Reason # 444: Going With the Creative Flow

I LOVE not having to start the day by telling everyone to hurry up because we need to get out the door at a certain time, being fed, looking presentable, and taking with us all the necessary items to get good marks.

Despite my desire to have us practicing Chinese by 8:30 in the morning, the kids, since the weather has turned cold, seem to need some extra sleep. Or maybe it's just me.... so we're going with it. And having let go of starting the day on a directed learning activity note, I've found the kids naturally get off on a creative foot, if given the chance.

Yesterday my 5 year old and I were snuggling and I asked her what she dreamed about. She launched into this fabulous story about a little fairy that came home in her pocket and saved the land from the Snow Queen. It was so darling, I typed it up for her and sent it to all the folks she loves before I even got out of bed.

This morning when I got up, I found my oldest working on an article for the local homeschooling newsletter, so after helping him with a few ideas, I came downstairs to find my girls happily playing. "Mom!" they announced. "We're playing doughnuts!" They had found two shoe boxes and filled them with their socks which they had rolled like various pastries. (Girls with appetites after their mother's heart.)

What is the value of playing doughnuts? I'm not sure. But I can't help but revel in the sweet creativity and imagination that drives dreams and doughnut games alike.

Field Tripping in Northern Utah

After reading my previous post about bad homeschooling days, you may wonder why I would want to even homeschool, let alone TAKE my children anywhere. Maybe YOU aren't wondering that. Maybe I am. Don't you get sick of days when everyone is fighting, and for ridiculous reasons? Like accidentally being smacked with a baggie of carrots.... Why are we swinging baggies of carrots around, anyway? And can it really hurt so bad the neighbors across the street are wondering if they should call 911?

Yes, sometimes I'm tempted to run away. If you are having one of those days, take your kiddos with you, and hit an adventurous learning opportunity in your running! It CAN* be just the thing to get everyone out of their funk. *NOT guaranteed to be just the thing, and if the field trip fails, I'm sorry. And you can cry on my shoulder! :)

Anyway, below are a few fun destinations in the Weber County area. Many of these are so fun, and so close together I'm thinking a good stay-cation is in order! A few of them are quite handy for killing time or pulling off the road while you wait for traffic to clear, so keep them in mind for all sorts of emergencies!

Destination: Hill Aerospace Museum (right off I-15 near Roy)

The airplane of the Candy Bomber!

Time: Tuesdays through Saturdays, 9am - 4:30pm
Cost: FREE
Review: I've had this museum in my sights for years, namely because we've driven past it on our way to Salt Lake for years, and as a homeschooling field tripper, I can't help but feel a little guilty passing somewhere year after year without checking it out. So finally we did! And WOW! A natural hit for me for the cost (free!) and lack of crowds on a Friday afternoon. AND I have a little guy who LOVES airplanes, and this museum is FULL of them. The kids were bummed they couldn't actually climb into any of the planes, but you can get up close and personal with the planes both inside and out. Aside from general airplane interest, it's a great place to learn more about the Cold War, women pilots, prisoners of war in Vietnam, or the beloved Candy Bomber of WW2, Gail Halvorsen. The other thing I loved about this museum, that we didn't utilize this time around, was the Air Force Veteran Volunteers. We went completely unprepared with specific questions or curiosities. But we found quite a few volunteers available who seemed friendly enough I wished we were able to pause and glean their wisdom and experience. It's nice to know where to find great, living resources who are willing to share! We were there for almost 2 hours and barely laid eyes on it all! Due to an event at the museum that evening, we completely missed the flight simulation corner, which the family we were with raved about. But in general, Fridays are the best time for a random group of homeschoolers to catch it open. (Otherwise you can pre-arrange for it to be available for groups Tuesdays through Thursdays.) We also didn't utilize the photo treasure hunt on the desk near the entrance. I have loved such resources to maintain interest and keep us learning and moving through museums. I don't know if we learned a ton, but movement was NOT a problem. Seriously, so much to see we could go back another 3 or 4 times and still find new things we hadn't noticed before.

Destination: Catholic Monastery
Time: A great trip for the summer or fall
Cost: FREE
Review: Did you know we have a Catholic Monastery in our very own backyard? My kids were shocked to learn this, and excited to check it out after we'd learned a bit from history about some of the roles played by the Catholic church and of monasteries. I've mentioned the disaster of our field trip to the Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity in a previous post, but that was due to MY kids having an off day. What should be said about this destination is this: It's a perfect day trip for the fall when the leaves are turning. It was a GORGEOUS ride there. And the town of Huntsville was darling and called to me to come play, relax, and enjoy the reservoir in the summer. As for the Monastery itself, there isn't much to see. The bookstore is small. If it had been manned by a monk, we may have enjoyed a visit, but a volunteer from the community was there and very occupied with another patron. Otherwise, we timed our visit just right and were able to catch a prayer period at 12:15. It lasted for only 10 minutes, which was 5 minutes too long for a 2 year old, but just right for a 5 year old. If I had older kids I would try to catch the evening Vespers at 5:30. Perhaps because we saw a minor prayer period, or maybe simply because there are not many monks left at the monastery (11 total, I think, at the time of our visit which is greatly diminished from the monastery's glory days), there was only a few monks who prayed Sext. So it's not Sound of Music in any way, shape, or form. But if you go with simple expectations, you will likely find it interesting enough.

Destination: Dinosaur Park
Time: We've had great luck in the off-season late spring and early fall
Cost: Homeschool Rate of $3/person!
Review: My kids, in breaking with the norm as I suppose, aren't that into dinosaurs. Not one of them. Not yet. So it's significant that they love this park. And who wouldn't? The dinos on display are in full color (rather than just the bones) posed around outside, so there is a sense of discovery as you find them hidden behind trees or tucked away into some bushes. AND there are sound effects to boot. The museum also offers "Field Books," to pull the less engaged through the displays to learn. The books are darling, free, and you get a treat for filling them out. Pre-readers will LOVE the playground. Heck, everyone in my group loved the playground. Give yourself at least a couple of hours, and bring food so you can linger and relax, while you enjoy all there is to take in. Rock and gem/geology enthusiasts will love the displays inside upstairs. MY kids preferred the fun holograms and Jurassic Park-like animatronics display found there too. If you leave wanting more, however, you should consider a family membership to the Ogden Nature Center - so keep reading!

Destination: Ogden Nature Center (right off I-15 on Ogden's 12th St. exit)
Time: We loved it in the early fall, closes at 5 on weekdays and 4 on Saturday, is closed on major holidays
Cost: Adults $4; children ages 2-11 are $2
Review: We passed the Ogden Nature Center on our way to the Dinosaur Park. Once again, that homeschool guilt kicked in: how could we just drive past a learning and exploration opportunity? So I made a mental note to return and check it out. Glad we did. First, it seemed pretty reasonably priced, and it felt like we had the place to ourselves. (As you've already gathered, I LOVE it when places meet these criteria.) My kids loved seeing the birds of prey and the walk-in eagle nest. We loved the observation tower and full size teepee. A trip to the bear den raised a bunch of questions and curiosity about bears, and I LOVE questions because they lead to more learning. We were in a time crunch, sadly, so we didn't make it to the tree house, which was most highly recommended by a five year old regular we visited with as we were entering. And speaking of walking in, the bird houses on the way to the entrance sparked fun discussion and imagination. We were there in early fall, but it seemed like a fun place to revisit throughout the year to note the seasonal changes. And the BEST part of getting a family membership to the Ogden Nature Center, aside from going back all year long, is that it's membership INCLUDES the Dinosaur Park Mondays through Fridays, but costs $15 less than the Dinosaur Park's family membership. SCORE! (Also included is Tracy Aviary on the first Thursday of each month, and another museum in downtown Ogden which we have yet to hit.)

Destination: Treehouse Museum
Time: Important to note that during the school year, this museum closes at 3pm on Mondays
Cost: Children 1-12 are $6, 13+ are $5
Review: I confess that for this review, I'm drawing on my memory of this museum from a few years back. I believe it was one of the wisemen who gave us the gift of a family membership to this museum for a year, and we loved it! The slogan for Treehouse Museum is "Step into a story," and that is just what the exhibits invite you to do. It is a fabulous museum for kids who like to explore and pretend. That being so, my 10 year old was almost too old to enjoy it when we went back for a random visit after our membership had expired. (Almost. Not totally.) But for the 8 and younger crowd, it's a solid hit. I loved the cultural themed exhibits. What is cooler than stepping into a mini Mongolian yurt!? My kids gravitated to the dress-ups and stage with an Arthurian theme. Doll lovers would love the extensive doll exhibit. My littler people could play with the trains for hours. And the huge tree? Well, we could climb and explore that forever too. We were there often enough to get to enjoy some of the storytimes and other live presentations, which were big hits. This museum is almost always busy, and I definitely think the crowds cause it to lose it's charm. (Not a surprise.) So pick a solid school day, and you could even call ahead to confirm there aren't any field trip groups scheduled for the day you chose. There is NOT a lot of measurable learning to be done (though we love the imaginative sort), so for me, the cost doesn't deliver an educational bang for one's buck. But the kids will have a blast, so find a day that you can spend AT LEAST 3 hours there, and enjoy yourself. It's pretty much right across from the Ogden temple, so if you are LDS, go with a friend, and you can take turns watching the kids while the other mom hits a session! (The link above is actually to the discounts page of the website. Go there to get $1 off/person admission for visiting the site!)

An Attention-Getting Pumpkin Dessert

Honestly, I'm not a pumpkin cookie fan. I like a nice pumpkin bar with cream cheese frosting, but that's not too far from cake, which isn't my thing. And I like pumpkin pie, but once I discovered freshly baked pie, I'd take a berry pie over pumpkin pie any day. What's a gal to do during pumpkin season? Well, try THIS fabulous recipe which gets rave reviews each time I serve it to guests. Of course, it's easy as pie - in fact even easier - or it wouldn't get MY thumbs up! So for your eating (and cooking) enjoyment....

Fabulous Pumpkin Dessert

1 large can of pumpkin
6 eggs
scant 2 cups sugar
6 tsp pumpkin pie spice
scant 2 cans of evaporated milk

Blend the above with hand-held mixer 'til smooth and pour into greased 10x15 cake pan. Then, one at a time, dump/pour/sprinkle on top:

1 package of yellow cake mix (yep, just the mix, unmade - the recipe calls for "golden vanilla" but I never have that on hand)
1 1/2 c. walnuts chopped
1 cube melted butter.

Pop all that in the oven and bake at 350 for 50 to 60 minutes or until browning and set in the middle. Cool slightly and serve warm with cool whip.

No tie in to homeschooling this time. Just plain yumminess!

Bad Hair and Homeschooling Days

Nothing is more discouraging than thinking YOU are the only one who can't pull something off, whether it's gorgeous hair or those magical homeschooling days when everything comes together and you feel you've met the needs of each of your children.

When it comes to hair, I had a great mantra that helped me. (Past tense, because now I'm a mom my hair is almost always pulled up and out of the way, and on the rare occasion I make an effort to do anything fancy, the effort is good enough, right?) But back in the days when hair and make-up mattered, I would remember EVERYONE has bad hair days, and then I would say to myself:

The best part about BEING beautiful is that you don't have to LOOK beautiful all the time.

Well, I can't think of ANYTHING so snappy and helpful for homeschooling. On those days that have been filled with the ridiculous bickering of little siblings, somehow "The best part about BEING a loving family is that you don't have to ACT like a loving family all the time," just doesn't work! Ha! Nor does, "The best part about BEING a pulled-together mom is that I don't have to pull it together ALL the time." If you have a saying that does work, please share it in the comments below.

In my last post, I DID mention how helpful it is to let go of unrealistic expectations of daily glory. Even the payed professionals at the public schools have off days. When we were kids in school, we probably didn't know that was what was going on - why the lunch room "duty" was so grumpy about us being quiet while we ate one day, or why on another day we watched a random film - but when we look back as adults, we realize the ups and downs, for even the "schoolers" and their educators, are a part of life.

So, as I'm all out of sound-bite wisdom, I thought I'd share my own, recent homeschooling bad hair day. I hope you find the same comfort in it as we all feel looking at the pictures of movie stars without their hair and make-up done.

I decided suddenly this past Thursday morning to take my kids on an adventure. We had had plans filling the morning, but within the space of a few hours the day before, they were all cancelled (or so I thought) so I decided we should squeeze in another field trip. Destination: the Monastery in Huntsville, UT.

It turns out, we weren't the free birds I thought we were. I completely spaced my son's tennis lesson - didn't remember that I had spaced it 'til that evening. But it gets worse than me dropping balls, because honestly, I do THAT on a somewhat frequent basis.

We headed out, me in high spirits, dampened occasionally by some of the bickering I mentioned earlier, and bouts of UN-helpfulness on the part of my kids, but I was determined to press on. I was sure once we got going, things would smooth out. I had filled the car with what snack food we had, which was far from a meal, but it WAS food my kids would eat, and hungry kids on the road are the worst, I'd already discovered from other failed homeschool adventures.

The drive was gorgeous. The Monastery, which I'll review elsewhere, wasn't engaging for the crew, so we took the opportunity to eat some of the food we'd brought while we waited for a chanting session. While eating, my 5 year old kept shouting at the rest of us if we were sitting many yards from her instead of by her side. I kept trying to adjust her volume for the meditative atmosphere around us. And the big three kept attempting to "share" their corn chips by handing each other leaves from the grass, which led to more bickering and frustration. Finally, I declared our make-shift picnic over and put the food back in the car. 

We then approached the church. I reminded the crew that inside was a sacred space and that we needed to be quiet and respectful. But inside my 2 year old (age appropriately) just wanted to go places visitors were not allowed, and my 5 year old, though whispering now, could wake the dead with her whisper. I finally just snapped at her, "STOP talking."

The chanting only went for 10 minutes, but my little guy only made it through 5. So I left the big three inside and walked out right in the middle, trying with one hand to clamp his mouth shut.

Once that ended, there wasn't much else to see or do, so we decided to explore the local town. All the while my kids were probably wondering when the fun would begin. That wondering probably made them anxious, which translated into impatience and griping. We got out of the car near the "town center" to snap a few pictures. The kids kept wanting to run and climb on stuff that wasn't appropriate. I kept trying to engage them with stuff they COULD do, but I didn't find a lot. Finally we discovered an open restaurant and I told them I'd get them a snack.

After I'd ordered, I went to pay and discovered I had no money, nor check book, nor cards in my purse. I apologized and took the 5-bight sample I'd already been handed to the table where my children were not-so-quietly waiting. I told them I didn't have any money and we needed to go. They voiced their complaints, which didn't make for a very graceful or swift exit, and then outside proceeded to yell at each other that they didn't get very much of the sample I told them they could share. As if one of them expected to have even a mouthful. 

Well, I had hit my limit of resistance. And lacking the funds to make anything more meaningful happen, I loaded them into the car to head home. I was just grateful we had enough gas and enough food to make the return trip comfortably. But my gratitude was NOT shared by my kids. They started protesting all their wants and demands. I tried explaining again that we didn't have ANY money and I wanted to be sure we had enough gas to get home. Then my 8 year old, from the back of the car starts wailing that this was the worst field trip ever!

My 8 yr. old's posture says it all!

Well, I had had it with their lack of cooperation and gratitude so I pulled the car over and shouted back to her that if she wanted the worst field trip ever, she had got it and that we wouldn't move from that spot 'til she pulled it together. The sorry's were slow and begrudged. Finally, my 5 year old, who is generally a pretty perceptive thanker told me thanks for taking her on this trip. The older kids managed to dry their tears and thank me too. So we went on our way and came strait home.

OUT of the frustration of the moment, it was pretty big of them to thank me. It MAY have been the worst field trip ever. But it was a trip. I DID try. I probably need to end this post and thank THEM for thanking me for the failed attempt at adventures in learning. I made an effort, and they also made an effort to be content with the less-than-stellar. In the end, all our efforts were less than they might be. But I guess we can learn from that too!

The Crushing Weight of Lofty Expectations

Maybe if I start a blog post at 9:50 at night, I'll stop eating peanut M&M's....

On Monday, I had been listening to two moms with new babies talk about their stresses - regular homeschooling moms in the thick of raising kids and providing an education for them on top of it. As so many point out, we homeschoolers are an "ambitious" bunch. Well, we are. These moms were no exception, with grand visions of pulling it all off. A few hours of school, one on one time with each child, enriching activities and field trips and extras for everyone depending on their talents and interests, AND healthy food (preferably home grown and canned), AND a clean house, and nursing babies with eco-friendly cloth diapers too. (Okay, they didn't talk about cloth diapers. That's mine for dramatic effect.)

As I listened to the stress they were feeling, I sensed they felt they were failing, and those feelings reflect a host of worries. After all, we often set such lofty expectations for ourselves because we're worried "What if we don't." What if we don't keep up with the pacing of standardized classes? What if we don't teach discipline and structure? While we're worried about that, we may simultaneously worry that our structure is killing the joy and discovery of the learning process. What if one focus might misplace or delay another? And perhaps more than anything, seeing the fabulous potential of a child, what if our actions or lack there of, permanently harm that potential/curiosity/inner drive?

The result of such stress was two maxed out mothers who didn't seem to be having much fun. I wanted to hold the two baby boys for them and tell them to let go, shake all the worries and doubts from their shoulders, figuratively and physically, tell them that they are doing great and important things and that it WILL be hard to do it all AND change diapers, AND NURSE, AND not sleep through the night, but that they don't have to do it all RIGHT NOW.

Such wisdom, right? Well the very next day I was struggling through my own teaching experience, in dance class.

I had a rough class this past week. NOT the fault of my little dancers. They are adorable, good kids, and there is actually great potential in the class too. But that's what got me.

I was thinking about how great they were, how they could do great things if they wanted it and worked hard, and IF they had good help along the way. That would be my part. So I started to stress. Was I helping them enough? Was I helping them so much we lost the fun? Was I emphasizing the right stuff? I feared I was going too slow. I'm pretty sure in the standard classes for dancers their age, the students are learning more steps. I feared I was bogging everyone down in trying to make sure the steps, and all that goes into them is done correctly WITH a correct knowledge of the how and not just dumb luck. I felt torn between teaching more steps and teaching good technique.

Sadly, I think this inner battle was felt by my sweet little dancers. Probably not in any way they could put their fingers on. But our last class was off, and I knew it, and I think they knew it too. I don't remember how the light bulb went on, but I thought of those stressed homeschooling moms and saw them in my ballet teacher self.

I set about taking my own unspoken advice and began to mentally tear down and shake off my crushing expectations. Instead of expecting my students to be as good as or better than their peers, I can expect that I will instruct them to the best of my ability every time we are together and work on exactly what each dancer needs to know to progress. Perhaps most importantly I can detach my ego and identity as a ballet instructor from their dancing. Making the mental shift actually isn't all that difficult. Who cares that what we are working on is different than what might be covered if they were in a standard class? Who cares that they might know fewer steps than their peers? (In fact, the steps DO hardly matter. If you dance well, you can learn steps quickly and prestigious schools and companies will be happy to teach you. If you dance poorly, lots of steps don't make it better.)

Now my challenge will be to remember this shifted focus....

Isn't that a challenge for all of us? How often to our lofty expectations kill relationships? How often are our expectations born from fears of judgement or a desire to feel better about ourselves, our teaching, or our experiences?

Thankfully I had already begun the practice of shedding such burdens. I have learned to expect of my children that we will learn to clean. I don't expect to have a clean home for more than a few minutes at a time. I expect to continue to instruct them many times on good manners and getting along with family members - I don't expect to say, "No fighting with your sister" once and have that be the end of it. And when it comes to school, I expect that I will help my children learn, and more importantly, learn to learn on a regular basis. But I don't expect that each day we will have fabulously planned lessons, or that they will be ahead of their peers at each benchmark.

After shaking off the crushing ballet expectations, I'm excited to get back to my ballet class this week. An expectation that the magic will be back and that we will all have a great time? Yes, I suppose it is. Seems I can't help setting expectations. And I don't think all expectations are wrong or bad. But I'm recommitting to examine which expectations serve me, or help me serve others, and which are just heavy burdens that kill the joy, and rid myself of those. As I tell myself from time to time while wildly waving my arms, injured-ballerina-swan style, "Flap it off, Steff." Join me in the flapping.

Silver Linings on Sick Days

My little guy has a mild stomach flu. And I have a cold. Which isn't so bad.

When I was a mom of just one child, that child happened to love to snuggle and nap with me. I thought I'd get to enjoy the life of cuddly afternoon naps for all my years of having little ones around. But my second stopped napping before she could walk. And my third, very maturely, wanted to be left alone to sleep. (I didn't know children like that existed. So it came as quite a shock when she settled down and went to sleep once I finally figured out to leave her alone.)

And mostly with my last, he's been like my second, whom he looks nearly exactly like.

But yesterday he and I were under the weather. When he woke up from his rare nap, I was feeling just ready to catch a few winks myself. I invited him to join me, and low and behold, he rested right at my side until both our eyes closed and we were out!

What a rare moment to enjoy, before I dozed off and after I woke up! It took me back to how much I secretly loved when his big sister, generally active and head-strong, would get a little bug and be mild and cuddly. Ah, the strange moments we mothers cherish.

Anyway, getting to be so close for those moments to an otherwise very busy little guy reminded me of the one quote I loved in the article I've been ranting about ever since I read it. (Your can read my direct rants, and link to the article here.) But the quote on the interviewed homeschooling mom's wall says, "When your children are in your arms, they are no longer under foot."

I love this quote! It's so true. And as much as we may sometimes feel the time we give up to be with our kids is so long or great, it flies so quickly, and with some children, time flies even more swiftly than with others. I'm glad I have sick days to remember to cherish my little ones always!

Math Mysteries

Like many homeschoolers, I started the journey envisioning me as the teacher, teaching the things and ways actual school teachers taught to my students, or well behaved children, who would learn everything I "taught" as eagerly as they listened to stories. After all, I was their mother, so I could love them and teach them at the same time, and I knew what eager learning looked like for each of them. School would be school, but a simple extension of our lives and relationships.

As it turned out, my son was not all that eager to sing the ABC song while I pointed to the alphabet I had so faithfully posted in our "school room." When, one day his younger cousin sang the Leap Frog Letter Factory song and knew all the letters AND their sounds - a feat my faithful drilling with my boy had not accomplished - I decided short cuts were acceptable. We ditched my school methods, bought Letter Factory, and after a few times of watching, without quizzing or prodding, my son knew his letters and their sounds too.

Check. Our kindergarten instruction was coming right along. Now for math.

Again, I dutifully purchased flash cards with the numbers AND illustration of how many the numbers were. I found flash cards I thought might seem exciting to him - ones with Super Heroes and Sesame Street characters on them. But he wasn't engaged. He was wiggly. He didn't want to sit in our school room and do flash cards with his mom. To my shame, this annoyed me and I probably communicated that annoyance. "C'mon!" I'm sure I said to him, "We are only working on 5 numbers. This was the same as it was the last time we went through it. Can't you remember 5 numbers?"

Well, it didn't seem that he could, and I noticed that I wasn't acting towards him like the loving mother I wanted to be. So I gave myself permission to wait a bit, and told myself we'd try again later.

We did. He had made some progress without instruction from me. Somewhere he picked up which numbers were which, so we advanced to addition. And hit a wall, again. Why could he not remember that 2 + 2 = 4. Every time. Without counting. It just was what it was. And WAS it so hard to remember? It seemed to be.

By this time, and as a blessing to my ego, he was reading a bit ahead of grade level, so again, I told myself math could wait. I read somewhere kids struggled with abstraction 'til they were about 8 years old. I told myself maybe 2 + 2 was an abstraction (despite my attempts to teach it first in the real world) and we'd try again later.

When he was 8 (or 9) we got around to math again. At that time, a friend had told me about Khan Academy, so I pulled it up and sat him down in front of the computer for some instruction on addition. He was pretty excited about having work to do on the computer. He liked the smiley faces he got when he got an answer right. He seemed happy enough that I thought I'd just leave him to his work. He learned how to pull up Khan on his own and did a bit of "math" everyday. When I checked back in with him, he'd moved from addition, through subtraction, and onto addition and subtraction of bigger numbers. This was a few days, maybe a few weeks later.

Whoa! We'd begun math at kindergarten level. For some reason I assumed it would take him the equivalent of one year to master what the kindergarteners learn. Not only had he learned it in less than a month, but he'd learned it almost entirely on his own AND was enjoying his newly acquired skill.

This experience taught me a few things. First, what and how they teach in schools is not always the best or most important approach for each child. It taught me that much of what kids learn in school when they are young, they might learn OUT of school if given the time and space and freedom. And I learned that so much of the rote repetition in math, but also in English, can be skipped if kids can start later and learn what interests them or when they find a use for it.

Recently, a friend shared the following link about these phenomena in math studies. I want to share it on my blog because it's what I've come to believe from my own experience. I don't plan to do a two month cram session of math (what the article suggests is all it can take) in the future and not touch it 'til my kids beg. In part because my children, in fact, already NEED math in their lives, and beginning now, I can help them master the tools they'd like to use. And partly because I, myself, can never focus on any one thing much past 3 hours, so any plan that requires 6 hours of focus a day on one things sounds like too much... for ME. So we do math, now. For fun. For practice.

But if you or yours are struggling with math, NOT feeling like it IS fun or enjoying the practice, consider waiting. Waiting might not only bless your relationship with your child, but it also may bless his or her relationship with math!