Brian’s Blog: Trying to Help with Homework Can Drive A Dad Nuts

Recently, I was helping my 13-year-old, eighth grade daughter with history homework. This was interesting.

My 13-year-old daughter is and eighth grader at West Valley Junior High and is studying the Civil War and the battle of Gettysburg. She has some learning disabilities, so schoolwork is a challenge for her at times. If it's math homework, forget it. I'm not wired for math. If it's just about anything else I'm her man.

This week, she showed me a paper she's been working on about the battle of Gettysburg. One of her answers claimed that going into that battle the British had been dealing with a string of defeats. I explained that the British were not involved militarily in our War Between the States. Her answer: "That's not what the computer said."

Ooops, I forgot that 13-year-olds know everything that there is to know about everything. They can't help it. It's part of the human genome.

I got up and walked her to an old tintype photo that we have on display in our home. It shows a bearded man in a union army uniform."See that", I said. "That is your great-great-great grandfather. He fought for the United States Army in 1865." I also told her, "By the way, one of your great-great grandfathers was a confederate cavalryman."

The point is, while I'm in no means an expert, I do know a little bit about the Civil War. After that, we studied Gettysburg for a bit, and I think she got it.