I really feel for her. The only time I absolutely lost it at school was in eighth grade and we were doing word problems in Algebra. I couldn’t get it to save my life. I ended up sobbing in the girls’ bathroom for an hour. It was a very frustrating time.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any suggestions to help out. The only thing that got me through it was my very very patient mother not giving up on me.

<i> Let x equal the number of apples… aurrrgh!

I’m right there with you (and I think Emily is right there with Annie).  I’ve noticed to that the frustration gets in the way (hers, not mine ).

Do you ever wonder if they are pushing them too hard nowadays?  I don’t remember anything like they are teaching from my 3rd grade memories. 

Emily had a moment the other night where she finally “got” it.  It was fleeting, but I’m hoping that it was enough to give her a little confidence boost.

Good luck you two!

Actually, I think we may have had it too easy. I devoured school before college, and was never trained to do homework. That caused a bit of a hiccup when I started college.

The good news is that I think Annie has got it now, or at least is very close. All the way to school I gave her word problems to do, and although at first I thought it was going to be too frustrating, by the time we got to town, she had it. By the time we parked, we were talking about what multiplication meant. By the time we reached the classroom, she was multiplying small integers.

She was very proud of herself, and wanted the other kids to hear her doing this. It took the wind out of her sails a little when a little boy excitedly started ripping off the answers without having to add. The boy wanted me to give him some division problems, and he got those, too. I thought I’d trip him up a bit when I gave him ‘five divided by two.’ His face screwed up in concentration, and I started to apologize. Before I could, he yelled out, “two and a half!”

Yeah, they can do it…