Follow Up
Thu Oct 25 2007

As a follow-up to yesterday's entry questioning how old was too old to go trick-or-treating, I should confess that I went trick-or-treating when I was 19 and 20.

Of course, I was away from home in college, and there was a slight twist put onto it. We called it trick-or-drinking, and took a shot glass with us and went door-to-door through the dorms. I don't remember too much from those nights, I always woke up in my bed (thankfully alone) the following mornings with a headache the size of the moon. This gave me the impression that I visited a LOT of rooms the night before.

Definitely not the same as trick-or-treating for my kids! These, and other experiences at college have pursuaded me to keep my kids home for college rather than letting them stay in the dorms. OK, the cost of having them stay in the dorms also has contributed to this choice, but that's another story altogether.

In other news....

#2 is medicated now, so I'm hoping to start seeing an improvement on his focus on his lessons.

He and #1 had been complaining about my having them re-do Algebra, so Hubby and I made a deal with them. I would give them the diagnostic test for this course, and if they could pass it with a 70% or higher, we would skip the rest of the book and go onto the Algebra II book.

It was a 40 question test, covering all 9 chapters in the book. #2 finally came to me after completing only 12 of the questions, admitting that he didn't know enough to finish the test (having only gotten 5 of the 12 questions he did correctly). #1 finished the test in just under 2 hours, but only got 6 of the 40 questions correct. Needless to say, we will be continuing with this book.

Sometimes you just have to demonstrate to kids why you're doing things a certain way. Yes, they may have both already taken Algebra, but obviously they didn't learn or remember enough from the class to advance onto the next level of math.

7 Comments
  • From:
    TxSweets (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Oct 25 2007
    I absolutely have NOT heard of this... but if you get any info, please be nice and pass it along to me! :)

    Enjoy the rest of your day.
  • From:
    Pragmatist (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Oct 25 2007
    My #1 girl has no math sense, no sense of the logic of math, and it's a struggle getting her to argue with me when I dispute her solution to a problem. Any advice here?

    As for your boys, you were clever. They proved to themselves what they had to do, and you can smile to yourself!

    As for blogging for $$, if there's anything to it, I'm game! Will be watching for replies to you.


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  • From:
    Cpthereturn (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Oct 25 2007
    I sympathise with the boys over algebra, as I could never get my head around it myself. But give me statistics...

    It sounds like its working just fine at the moment (I use that sentence with care!)
  • From:
    DancingButterfly (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Oct 25 2007
    Bookworm here at DD has her own blog that earns her money. Check out her diary, there's a link to it.
  • From:
    DancingButterfly (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Oct 25 2007
    P.S. I wonder if parents are being hypocrites if they ban their kids from doing things they used to do themselves?
    Please don't take it personally, it's just a generalisation that I cast on the general population. Especially as I'm getting older (34 now) and I start hearing adults talk about things they did but not in front of their children who are in bed or elsewhere.
    If my kids ask me if I drank, yes, if I smoked cigarettes, yes, and if I tried grass, yes, but nothing else.
    I think education is important, if they have the facts, they have to make that decision for themselves, and I hope they'll come to me if things go wrong.
    I guess because of the parents I've had, I'm a little different.
    I don't think a lot of other parents will like me because I'll be the sort of mother that will have the parties at home in the basement, where I can help if things get out of hand, and I'll be the mother that hands out condoms, and if my kids smoke, not to hide it from me, they can smoke outside, but I won't buy cigarettes for them.
    I hate it when parents say 'I'll kill you if you do (insert deed)'. I want to say, 'I hope this doesn't happen to you, but if it does, talk to me and we'll work something out'.
    Sorry for the long comment, probably something I should've said in my own diary :)
    I am glad #2 is medicated and that the boys aren't bucking your system anymore.
  • From:
    Pragmatist (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Oct 25 2007
    Yeah, hindsight. Too bad we can't get it quicker. How pleasant it is to get things under control, and how much better the kid must be feeling!!!


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  • From:
    Pragmatist (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Oct 25 2007
    Would like to respond to DancingButterfly, but I'm not on her friends list.

    She sounds like the mother I tried to be. Deal honestly with your kids, and they don't feel they have to sneak around. Be there, fully, when they need you. And above all, BE HONEST! That's what we demand from them.


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