We started school yesterday.  Yes, I know, some of you just got into your vacation, but there is nothing to do around here in the heat, so we start school in the summer and break in the spring, when the temps are nice.  Anyway, school started just the way we all expected it to, with one of my girls (can't tell you which one -- she would be mortified) throwing a big fat hissy over her math.  This has gone on daily on school days for the past two years, and I got to the point where I told her to leave all the division problems for "later", which, of course, never came. Finally I almost decided it wasn't really important whether she could divide with two- and three-digit divisors, as long as she know how to use a calculator.  Right?  Uh, well, that didn't totally sit right with me, but it was really tempting.

I began to look for an alternate method to doing long division, and behold double division, also called 1-2-4-8 division!  I told Daughter to forget everything she has ever learned (or not learned) about division. We sat together at the computer and deciphered the new method. This is an interactive site, and you can either follow the steps for the problem they give, or else enter your own numbers into the division problem in the sample, and then repeatedly click on "next step" until you get it. After about two problems a reluctant smile began to crack my daughter's face.  Then, "Let me do it myself, Mom," and soon after that, "This is fun!"  In the last 24 hours she has done three days' math assignments with joy and confidence.

I wanted to post math "before" and "after" pictures.  The "after" photo is easy, but I can't get her to stage a fit for the camera for the "before" pic!

UPDATE:
For those of you who have come to this page from www.doubledivision.org, I posted the following entry at a later date:

Long division problems, anyone?

My Weblink Wednesday site for you is doubledivision.org. I mentioned this site in an earlier post, but it was so helpful to my daughter, I want to be sure you didn't miss it! For those others of you who have two- and three-digit division "problems", I am sure you will find a "solution" here also. Large division problems require estimation (sometimes just plain guessing), and lots of frustrating trial and error. Double division, however, eliminates the guess work, and has resulted in nearly 100% correct answers and a much happier and confident math student in my house.

The site is interactive.  You can click repeatedly on "next step" to see how the sample division problem is solved, or else you can plug in your own numbers and see, step by step, how to work your problem using double division.

One of the criticisms in the comments at this website is that the double division method only uses subraction and multiplication by 2, and that it does not reinforce the higher multiplication facts.  (What will the poor child do when it comes time to divide polynomials??  That is no concern to me.  How many polynomials do you divide each day??) Don't your children continue to practice the upper multiplication problems in their daily assignments, anyway? My daughter will learn to do long division the normal way when she is ready.  As a matter of fact, she is beginning to try a few of those "IMPOSSIBLE" problems on her own now! Ah, another one of the beauties of homeschooling, letting them wait to learn a concept when they confident that they can do it.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I don't know if anyone ever reads this page, but I just want to let you all know that the anti-division daughter can now do any division problem on her own, the old-fashioned way.  The previously hated subject, MATH, is now her favorite.   As a matter of fact, her very favorite math activity is DIVISION.  It is because of double-division that this is possible.  I am so very thankful for the confidence that this new method gave her!