re: (Not Common Core)-- Why are they teaching math this way?

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When you do it with small numbers as examples it seems unnecessarily complicated but it does work. Many of us have been doing it this way for years without ever having been formally instructed in it.

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Exactly. But in real life, 90% of math is the small numbers that kids need to memorize to function. They need to memorize more than double facts, 5, 10s etc...

I have no problem with the introduction of the critical thinking pieces earlier than historical (basic pre-algebra concepts), but it needs to be balanced.