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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]EDM will help your child develop true number sense and flexible thinking--what real mathematicians have.  Feel free to supplement with more traditional methods and anything that helps your child develop automaticity with math facts--EDM never says not to do this.  My child had EDM through elementary, then switched over to more 'traditional' approaches.  Never had supplementation and is soaring in math.  It's a marathon, not a sprint.  Sometimes I miss some of the exploration my child had with EDM.  Math should not just be a slog or memorizing algorithms with no sense of 'why' they work.   Let your child enjoy this time and supplement as needed.[/quote]

Why do people think that curricula like Singapore have NO "exploration"? Take a look at the books before the assumptions. Anyway, elementary math should not have too much time devoted to exploration since there is little room for that. 
Also, your child might have been better at math had a traditional curriculum been used.[/quote]

Are you kidding me?

Historically the US has not produced overwhelmingly confident and strong mathematicians from our high schools. This is because we focused so much on rote memorization and not at all on understanding the concepts behind the algorithms. Students who are exposed to inquiry-based learning in a constructivist context will construct their own knowledge and have a much deeper and authentic understanding of math.

I don't come down hard on either side  in that I do think students should also learn the algorithms. But it's a farce to pretend that the algorithms without understanding will work for everyone. That is how you get students making mistakes that are totally illogical in the context of a problem, but not having any concept of reasonableness of an answer or what they are actually doing.

See this video to see the kind of thing I am talking about: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/dan_meyer_math_curriculum_makeover.html[/quote]

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