Bella: Mom, you have to help me study for my test tomorrow. I’m serious.<\/p>\n
Me: Fine. What are you studying?<\/p>\n
Bella: We’re factoring polynomials.<\/p>\n
Me: OK, factoring polynomials is fun.<\/p>\n
Bella: That’s what my teacher said! (surprised that we would both agree on such a thing)<\/p>\n
Then she proceeded to tell me what a great teacher she has and explained some great trick her teacher had taught her. Of course I didn’t have the faintest idea how to factor polynomials with a big “X” thingie. Instead, I studied a few examples in the math book and tried to show her how the book was explaining the problems. We ended with Bella basically shouting, Stop! stop! I don’t want to learn another way!<\/p>\n
and then, Fine, you can show me after<\/em> my test tomorrow.<\/p>\n Fine, so I stopped. I checked some problems she had done and they were all correct. We finally got to a problem where I had<\/em> to show her the “book” technique and after much grimacing and eye-rolling she got it. I kept telling her to write down the formula first, and she kept saying, Why bother if I can do it in my head?<\/p>\n What a smartie pants.<\/p>\n Painful, but ultimately a productive homework sess. We finished by racing to factor a cubic polynomial – one that was not a homework problem – and we both got it right!<\/p>\n Then she turned back thirty or so pages and said, Now will you help me review the rest of the chapter?<\/p>\n Since she clearly knows her stuff and has more integrity about learning it than I ever had – I refused and told her it was time to go to bed.<\/p>\n It’s fun to have a kid who loves math, but also a little freaky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bella: Mom, you have to help me study for my test tomorrow. I’m serious. Me: Fine. What are you studying? Bella: We’re factoring polynomials. Me: OK, factoring polynomials is fun. Bella: That’s what my teacher said! (surprised that we would … Continue reading