If I had to take the math courses that are required to graduate from high school now, I would have been a drop-out. We won’t even mention college. Instead, I was raised in a kinder, gentler time that accepted I was a right-brained wonder and had graduation plans at both levels of education that allowed me to by-pass all those nasty sines and quotients and still give my parents the thrill of seeing me in a mortar board and gown. Three times!
In case you are wondering how I managed that, it was simple: four years of high school Spanish and three years in college (plus advanced placement credit) was an accepted substitute for advanced math and science. And by advanced, I mean anything past Algebra 1 and Geometry.
Obviously, this wasn’t a great educational plan since I can’t speak Spanish today, but at the time, I was hablo-ing like a native. At least, that is what I convinced my parents.
I tell you all this so you will understand why I told the little elementary school where I am now a Title 1 Tutor that I was not prepared to do math at all on any level. Just glancing at the grandson’s homework over the years was almost enough to cause me to mail back my diplomas.Without stuttering, I told them this in plain and simple English when they were hiring me. Everyone, especially me, understood that I was going to tutor reading and vocabulary.
After all I went through to get approved to tutor, the first week I was ready the school was having some sort of testing and the little sweeties wouldn’t have been able to come let me enlighten them on how to take the next round of testing. Finally, after almost six weeks of rigamarole to get there, I was asked to come in this last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Except there was no school Friday. Oh, and then something else was happening Wednesday, so how about just Thursday?
New badge proudly around my neck, I arrived at 8 a.m. to learn they had assigned me to, (you saw this coming didn’t you?) three grades of math -third, fourth, and fifth – plus a science class.
Oh, and next week there is more testing so I can’t go back to tutor until April. They agreed to get the answer keys ready to all the math questions that I am supposed to use to help the kids prepare by then. Like having the answer key is going to help. In my old math books, the answers were in the back and I still couldn’t work the problems.
The only saving grace to this situation is that the school has mostly a Hispanic population. Maybe before this is all over I can brush up on my rusty Spanish.
Writes of Passage 
I absolutely loved this!!! Gifted writer!!
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