This is definitely not limited to the USA - here in South Africa there is a definite copy of the trend there.
I hated maths in high school and have therefore determined to NOT squash my boys' natural affinity for numeracy. I go out of my way to enthuse them and give them the opportunities to keep them engaged in maths. Right now we use Dreambox and Soroban (Japanese abacus) classes. I have recently discovered Life of Fred and am totally in love with them (I am a literary type person so they appeal well!)
I remember when Aiden was 3 and then 4 and in pre school (gifted school - only one in the country!) and he asked about negative numbers (aged 3) and was told he was too young to worry about that now, and then when asking to learn multiplication facts (age 4) was told that counting in 1's is the 1 times table. yes i kid you not.
Suffice it to say, we homeschool now and my boys are flourishing!
Maths (all learning really) should be freely available to any child (person) who wants it when they want it in a way that makes sense to them to understand what they are trying to figure out.
