Math Skillz....not.

My gifting is not Math Skillz.

It has been very difficult to live in a house with a bunch-o-braniacs.  Then, my daughter has the odacity to marry one, so, there is one more to add to the bunch-o-brainiacs...

A couple of weeks ago, I was out shopping with Mikayla (Sherry) and Jamie (Nearing-Horie) :)

We found a deal on sweaters.  Buy one, get one 50% off.  Jamie had found a sweater and so did I.  Mine was $38 and hers $28.

Do you think I could do the math to figure out what the deal was?  Neither could Jamie....so I didn't feel so bad.  We asked for help and got ALL kinds of different answers. 

Jamie said, We should get a math work book.  I know she said WE to be polite, really I think she meant, Kim seriously, you should be able to do this math.... (toe tapping....)  I am kidding Jamie...

So after about a week of indecision, I decided to go get a book.  I know exactly where my math skills went so terribly wrong.  It was about grade 4.  So I thought, considering life skills, I should be about Grade 8--oh, I was so wrong.

I picked up the Grade 8 work book--there were letters in the book.  I put the book down.  Fast.  English and Math should never mix.

I picked up the Grade 7 book...nothing looked remotely familiar.

So, I picked up the Grade 6 book and decided--I had better start there.  So I did.  I can tell you it has been a struggle.  It has been frustrating.  I am now 8 units in and the "basics" are coming back to me, my multiplication tables, and such.

I still think subraction is part of "the curse."  Thanks a lot Eve. 

Back in Grade 4, my teacher decided that he would "push" us a little he started doing timed math drills.  I could do the math, but it would take me a long time to get the solution.  Timed drills hated me.

Then, the teacher put up a graph with our scores with coloured stickers to represent the totals.  I never got a sticker, ever. 

I remember the feeling vividly--he would hand out the papers and I would get a lump in my throat, the tears would start....I would start to sweat.  I would try figuring out the equations before the timer would start.  All my attempts were in vain, I could just never get past the block I had. 

As the years went on, there were components I would understand and then there were the basics that would escape me.

In Grade 7 we were divided into 2 groups.  The smart math kids and the dumb math kids.  I remember thinking this would royally suck, because the kids in my class I could call on for help were gone.  I was now one of the "smart dumb kids."  Again, humiliation is not a way to learn.

Grade 8 was a completely dismal, my life at home had unravelled and my school life was just as horrendous, they say you need to show up to school to actually be taught, but I can remember my last day of Grade 8 in Frank Hurt Junior Senior Secondary-I was dressed in a strapless dress my mother wore in Hawaii, I had green runners on--I was a disaster, the teasing was too much, I walked out of Frank Hurt vowing I would never return.

The truth is, I have heard this over and over again from my own generation, how the school system failed them.  I agree, it sucked, but I know this: it's up to me to improve who I am.  Even more so, as a Christian, I am called to improve myself on a daily basis.

So, the math book--it goes along with my mantra of improving who I am. 

Along those lines, I have re-joined weight watchers, to lose the pounds I have gained through treatment, to have a small group and to meet some people in the city.

As well, I started re-memorizing scripture that I have internalized but have forgotten along the way.  The first one is in--II Timopthy 3:16 and 17

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful in teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the son of Man will be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Booyah.