I have a daughter in 6th grade. So do many people. My daughter gets lots of math homework. It’s not the same math I learned. I have attempted to help her numerous times over the school year but her mother usually has to take over before I break something or have a heart attack from frustration.
I have a college degree. I have published poetry, articles, and letters. I may not be the sharpest tool in the woodshed but I am not the dullest. But when it comes to this crazy 6th grade math, goodness!!!!! Beat my buttocks with a cane and make me write bad checks!
Talk about an intellectual beating. My daughter, “Little Rolling Thunder”, despises math as much as I do. She likes her parents to do the work for her. That makes for a fun evening. I work all day, want to rest at night, and then have to learn 6th grade math!!! To make matters worse, the math book does not cover everything on the homework. She took poor notes in class to boot.
Probability. That’s what the last assignment was on that I helped her with. Most of the questions made no sense. “Little Rolling Thunder” was in a bad mood. What should have taken 30 minutes lasted a couple of hours. Her Mom was not up to helping her that evening. This assignment was a study packet for a unit test. She had gotten a 50 on it. We now had to find the CORRECT ANSWERS TO 24 QUESTIONS! ( If my daughter was a guy, we would have had a fist fight out in the yard ) When it came down to it, I had to tell her to guess on some of them.
The little fart took her test the next morning and got an 87. And you say there are no miracles in the world???? I don’t know how she did it but she did.
She only has a couple of weeks of school left. The homework is finally slowing down. However, over the Memorial Day Weekend we have to get her to study for one last unit test. She only has 12 out of 100 questions answered and who knows if they are correct.
We will get through it. I am sure it will be painful. We love “Little Rolling Thunder” and like her, we are ready for summer break. When I left college I thought homework was a thing of the past. I liked most homework in college but have now discovered that I am very selective in what, where, and when I want to learn new things. And, I don’t like learning math the “new way”, whatever that means.
I will take this opportunity in advance to answer all you theoretical, analytical, mathematical geniuses out there – BITE ME.
1 comment:
I know EXACTLY what you mean. When I am helping with Math homework, I constantly hear, "That is not how the teacher does it"... to which, of course, my response is, "I don't care how the teacher does it, I am showing you how 'I' do it".
It is like they only show them one way of doing it, and don't explain how it works, so the kids can't figure out the logic behind it.
And I probably am one of those "Math Geeks".
;)
leslie
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