Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Our never-ending saga

Glad to hear that they are threatenable and hope they follow through - particularly with the 'send him to High School if needed' Good for your DS for being willing to give that one last try.
Smiles,
Grinity

I wrote a long letter to my son's private school about EM a few years ago. What bothered me most about it was/are a foundation of subtle, misleading mistakes. They turn it into a muddled curriculum.

For example, one way the kids learn "concepts of addition and subtraction" is by using a thing that looks like a calendar. They're supposed to learn that moving their finger to the right and down means "addition" and that moving it to the left and up means "subtraction." This is really just counting, not addition. I suppose the idea might make sense to adults who understand what addition is, but to a kid who has no clue what "addition" means, I can see it being confusing. And DS complained bitterly, saying, "Why can't we just ADD? It's so much EASIER!"

Plus, the numbers are laid out in rows from 1-10 (not 0-9). This layout puts the new set of tens on the line with the old set of tens. This is can lead to misconceptions about where a new set of ten starts. Plus, the calendar in my son's book left out the zero. Why no zero?

EM is also designed so that some of the problems have no right answers. Example: cut out a ruler and measure objects at home. There is no way for the teacher to know if the kids actually got the right measurements.

Don't get me started on asking second graders to cut out pictures of triangles/make collages, write about the presidents who are on coins, or write stories. None of these activities are mathematics (well, the triangles might be pre-math for pre-schoolers).

We carpooled with a girl in 5th grade; EM was even more fuzzy and muddled in her course. I remember something about dropping a flimsy ruler you cut out from the book and dropping/catching it as a way of measuring...something. The force of gravity, maybe? The appropriate experiment would have been to drop a ball from a defined height, anyway. I remember her mom complaining about that.

Obviously I've pushed an ideological button here, just by suggesting Everyday Math is not the end of the world.

Yeah, this was my issue with it, too. And the kind of stuff Val is talking about. There seemed to be a lot of blah blah blah and lalala with EDM. A lot of bibbidy bobbidy boo, ooh look, what's over here? Were we talking about addition? Never mind! Now let's talk about squares!

There's still a bit of that with DD's current curriculum, but it's seeming much more straight ahead and just....sensible. They seem to get all the way through a concept before they move on. I am really glad to be rid of EDM. I don't know--maybe it works betters for kids lacking innate number sense? DD has that in spades.

Hi, Grinity! Thank you for the welcome. Actually, I found it to be very easy. I think it's because everyone involved in the decision did their best to keep an open mind about all the possibilities and respect the views of everyone else involved in the process. Our school has a very progressive approach to education and the administration is always looking for ways things can be done better, so there really isn't much defensiveness there. An ongoing dialog with families is part of their marketing. After some of the horror stories I've read online, I'm very glad and count myself lucky!

Err...wow. We were criticizing Everyday Math, not you. People gave specific examples about what we don't like about EM. What's wrong with that, and how does it constitute flaming you?

If you disagree, feel free to present evidence supporting your opinions, but please don't make baiting accusations or use name-calling/flaming (and please don't accuse people of doing what you're actually doing).

I've spent time teaching in the classroom, am regularly invited to review education grant applications at the federal level, and have been funded myself. I do know what I'm talking about. They invite me back in part because of the kinds of criticisms I make.

No, there is a clear difference between saying, "I don't like this and here's why." and "This is stupid and I'm going to make fun of it." Before you made your post, I had stated that I had a positive personal experience with something, and the very clear tone of your post was that anyone who had anything positive to say about it was an idiot. And now you complain about turnabout.

Please avoid personal insults, and keep in mind the board rules (http://giftedissues.davidsongifted.org/BB/ubbthreads.php/ubb/boardrules/v/1.html), particularly the following. Otherwise I will be forced to close this thread.

Be polite. When you write a message, please treat other people the way you would like to be treated. We welcome comments that contribute to a discussion in a meaningful and/or thought-provoking way. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with something, please ensure that your comment adheres to the guidelines. Personal attacks are not allowed, nor are messages that threaten, are profane, are degrading or are obscene.

Stick to the topic. If you want to make a comment that will substantially change the direction of a thread, please start a new thread. You may write a comment in the old thread noting that you are starting a new one with a link. Do not �hijack� a thread.

Do not bully or insult. In any discussion, people may disagree with your opinions. This is a normal part of any discussion. If you do not agree with someone, feel free to post a thoughtful, constructive response, but do not bully or insult people.

If you are new to the forum, keep in mind that some members have been posting here for years and have been �around the block�, and can be a great source of information. You can determine how long a poster has been a member by viewing the date they registered and how frequently they post by viewing their number of posts.

If you're going to delete one of my posts please just delete all of them. I won't be back here.