Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Math with Anne ...

... in which We Discover How Our Weaknesses Become Our Strengths.

Anne-with-an-e had a math challenge this morning which involved writing the reciprocal of the number five before she could do anything else.

"Look, Mom," she said, with a smile on her face, "what do you think?"

She had written an upside down, backwards five.

I laughed and of course had to tell her that I find her delightfully creative. (I also told her to finish the challenge.) This is the same brain that looks at the fraction 5/1 and says, "Five wunths ... A wunth. I wonder what a wunth looks like. Doesn't it sound like a Dr. Seuss character?"

This beautiful, exasperating, enchanting thing that is Anne's mind will allow her to do whatever it is that God will call her to do someday. It will not, most likely, be a thing of linear learning and math problems, but it will be something that is resplendent in its own Anne-way.

It will be wunth-erful.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

One of the questions on my first college biology lab tests was, "What would the letter e look like under a microscope?" The answer, of course, was that it would be upside down and backwards. I, in all sincerity, drew it VERY VERY BIG. Doh.

And she's now teaching our children.

Tell Anne wunth is my new favorite word.

In fact, I believe a wunth is what the veep thought he was shooting at. At least, that's what it sounded like he said. Or so I've heard. And I heard it exclusively on Fox, so I know it has to be true.