Nohe 5

I Hate 1st Grade Math

There must be a new New Math, because I just do not understand how Rachel's school is teaching her the relatively simple task of adding and subtracting.  She had a 15 page packet of math worksheets to complete over the course of last week.  Within those 15 pages there were no less than 13 methods of adding and subtracting introduced.  Thirteen!  To accomplish the same task!

Every night it has taken us over an hour sometimes and hour and a half to finish the nightly quota of two measly sheets of math.  It is no wonder, each night there was a totally new way of doing the same task- from a big  number take away a lesser number to arrive at an answer.  One night it was circling pictures that corresponded to a word problem then writing out the equation.  The next night subtraction was explained as two parts making up a whole with pictures of apples.  Then, we lost the apples and started using a weird graph with dots, but some times there weren't enough boxes for the dots so we drew dots next to the graph as well.  Then there was the number line and drawing humps or bumps or jumps or whatever they call those things to move around the line.  Next was a subtraction chart that had no "-" or "=" on the whole thing, but somehow you were supposed to use it to subtract.  After that came subtraction facts where the same numbers are used but shuffled around.  Finally there were word problems and something called subtraction families.  I am probably leaving one or two additional methods out, because my brain is still swirling with all these different ways we "learned" to take a big number, remove some portion of it to arrive at an answer.  Or rather, that is how I was taught math, a-b=c.  While doing this packet I keep expecting the next page to ask the students how they feel about 6 being taken away from 10.  We did a lot or work, but very little of it actually taught Rachel any math skills.

What every happened to straight forward Math?!?  If we must teach different methods for doing the same task, keep it something reasonable like 2 or 3.  Tomorrow Rachel has a test on subtraction, but goodness only knows what manner of hoops she is going to be asked to jump through to get to the answer.  No matter how you slice it, 7-5=2.  Why can't they just learn that?  Even if Rachel knows that 7-5=2, she could still miss the question if she doesn't draw her dots in the graph correctly.  The truth of the matter is that after a week of doing weekly math lessons with Rachel I don't know if she does in fact know that 7-5=2 because we have spent all week drawing dots, circling pictures and getting to know the subtraction family.  I don't know what the hell a subtraction family is, but I do know that 7-5=2 and by the end of 1st grade, I hope my daughter does too.

Ode to my Shower

I love my shower.  There are just so many things to love about it, it is hard to know where to start.

First it is warm.  Now that we are into the real part of winter, I just never feel warm, except in the shower.  That warm water hits me and I feel my capillaries open up.  My muscles relax.  My lungs fill with steamy warm air and I feel warmed all the way to my core.

There are nice smelling soaps and shampoo in my shower.  I spend most of my day with three small, smelly boys.  I change a lot of diapers and let's just say that Jack is an adventurous eater.  You can follow that to its logical conclusion without me adding any more to that statement.  But in the shower, everything smells like flowers and vanilla.  It is quite lovely.

Finally, my favorite, favorite thing about the shower, it is the only place in the house where I can be truly alone.  Sure it is only for 10 or 15 minutes, but it is totally ME time.  Ahhhhh, time away from crying babies, destructive toddlers, constant questioning, fights and whining.  Time for Mommy.

Unfortunately, and I know this is totally gross and you will never look at me the same way, I don't get to take a shower every day.  It grosses me out too.  But when I board the Mommy Hamster Wheel in the morning, I often don't get off until I collapse at which point my lifeless body spins around a couple more loops out of shear momentum until coming to a stop and flinging my exhausted body in to bed on to the couch where I fall asleep because I continue to live under the delusion that I am not the mother of four energetic children who suck the life out all day leaving me not even enough energy to watch mindless sitcoms after they go to bed.

Ahhhhh, the shower.  A warm, sweet smelling sanctuary of solitude.  How I love you.

House Full of Food...Nothing to Eat

Often as Marty looks in our pantry or fridge, he says, "Ahhh, the American diet, house full of food, nothing to eat."   But no longer, at least the house full of food part.

Over Christmas, I reorganized organized our pantry and fridge.  I made areas for everything and made sure that it was much easier to see what was in there.  I would like to say that I was inspired by some higher motivation, but the truth of the matter was that I stocked up for Christmas with food that I knew we would need, but had no room to put it in the pantry.  It wasn't that the pantry was so over stuffed; it was all just in there so precariously that to remove one item could bring a cascade of food down on your head.

Well, since my reorganization I am absolutely mortified by how much food we have in the house and yet each week I go out to buy more.  So, for the last week or so, I have been on a mission to eat through the food that we already have on hand before buying more.  Now this is not a person mission, hello I am still working to lose the baby weight from Teddy (and who am I kidding, there was still a little hanging around from Jack, but that is totally a post for a different time).  As a family we are having some pretty creative meals.  For instance, last night we had waffles for dinner.  Slowly but surely, we are starting to make a dent in our pantry and fridge.

I know that there are staples that must be kept in the pantry at all times, but I no longer want to look in our pantry and feel that we are a glutinous family.  There are so many who have so much less than we do, and that is not say that our family is going to start living on rice as an act of solidarity.  However, we are going to exercise some moderation.  And use what we have lest it end up in the garbage.  Throwing away food, just seems so wrong to me.

So if you come to our house in the next few weeks, don't be surprised if you are offered some weird unconventional snacks.

The Continuing Plight of the Have-Nots

This afternoon, Rachel met me with tears in her eyes.  Apparently, three girls from her class were going to see Hannah Montana/Myley Cyrus in concert tonight.  Now for those of you living under a rock or without a young girl in your house, Myley Cyrus (real person and daughter of Billy Ray "Achy Breaky Heart" Cyrus) plays the title role on Disney's Hannah Montana (fictional character who is a singer).  Well, apparently both of them are having a concert tour and the ticket are RED HOT!!!

Wherever "they" are playing the tickets have sold out in minutes only to reappear on E-Bay for hundreds of dollars a piece.  I checked E-Bay today just out of curiosity to see if there were still any tickets listed.  There were at an asking price of around $450 each.  Are these people kidding?  The sad part is that they are selling at that price.

Well, apparently the girls of Aquinas 1B didn't even really know what a concert was.  They all thought that the girls with the tickets were going to meet Hannah Montana and hang out with her and her friends from the show.  In fact, Rachel told me that we had to be sure to watch the show tonight because her friends were going to be on it.  When I explained to Rachel what a concert was, she was much less disappointed.  It was much less of a let down when she understood that her friends were just going to be in a huge venue and not on television hanging out with the "most famous girl ever." (How Rachel describes Hannah Montana.)

I was glad that Rachel was satisfied with her lack of concert tickets once she knew what all the fuss was about.  Still, it can be hard to so often be the Have-Not Mom, when she goes to school with oh so many Haves.

We Have Had A Break Through

I think that we have had a break through on the Teddy front.  I have regaled you with tales of Teddy's two hour long crying bouts, which are only brought to an end by my holding him.  Well, as much as I would like to say that it was Mama-love that he craved, apparently it was more like Mama-warmth that he wanted.

For Christmas, Marty bought a truck load of fire wood for me.  I love a good fire and apparently the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.  Yesterday, I turned Teddy's swing towards the fireplace and the child was happy as a lark all afternoon.  As long he was near the warmth of the fire, he was a happy, non-crying baby. I wrote an entire quarter's worth of Nicholas' curriculum yesterday.  Sure he cried some, but it was just when he was hungry, so I got so much work done.

I think this is why we are having so many problems at night.  When Teddy is in the bed with us, warm and snuggly, he sleeps great, but in the crib with no blanket, he is cold and unhappy.  So now what to do?

According to the experts, you can't put a baby in a crib with a blanket until they are about 2 years old.  Also, you aren't supposed to let them get too warm when they sleep because it is a risk factor for SIDS.  So what is a Mama to do?

Until it either warms up or we find another solution, I think we will keep the kid with us.  He is definitely his Mama's baby.  I am wearing my winter pull-over as I write this and no, my computer is not outside.  I just hate, hate, hate to be cold.

Getting Back in the Groove

Well, Christmas and New Years are over.  Tomorrow Rachel heads back to school and Nicholas and I hit the books once more.  I must say, I am glad to be heading back to our regular routine.

The holiday season is a lot of work.  There is the decorating, the baking, the shopping, the wrapping, the planning, ect, ect, ect.  Add on to that a baby who is still not sleeping well (ergo a Mama who is not sleeping well) and all the regular work that goes in to the care and feeding of six people, and that equals a mission impossible: get it all done.

So today, the decorations are coming down.  It is the end of the extra work in my mind.

I would write more, but I have a baby screaming in my ear through the baby monitor.  I must say it is driving me nuts not to be getting sleep...but more on that later.