Just seconds after I sent five-year-old Olivia’s Learning Plan (a subject-by-subject lesson plan for the next four weeks) to our ES (Educational Specialist, a credentialed teacher who oversees our resident home-schoolers), I realized that I may have been overly optimistic. I’d established a new goal of learning addition/subtraction facts to 20, without quizzing Olivia to find out if she’d actually accomplished last term’s goal: learning addition/subtraction facts to 10. She can figure them out, no problem. But does she know them?
With this thought in mind, I ushered the kids into the car so that we could get Reiley to basketball practice on time. Just before setting the alarm, though, I turned and headed back into the kitchen “nook,” where the kids’ curriculum boxes are kept. I dug around in Olivia’s box and found her Disney Princess addition/subtraction flashcards. Yep, I was going to find out just what she knew.
We were quizzing Olivia before we left our block. (Parker repeated the equations I read off the cards, while Reiley supplied quick modifications in the form of engaging word problems to hasten Olivia’s responses.) We were doing really well until I decided to push the issue of what happens when you take away a number from itself.
“One take away one,” I asked.
“Zero!” she said.
“Ten take away ten,” I asked.
“Zero!” she said.
“Six take away six,” I asked.
No response.
“Put up six fingers…now take away all six fingers…” I said. Reiley dutifully watched to make sure that Olivia was holding up six fingers.
“One,” she said.
“No, Olivia,” I said, “Hold up six fingers.”
“Okay,” she said.
“What if you have six cupcakes,” Reiley started to say.
“Yeah,” I said, “What if you have six cupcakes, and Reiley eats all of them. How many cupcakes do you have?”
Silence. And then she started to cry, and scream. “Reiley ate all of my cupcakes…they were my special, birthday cupcakes…”
“No,” I said. “Olivia, it’s just pretend. Reiley didn’t eat any cupcakes.”
“Yes. She. Did.” Olivia said. “She ate all of my cupcakes!”
“Great, Mom,” Reiley said.
“Yeah,” Parker said.
Both of them were laughing.
“It’s not funny!” Olivia said. “Reiley…ate…ALL of my cupcakes.”
Uh, huh. So much for word problems.
“Here, Parker,” I said, and handed the flashcards to him.
I’m still not sure what Olivia knows; however I now know better than to add cupcakes to mathematics and stir.
to motivate me sufficiently to get them out of bed, off the couch, and out the door first thing in the morning. If McDougall is right, my progeny will not only be more fit, but will also be better people – more mentally and physically capable of accomplishing their goals, as well as more likely to do so cooperatively and with due consideration to those who support them.
