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RE: Are your kids good at math? How do you know?.....How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love Homeschool Math
I disagree, but I appreciate you commenting. I think there is room for "hard math" in those ages. You should check out my sprocket problem or kangaroo math - both examples of challenging math for early elementary.
I may have been unclear in my last section of the post where I refer to the algebra rules in preparing students for calculus.
I think the term "hard math" can vary depending on the person. We may have different views on "hard math". I view it as the theoretical and abstract type at the university level. Regardless of math level, math is a challenging and time consuming subject for many.
I did see one of your other posts where there is a question on the number of paths from one point to another. That is a good question in the sense that it promotes problem solving and not so much on memory.
Oh! I strongly suspect we have very different views on "hard math" - I think that I am in the running for "Most Frequent Math Commenter and Poster With Very Little Math Training." What is hard for me is probably not hard for most of the math-y people here. What I mean by "hard math" I should have defined better. For my kid who can mutliply two digit numbers, finding 25x25 is not hard. However, identifying a pattern of how to quickly calculate 35x35 or 24x24 etc. is "Hard Math". In my mind "hard math" is something that can't be solved with a calculator - something you need to think about and be creative to solve - no matter what basic skills you are starting with.
I've written about this elsewhere - but for anyone reading this and thinking about homeschool math - I think that Beast Academy introduces "hard" concepts at a much earlier stage and I love that.