Looking through BirdMan's eyes.

I love our homeschool math program, Math U See (they way they spell the curriculum makes me twitch involuntarily, however). The kids get really excited about Math and it is fun to see the light bulb go off over their heads. GooseyGirl told me her favorite part of math is doing word problems!?!

Yes, she is related to me... I have blood records to prove it.

Today, though, I had an argument with BirdMan about his word problems. He was adamant that his answer was correct. I double, triple, quadruple checked the teacher's manual. No doubt about it, his answer was wrong... or was it?

Here's the question. See what you think.

The three blind mice and the seven dwarves walked through the fresh snow. How many feet were making tracks? (Be careful- this is a three step problem.)

Okay. What is the answer?

The teacher's manual said the answer was 26.

BirdMan swore the answer was 20. He fought and fought with me over this.


Can you see the small detail that makes all the difference? The detail that would seem overly obvious to a child but difficult for an adult brain?



Here's a clue:
Count the feet "making tracks".



Don't you love that? I had to look at the problem through kiddo eyes before I could see how right BirdMan was! He got an A+ in math today and taught me something about my limited world view all at the same time.


Question of the day:
GooseyGirl: "Is Apollo (our bird) right-winged or left-winged?"










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