The kid's school uses Saxon Math. Part of the Saxon method is to teach the kids how to do math quickly and in their head. For example to add 4 + 9 they teach kids to add 4 + 10 and then subtract 1. Or if you have 6 + 7, you can add 6 + 6 and then add one. So far I haven't had to help the boy with is math much. He just fills out his fact sheets, I check them, and then he turns them in. But today he came home with his first set of flash cards.
I held up 7 + 9.
"Mom it is easier to add 10 + 7 and then subtract 1. So the answer is 16."
Perfect! I held up 8 + 9.
"Hmm. I could add 10 + 8 and then subtract 1. . . . Or I could do 8 + 8 and then add 1 and I could do 9 + 9 and subtract 1. What if I add 9 + 10 and subtract 2! Huh, you know I could also just add 7 + 10 and thats all. . . . I don't know. I think I'll just have to use my fingers."
4 comments:
That is AWESOME! What a great brain that kid has. Of course, I suppose you can over-think some things, but that was wonderful! I wonder if he could teach all of that to Duncan (minus the fingers thing--Duncan has that down already).
He sure is good at thinking things through . That will serve him well wont it? Too bad kids don't think everything through that well or we would all happier parents wouldn't we?
Yeah, that system seems way harder to me than just doing the actual math.
Is this what happens when you have Snow, listen to Beavers, and add and subtract with a Mickey?
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