He discovered a new website at school that he really likes (rainforestmaths.com, in case anyone's interested) and I guess he got so excited about it that he wanted to share all that fun math knowledge with Rachel and Oliver.
(Side note about Tristan and math: Tristan really, really loves math, and he's always been pretty good at it. I think he may not realize that not everyone shares his enthusiasm for the subject. For example, yesterday I asked him if anyone had done any April Fools tricks at school. He informed me that he had actually performed some of his own "fools", as he called them. "It was SO funny, Mom", he said. "Listen to what I did. I asked someone if they knew what 42 x 42 was, and then when they didn't, I told them that it was 1,684. And they believed me! But then I said, 'April Fools!", and told them it was really 1,764. Ha ha ha! Wasn't that a good trick?" Hmmm. Gee, son. I bet you were a big hit with that joke.)
Anyway, a few weeks ago he came and asked me if he could get on this math website and show Rachel how to do some of the activities. "It'll be really good for her to work on her numbers, you know?"
Rachel was thrilled to get a private lesson, so I said sure, and pretty soon they were "working" away. I guess the website has a preschool/kindergarten level that focuses on counting and numbers. After 5 or 10 minutes, Tristan called out, "Mom, she's doing great! Now the only ones she misses are when I try to trick her and I tell her to click on the wrong answer!" I thought this sounded a little harsh for 3-year old math lessons, so I told him maybe he shouldn't try to trick her anymore. He defended his method firmly, though, and reprimanded me by saying, "Mom - she can do this. Now she's to the point where I really can trick her, you know? She's just really gotta learn!"
I thought both "now she's to the point" and "she's just really gotta learn" sounded so funny coming from a 7-year old, but I tried to keep a straight face because he was taking the whole thing so seriously.
As soon as he decided she'd had enough for the day and he ended their little lesson, I asked how it had gone:
Me: "How'd she do with recognizing the different numbers? Did she know 6, 7, 8, and 9?"
(That shows you how neglectful I've been with teaching Rachel anything - I usually leave her to fend for herself, which is maybe why Tristan decided to take over in the first place).
Tristan: "Yeah, she actually did know those. Where she was really having trouble, though, was with her counting."
Me: laughing inside my head that he actually just said the words, "where's she really having trouble. . ."
Tristan (in a very grown-up manner): Sigh. "I'd say she's doing fine, but she's just still having a hard time when I try to trick her. Maybe you can work on that with her this week."
I couldn't believe that my 7-year old had just given me an assignment for the week. It was just so cute the way he was acting so excited, serious, and grown-up about the whole thing.
Tristan then moved on to Oliver's lesson. "Okay, let's see. . .", I heard him say. "I think I'll have Ollie do counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s. That should be good for now."
I guess he was pleased with Oliver's progress, as a few minutes later he called out, "Perfect! He's really learning, Mom!"
Thank you, Tristan. Where would we be without you?
Here he is tutoring Ollie:
8 comments:
If we lived a little closer, I'd invite Tristan to tutor me (minus all of those tricks)!
Still Using My Fingers in NC
I guess that's another advantage of having kids that are so smart! It's so great that he is willing to pass it down and help out the younger ones. I'm hoping that Addy will do the same thing because she's already asking questions I'm not sure about. Speaking of that...guess who got the baby question last week. Ya thanks to our "fausett" gene I began with a pretty complex beginning to a detailed explanation. Luckily Adam was there to save the day and said something like they're made by Mom's and Dad's who love each other and we'll talk a little more about it when you're older. I was shocked when she kind of smiled and and happily said "Oh, hmmm" and went about her innocent little way.
Well, that's just adorable and so cute. All my life I've heard about how Daniel had a tendency to tell my mom how things worked and how he even corrected her at times. I think I may have just witnessed a re-enactment. Although, I was a witness to Daniel's tendencies at least once. When he was probably about sixteen, me, him, and my mom were all driving and they had a converstaion where Daniel told my mom he was smarter than her and he knew more than her. He wasn't trying to rude, just matter-of-fact. I truly find it so endearing that Tristan seems to be, in many ways, a spittin' image of his Dad. I just love that.
It's amazing how quickly they become the "experts!" And how they like to tell us that they are. One time Jesse declared that he was smarter than me because he went to school and I did not. OK, Jess, whatever you say! That will come to pass one of these days, I know, but I'd like to think that I still have a leg up...at least for a little while longer!
Yeah! Anthony and I have a blog page now, I am so excited to be a part of the blogging world:) I love looking at your blog and reading about your kids, they are entertaining it sounds like. I can't wait to meet them at the wedding, and I was so happy to hear you guys were able to come up, it will be here before we know it.
This is Anthony and Audra is having a slight lapse in memory, though that may have occurred when he was sixteen, I can vividly remember him saying it more around the age of 12. I also thought that the picture and story were very funny. When Amber brought it up the first thing I said to her was," That was Daniel to a T when we were kids.
Now I know what I'll have him do next time he comes over. Can't pass up some tutoring time...
Joanne - tell Tristan to save his April Fool's joke to tell his "math geek" cousins next year. They will all love it. Don't let him be intimidated by how old they are.
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