Saturday, January 19, 2008

3rd Grade Math


My sweet little ( or not so little) 8 year old boy has been home from school all week. It started with a terrible stomach bug, then seemed to linger with just a yucky feeling. I would send him to school and with in one hour they would send him home. Now on Friday his teacher sent him home with a weeks work of school work. No problem for 2 well adjusted adults who have actually held down meaningful jobs, right.

WRONG

Have you seen what they have these LITTLE KIDS doing. I emphasized the little kids part because they are just little kids. I think the worst part was the math. Let's start with the fact that the work book is not just labeled " Math Work Book". No, no, no, it is " Everyday Mathematics The University of Chicago School Mathematics Project Student Math Journal". What the heck sort of title is that.

Now, for those of you not blessed with a third grader with this particular book it is terrible. I had to actually call another 3rd grader to come over and explain it to us. Yes, that is right I was incapable of doing the work. Mind you I am not a math midget. I may not have made the grade in school, but I can do our taxes. I would think if one can take on the IRS then they could do 3rd grade math. I will say I plan on talking to the teacher. If I can't understand it then how can the kids !

I have now spoken to other parents and they are all alarmed at the chaos contained in the book, and all of their children's math grades have dropped also. Oh, wait did I mention that my kiddo's report card was in the stack of work and his math grade had fallen from almost and A to just passing. All this from a student who's favorite subject used to be math. Now I have a feeling that math may be behind his long recovery.

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