Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for August 26, 2013

I think I lost the thread somewhere: why is an adult woman having to remember her multiplication table?

Where did Holly learn such colorful language?

Oh and I was wondering why does she have to use flash cards… to know the answer herself, of course! Now when I was training my kids in multiplication, I used that nice site with lots of multiplication games… less time to waste on it. ;)

Rerun!!

If I used that kind of language to MY grandmother when I was Holly’s age, I’d still be in the hospital…

The answers are on the back

Plus my mouth would have tasted like ‘Ivory’ soap for a month, if I was lucky and that doesn’t include what would have happened when my parents found out.

I have doing the multiplication flashcard thing with my grandson most of the summer plus he had other math pages to do every day and some spelling, got to keep the brain working some how.

It’s normal for my kids to do math during the summer break (they already read a lot). Make things normal and there won’t be as much struggle and complaining.

Isn’t Holly in middle school? Flash cards are a second grade thing, aren’t they?

1. I had a friend in college who earned a doctorate in his field, co-authored a book, and became an authority in his field of preschool education. He made good grades in school, but did not know his multiplication tables. He got by somehow by adding things (this was before calculators).2. I wasn’t the greatest whiz-kid on learning my tables, either. In Pittsburgh, we were supposed to learn them in the third grade. I spent a semester in PA, then about a month in third grade in NC, then landed in FL in time to finish the year. Thank goodness (for me) that Florida was a year behind and I was able to learn them pretty well in fourth grade. While In NC, my mom would be drilling me on the tables, and she’d catch my granny standing behind her, holding up fingers to show me the answers. Thanks a lot, Granny!

I went back to college in my 30’s and my first class was business math. I wondered how I could compete with these kids fresh out of high school. I got the highest grade in the class. I didn’t worry about any future classes after that.

No, Holly. Get it right: It’s August and you are doing  @*%#  flashcards.

LOL! Holly’s using bad words!

When I went to City College (Junior College to some of you), I had to take a math class for education classes and we had to learn new math that was just being introduced.

Holly would be done with the studying quicker if she just gave the answer without the bad language. Then she could go do something fun.

i’m a teacher and i know they start multiplication long before middle school…around 3rd or fourth grade. No wonder Holly is bored. Evie should be doing this with Alix.

Yes indeed rekam, the old “new” math. A disaster from the word go. Fortunately we seem to have gotten past that era.

Holly should have known her multiplication tables a LONG time ago!

You actually scared me there for a second. I had to google to confirm that MRI’s themselves are painless (fortunately, I haven’t needed one so far, so didn’t know from firsthand experience). Unless you meant ignoring the pain of whatever ailment has forced you to get an MRI in the first place?