Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Mommy doesn't get new math!

I am glad Ian "gets" his math homework because I would be seriously perplexed and at a loss for words as to how they want him to solve problems. His district uses the Everyday Math program and I'm just wondering how on earth these people at the University of Chicago think this is easy!

Anyhow, Ian has now entered the unchartered territory of double and triple digit multiplication. He's not having any problem with it and dare I say, I think he might actually enjoy it (further proving that I was just the pod and he got none of my genes). Now, any of you who are around my age certainly can recall the way you were taught. This morning, Ian asked me which method of multiplication I preferred: the partial products method or the lattice method. ?HUH?!!! Neither really resemble how I learned to multiply. So, my answer for my preferred "method" is simple - the calculator!

2 comments:

scrapper al said...

Since I had no idea that there were different "methods" for multiplication, I googled the terms. Turns out there is also the Short Method and Egyption Method. Who knew?!

Jess said...

why are people always trying to re-invent the wheel? if you have a good thing going, why change it to be more than it needs to be? (*sigh*)