Are you a math lover or hater? 

 I only bring this up as it’s come around once again in my life.  When you as a parent have children and they bring home math problems, we find out quickly what our level is for math.  In our home we have a ‘math genius‘ who helped our children…my husband.  The kids made it through school and I helped with literature, writing, art and artsy-style science fair projects.  Husband helped with math, engineering, technical-style science fairs.  Together we made a complete brain…left side, right side. 

Here we are as Grandparents and last night was interesting.  As we’ve grown older, it seems we’ve learned to collaborate.  He’s still the math genius, and I can communicate.  Our 9 year old grandson is having difficulty with graphs and charts, in math.  (And, PS, it’s not just coloring in the blocks to show up or down on a graph…you really have to problem solve).  The child does not understand; Grandpa (better known as Poppy) is frustrated at being unable to explain the concept.  I’m listening in and giving teaching suggestions and Poppy calls me over to help.  Okay, so I can teach, but he’s the only one that knows what to teach.  I’m a visual, hands on learner, so that’s what I pull out.  Can it be explained in pennies..groupings…rows?  I would have used M & Ms if we had any. That was the beginning of the ‘collaboration’.  Today he thanked me again for helping him to communicate with our grandson. 

Did grandson get the process and understand? 

Not completely as this is the beginning of helping him throughout the summer.  It will take time.  I had purchased a Star Wars Lego book as a reward for him  to come over and receive help for more of these problems from Poppy.  The child has a goal.  He really wants to understand and get the book.  The bonus is he will learn from tutoring.  Poppy’s goal is to communicate better with what he’s trying to teach grandson.  Wouldn’t you just love to be able to unzip the student’s head and pour in the information?   

What’s my goal?  I’m glad that we collaborated.   I’ll stay in the background unless I’m called over.  But I really don’t want to be a math genius.  There’s no shame; I’m okay with my level..it’s working.  I’ll be the artist, author, teacher Grandmother-y person….bring me your art projects!

Do you tutor your children yourself?  Are you frustrated with tutoring your children?  Leave your comments and I’ll answer!