new math

 
My daughter, Merry Jennifer, recently commented on Facebook that Oliver refuses to open his birthday presents.  Oliver told his mother he would do it when he was ready!  Therefore, I was ecstatic when Oliver began tearing into his 5th birthday present at our home today.  We bought Oliver the "Swimming Pool" Playmobil.  Merry Jennifer had to assemble umpteen tiny pieces of the Playmobil during the first half of the Florida/LSU televised football game; but in the end, Oliver sent his tiny little figurines flying down the water slide.  And ten minutes later, he promptly picked up all the pieces and stuffed them in the box.  Oliver was done! And that was that! 

 
Truett and I always give Madeline a present on Oliver's birthday because that was the day she gave up being an only child for something greater . . . being a big sister.  And she's a great one at that!

Merry Jennifer cooked lasagna for Truett and Mom and me and we struggled through our beloved Florida Gator football game against LSU.  But, even though the Gators didn't win the game, it was still a wonderful afternoon.

 
But here's the best part. 

I asked Maddie if she had done all of her homework and she said, "No.  It's still in my bookbag in the car."  Well, I'd have no part of that, so Merry Jennifer fetched Maddie's bookbag filled with second grade homework assignments. 

And I felt at home again.

Madeline alphabatized her fifteen spelling words perfectly.  Then she wrote ten sentences, mostly using her spelling words and ultimately followed the directions by circling all the nouns in the sentences.  "A teachable moment!" I thought. 

"Maddie, 'it' will always be a noun because it is a thing even though we don't know specifically what 'it' is.  Just remember that."

 
But here is where I was blown away.  The New Math!

I can't tell you the number of times during my teaching career that The New Math came about.  I was used to memorizing addition and subtraction facts.  Why not?  That was easy!

Anyway, tonight Madeline asked me how old Granddaddy was and I answered, "Seventy-five."  Then she asked, "Nana, how old are you?" 

And I answered, " Sixty-eight."

Of course Oliver, a newbie of five years old said, "So are you older than Granddaddy?"  I told him that I was not and that Granddaddy was older than me. 

And that's when New Math came into play.

 
Madeline said,  "Oh, so Grandaddy is one ten and five ones older than you."

"What did she just say?" my mind questioned.  And I began counting on my fingers to try to make sense of her answer.  

"What?" I asked of my seven-year old granddaughter.  And she said it again. "Granddaddy is one ten and five ones older than you." 

Now folks, I learned math by memorizing addition and subtraction facts and that was EASY; but now I am being made to think differently in order to come up with a simple addition or subtraction answer in order to communicate with my seven year-old granddaughter. God only knows how the elderly or illiterate feel about this educational stance.

But that is neither here or there.   Our young children are learning to think about math differently than we did.  (Shhhh! I'm not going to tell Madeline that the ones were off by two . . .or three?)  Oh, boy, am I in trouble.  Just give me a sheet of paper and let me borrow and carry and I will be happy!

So, at the end of a fantastic, wonderful day, I am happy to be involved in my grandchildren's educational lives!  "Just, please God, don't let it be math!"

Comments

[Amy]

Yes, I believe I could use a tutorial on "how" things are taught to my kids. Not knowing the newest and greatest way of teaching math leads to frustrated parents and children. They are frustrated because they have no idea why I'm explaining it in such a foreign manner and vice versa. It all seems harder the "new way" to me.:)