no5no5: I like what you said about rote memorization and not really learning anything of any value. I don't want to do that to my kid. I never thought of it for addition, but I guess if one can memorize multiplication tables then the same thing can be done for any type of equation.
locounu: I like the "Punch Buggy" idea. It sounds fun. I'll have to check out that website too.
Thanks for your ideas! :-)