Oh.My.Word

My youngest son's teacher asked him to work on his multiplication facts over Christmas break.  I can totally see why.  This is taking every ounce of patience I have, and I typically have a fairly strong reserve of it!

This child can ace every history and science test he has.  He remembers details about state, local, and national government, the electoral college, and our founding fathers (on a 3rd grade level, of course).  Information about conservation of matter, atoms, solutions, and chemical changes? No problem.

But math details....they just don't stick right now. 

Our practice session is sounding something like this...

Me: Okay, let's practice our 3's again.

Him: Okay.

Me: 3 x 6

Him: Was there a hot air balloon flight before the Wright Brothers had their first flight? Which came first?

Me: {Blank stare.} I think the hot air balloon.  Look at this one. What is 3 x 6?

Him: Do you think chickens glide?

Me: What??

Him: Do you think chickens glide?

Me: What are you talking about?

Him: I just wondered, if you threw a chicken up in the air, would it glide? You know, like a sugar glider. Would it glide like a sugar glider?

Me: What in the world is a sugar glider?

Him: It looks like a flying squirrel. You know, its legs and arms are connected with skin.

Me: Ok, of course.  What is 3 x 6?

Him: I don't know!!! 


I don't understand why not.  I mean, he's working so hard on studying these facts. Ha!

We've tried everything. Games, flashcards, visual, auditory, and kinesthetic activities, you name it, we've tried it. Except jumping on a trampoline.  That may be our next attempt - memorizing while jumping on a trampoline. Don't knock it.  I once had a student who couldn't pass a spelling test unless she was jumping up and down.

To his credit, tonight we learned that the first hot air balloon flight was in 1783 and the Wright Brother's flight was in 1903 (okay, I learned that one; he already knew the 1903 date).

We also learned about the differences between a sugar glider and a flying squirrel.

What we did NOT learn: 3 x 6.

There's always tomorrow.

Uh Oh.

It's 2015.

Back in high school, that date seemed so far away, so futuristic, so...impossible.

Yet, here we are.

We are not traveling around like the Jetsons just yet, but I will be the first to admit that I wouldn't have guessed that we would be texting, Skyping, tweeting, messaging, and the myriad of other "ings" we can now do with technology.

Usually at this time of year I get serious about New Year's Resolutions. I contemplate the typical resolutions (all of which need to happen) and brainstorm some new and original ones that I might want to focus on. I evaluate how much I can take on at this point in my life (yikes!) and how doable my choices might be.

Then it hit me.

I turn 40 this year.

Ouch.

I have been bravely hanging onto the 30's for years now.  And, honestly, I like the 30's.  A lot.

40?  I'm just not feelin' it.

I have friends who tell me the 40's are the best years.  We'll see about that.

As I was processing this little issue, I realized that I have bigger problems than simply choosing a New Year's Resolution. You see, back in 2010, I made this little list. It's called my "40 Before 40". At that time, I was working part-time. Now I work full-time, plus. I may have been a bit overzealous in my planning.

I revisited my 40 Before 40 to get a scope of what I have not yet accomplished.

Well....in order for me to achieve all 40, the first 6 months (my birthday is in June) of 2015 will need to look something like this:

• Read 1 classic per month.
• Landscape the front yard.
• Visit the Mall of America, Niagra Falls, the Grand Canyon, and go on a Missions trip.
• Exercise for about 2 hours a day to achieve that single-digit closet full of clothes.
• Write an adoption book for my son.
• Make a family recipe book.
• Relearn to play the piano well.
• Buy new living room furniture.
• Go water skiing.
• Try more foods that end with "ese"...Chinese, Japanese....
• Spend about 1,000 hours scrapbooking to try to catch up.
• Repaint all the walls in my house.
• Volunteer more.

No problem.

I'll just need to make a few adjustments...like quit my job, send the kids to live with grandma, and decrease my sleep to about 2 hours a night.

And possibly win the lottery to fund it all.

Happy 2015!