Have a Calculator Handy When Doing Long Division

Not to skip the work, but to check your results

Long division problems are among the most boring, detail oriented, time-consuming problems math has to offer.
I agree that 7th graders should know how to perform long division by hand, without a calculator. In my opinion, even 4th graders could be required to perform long division accurately.
However, some teachers go into overkill mode when assigning long division homework. They throw in too many digits into the calculations and too many problems into the assignment. I find this practice counterproductive when it comes to long division. There is a fine line between drill and overkill.
When students face such a heavy workload, such a long time doing these boring, exacting, fine detail, uninteresting drill problems, row after row, it does not take very long before many people start hating math with a passion, I tell you.
Once you have satisfied yourself that you understand the procedure, that you know how to do it, that you can actually do it and you can really do it well, what is the point of keeping at it beyond that? People are not machines.
Some students lack the attention span required to accurately divide a seven-digit number by a six-digit number. Much less doing ten of these calculations in a row. For them, this type of homework is an exercise in discipline and endurance, not in math or understanding. It is not their intelligence that is at play or in question, but their ability to submit to an arid, boring, meaningless routine.
At some point they start speeding up, they stop paying attention, and they start making mistakes.
If you find your child or yourself in this situation, I strongly recommend using a calculator. Not to skip the work altogether, but to check your result and make sure whether or not you made a mistake. Long division problems are exactly the kind of problems calculators are for.
If you are not 100% sure, beyond any doubt, that your division work is absolutely correct, then the calculator is almost the only way to find out if there are any mistakes there.
I say it is valid to use a calculator to check your long division answers.