My daughter completed two years of the Everyday Math program at her school and it was awful! The program is too big picture. Skips concepts or does not require a "mastery" of a concept becuase it is taught again several chapters on or at the next level. For example students are introduced to geometry in second grade and asked to do basic calcualations but no instruction on what those calcualtions mean or why one would want to find the area of a circle until the next year or twos level.
Yes speaking and understanding mathematically is crucial, but so is understanding how to do the procedures. In my opinion an excellent math program should incorporate both the importance of procedure as well as the global understanding of math.
