Homework

I consider myself a smart person.  My IQ was 142 last time I had it tested and I like those nice, high numbers so I refuse to be re-tested.  I easily made A's in school - even through college - except in the classes that I really didn't care about.  Reading, writing and research all come easily to me and I can think of creative ways to look at and solve problems; both my own and in my husband's business and his seminary classes.  But I feel completely stupid when I help my first grader with his math homework.

It really shouldn't be that difficult - first grade math is mostly a lot of addition and subtraction and counting by twos, fives, tens, etc.  But I seem to no longer be able to understand just what the instructions are when I'm attempting to help my son figure this all out.

A question goes like this: Matt has two pieces of pie.  Anna and Josh each have the same amount of pie that Matt does.  How many pieces of pie are there?  Illustrate.

I know too many math concepts for this.  I actually had him draw a pie chart and divide it into thirds and sixths and then tried to explain from there.  I succeeded in confusing him horrendously and scrapped the whole idea.  It was then I finally realized I can just have him draw three people, each holding two pieces of pie.  How simple.  Why hadn't I thought of that earlier?  This seems much harder than what I had to do in first grade.

And why can't I explain coins well?  Why do we have to have three coins of the same color, regardless of size, all with silhouettes that look remarkably similar.  Didn't any of our presidents wear cowboy hats or something distinguishing?  How do you explain coins to an autistic boy who doesn't really care about them?

I'm not smart enough for this.