now and have no problem with it.

 

[wvrevy]

Why on earth would anyone take their kids out of the system just because they are "learning too fast" ?!? My god, people...by the time our kids get out of school and enter the real world, don't you think they are going to need to be more advanced than we were when we graduated? You think your kids are going to be prepared if you hold them back because you don't understand the teaching methods ?

Wow...I can't even imagine entertaining that idea, let alone going through with it. I hope DD completely outstrips me in her academic achievement. If she is learning things in the second grade that I didn't learn until 6th, I will be completely overjoyed by that, not intimidated. I just don't get the "things have to be done the same way I did 'em" line of thinking.

 

[debster812]

Believe it or not, it is much easier to add two-digit numbers in your head using this method

ITA with Revy on this. I grew up in a house with my Master's Degree, Math Teacher mother, and my blue-collar, gifted carpenter father. Guess who could add, subtract, multiply and divide faster? Dear old dad. He used this same method.

DS is in 3rd grade, and we have seen the math basics this year (add subtract multiply and divide) as well as Geometry, Algebra, graphing, sets, fractions, Ordinal and Cardinal numbers, and on and on.

We are VERY lucky that my mom is still with us, as we've called Nana on numerous occasions to get Math help.

None of us learned math the way our parents did, it makes sense that our kids are learning differently than we did.

 

[Cindy B]

Yes, the way they are learning math is so differently.

There is definetely more emphasis on the visual aspects of how numbers work. Some kids can memorize that 2 x 4 = 8 but dont know the meaning behind the numbers. However, too much emphasis on the visual aspects do not help either. I've seen high school students that DONT know thier times tables which causes problems in prealgebra/algebra classrooms.

 

[canwegosoon]

Help me understand this, please

'Use the partial-sums algorithm to add. Show your work. 35 + 79'

I know some posters have shown it another way...but in my boys school it would be

3+7=10(tens or 100) and 5 + 9=14(ones) ans 114

To me it has to do with the set up for subtraction when the second number's ones integer is larger than the 1st number's ones integer. Wait until Foilling!!!!!

 

[DisneyDotty]

Yes, the way they are learning math is so differently.

There is definetely more emphasis on the visual aspects of how numbers work. Some kids can memorize that 2 x 4 = 8 but dont know the meaning behind the numbers.

I think Everyday Math is addressing this issue. EM is the only program my kids have had (ages 8 and 12) and I'm constantly amazed how their minds wrap around any number problem we give them. They don't just rely on memory, but rather are able to think about the problem and work it out. A skill that will last them a lifetime.
And BTW--didn't our parents have the same gripes when we came home with homework? I distinctly remember whining to my dad (back in the '70's), "But dad--that's not how we're supposed to solve it!" And didn't our parents say that the new way was wacky and made no sense? And didn't we do okay (for what was needed in terms of math skills/job/global economy etc)?
The times, they are a' constantly changin'...
Nevermind--just a thought. Back to your regularly scheduled rant.

 

[DisneyDotty]

Wait until Foilling!!!!!

I used to love FOIL! Alas, I believe it's slowly being written out of the curriculum. I'm such a dinosaur!