Thanks for the welcome, and I agree with all your comments, both on Math Makes Sense and on this being a great group. I have enjoyed lurking and learning from others' wisdom. Fortunately, we generally have a good situation for our kids at this point, although it took a while to get here.

I'll take the blame for mangling Suzy's recipe, but I do agree with Cookie... who makes one cup of punch per guest? Just another thing that's wrong with those books.

CoastalMom, this is indeed "discovery math"... I want to rant some more, but I'll save that for another day when I have more time. However, to bolster your argument regarding Math Makes Sense, here are a few links that I found a month or so ago:

See pages 10-13 which refer specifically to these books:
http://cms.math.ca/notes/v44/n5/Notesv44n5.pdf

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Math+made+simple/9414251/story.html

This petition, which I have signed:
http://www.change.org/p/honourable-...dation-in-arithmetic-and-problem-solving

Good luck, and give my regards to 299!