I believe our children deserve a fair chance, and I believe that children learn differently. My son is one of those children. He is 12 with a high level of intelligence and he is an outside thinker. He gets math the conventional way and also in his own way. My son can do math problems in his head. However, he seems to have a problem learning the common core. Common core math pigeon holes children into one way of thinking and doing. My son can get the correct answer, but is marked wrong because he didn't solve it the common core way. I've talked to many parents whose children are having a difficult time, but would otherwise have great grades. They, the students and parents, are frustrated. My son was a B+ A- student, he no longer is passing. He can take a standardized test and test above average. Does this seem right? I think common core could be good when it starts from the beginning of the child's education. However, it's not very easily transferred to students whose foundation began with traditional math, or for those who think differently. Let's keep common core for the children entering their school years and allow those already in progress to continue the path they started. This will also give teachers more time to learn and develop their common core skills. Many of the teachers are novices and frustrated themselves, and they don't have time to spend with every student. Schools always encourage parents to get involved with their children's education, but at this stage many of us parents cannot, as we were not trained the common core way. I'm an educated woman, I've taken trigonometry, pre calculus and statistics, yet it's difficult to explain and teach something so unfamiliar. If you understand, please sign this petition to tell the US Department of Education and California Department of Education, this is not the way. Many of our children who were ahead are now falling behind, which is the opposite of what they want to accomplish.