just posting as I remember a mammoth thread about 'modern' maths teaching methods in primary a while back and I thought it might be interesting to get a child's perspective rather than us all griping about it being different from the way we were taught
anyway .. ds (y5) has just been officially taught how to do addition using the column method (I've been sitting on my hands watching him do his homework for the last couple of years )
He 'got it' instantly, and to quote him "Why do they teach any other method when this one is soooo much easier!"