Wednesday, November 5, 2008

What color is George Washington's white horse?

I love home schooling the kids. My house is always nutty.
Today I was grading math papers and I was amazed my dear son was getting his word problems wrong. So I took a moment to look the problem over. This was the problem.
The teacher had 7 boxes of crayons. Each box had 24 crayons in them. Six boxes were torn. How many crayons were in the boxes?
His answer 24 crayons.
So we chatted about the problem. He is correct. 24 crayons in the boxes. So I explain to my 3rd grader that this problem was not written very well. I then ask about the six torn boxes, how many crayons are in the boxes?
His answer 24 crayons.
Okay, son there are 6 torn boxes of crayons. How many crayons altogether in those 6 boxes?
Bingo ! 24 *6 = 144
Hmmm, maybe I should write the company about this problem.
He passed reading and comprehension today.
I could only think -- What color is George Washington's white horse?

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