How is subtraction taught in grade school these days?

[Mellow Yellow]

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[LucaPacioli1492]

My grandson was struggling in the third grade and I discovered he was taught to go from left to right and to cross out numbers as he went. I found this very cumbersome and inefficient compared to the right-to-left way I learned years ago which involves only carrying "ones" when necessary.

Do present teachers of math actually know the subject or just learn protocols for teaching it by whatever method happens to be fashionable? No wonder Finnish students are 'way ahead of ours.

[Amy D]

I have heard of some people diong the left to right thing, but luckily my school still does right to left and the "borrowing" but now it is called regrouping.

If you are teaching him right to left, here is a cute rhyme that will help him remember whether or not he has to "borrow"

Look at the numbers in the collumn and say "more on the top, no need to stop (just subtract). More on the floor, go next door and get ten more (borrow). Number's the same, zero's the game(answer is zero). Hope that's easy to understand over the computer!

[Ruby V]

I know my sister is learning from right to left and her teacher tells her to carry or borrow the numbers.