Mood:
downTopic: Rants
Just after we had eased by the "Reading is boring" situation, Lauren came home from school and announced, "Math is boring". And, really, who can blame her when the lesson of the day was which number is higher?
During Curriculum night, the teachers had mentioned that they use a system called everyday math which is supposed to help kids see how numbers fit into the real world. At the time I thought that sounded well and good. Then came the homework and I knew it was not going to be well and good. The number order homework was followed by: tally marks (i.e. lll = 3), find and count the thermometers in your house, write your phone number, and count the clocks in your house.
These kids are 6 and 7 years old for crying out loud. Which number is higher...hmpf! They should be doing addition and subtraction! Everyday math is fine and dandy, but why can't that be supplemental to some good old fashioned math? These kid’s brains are sponges ready to soak up anything and everything, why not throw in something more complicated than which number is higher? Time is being wasted here and the sponges are slowly drying out.
After the tally marks I decided I was going to have my own math lessons with Lauren. She was already doing simple addition and subtraction, so I added easy double digit addition and subtraction, then double digit addition with carrying the tens and for good measure, I even threw in a double digit addition that resulted in a triple digit sum. I even had her adding fractions! I drew four pies, a whole, one in halves, one in quarters, and one in eighths and we did things like how many eighths would it take to make three quarters? She got it people...she got it all. And many times on the first try. I haven't yet gone to the double digit subtraction with borrowing a ten, but that time will come. There will be no dry sponge on my watch!
