appropriate math

i don't know if elementary academics have changed dramatically in the last 29 years or if i've just successfully blocked out my own first grade experience but there seems to be an awful lot of homework for bea every night.  it may be the vague 'read.  do math.' instructions from her school or the guilt-inducing paper i have to fill out every night outlining exactly what we did and for how long but it seems like most of what we do every night is homework.  probably inappropriate homework.  i admit that i have no idea what a first grader should be reading or mathing.  the workbooks i found at barnes and noble that were labeled for bea's age group seemed ridiculously simple so i opted for generic math skills that offered work that would likely be challenging or at least more interesting than grouping flowers and adding 1+4.  similarly, my knowledge of reading levels goes from 'good night moon' to 'great expectations'.  also i'm not joking - i plan to introduce my kids to the flaming miss havisham just as soon as i find an expensive paperback version.  since the school year began, we've read tom sawyer, some halloween fairy nonsense, and started huckleberry finn.  admittedly i sort of regretted the tom sawyer bit but by the time i got to the overt racism and murder we were already pretty involved in the plot and it seemed a shame to put it down...then it seemed a shame to not continue the adventures.  at this rate, my kids will be amazingly well-read and able to do calculus by fifth grade but not be able to find michigan on a map.  or write in cursive.  or play four square.  one day i'm going to find my kids in a dark alley watching hannah montana on tv and surrounded by empty soda cans and candy bar wrappers. 

'two trains leave detroit at 2pm heading north...'