A Little Moment from Tuesday

I really like Tuesday. Not the day so much as the word -- so much so that I even considered naming a girl that. It seemed though like she'd need to be born on a Tuesday, and that never happened (which is just as well because, my goodness I've given my girls cute names). BUT, that has nothing to do with anything. SO, let's move right along to today. This capturing moments business is getting out of hand. I only captured one moment today -- just minutes ago, when I realized I had an "assignment due" and a day almost already done with.

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Tuesday's moment: Daisy does Homework.

I was very happy that I did that half year of home school with Abe and Daisy for many reasons, but one big reason was that I became familiar with how math is done for young kids these days. You know, fact families and regrouping and the like. Forget the old days of "borrowing" and "carrying the one." Anyway, it has been a nice thing for me to understand the math lingo and approach as my kids have continued in school. Nice til NOW, that is. We got a note today (along with Daisy's math homework) explaining how the school or district or some such has adopted a completely new math system. Ay yi yi. Maybe it's good. I guess it's supposed to help them see the break down of numbers more clearly, etc. And, Daisy is happily adding and subtracting numbers in the thousands like they are old best friends.

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I had her show me a little of how they were doing it tonight and it was all very confusing. I don't have a grasp on it at all. Daisy, I have noticed, has quite a talent for math. Luckily, she's just all around bright, but, it has been particularly surprising for me to see how simple and easy math is for her. I realize that is a tremendous blessing, both for me and her, but I also am not laboring under some notion that everything will always be easy for my kids. I imagine I might very well have a little one who, at some point, will really struggle with school or the concepts behind certain subjects. I'm fine with that. Everyone gets tired of Chtistmas cards (and blog posts like this one) about how smart everyone else's kids are anyway. What I'm less fine with is that by even third grade I may be completely ill suited when it comes to helping them with it! How can I help a future struggling third grader when I can't understand what on earth third graders are doing myself?

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I was telling this to Daisy -- how it was a blessing she was so gifted with math, but how it would be tricky if one of her siblings had a harder time with it and I didn't understand it myself well enough to help them. She simply shrugged and said, "Well I could just help them."

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Well. What an obvious answer, but it is like the shock I felt when Abe was out shoveling the driveway. I am still so used to taking care of the needs of so many little ones, that them becoming slightly self sufficient is incredible enough, but the real possibility of them doing very grown up helpful things is . . . well . . . very amazingly wonderful. And not just, "Hooray! More help!" But just the wonder of them becoming their complete own selves who can do such mature things is all quite miraculous to me.