Evidence suggests that if my oldest were to come up with a method for multiplication it would involve: scissors, a stapler, and a stick, 5 complicated steps, 2

Evidence suggests that if my oldest were to come up with a method for multiplication it would involve: scissors, a stapler, and a stick, 5 complicated steps, 2 requests for materials from one of the parents, and it would be abandoned halfway through for some method of making a crane that involves an even bigger stick and rope. On the other hand, going through 100 lessons on reading, spelled out to the word what I was to say and do, and 9 months after starting he's reading 100 pages of books like The Way Things Work when he's supposed to be sleeping. Sometimes rote methods work _really_ well.