Why Change Math?

I don't understand the new way kids are supposed to do math. What's wrong with the way we were taught 30 years ago? Teachers tell my kids to not let me teach them how to multiply and divide (I'll be honest, that makes me angry). Apparently my method is ineffective now and they get it marked wrong if they use my simple method. Erin took one look at this test review of Nathan's and scrunched up her face and said why is this so complicated now? So at least I'm not alone in my thinking.

Maybe this is part of the Core Curriculum stuff that has been talked about so much lately on the news and has parents and teachers hating it. But supposedly Nebraska is one of only a few states that hasn't adopted it. So who knows. Nathan missed the day they learned division because he was at HAL and the teacher never taught him how to do it. So he may be forced to do my method and then get it wrong because it doesn't have a million steps. I also don't like how the kids have to explain how they get their answers and write down all the steps. What about the kids that do math accurately on their heads? Isn't getting the right answer proof enough that they understand it?  When I discussed this with Eric, he showed me this paper on reddit:

Eric and Nathan Engineering

Nathan recently attended a HAL (High Ability Learner) seminar about flying. They had a guest speaker that talked to the kids about the different kinds of engines and how they functioned. Nathan loved the seminar and has been talking about it ever since. It's all over my head but I try my best to listen. He told me that he seemed like the only one in the class that seemed interested and that understood it.

I told him that he's really smart with that kind of stuff just like Eric and that we think he'd make a great engineer. He got really excited when I told him that Eric is thinking about majoring in engineering too. He told me, "Mom, Eric and I can open a company together and call it 'Eric and Nathan Engineering.'"

I thought for sure he'd say Nathan and Eric Engineering but he put his big brother's name first. That would be really cool to see them work together.

The two of them are really cute. Eric loves sitting next to Nate during Sacrament meeting and playing games on paper the whole time. I had to finally put an end to that but it is cute to see them bonding.

Nathan talking about the seminar so much reminds me of Erin when she was in the early elementary years. She loved history and so when she'd get home from school, I swear she would repeat word for word the history lesson in school that day. She would go on for 20 or 30 minutes. It was really cute. Now I ask her about her day and I get a one word answer- "fine." Boy do I miss those days when she was talkative.


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Second Funeral

I attended a funeral today for a girl in Erin's grade that committed suicide. I attended one last year when Erin was in 8th grade. My heart is broken for these girls and their families. Erin knows how hard I took the last one so she didn't even want to tell me that she knew this one. She ran with her in PE last semester. Both girls appeared to be happy girls. As a mother, there isn't anything more frightening than thinking about outliving your children.

As I try to make sense of this all, I keep thinking about the hymn found on page 220. It is a favorite of mine. We sing it often in FHE. Verse 2 has special meaning.

Lord, I Would Follow Thee
1. Savior, may I learn to love thee,
Walk the path that thou hast shown, Pause to help and lift another, Finding strength beyond my own. Savior, may I learn to love thee— Lord, I would follow thee.
2. Who am I to judge another
When I walk imperfectly?
In the quiet heart is hidden
Sorrow that the eye can’t see.
Who am I to judge another?
Lord, I would follow thee.
3. I would be my brother’s keeper;
I would learn the healer’s art.
To the wounded and the weary
I would show a gentle heart.
I would be my brother’s keeper—
Lord, I would follow thee.
4. Savior, may I love my brother
As I know thou lovest me,
Find in thee my strength, my beacon, For thy servant I would be.
Savior, may I love my brother—
Lord, I would follow thee.



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A quilt for Grandma

I ordered the fabric for this quilt online. It was actually a lot brighter than I thought it would be. But I put some nice soft minky fabric on the back so hopefully that tones it down a little. A fabric store told me not to put batting in it if I use minky, so I didn't. But I wish I hadn't listened. Online, lots of people say one way or the other on the batting. It is a very light quilt without the batting and it was more difficult to hand bind. So for next time, I will use batting unless it's for a baby blanket. I think it makes a great baby blanket without the batting.

Happy birthday Grandma Bay!

My next project (when I save up enough money for the fabric) will be twin size quilts for the twins. I picked out the pattern (an Americana quilt) after seeing the ones my friend made for all four of her boys. I think they will be perfect for the boys. I already made them quilts but they aren't twin size so they are a bit too small for their beds and they get cold especially with Nebraska winters.

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1st and 5th in Pinewood Derby and Some Life Lessons

Zach's car in the lead

We FINALLY had the pinewood derby last night.  I know it's probably only been a month or two since we were given the cars to work on, but it feels like 6 months ago.  Mario and those boys worked so hard on the cars.  I was so tired of hearing the drill as they used it to sand down the axels.

There were 31 boys competing.  We have four wards that meet together for cubs and we don't have a track.  The district has a nice one that has four lanes and is connected to a computer program that records the time for each car.  So in reality, you are not competing against the other cars.  You are racing one time in each of the four lanes. The computer adds up your four times, divides by 4 and then whoever has the fastest overall time wins first place.  It is a very fair way to do the pinewood derby.  I have seen it done many ways (having competed in 4 different wards) and this is definitely the most fair way to do it that I have seen.

That's all well and good until the computer has a glitch and every car that comes in fourth place automatically gets 15 seconds recorded for their time.  They tried for 45 minutes to fix the glitch and when that didn't work, they came up with an alternative system.  They had each boy race four times in a row, once in each lane.  If they won, they got 4 points.  The loser got 1 point.  The car that got the most points at the end would be the winner.  Well, there were 5 cars that got first place each time it raced.  Nathan and Zach were both in the top 5.  Those 5 cars would race each other to determine the winners.

On the very first race of the tiebreaker, Zach's car was accidentally dropped four feet from the track to the ground by a volunteer helping.  When Mario picked up the car, the wheel was bent.  What a disappointment!  They had spent HOURS getting those wheels perfect.

Needless to say, Zach's car was so longer able to compete properly with the other four cars.  Nate took first place and Zach took fifth.  Nathan will get to compete at the district level in April so he's really excited.  There were some tears and I feel bad because the unfortunate accident took a little away from the excitement of Nathan winning.  The thing that bothered Zach most was that the volunteer didn't even apologize for the accident.

If you remember from a past blog post, the whole purpose of putting so much time and effort into these cars was to beat the Webber boy (Bishop's son).  Turns out that the Bishop decided to teach Ethan a lesson in responsibility this year.   He kept asking Ethan if he wanted to work on his car.  Ethan kept declining until the last minute.  So the car was basically just thrown together this year.  So he was no competition at all.  Turns out the boy that came in 3rd place behind the Webber boys last year (they had two sons competing last year but one turned 11 so was no longer able to compete) worked really hard on his car this year to beat the Webbers also.  He came in 2nd to Nate.  So I guess, all that hard work paid off to beat him too.

It was time for a talk about how life isn't fair.  Zach was having a hard time getting over the loss.  When I sat down on his bed to comfort him and talk to him about how life isn't fair, he reminded me that I hadn't told him a story that I promised to tell him.  I wanted to wait until basketball season was over and so this was the perfect story and opportunity.

There was a little boy named Shane on the boys' basketball team.  His father was one of the assistant coaches.  One day, Shane's mother took Shane to practice instead because the dad needed to get some sleep for work the next day.  So it gave me an hour to talk to Shane's mom.  The story she told me broke my heart.  She told me that the assistant coach wasn't Shane's biological father.  Her first husband (Shane's father) had been killed in war.   I asked her how she was notified of his death.  That is where the story gets worse.  The military showed up at the hospital to notify her just a few hours after she had given birth to Shane.  Her husband, Shane's father, had been killed the same day she gave birth.  I started tearing up as she told me this story.

As I told Zach this story, I could tell that he was starting to realize an unfortunate pinewood derby accident was truly just a small thing.  I think he also learned another important lesson.  It is important that when you hurt someone else, intentionally or by mistake or accident, it is important to simply say you are sorry.  Those words would have done a lot to comfort him last night.

My New Favorite Blogs

I do find time for blogs that aren't about quilting.   I have recently come across these two new ones.  I can't get enough of them.  They are such inspirational women.  One was featured on Dateline because her husband was murdered after having an affair.  The other two blogs are from the woman known as the Tattooed Mormon.  I love how they are both so honest in all their thoughts.  Al Fox Carraway also has a Facebook page where she puts up inspirational messages.  It's hard to believe she has only been a member for a few short years.


http://www.themomentswestand.com/

http://alfoxshead.blogspot.com/

http://waysofthecarraways.blogspot.com/

Basketball Pictures

Our lives have revolved around basketball practices and games the last few months.  It was a lot of fun to go to all the kids' games. Unfortunately, I had to miss a few due to conflicting schedules.  But I attended most of them.

I am so proud of Erin for going out for her freshman team.  I know it took a lot of courage for her to play.  She hasn't played much basketball throughout her childhood, so she had a lot to learn.  But she did great.  She also played on the church basketball team where she was the best one on the team.  So she scored lot of points and the coach had to several times remind her to pass to her teammates because they would be killing the other team.  Erin didn't like passing much because more often than not, when she passed, they would miss the ball.   She liked school ball but she loved church ball.   She was number 15 on both teams.

Eric played church ball.  His team went undefeated so they got to play the Stake leaders for the tournament.  Unfortunately, those "old men" beat them in that game.  But he had a lot of fun playing.

Nate and Zach played in the community league.  I think they were the only 4th graders on their team while the rest were 3rd graders.  They won about half and lost half.  Zach was the team leader and scored a majority of their points.  Nathan got really good at free throws and by the end of the season, he gained enough confidence to dribble the ball down the court for layups.  He made 2 baskets in each of the last two games.  So he finished strong.

I am going to miss all those Saturday basketball games, but I will not miss all the weeknight practices, especially now with Mario leaving for a couple months.

New Sewing Machine

So excited to have my machine back. They finished in just 5 days, instead of the 10 they originally told me. But when I got up to the store to pick it up, I noticed they had a used machine that was one step above mine with a better walking foot, buttonhole foot, light, and auto needle threader (I'm only getting older and my eyesight getting worse.)
So they let me trade mine in for the full price I paid last year to get that one. I really want the one with the stitch regulator but that would cost me an additional $1100. So I can't justify such a luxury. At least this one has the same shape as my other machine so it fits my sewing table perfectly. Now I'm back to quilting (between March Madness games). All of our brackets are busted since there were so many upsets like Duke. I thought for sure Jabari Parker would lead them to at least the final 4. O'well at least Florida Gators are still in it. I think everyone in the family has chosen them to win the whole thing. Keeping our fingers crossed.

Pros and Cons of Puerto Rico

We found out that ROTC really wants Mario for Puerto Rico. It's requires a Spanish speaking Lt. Colonel. Apparently there aren't any that are available to take the job. So they are trying to get a waiver for Mario to leave Omaha a year early.

We were so excited about the job last weekend, but then we were told no and I came up with a million reasons why it was better we don't go. But now that it may still be an option, Mario and I had a lot of fasting and praying to do to see if we even wanted to ask for the waiver.

We made this pros and cons list this morning.  Then we went to the Temple to seek guidance. I had just sat down in my seat when I was overcome by the Spirit. I felt such love from Heavenly Father and His reassurance He was pleased with us. I felt that His answer was "Yes, you can apply for the job." I'm not sure I felt a conformation that we would get it. But that was ok. I know that whatever happens will be for our good.

If we do go to Puerto Rico, we will miss having a Temple so close. What a blessing it has been to live within 30 minutes of a Temple. We have become quite spoiled.

Disappointment

Wow, I have had a lot of disappointment in the last two days.  The first disappointment came yesterday when I was happily quilting along and my needle broke on my sewing machine.  No problem, I have spare needles.  But after changing out the needle, the new needle wouldn't pick up the bobbin thread.  I did everything I could think of to get it to work again.  I finally called the shop and they told me to bring it in.  I asked what that would entail (meaning how much was it going to cost me to get it fixed.) Since I bought it only 6 months ago, there would be no charge to fix it.  But, it is a 10 day wait to get it back because apparently everyone in town decided it was the right time to have their machines serviced for the year.  Oh my, how could I possible go 10 days without my sewing machine?!  I guess I can now get my dining room back to looking like a dining room  instead of a sewing room for 10 days.  My family will be happy.

The second and biggest disappointment is that we will not be able to move to Puerto Rico this summer. On Friday, Mario received an email from his old boss asking if he would be willing to take his place as ROTC commander this summer.  We aren't scheduled to move for another year and weren't looking to anyway since this will be Eric's senior year.  But Eric was actually excited about moving to Puerto Rico and so with his blessing, Mario applied for the job.  He would have gotten it, but he is in a joint job here in Omaha and apparently they won't let people out of joint jobs early very easily.  In fact, he was told never.  So, with the exception of Erin (who I think is secretly disappointed), the rest of us are so sad.  We had gotten our hopes up and were convinced we would be able to move.   But, the Air Force has some crazy policies and so for now, we have to give up on our dream to live in Puerto Rico where the temperature hardly dips below 70.  That sounds like heaven after Omaha winters.

But we have done a lot of praying and apparently Heavenly Father doesn't think this is the right move for us, because we know that if it was, policies would be waived.  So we will just put our trust in Him and look forward to our assignment with much anticipation next summer.

In the meantime, I will get my sewing machine back in 10 days and then I will relax and try not to dream about the tropics while I work on several quilt projects that I have planned.  I will also enjoy the spring weather that is coming any day now (hopefully!)

Military Rollercoaster

So Mario has a couple dream jobs in the military.  One would be a Spanish instructor at the Academy in Colorado.  The second would be ROTC commander at a university.  He's begged for the Spanish instructor job and even told his commander he was willing to give up the chance for Colonel if they gave it to him.  He was denied because the military knew it would be a career ender.  So we moved to Omaha.

Now it's time to look for a new assignment.  As a Lt. Colonel, he is eligible to be  an ROTC commander. If he wants any chance at Colonel, (he's recently stated that he's glad he didn't close any doors to making Colonel, thanks to my advice) he needs a command job.  That would leave ROTC or Communications command.  He hates Comm and didn't really want to go that route.  He has dual career fields, the other being Regional Affairs Strategist.  Both career fields have to approve his next assignment.  RAS told him they wouldn't support him going ROTC because he is due to go back to RAS assignment after Omaha.  They would only release him to be Communications commander.  He prayed about it and went to the Temple and decided he would apply for Comm command if that meant he would be closer to making Colonel.  But later he was having major second thoughts.

When he saw an opportunity for RAS to send him to the academy, he decided he would give up on Colonel to have his dream job.  He really just wants to make sure he is around for the family.  It is a pivotal time for our children as Erin graduates from that assignment and the twins will be working towards Eagle scout.  He called RAS and said, "Ok, I will take the academy job."  The RAS guy told Mario that it wasn't an option.  It was a mistake on the slideshow Mario had seen previously.  I guess the assignment guy softened his heart and told Mario he would release him to be ROTC commander. Mario had been praying a lot for him to change his mind.

So now we are back on track to apply for ROTC.  The list of schools becomes available this summer. So hopefully Mario will get picked up to be a commander.  He has a good record so I think he will. We are hoping to stay in Omaha so we can lessen the hardships on our children.  But when the list comes out, we will let Erin choose her top 5 places to move if we have to move.   No guarantee they will give us anything on our wishlist though.

Mario has a lot of faith.  He has spent the last couple weeks getting his hair (two haircuts in a 8 days) and uniform in order to take a very professional picture for his ROTC application.  I honestly thought he was wasting his time on this picture because I didn't think RAS would release him to do ROTC. Obviously I need more faith.

Yale Letter

We have been getting lots of mail and emails from colleges around the country since last June when Eric took the ACT for the first time.  He did great, but he just retook it and bumped his score 2 more points.  Now we are getting letters from even more competitive colleges.

Wow! I can't believe my son's name is actually on Yale letterhead. I didn't even know that Yale recruits. But we (I say "we" because whenever Eric does well in school, I take partial credit and say "We did really well on that math test" etc, it drives him crazy so it encourages me to do it more) got this letter from them today. I can't even imagine getting accepted to Yale and I know it takes a lot more than good test scores (and a lot of money) to get in. Mario and I would choose BYU if given the choice for him anyway. From what I've been told, BYU is highly selective as well but a whole lot cheaper.  

I've hired a private tutor to help Eric achieve his goal score on the ACT.  We'll see if she is able to help. So far he's been happy with her and thinks that he will be better prepared for the next one in April.  I'm crossing my fingers.