Gosh, it's not hard to do both. With my nephew, who is now 10, I
   dealt with math in this way. Do it your way, and ALSO do it
   'their' way. With creativity, you can be yourself while ALSO
   paying homage to 'the system' because it's practical. You don't
   have to create a "true believer" of The System for kids to
   function in it.