Today I found it amazing that there was such an amazing difference in my two kids.  Grasping math concepts has always come so easy to my oldest son.  Q would fly through math and never blink. He could tackle anything we threw at him.  While still in pre-school he was adding double digits and we were told that he was surpassing all the other kids and would have trouble if we put him in public school.   I always wished that his reading was as advanced but in time he became more comfortable with it.  Our youngest son flew through reading, loves English and struggles every day with any type of Math concepts…. Until today..

This morning he learned “rounding”.  I did not realize that he was even doing it until he got stuck and called me over.  I let them get started and then “check-in” after they get settled.  When I went over to Z’s desk to help him I was surprised he was doing “rounding” and my first thought was to have him move on to something else until their dad came home.  Their father spent two weeks helping Q understanding rounding up and down and I am not even sure that he totally has grasp it.

I asked Z which way the problem was to be rounded and he gave me the answer without even thinking about it.  I looked at him in amazement.  This son of mine who struggles so with math could figure out how to round and understood the concept easily.  The rounding was not the problem, it was the actual subtraction and addition after he rounded.

I wish I knew what the difference with that single part of math that his brain understands so easily and why he can’t add 5+6 without a struggle……  Where one boy can add multiple numbers in his head on the fly but can’t round a number to save his life, the other boy can round any number thrown at him but can’t seem to add a single number in his head….  Weird…..

(here is my “slouchy” son  the way he enjoys doing his work until I say “Sit up and pay attention!”)