Inky, Thanks from me too. I have been wondering about this. In the real world does it matter whether my child can spit out that 4x7=28 in 2 seconds versus 20 seconds? I doubt that it would anywhere except in a timed testing situation. Accuracy with reasonable speed seems sufficient in most real life situations.
As I've watched DD10's progression on timed tests, I think is was 100 problems in 5 minutes in 3rd grade, then 2 minutes in 4th grade last year. It seems like there is a point of diminishing returns for how much time they waste on this kind of stuff and how much stress it can induce. Now we are starting the process with DD8. I'm having a hard time mustering any kind of enthusiasm for going over math facts.
