Are you smarter than a fifth grader?

Would any of you admit that you find the show a little bit of an eye opener? In terms of waking up to all you have really forgotten and how dumb you truly have become. (I'm not taking any replies from young recent grad friends. You have to be at least 30 and have spent a significant portion of your 20's not at the university but stuck on a farm in a trailer down by the river to relate to me and answer that question).

I don't watch the show too often. Maybe that's because I get an increasing dose of "How Dumb have you Become?" every night when I struggle through assisting my own fifth grader with her hour of homework. The spelling I can brag about. Always been a better than average speller. Social studies (always my best subject) is still vaguely familiar. But my math and science skills have slipped back to the level of a 4th grader! Fifth grade and above is all gone. To be truthful I barely survived the required math classes in college and since graduating with my AA I've completely cast the knowledge aside. I have a calculator and Brent for the rest. It is sad, I know but somehow I have managed just fine and have a great quality of life without it. Of course the thought of my kids not mastering all this stuff is horrifying to me (which makes me rethink the whole thing about me being fine without it.)

So I figure I will approach 5th grade math and science like I did when I put Kennon in piano lessons several years ago. I used to play but quit before I got any good and completely lost the talent. So my goal was just to always keep up with her. As long as I can keep up with my 5th, 6th, 7th and on up grader, we will both be talented pianists and mathematicians some day.

So far I am hanging on musically (but barely), and I know that I am going to have to crack a math textbook if I want to keep up with her now and that is something I've always hated to do. Has to be done though. Yesterday she brought home her last math assignment that I checked. It was filled with red checks and circles. Oops. I am so sorry sweetie.

So last night as I helped her I had the calculator right there with me and made sure we were getting all the right answers. I think it is time to tackle math again with a fresh outlook. Maybe after all these years I might actually enjoy division, algebra and geometry.


The other thing that I wanted to write about is how crazy it is at our house in the after school hours. Monday is FHE, and so that is always busy. Tuesday is ballet and piano and we get home late. Wednesday I was in Brent's dental chair all afternoon and didn't get home till 5. Yesterday I was home but it still didn't go much better. We had signed up to feed the elders, but even though I thought I was organized for it, I still was stuck in the kitchen doing last minute stuff for too much time.

Kennon gets huffy if I don't care enough about her to sit near by for the entire homework session and also piano practice. I usually make it for about 10 minutes total. Camille loves to read to me and show me her stuff from the day. Savannah wants to hold cooking classes in our kitchen, since she has decided that is the only way she can get to eat what she wants. And all this while taking care of a nursing baby, listening to the constant chatter of Caroline, preparing dinner, and getting ready for Dad to come home. The girls help with their specific chores. We are all a part of "Team Casper" , but I have never figured out a way that a mother doesn't have to run around like mad from bus time to bedtime.

I am sure that blogging right now while they are at school is not going to help matters. So that's why I am quitting and heading into the kitchen to get an early start on dinner so we can have a good start on our weekend.