@ZachWeinersmith we could remember 9 didgit numbers that we can't today, up to you but fundamentals are important to start with.

@ZachWeinersmith time to get a slide rule, or even a curtis math grenade.

@ZachWeinersmith no, we wouldn’t. But that’s not why you do them. It’s about learning the algorithm.

@ZachWeinersmith I'm not able to discuss your question, so I'm sorry for this next bit: If I had a dollar for every thing I learned at school I wouldn't ever do as an adult by hand, I'd have retired at 30.

The purpose of these is to train the kids mathematical muscle. Like doing a zillion derivatives in high school.

@ZachWeinersmith It’s important to experience doing the calculations yourself so you have an understanding of how it works and what it means. When you move on to more advanced math in which this is just a step in the process, it is fine to automate that step.

@ZachWeinersmith Is the point of the problem the long division, or is the long division a step to something else? If the former, no calculator, otherwise what's the point? If it's the latter and it's a means to an end (calculating an integral or whathaveyou) then sure.

Frankly I wish I had had more practice doing long division in my head. I did much more multiplication and find it easier.

@ZachWeinersmith Is she doing long division?

I would say, she should do at least some of the math by hand, but maybe not all of it.

(I grew up homeschooled)

@ZachWeinersmith As people have mentioned, I suspect that the point is to learn the process.

@ZachWeinersmith fun fact: my grade school teacher loved giving lots and lots of boring arithmetic as homework, but she would accept a printout of the exercise, if paired with a printout of the program used to generate it.

And that is the story of how I learned C at the tender age of 8, since circumstances required it.

@ZachWeinersmith I think at 9 she should be doing the divisions by hand… but it is also a good idea to try to imagine factors for the division, so that she can develop a feeling for the order of magnitude of the answer (as suggested by others).

Also, at a later point she can find out that dividing by 25 is the same as dividing by 100 and multiplying by 4… both much easier operations than dividing by hand by 25, or twice by 5 (which is dividing by 10 and multiplying by two 😉).

@ZachWeinersmith

Not Saturday, but did just finish my Chex. I am neither of those but it seems to me that there is a difference between the concepts and the mechanics, the latter being where the calculator comes in. ~50 y/a, my parents swore I wouldn't always have a calculator in my pocket but ignore that.

Calculators aside, like times tables, there are probably a bunch of divisions anyone should be able to do in their head.

Good luck!

@ZachWeinersmith i would let her control her hand divisions with the calculator. Maybe add gamification in the sense of “if you do part 1 error free in x minutes, then you may use calculator on the first calculation of the next part” etc.

I second whoever suggested estimates: correct use of calculator includes expecting the right order of magnitude.

@ZachWeinersmith Teaching manual algorithms like long discussion is a useful way to teach mathematical thinking, even if you don’t do it in real life anymore. The exercise has intrinsic value.

Once you move on to higher concepts, though, there’s no need to force kids to do division, addition, etc. by hand. As a classroom teacher, though, I might give extra credit if they can show how to do it by hand IN ADDITION TO solving a word problem.