Preschool Mathematics

There's something about the way little kids do math that is so intuitive. Why not count on your fingers? That's why we have them, right? To eat, pick our noses, scratch, and add up numbers.

In that light, a few days ago we were quizzing the kids, "What's 2 plus 2? 4 minus 1?" and they did really well adding and subtracting with their fingers. But I just had to get tricky and I asked, "What's 3 plus 3 plus 3?" Aurora and Jesse scrunched up their eyebrows and concentrated, going back and forth between both hands trying to figure out the answer. A few minutes later, and 5 sighs, Jesse threw his hands down and gave the most profound answer imaginable.....

"I only have two 5's!"