I think both things have value, though. Finding the correct answers in creative ways is awesome, of course, and should be encouraged. But it's also good to lear

I think both things have value, though. Finding the correct answers in creative ways is awesome, of course, and should be encouraged. But it's also good to learn the specific approaches to finding answers that they are specifically teaching. It's just two different things, which are both valuable. For instance, my daughter (kindergarten) has been learning how to do addition and subtraction by "finding tens" and also with fives, and also / relatedly by thinking about hops on a number line, and combining them in different ways. And if she gets the right answer, but without using the technique being taught at that time, then she is redirected back to the intended technique. And I think that makes sense, when teaching a particular technique! I often hear people complain about this style of answering arithmetic questions - "what's wrong with adding up columns and carrying tens?" - and I think they should learn that algorithm too, but I think it's valuable to learn multiple techniques, the techniques themselves that is, in addition to just being able to get the right answers in whatever way you choose.