Are you a Rushin' Maniac?

     There are times in my kids' lives when I turn and look at them and with a snicker and a 'hey, I'm doing the robot' dance move, I say:  "I'm a rushin' maniac".  (Say it fast and with a bad Russian accent and you will delight...your kids?  No, probably just yourself..oh well.)  Back to the point, are you BUSIER than you had ever imagined possible, feel sucked dry of any leftover energy stored from your busy weekend, did you imagine when you were a child that life could fit so much STUFF into it and yet there is still soooo much to do (stop staring at me laundry!)?

     Oh, and on top of everything you do, make sure that your kids not only smell good, wear clean clothes, have polite manners (don't ever put me on the spot in front of your friends because the answer will always be 'no'!), choose good friends, care about the earth, fight crime, stand up to bullies, be able to do a slam dunk, not pick their noses in public and yes, be on the honor roll.  

     What is a parent to do?  About the honor roll thingy...the rest will figure itself out, right?  

     I have three kids.  Junior high boy -12 yrs old.  Elementary school girl- 9 years old.  Baby girl - 1 year old.  With the two school age kids I have noticed that there is a lot of conceptual math and english work that focuses on making sure my kids understand the method behind the math madness.  And this is so very important, but what about the math facts we used to drill into ourselves in elementary school hoping that we would be one of the last kids standing in the times test face off against the opposing fourth grade class?  I used to go home and practice by myself just to make sure I wouldn't be one of the first kids sent to sit down back at my desk.  Why aren't my kids that hyped up about math drills?

     Last year, my daughter's third grade teacher signed her up for a math drill website, but there still wasn't much accountability or interest from my daughter.  I thought of how I try so hard to find educational aides to help accelerate and improve not just my kids understanding of math concepts but their ability to spew out easy math facts faster than they can tell me the words to a top 40 pop song.  Is that a crime?  I'm sure the kiddos sometimes feel that it is because I have resorted to dun dun dun...flash cards.


  The next post will be my introduction into the wide, wonderful world of flash cards in the 21st century.