I'm Not As Stupid As I Thought

There are many times my fifth grader brings homework in and starts talking about it and I stare at her stupidly. I admit it, in many things, I am not smarter than a fifth grader. I don't know different kinds of soil. I can't for the life of me tell you the exact order of every species in the food chain. Really isn't it just, Man then Lion then everything else? And I do know that the lion is really the head of the whole food chain (them and those pesky sharks) because they can eat us any day of the week. So in reality, if you don't count weapons, we're kind of low on the food chain. Couldn't one of those tiny poisonous frogs sting us then a snake eat us? Maybe that is in the text books and I just don't know it. Anyway, tonight Saige wanted to understand percentages. Ask any of my friends, this is one of my special gifts. I am good with numbers. I can figure it out in my head in seconds. Nothing fancy like Algebra or Trig, but simple multiplication, division, percentages, they come very quickly to me. Saige, is not that confident in math. She is a wiz at researching something, doing a project, more creative thinking. Chase, strangely enough, is good at math. It's something with a definite answer. If you can memorize, you can do it. Although by degree and a fair amount of talent I could be called an artist I feel more comfortable with math. If you take your time, there is always a correct answer. There aren't two ways to 50% of 100. It's always 50. Yesterday, tomorrow and a 1000 years from now. It will be 50. There is something comforting in that. Being able to figure it out. Not many things in life are that simple. Not at all. Not by a long shot. So tonight during homework time, when I not only knew how to do it, but how to explain it too, I felt great. One thing down, 1,678,985 to go. Fingers crossed.