The Why
Simon, who is 11, isn't doing particularly well in math. The other night, we sat at the kitchen table to work on the multiplying and subtracting of mixed numerals, and what I discovered upon looking closely at his test was that Simon actually does understand fractions, for the most part. So when I say he's not doing well in math, this means, actually, that Simon is not slowing down enough to do well in math. The theories he's got down, for the most part. The motivation to do well, he does not. We reviewed the concepts, and then I stressed the importance of taking the time needed to do a good job. We talked about why grades are important, as faulty a system as that may be, and why he needs to try to get those grades up. And then I brought up diabetes. Diabetes is the elephant in every room, even though the type 1 diabetic himself was elsewhere in the house. A calculator there, test strip here, vials in the frig. With diabetes, I told Simon, we do much the same kinds of math...
I find this oddly soothing.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I've been trying to convince Theo to let me put the flower above the kitchen sink--I'm sort of addicted.
ReplyDeleteOh, hi! I finally got the whole Google+ linked to Blogger thing happening, so I can possibly be less of lurker here. It was a pain to post or comment before. Maybe easier now. Who knows. We'll see. Anyway, just wanted to let you know I'm still out here--cute video!--and even occasionally reading.
ReplyDeleteOh, good! I noticed they streamlined the commenting--even for me. And just so you know, your blog doesn't help its readers either--I've tried multiple times to get email notifications of your (and other WordPress users') posts, and it just won't. Glad you figured out Google+, which is a mystery to me. And glad to see you on facebook, too.
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