Naughty Number Nine

1. I know I've mentioned many-a-time before that I am not a math person.
2. I have also mentioned that I'm thankful beyond measure that JR seems to have inherited his daddy's math brain.

So with those two issues reiterated, here's how our dinner conversation went last night:

(Quick backstory: JR's been working through some cheapy workbooks I bought so he could keep his reading and math skills up this summer.)

Me: Can you believe JR can count by 9's? I couldn't count by 9's if you made me.
Jason: 9's are easy. It's just 10 minus 1, right JR?
Me: (I think for a second.) Yeah, that doesn't work for me. 20 minus 1 is 19, not 18, so that doesn't even make sense.
Jason: Where did you get 20?
Me: You told me it's tens minus one.
Jason. No. Just think logically... (I tuned out the "logical" explanation, but then he proceeded to count by 9's up into the 100's)
Me: No really, stop. I don't want to learn to count by 9's. I just want you to be impressed that your son can do it. Go ahead JR, show Daddy.

JR does.
Reed begins counting his fingers.
(At this point my heart starts racing since waaaay too many numbers are being shouted out for my math-phobic liking. My baby, Kyle, knew better than to upset me with numbers. He just kept eating his 4th pickle of the night. )

Jason: I am impressed. That's awesome, JR.
Me: Good job, Reed.

Later, after JR is gone:

Me: Okay, so I know you're going to laugh at me, so just go ahead and laugh, but division is next in JR's book. And, um, so division is just the opposite of multiplication, right?
Jason: Do you know how to divide?
Me: Yes, I know how to divide! I'm just not really sure how to teach it.

Jason then starts giving me examples of division problems. Of course what I heard was The Peanuts teacher's voice, 'waa. waa. waa. waa. waa.' Although I did hear something about 12 divided by 4, so I was quick to holler out '3!' since I knew that was right. (And please don't comment if it's not.)

So what did all that math talk teach me? (Besides how to count by 9's.)
Basically, that there's really no need to rush division. I mean, the summer's almost over, right? I'm thinkin' we can just make some more decorative cookies instead!