I still have a 5th grader who has been doing common core math for the last couple years. I’m a former home-schooler, math/test prep tutor, and have taught Algebra in the classroom. What I don’t like about this method at the lower levels is that more practice (drill) has been replaced with fewer problems and sentences/paragraphs of explaining how the problem was solved. Kids need to develop speed and accuracy in basic arithmetic. They can’t do this when there are only 5 problems per page instead of 30+. At the elementary level, getting the right answer is usually proof enough that the kid knew how to solve the problem. One of the biggest issues I’ve seen with Algebra students is that they don’t know their times tables, can’t do basic addition/subtraction without a calculator. Students shouldn’t have to think about these simple operations. They should be automatic. The only way to memorize this stuff is through more practice. Now we’ve gone from less drill in the early years to even LESS drill. A mistake, IMO. One more gripe–some of the problems are badly written/textbooks poorly edited that students/parents can’t tell what the problems are asking. Another issue is that many elementary school teachers are not good at math. Sometimes they can barely explain the lesson/get it wrong themselves.