I guess we will just agree to disagree. I do think it is important to internalize basic facts, however, each person's recall time will still be different even if they all have internalized the facts. I think this is what the OP is getting at. It's not that her kid doesn't know the facts, it sounds like he has a slower recall time.
I also think, once the basic facts are internalized and students move on to very complex concepts, speed of calculation really takes a very small percentage of the time that one uses to solve a complex problem. The kind of competition math problems that take a couple of hours to solve, if one can solve it, or the kind of math projects that takes a few years to crack, I think very little of the time is used on basic calculation. And whether a person recalls a basic fact in 0.5 seconds or 3 seconds won't make a difference.
Yes, this is what I believe as well.
http://m.theatlantic.com/education/...ut-math-that-hold-americans-back/281303/This may already have been posted here, I can't remember, but I found it last night. I was glad I read it and also thankful I took the attitude I did with ds upon seeing his progress report: that his speed grades weren't important to me and I was impressed with how hard he was working in other areas of math.
The article mentioned timed tests creating math anxiety. This is what happened to ds. He was identified in first grade for the gifted program, not because of his verbal abilities (tested at 11, his VCI was higher than PRI) but his MATH abilities. Then in second grade, timed tests were introduced and his confidence plummeted. Even if we did them at home, he would freeze. Like HK described, a deer in the headlights. Sometimes to the point he would become angry. I backed off instinctively. I'm soooo glad I did. After that, he had teachers who understood that he wasn't the fastest and he wasn't the slowest in computation, but was highly capable in the other aspects of math.
I'm just frustrated that after having spoken my joy about ds finally becoming confident in math, this teacher chose to not only give them 4 times tests, but chose to use them as grades as well--something not done before now.
