Reply to anyone else have a 4th grader in MCPS who can't quickly rattle off multiplication facts?

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Reply to "anyone else have a 4th grader in MCPS who can't quickly rattle off multiplication facts?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote] My kid can't do it as fast as I could as a kid, and his teacher reports that a number of kids are still struggling with this. [b]I'm convinced it's because the new curriculum really didn't teach the basic facts the way we all learned them way back when.[/b] I remember doing math races/flashcard competitions every day when I was a kid at the end of each math class (catholic school --- sink or swim, that sort of competition was encouraged). My kid does well in school (not gifted, but straight Ps, FWIW), and he can figure out the answer within a few seconds by adding/counting --- but he can't rattle off SOME of the multiplication facts the way most of us could within a split second.

Just curious if anyone else has a kid in a similar boat --- or if it's just our school (which is not a Title 1 school by any stretch of the imagination).[/quote]

We have never depended on the MCPS math curriculum or math teachers (it and they are inadequate).  I taught all 3 of my children their multiple times tables before they entered Kindergarten (age 5).  I figured if my Dad and Mom taught me (and 4 other sibs) this in the late 1950s;  it's the least I can do for my children.  It took about 4 months on average for each of them on the 5 min drive in the morning to their kindergarten class.  We made a fun game learning the tables forwards and backwards (in reverse) and skipping by 2s, 3s, 7s... forwards and backwards.

Best investment of 5 min in the morning ever.

Lesson 1:  If you depend on the MCPS elementary school curriculum and teachers, alone, to teach your children basic mathematics you may be disappointed.  We did not let this happen from day 1 with any of our children.
   
 
[/quote]

You sound like fun.

I bet all your kids' pals hang at your house after school and on weekends.

What's next?  state capitals?[/quote]

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