You Do the Math

Jillian is in 5th grade and has math homework on most nights. I am perfectly capable of helping her with her math homework, but I admit it does sometimes take me a minute. It's hard to remember what numerators and denominators are. I haven't memorized the equations she's asked to perform (they aren't listed on the worksheet), and I don't know how to do some of the new-fangled things she's asked to do, like make an array to solve a multi-digit multiplication problem. That's why I married Kyle, of course. But Kyle and Jillian don't get along so well while doing homework, so my brain gets a little workout.

Jillian just took a test to see if she can skip 6th grade math and go straight into 7th grade pre-algebra next year. I can't decide if I want her to pass, because I remember liking pre-algebra, or if I want her to stay in 6th grade math to prolong the moment when I have to honestly say "I don't know how to do that." You see, Kyle is Math Man, but I haven't taken math since my junior year of high school. I barely even got to trigonometry. I never took pre-calc or calculus. I'm practically a math dropout. Although, in my defense, I haven't exactly needed math. Not once in my adult life have I had to figure out the volume of a pyramid or solve a complicated algebra problem. Not once. Give me science, social studies, history, English, current events, anything else, but I'll leave the math to Kyle. Maybe I'll take a few online courses and brush up on my weak skills. Or maybe I'll just ask for a second copy of Jillian's worksheets.

Other things "by the numbers" this week:

Number of times (per day) that Kara says "my legs don't work anymore. I can't walk.": 5
Number of naps Kate takes per day: 2
Number of hours it took me to weed my front flower bed: 3
Number of miles I ran last week: 27
Number of naps I took: 4 (It was a good week for naps!)
Number of times I almost got flashed by weirdos while running: 1
Number of days my children go to school this week: 4
Number of pounds I hope to lose by July: 5
Number of peanut M&Ms I ate in one day: 47 (approximately)