WTF IS UP WITH THIS *(%@#$^%!! MATH HOMEWORK? HE'S ONLY ELEVEN!

Dear Mikey's Teacher:

Good evening. We are extremely upset and frustrated this evening because we can't help Mikey with his math. This is not stuff we know, is not stuff we have any way in the world of remembering, AND the fifth grade website thing for the school doesn't work. We're searching online for "factor puzzles," trying to find a way to learn this - which makes the whole situation even worse. Mikey's absolutely stuck, can't even tell us what he was told in class, and what seems like an obvious answer to me is bogged down by little, superfluous details.

What are all those little lines around the square? What do they have to do with anything? I'm looking at number 14 on the worksheet, and I think the answer inside the box is 12. 5 times 3 is 15, so 4 times 3 would be 12. 4/5 is the same as 12/15. Why does it have to be more difficult than this? DOES it have to be more difficult than this? We found something that was talking about prime numbers in relation to a factor square, but it just seemed like far more info than was necessary when I can see the answer is simply 12.

Beyond having to go back to school just to help this poor kid with his math, what do you suggest we do? Mikey said the kids don't have math textbooks, then amended it when we didn't believe him to "well, I think we do, but we don't use them." Why not? Is this text book something he could bring home that would help us to understand so we can guide him in the right direction?

Please forgive my abruptness; I'm generally not an unhappy person, but this is so, so frustrating. Please help, we just don't know what else to do.

Mikey's Mom and Dad

This is the email I just sent her, only I obviously used her name in the greeting and signed it with our names in the closing.

So. Pissed. Off. Right. Now.

Congratulations, Beth!!

Welcome to the world, Kellan Paul!

Math homework, part two.

Sorry to hear you are having a rough night of homework. The math can be confusing. Math nowadays is taught very differently than when we were in school, and the expectations of 5th grade learning are much higher too. I will get time with Mikey tomorrow and go over the work. Don't worry about it tonight.

As far as the math text... We have textbooks, but they aren't the kind of book that explains things. The first sheet attached to the homework sheet is actually the textbook copied off for the students so they can take notes on it to help them with homework. Not the best scenario, but it's the best we have :(

Hope this helps some. If it makes you feel better, we are moving on to geometry next week :)

Thanks for contacting me! That's what I'm here for.

I have to say, I love teachers who understand why it's frustrating and who get back to you very quickly.

My response to this:

Thanks for the math reassurance. It's all I can do not to just chuck it off the balcony. It's also kind of humiliating to admit to your own kid that you can't help him because you're not really smart enough for it. I know that's not the intent, I know that times change, but that's what it feels like from our end.

And thanks for being so quick to get back to us; I'd be worried all night and all tomorrow that he'd get in trouble for not doing it when the truth is that we simply couldn't help him.

Thanks so much!