<p>I agree Marian. It’s so important to build a strong foundation in any subject and in my experience the biggest culprit to this in the younger grades is the constant tinkering and changing of the math curriculum. I would think if the parent isn’t aware of what is going on with their child in the classroom-both with how they are performing but more importantly-what they are being taught-the child could easily fall through the cracks.</p>
<p>Our district teaches what they call “Investigations”. It’s no wonder in my opinion with that background kids are struggling. I drilled those tables into the kids and calculator use was not allowed at home while they were learning these basic concepts. I see the same thing now with my 8th grader-she gets wonderful grades in Algebra 1 but she doesn’t understand the material-which is why my son, our live-in tutor-has been working with her and told her if she doesn’t get this now she will struggle later-he doesn’t care what the grade is she is getting now. </p>
<p>Same thing with language too-not enough attention to the boring basics-but that’s for another thread.</p>