Precerpt from Raising God's Rainbow Makers - What Kids Will Say: Lizzie’s Catholic School Math Class
Second grade at St. Alphonsus was no joke. It was a stretch academically—and financially. We chose Catholic school because it offered more challenge than the local public school, and we could just barely afford it. Tuition checks were written with prayer and crossed fingers. At home, we were transparent about money. Lizzie, precocious and perceptive, absorbed more than we realized. One day, her math teacher—a sweet sister with a chalkboard and a mission—wrote the problem: 23 - 35. She asked the class, “What’s wrong with this problem?” expecting a chorus of “We copied it wrong!” Her point: slow down, be careful, copy accurately. But Lizzie had other ideas. She raised her hand and said, “Maybe the problem is forgetting the negative sign, when you write the answer, -12.” The sister blinked. Negative numbers were not on the second-grade syllabus. She replied gently, “There is no such thing as negative numbers.” Lizzie, ever the truth-seeker, tilted her head and asked, “Well...