When Amanda Sarno realized she couldn’t help her daughter with a math assignment, she ended up having what she called an “embarrassing” conversation with her child’s teacher.
In a now-viral video first posted on TikTok on Dec. 4, Sarno explained that her daughter, Mackenzie, had reached a point—at just 6 years old—where the homework no longer made sense to her.
“I just had to have the most embarrassing conversation with Mackenzie’s teacher because at 6 years old, she’s now at the point where I don’t understand the homework that she’s doing anymore,” Sarno said at the start of the clip.
She continued, “So I had to go to her teacher to be like, ‘Could you teach me?’ so I could teach her.”
In the video, Sarno shows the assignment, which uses a Common Core-style method for solving basic math. She tries to walk through the approach, then admits she still doesn’t understand why it needs to be that complicated.
“Why can’t I just say 7 + 5 is 12? I don’t understand,” she said.
Sarno explained that she’s usually the parent who steps in when Mackenzie needs help with schoolwork. She noted that her daughter is typically an independent student, but this year has looked different due to a major surgery in October.
Because of the recovery, Sarno said Mackenzie was placed on homebound instruction, meaning her teacher came to their home each day after school to work with her for two hours. During the daytime, Sarno said she reviewed lessons and helped her daughter keep up with what had been taught the day before.
Even though Sarno says she generally enjoys math and considers herself good at it, she said she immediately felt lost when she saw the new assignment.
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“I thought I was looking at fractions for a second,” she said.
Still, Sarno added that once she spoke with the teacher, she picked up the method fairly quickly. She said she understands the concept behind it and why it may be helpful later on, especially when students reach algebra and more advanced math.
At the same time, she questioned why it’s being introduced so early.
“I still don’t however understand why she’s learning this at 6 years old,” she said. “In my opinion, this method should be taught in double digits [at] the earliest. Single digit addition and subtraction should just be second nature, but that’s neither here nor there.”
