If you asked your 7 year old to take away 6 from 60 in their head......

[Pendulum]

Would you expect them to get the right answer??

I was doing 6 times tables on the way to school with DD. She was stuck on 9 x 6- so I said, well you know 10 x 6 is 60, so just take away 6. Count backwards if you like.

Long pause, then.....

"13". Worst thing is, it wasn't a blind guess- some process of deduction had been applied!

I am a bit suspicious of her school's maths teaching already (I am drilling her on tables because they don't seem to be teaching them this term), but would you say this is particularly poor?

I was assuming that you only teach them by rote once they understand what they are!

Saracen that's a really interesting point, I will explore it further with her.

I asked he the same question this morning and she got to 54 no problem- so either she was less distracted or she had learned something!