I may be smarter than a fifth grader, but I’m definitely not smarter than a sixth grader. Maybe I can get a refund for all those years I spent in school.
My son came home with this math problem tonight and asked me for help. I looked at it, scratched my head a few times, and talked it through with him…talking things through with him is a secret weapon I employ when I don’t know the answer. Usually once I get him talking, he comes to the correct conclusion himself. Not this time. The problem had something to do with pie. Apple pie or cherry pie? That’s what I wanted to know.
I simply couldn’t remember how to work the equation, so I sent him to ask his father. FringeMan said, “I haven’t looked at a problem like this in thirty years. I have no idea how to do it.”
Ya, we definitely need a refund on that education, but it also tell me I was on to something in the tenth grade. I was certain I would never use the math I was learning, and so far, I’m right.
Hope my math teacher isn’t reading.
I only wish the teachers would photocopy the page with the instructions on it. That would help so much. If I can just get an explanation or see one problem solved, I can figure it out, but no luck.
I was never good at math anyhoo.
My son wants me to tell you a little story, not a math story. He thinks it’s funny. Me, not so much. FringeMan thinks it’s even less funny than I do.
We get no less than a thousand random papers coming home from school everyday. Public schools teach environmentalism starting in Kindergarten, but they kill more trees than all the loggers in Maine. True story. For the record, I’m not against logging. Loggers are very conscious of their surroundings. They live off the land; they love the land. They have lots of rules about where and how much they can take from a forest, so I believe little of the radical environmental propaganda that’s always spouted every time someone gets a hold of a microphone.
Anyway.
The other day my daughter brought home a pile of papers and I realized they were having a meeting for parents in the school library on Tuesday night. I was going and I planned on dragging FringeMan along, because I’m social. I like to do things in groups. I never outgrew my teenage years when I traveled in a pack.
I made dinner early. FringeMan came home early.
Just as we were about to walk out the door, I ran to get the paper to double-check the time. I’m famous for mixing up times, but I was 99.99% certain the meeting began at 6pm.
I was right. It was 6pm, but the meeting was last Tuesday. Ugh. It’s not even like the time I chicken danced my way into the slow-cooker. My daughter never gave me the paper on time. She was a week late.
So that’s my story. Not funny unless you’re twelve and my son, but I did think this was funny.
Source: google.com via Ryan on Pinterest
Have you had any mix-ups lately?
And do tell, how often do you use equations with pie, or maybe that’s pi? 
I love the construction sign, although I don’t think it would make me laugh if I were actually driving (or creeping) past it. This year in homeschooling I’ve had one son in pre-algebra, another son in algebra one, and a third son that finished up algebra two and then took on trigonometry. I’ve actually done some logarithims, but I think that was when some math ghost took over my body. I got by on the premise of x always equals five, and I’m sure that will do for my boys as well.
We is homeschooled.
Math and I have reached an agreement to leave each other alone. And my daughter is doing long division. As for mix ups? the most memorable was when I mixed up the day for her best friend’s birthday party. Ugh. And it definitely wasn’t the last… It’s nice to hear from others as mixed up!!
I am not a math person, and I, too, have wished the teacher would photocopy the directions. I have been known to Google many different math terms (and I bookmarked them because I am afraid it is only going to get worse!)
I haven’t been able to help with the math for years now. That’s my dear hubby’s department. I get the English and sometimes History and Science. Sometimes I read their stuff and it’s like, how in the world are they supposed to get this when I’m 54 and I have no idea what it’s saying!?! When that happens, again, is just pass it on to dear hubby! He’s a brainiac and more importantly, he’s a sweetheart!
It’s kinda funny, but I use pi on an almost daily basis! I use it with my crochet to figure out when I stop making increase rounds so my hats have the right circumference and will fit.
Oh how much I love this – I once got the actual year wrong, so you and your fringies are doing very well. You are sooooo funny!
Mix ups? Yeah, a few. Our school system has half days the first Thursday of every month. One Thursday my husband and I watched a line of school busses drive by our home. We commented on all those busses being out at an odd time of day, then we left for a trip to our local mall. A short time later my cell phone rang. It was the principal at our children’s school asking if someone was coming to pick up our children; it was a half day. My husband and I took off at a dead run for our car and our kids. A short time later we skidded to a stop in front of the school. A cab pulled up up at the same time and our part-time babysitter hopped out. Apparently the principal had called her too. All 3 of us converged on the main office to pick up the children.
I was never any good at math either. When my boys were younger, I sent them to my smart neighbor! We still laugh about that. And mix-up’s…lots of them! Most recently, I am doing a Bible study with a couple of ladies from church. We meet on Saturday mornings – usually. We had to skip a week…but I skipped two on my calendar. I wasn’t prepared for their arrival last week. Ooppss…