Poor Kev lucked out at tutoring last night. The kid had math homework and I was his only hope. We both feared for our mental stability, and I was pretty much freaking out when he opened his text book to reveal algebra homework. Oh man. What kind of school gives 4th graders algebra homework?! Bullies, the lot of 'em.
Then I realised that we weren't doing algebra at all; rather, we had to answer 6 questions about rounding up or down to the nearest ten, hundred, and thousand. Slightly simpler you'd think, right?
But just like in all things, math is one of those subjects where things either click for you or they don't. And if they DO click for you, sometimes you just can't explain them. You don't know WHY you round up, you just do. But when a sweet Puerto Rican fourth grader looks up at you with his brown eyes, pleading with you to explain the fundamentals of the solution, you become resolved to find a way to explain the phenomenon. And somehow I did, and he got it. I think I even heard the 'click' when it all fell into place. I even tested Kev with some other examples just to make doubly sure he got it. And woohoo we got gold stars all round. If you want something rounded up or down, my mate Kev will do it for you.
It was when Kev brought out the old chestnut, "if a train leaves San Fransisco at 10am travelling at 40,000 million miles an hour and has to be in Denver by January, what time should Betsy wake up and curl her hair?" that I called it a night.
2 comments:
All I can tell you is that X usually marks the spot - I don't know why but there you have it ... that's what X is for.
Gab, I think the real question about the train and betsy's hair would be "Was there ever really a train in the first place?" and "Does Betsy really exist and if so, what is existence. Do we every REALLY exist?"
Closely followed by my other favourite answer: "Give a sh*t"
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