Last week, Goober and I were working our way through some Miquon Math pages. On those pages we were working on learning “The Pattern Of….” And she was getting it. I was thrilled. I knew this math program was the best around because she was getting it. I was able to ask her, “What is 7×7?” And she would answer “49″.

Life was grand. I bragged on her one evening to Daddy. I remember telling him previously to that night that I thought she was merely filling out number blanks and didn’t have a clue what she was really doing.  Needless to say, most of my bragging was that she was not doing that, but was actually getting it.

That, I’ve discovered, was  my first mistake. You see the next morning she couldn’t add 7+3, much less multiply 7×3.  I dunno, maybe I’m expecting too much, but after three years of teaching this child math I would hope she could, when asked what 7+3 is, answer “10″ quickly without thinking it over for a few moments.

I spent two days with this type of math.  On the pattern of five and pattern of 10, I told her, “All you really need to do here is count by fives.(tens)” I would ask her “10 times 8 is?” And she would have no clue.

Ai yi yi.

Then we move on to the Prime Numbers. I’ve been out of school for a few million years and I have no recollection at all of learning prime numbers. None. I maintain I never learned them. A teacher/principle friend of mine told me I did learn them, but deemed them unnecessary to life and so disregarded the whole issue.

I read in the teacher’s manual what prime numbers are and how you know if a number is prime or not. So I was ready for her to complete the page. Until I came to number 1. According to her book, one is not a prime number. I was puzzled. “Why isn’t one a prime number?” It seemed to fit the criteria for one, but nope.

I know now. It takes too unique numbers. So while you can take 1×1 and get 1, that doesn’t make it prime. Ahhh. My teacher/principle friend, C, told me this and then told, “Make sure you teach her not to divide by zero.”

Duh! If you have nothing you can’t divide it. C promptly looked at me and said, “So what is zero divided by zero?”

“Uhhh. Zero. Everyone knows if you have none and divide it you still have none.”

“Yeah, but you just divided by zero.”

Our pastor was a math major in college. He has been a teacher, principle and school administrator. I received an email from him today, in response to one about prime numbers. He closed his email with, “don’t you love math!” I replied, “Oh yeah. Math is grand. It’s my non-mathematical  brain that causes problems.”

Today we did not do any math. Tomorrow we will. I have been having Goober spend 15-20 minutes a day reading over her “pattern of…” pages. Out loud. 1×1=1. etc.

Beanie thinks if you have 10 and don’t get any more you have none. She also thinks if have 13 and don’t get any more you have 17. Now I know at not quite 5 she is really just filling out blanks with numbers. But she is kept occupied, enjoys it and thinks she is really doing something (which she is) and maybe just maybe she’ll learn something.

I do not like bugs. Not at all. I am for a bug-free America.  My slogan: Bug Free! The Only Way To Be!!

Our girlies have a few adopted grandparents that live in our area. Its great. One of them called a few days ago with a worm they wanted to pass on to the girlies.

This worm was as big around as my index finger and was bright green.  “Sure.” I told “Grandpa L”, “You can help girlies disect it.”

He turned a bit green and said, “Well I thought they could take it for show and tell.”

Grandma C piped up, “L, they homeschool.”

“Ooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh. You do?”

“Yes, now about that disection…”

and they left me.

I am beginning to wonder what exactly is the point of making my oldest do spelling. On Tuesdays she completes the lesson. On Wednesday (some weeks Thursday) she just copies the words. On Friday she has a test.

Now, according to the book she is supposed to have a “pre-test”. I’ve done those, only to discover there is no need for the actual spelling test.

We are using Spelling workout. We are in the second grade book. I hate to jump ahead to the third grade book because of expense and I’m afraid she’ll miss something in the second grade book. But she doesn’t technically need to complete any part of spelling at all.

Maybe in January we will stop spelling and start Latin.

I find myself looking forward to the day my girlies are in more advanced grammar. I fear I have forgotten much more than I ever remembered.

Right now we are working our way through First Language Lessons and we enjoy it. In fact we enjoy it so much it is hard to stop at the end of lesson. We can’t seem to do just one lesson. When I am spotted with the grammar book, shouts are heard ’round the house, “YAY! Grammar Time!!!”

Today was no small exception. My oldest (7) raced to the bathroom and brought out the “hair pretty” tray and a brush. She made my spot in the center of the couch extra comfy. She has learned I take a lot longer with grammar if she combs my hair and plays “beauty parlor”. On my way to the couch I snag my coffee, because you can’t go anywhere or do anything without a cup of coffee.

I settle in and we learn about state of being verbs and linking verbs. Who knew they were the same? Well they have different rolls but a state of being verb is the same as a linking verb. Okay that still sounds wrong. The state of being verbs are: am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been. (try saying those without saying “bean” for “been”…I’ve yet to accomplish that.) The linking verbs are: am, is, are, was, were. See? The same.

To help show the girlies how linking verbs operate we made paper chains. On the first chain we put a pronoun, next we put a linking verb, next we put an adjective. We then glued the strips together in the form of a chain.

I think they liked it.

That is both of them with their paper chains.

That is Goober (my oldest) with her paper chain. It says “She is artsy-fartsy”. And no, I didn’t help her spell it.

That is Beanie (my youngest…4). Her paper chain says “I am cute.”