Ian (in 3rd grade!!) came home the other night and was completely lost with his math homework. He asked Jeff for help and Jeff replied with "I have no clue Ian. I've never seen those terms before." I asked Ian to show me what he had to do. Ian had a work sheet of multiplication problems that had to be done in 3 different methods; Standard, Partial Product and Lattice. I assumed correctly that Standard was how I was taught. Whew! Not a problem being able to help Ian with those. The other two (Partial and Lattice) made me just as clueless as Jeff. However, I was determined to help Ian and not let him go another day feeling lost with his school work.
Thank G-d for the Internet!! What in the world would we do without being able to google our way to some much needed help? I found two YouTube videos that demonstrated each of the ways he was supposed to do his homework. Ian and I were able to work on them together. An hour later I think we had a good handle on how to do this type of math. Notice I say "we"? We are both having to learn. I thought I was done with school!
Partial Product
Seriously, could they make this math any more confusing for kids? Having to learn 3 very different ways to do multiplication is just plain ridiculous! The kids don't know if they need to multiply, add or split up the numbers. It is insane. Can't they just pick one method and stick with it?
I am in survivor mode with Ian's homework. I just hope that whatever he needs help with can be googled to show me what do.
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