1+1 is 2, 2+2 is four

also know as the inchworm song. I'm fond of my math for living but last night I got a review on basic addition and subtraction.

It was the mate's birthday yesterday. I asked the nice sis make a cake because I couldn't sneak one under his nose and I left my card and gift for him with my Mom, who called to ask him out to breakfast so he would be all, like, "She didn't get me anything for my birthday!" and I would be all, like, "SURPRISE! Did so!"

It was all just to try to surprise him a little, make it fun. I only got him a book and a movie with a card but I loved the card! So did he! Yay, me!

So all that is going on and the Mom has had this HUNT going on in my tiny town. She went on a field trip with her (foster, step, borrowed, adopted, spare, stray) extra kid, we will call her Kitten, that she calls her granddaughter (long story there) about a month ago. One of the girls in her group was a hyper A.D.D, autistic, ramalama ding dong, jammin' a mile a minute kid who was jealous that Kitten had a nice grama and she didn't. Then the mom told her she wasn't really Kitten's grama and she could be her grama, too and made a friend for life.

Come to find out the kid moved to our town. How convienient! So Mom looked all over for her and finally found her - right across the street. She told her, we will call her Minx, told Minx that on Tuesday's she was at her daughter's house for bible study and that she would look her up to visit. Then she does! And brings her back over. (This was actually my suggestion, the place is a suspected, alleged dope house).

So there we sit, the mate upstairs, where he hides from the chatter every Tuesday, killing monsters on the computer, Sis, the ex teacher/home schooler at the table to my left, Mom the senior ranking female, to my right and me, dead center of them both with one little kid at the far right corner of the table and a page of math problems in front of her.

This is just asking for it. Sis has several ways she teaches math, none of which involve fingers. She was dyslexic, as is Minx, and knows what worked with her. Then she went on to teach in a parochial school and developed several more ways to make learning numbers easy.

I liked math, was not dyslexic and know several ways to do math I taught myself because the book ways were too long. Mom taught us both..LOL!

The poor kid! In school they had been teaching some kind of finger math, not the Chisan-Bop I was playing with a while ago, but something similar. And she was getting it enough to work the additions but the subtractions were trickier for her.

The sis started right in showing her how to look at a problem and work it out using her brain. I saw the kid was smart enough to use one of my tricks, looking for the reverse of a problem to find the answer in her addition problems, and Mom was trying to keep the paper neat and get her to write her name on it. This was in sequence, with humor and all at once sometimes, because of poor timing.

When she doesn't get it, the Minx hits her head with her hand like she can knock the answer in or out or the noise in or out. So we all STOP helping her and talk quietly to ourselves about other things and then she taps mom on the arm.

"Help, please!" Mom helps. We go back to talking, she taps Mom again and we all know that the minute she isn't the center of attention she is agitating for it but when she is the center of attention it's too much imput and she can't thing straight.

Quite a cute conundrum. She managed to finish her math and went on to read a chaper from a book to us. It was a small book and a short chapter but she got through it with phonics and a little verbal nudging from all of us.

Mom walked her home and Sis and I looked at each other. Whew! When mom gets back she says the Minx said, "See ya next Tuesday!" Hoo Boy! Three teachers and one poor, over taught student.

Next week I will let her romp with the dogs to chill her out a little before we start and see if that lets her slow down to concentrate a little better!

We had the surprise cake and ice cream, the kids called to wish the mate the happy birthday words and a good time was had by all.

I'm drawing up my lesson plan now. So is sis. So is Mom.