Math, in perspective

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

Yesterday, my kids were giving me a very hard time with our math lesson. I think the math is finallly becoming a little challenging. Up until now, they have breezed through the concepts, but now they have to put a little more thought and effort into the problems. We spent way more time than usual on math yesterday, and I was so deflated and exhausted afterward.

 

Then, I got together last night with a dear friend, whom I've known since we were teens. I only see her a few times a year, because she's a single, childless, social worker/humanitarian aid worker and she travels all over the place on missions. So, she's telling me about the things she's been doing since I'd seen her last spring- a harrowing, 17 hour hike up a mountain to a remote mining village in Colombia to report on exploitation of the workers there, and then on to Arizona, where she scoured the desert with an aid group to provide food, water and medical assistance to illegal immigrants who are lost and stranded in the desert. She told me heart wrenching stories about many of the people they help.

 

So, then, when she asked me what's new, suddenly my "horrible" math day didn't seem so bad after all.

[Jean in Newcastle]

That would put things into perspective, wouldn't it! (I hope that your math goes better today.)