[email protected]

<<-Wesley is very good at math and he likes it a lot. My concern is that he
has learned to add in an unusual way. Instead of adding from the right and
carrying the numbers, he adds from the left. He gets the answers right, but
I feel compelled to show him another way. He is learning to multiply now and
you must work from the right when you multiply or the answer doesn't come out
right. I am open to suggestions and ideas.>>

Just thought I'd add my two cents worth--my daughter, Mary, loves math. Like
Wesley, she added left to right--drove me crazy!!!! When she first showed me
her "method," I praised her and offered to show her "another" way (in my
mind, of course, the *right* way). She informed me that she knew the *right*
way to do it, but adding left to right made more sense. I didn't say much
b/c she ALWAYS got the right answer, even adding large columns of numbers.
Go figure.

Anyway, I recently purchased a book entitled "Math Magic" by Scott Flansburg
(a/k/a "The Human Calculator") since she loves to mess around with numbers.
Imagine my surprise when I started reading about how he adds left to right:
"When students first learn to add, they start with ones. Maybe that's why in
school we learn to add larger numbers right to left--from ones to tens to
hundreds--instead of the more logical way, from left to right--from the
biggest digits to the smallest ones. But the way you learned to calculate in
the second grade is not the only way, or even the best way, to add and
subtract." My daughter's response? "See--I told you so." <sigh>

[email protected]

Thanks for sharing that story. It gives me a lot of hope and calms what I
have discovered as my own math anxiety in action on my son. I will continue
my faith in his ability as scary as this is. I mean he learned to walk
without a workbook or an instructional video! Amazing!
Naticia

In a message dated 6/6/99 11:18:01 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
Jules27278@... writes:

<< From: Jules27278@...

<<-Wesley is very good at math and he likes it a lot. My concern is that he
has learned to add in an unusual way. Instead of adding from the right and
carrying the numbers, he adds from the left. He gets the answers right, but
I feel compelled to show him another way. He is learning to multiply now
and
you must work from the right when you multiply or the answer doesn't come
out
right. I am open to suggestions and ideas.>>

Just thought I'd add my two cents worth--my daughter, Mary, loves math.
Like
Wesley, she added left to right--drove me crazy!!!! When she first showed
me
her "method," I praised her and offered to show her "another" way (in my
mind, of course, the *right* way). She informed me that she knew the
*right*
way to do it, but adding left to right made more sense. I didn't say much
b/c she ALWAYS got the right answer, even adding large columns of numbers.
Go figure.

Anyway, I recently purchased a book entitled "Math Magic" by Scott Flansburg
(a/k/a "The Human Calculator") since she loves to mess around with numbers.
Imagine my surprise when I started reading about how he adds left to right:
"When students first learn to add, they start with ones. Maybe that's why
in
school we learn to add larger numbers right to left--from ones to tens to
hundreds--instead of the more logical way, from left to right--from the
biggest digits to the smallest ones. But the way you learned to calculate
in
the second grade is not the only way, or even the best way, to add and
subtract." My daughter's response? "See--I told you so." <sigh>
>>