Eureka math. Is it the right way to learn math?

[Anonymous]

Our school switched from Eureka to Bridges in 2nd grade. Eureka sucked for K and 1- it had some really specific concepts and vocabulary that were hard for me to understand as an adult who has taken math through college and grad school. Maybe I had bad math professors or maybe it’s Eureka-specific jargon? I was deep into the curriculum since much of K was virtual and I was ready to set Eureka on fire by March. I may be misremembering, but in 1st grade it was lots of place value nonsense and my DD did not have sufficient grasp of math basics to tackle that by Eureka’s methods I know Eureka does a lot of non-grade level challenge stuff but it felt like every 5th problem was out of left field.

Some of the Eureka approaches are basically the same as Bridges but Bridges is less painful from a parent perspective and my DD “gets” math better now. The story problems are still rambling and stupid and I hate the multiple ways they have to “show your work”, but my DD has become way better at math.

+1 to the PP who said to learn the Eureka vocabulary. If I’d had a translator from day 1 I probably would have learned a lot alongside my DD!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:23+10
2 tens 3 ones plus 1 tens
What is 2 tens and 1 tens? 3 tens
So it’s 30.
Then add 3 ones.
30+3= 33.

You call this easy?

Or 92-20
9 tens 2 ones minus 2 tens
What is 9tens minus 2tens? 7 tens
That’s 70.
Oh don’t forget to add 2 ones to that. That’s 72!

You call this easy?

It’s easy enough that a 6 year old does it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:23+10
2 tens 3 ones plus 1 tens
What is 2 tens and 1 tens? 3 tens
So it’s 30.
Then add 3 ones.
30+3= 33.

You call this easy?

Or 92-20
9 tens 2 ones minus 2 tens
What is 9tens minus 2tens? 7 tens
That’s 70.
Oh don’t forget to add 2 ones to that. That’s 72!

You call this easy?

These kinds of responses always make me laugh. This is literally how addition works. Understanding these steps deeply it what makes you fluent enough to just answer the question without thinking about it in the future.

It's like strategies to learn new vocab words or another language. Of course you don't continue to (at least consciously) use them after you've fully ingrained them.

Think about the questions that specify the strategy to use as just that, strategy/method questions.

[Anonymous]

If it is just addition have them watch Number blocks the British tv cartoon. I think it did a great job making it “click” and seem fun for my kid.

[Anonymous]

I’ve been happy with Eureka. My kids are in 3rd and 5th now. The math strategies mostly click for them. The 5th grader just taught the 3rd grader how to find her YouTube homework helper videos when she needs them. When things get tricky for them, they grab me and I review the homework helper page that precedes each homework page. That’s how I quickly catch up on strategies so that I can help. It works for us. My kids seem to understand how math work better than I did as a kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school switched from Eureka to Bridges in 2nd grade. Eureka sucked for K and 1- it had some really specific concepts and vocabulary that were hard for me to understand as an adult who has taken math through college and grad school. Maybe I had bad math professors or maybe it’s Eureka-specific jargon? I was deep into the curriculum since much of K was virtual and I was ready to set Eureka on fire by March. I may be misremembering, but in 1st grade it was lots of place value nonsense and my DD did not have sufficient grasp of math basics to tackle that by Eureka’s methods I know Eureka does a lot of non-grade level challenge stuff but it felt like every 5th problem was out of left field.

Some of the Eureka approaches are basically the same as Bridges but Bridges is less painful from a parent perspective and my DD “gets” math better now. The story problems are still rambling and stupid and I hate the multiple ways they have to “show your work”, but my DD has become way better at math.

+1 to the PP who said to learn the Eureka vocabulary. If I’d had a translator from day 1 I probably would have learned a lot alongside my DD!

Can you explain the difficulty in more detail? Place value isn't nonsense; it's the core of how numbers work.

It's OK to not understand everything. Math spirals and repeats a lot every year to build foundations. If every problem in the book were easy for everyone, then everyone would be learning less than they could!

Especially in K-2, where unfortunately everyone is taking the same material, even though in 10 years you'll have some kids in Multivariablre Calculus and some kids in Algebra 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:23+10
2 tens 3 ones plus 1 tens
What is 2 tens and 1 tens? 3 tens
So it’s 30.
Then add 3 ones.
30+3= 33.

You call this easy?

Or 92-20
9 tens 2 ones minus 2 tens
What is 9tens minus 2tens? 7 tens
That’s 70.
Oh don’t forget to add 2 ones to that. That’s 72!

You call this easy?

These kinds of responses always make me laugh. This is literally how addition works. Understanding these steps deeply it what makes you fluent enough to just answer the question without thinking about it in the future.

It's like strategies to learn new vocab words or another language. Of course you don't continue to (at least consciously) use them after you've fully ingrained them.

Think about the questions that specify the strategy to use as just that, strategy/method questions.

I just want to learn to do it how a calculator does it, but with a far higher error rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school switched from Eureka to Bridges in 2nd grade. Eureka sucked for K and 1- it had some really specific concepts and vocabulary that were hard for me to understand as an adult who has taken math through college and grad school. Maybe I had bad math professors or maybe it’s Eureka-specific jargon? I was deep into the curriculum since much of K was virtual and I was ready to set Eureka on fire by March. I may be misremembering, but in 1st grade it was lots of place value nonsense and my DD did not have sufficient grasp of math basics to tackle that by Eureka’s methods I know Eureka does a lot of non-grade level challenge stuff but it felt like every 5th problem was out of left field.

Some of the Eureka approaches are basically the same as Bridges but Bridges is less painful from a parent perspective and my DD “gets” math better now. The story problems are still rambling and stupid and I hate the multiple ways they have to “show your work”, but my DD has become way better at math.

+1 to the PP who said to learn the Eureka vocabulary. If I’d had a translator from day 1 I probably would have learned a lot alongside my DD!

Can you explain the difficulty in more detail? Place value isn't nonsense; it's the core of how numbers work.

It's OK to not understand everything. Math spirals and repeats a lot every year to build foundations. If every problem in the book were easy for everyone, then everyone would be learning less than they could!

Especially in K-2, where unfortunately everyone is taking the same material, even though in 10 years you'll have some kids in Multivariablre Calculus and some kids in Algebra 1.

My kids went through Eureka in elementary, and now are in very advanced math programs in secondary school. They both felt that Eureka was very helpful, and I can see myself that they understood numbers in a way that I didn't at their age. One of the best things about Eureka for me was that I finally "got" math once I went through the lessons with them. Now I myself feel more confident in the subject!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school switched from Eureka to Bridges in 2nd grade. Eureka sucked for K and 1- it had some really specific concepts and vocabulary that were hard for me to understand as an adult who has taken math through college and grad school. Maybe I had bad math professors or maybe it’s Eureka-specific jargon? I was deep into the curriculum since much of K was virtual and I was ready to set Eureka on fire by March. I may be misremembering, but in 1st grade it was lots of place value nonsense and my DD did not have sufficient grasp of math basics to tackle that by Eureka’s methods I know Eureka does a lot of non-grade level challenge stuff but it felt like every 5th problem was out of left field.

Some of the Eureka approaches are basically the same as Bridges but Bridges is less painful from a parent perspective and my DD “gets” math better now. The story problems are still rambling and stupid and I hate the multiple ways they have to “show your work”, but my DD has become way better at math.

+1 to the PP who said to learn the Eureka vocabulary. If I’d had a translator from day 1 I probably would have learned a lot alongside my DD!

Can you explain the difficulty in more detail? Place value isn't nonsense; it's the core of how numbers work.

It's OK to not understand everything. Math spirals and repeats a lot every year to build foundations. If every problem in the book were easy for everyone, then everyone would be learning less than they could!

Especially in K-2, where unfortunately everyone is taking the same material, even though in 10 years you'll have some kids in Multivariablre Calculus and some kids in Algebra 1.

My kids went through Eureka in elementary, and now are in very advanced math programs in secondary school. They both felt that Eureka was very helpful, and I can see myself that they understood numbers in a way that I didn't at their age. One of the best things about Eureka for me was that I finally "got" math once I went through the lessons with them. Now I myself feel more confident in the subject!

Completely agree. My kids find Eureka slow and boring, but like a PP said, it seems like there's a lot of repetition to build foundations. I was a kid that breezed through elementary and advanced middle school math, but then hit a wall with advanced high school math. I could memorize easily, but didn't have a good foundation understand math when it got too difficult. I think there are always some kids that naturally "get" math and don't need explicit instruction (like phonics instruction for reading), but others that could do better in advanced math with more explicit foundational knowledge. Not sure if Eureka is the best way to teach that, and definitely has significant weaknesses for the significant number of kids that struggle with the Eureka methods, but it's definitely better than how we were taught in the 80-90s.

And I don't think Eureka methods are completely novel. I remember my mother trying to teach me little math tricks as a kid, and being surprised I wasn't learning them in school like she did in the 60s. Looking at what my elementary kids are doing now, I see the similarities between what my mom called her tricks and the Eureka methods. I think I would have been a better math student if I had gone through Eureka, but maybe that's just wishful thinking. But because there are so many kids that struggle with it and so many others that find it slow and repetitive, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it falls out of favor in the future, but I hope it's replaced with a better system for teaching the foundations and conceptual understanding, and not just a return to memorization.

[Anonymous]

Why didn’t she like RSM? You can try mathnasium. They also help with HW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why didn’t she like RSM? You can try mathnasium. They also help with HW.

She wasnt doing well there. All other kids were super advanced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why didn’t she like RSM? You can try mathnasium. They also help with HW.

She wasnt doing well there. All other kids were super advanced.

There are three levels of math classes at RSM, she could switch levels if she needed to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD's second grade teacher recommended getting on Youtube to watch the videos. I find the initial instruction page prior to each module helpful.

The other day, my DD spent a fair amount of time doing a simple problem 87-9 - giving me her strategies, drawing arrows, breaking things down, etc. It was like watching paint dry. I just used my fingers and was done in a few seconds.

If you or your child is getting stressed then I would get a tutor. I bet you could even find a high schooler who has been through this math and just has the patience for it.

Those kind of problems are the worst, having to borrow to subtract. Most kids this age find subtracting much harder than addition. Maybe a board game or computer game would help

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD's second grade teacher recommended getting on Youtube to watch the videos. I find the initial instruction page prior to each module helpful.

The other day, my DD spent a fair amount of time doing a simple problem 87-9 - giving me her strategies, drawing arrows, breaking things down, etc. It was like watching paint dry. I just used my fingers and was done in a few seconds.

If you or your child is getting stressed then I would get a tutor. I bet you could even find a high schooler who has been through this math and just has the patience for it.

Those kind of problems are the worst, having to borrow to subtract. Most kids this age find subtracting much harder than addition. Maybe a board game or computer game would help

I don’t know how Eureka approaches these problems, but in my experience, money is an excellent way to approach these. Eighty seven is eight dimes and seven pennies. Since you can’t take 9 cents from 7, you can exchange 1 dime for 10 pennies because they’re equal. Now you have 7 dimes and (17-9=8) pennies for a total of 78 cents. If necessary, start them off on a 10x10 numbered grid that they can lay the coins on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:23+10
2 tens 3 ones plus 1 tens
What is 2 tens and 1 tens? 3 tens
So it’s 30.
Then add 3 ones.
30+3= 33.

You call this easy?

Or 92-20
9 tens 2 ones minus 2 tens
What is 9tens minus 2tens? 7 tens
That’s 70.
Oh don’t forget to add 2 ones to that. That’s 72!

You call this easy?

It’s easy enough that a 6 year old does it.

I’m a Montessori teacher there are 4 year olds who do this. Get a set of base 10 blocks and do it with the blocks. Soooo much easier if your kid is having a problem with that.