14 February 2011

Love and Math

I posted the following on Facebook this morning:
‎♥ ♥ ♥
...another gift homeschooling has given me: I love Valentine's Day again. I had the energy to do something nice for my own kids instead of coming up with 100+ cheapie valentines for them to give their classmates.
♥ ♥ ♥
It's true. Early this morning, I got up and cut out five big red and pink construction paper hearts. I wrote little love notes to each of my kids, attached a small box of chocolates and a small box of conversation hearts to each one, and put them on the dining room table.

I did not spend a minute of the past weekend helping five kids produce 20-30 valentines each for their classmates. I did not waste a bit of money on cheaply made crap. I did not have to purchase a single Disney product or participate in cross-promoting the latest drivel passing for children's entertainment. I did not waste an ounce of energy trying to convince two pre-teen boys to write the names of their friends on each card. I did not have to walk the pre-schooler and the 1st grader through spelling 20+ different names. I did not have to check and re-check five different class lists to make sure we remembered everyone. I didn't have to worry about having enough or about the littlest kid absconding with already labeled Valentines, hiding under a table and scribbling all over them with a sharpie.

Now, mid-morning, it's raining, and we have a fire in the fireplace. Daddy took the girls out for the morning, and the boys are sitting at the dining room table with their math tutor, learning pre-algebra from someone other than me, and I am sitting at the kitchen table, drinking tea and blogging.

My boys are laughing and chatting with their tutor. About math. I am listening to him (the tutor) tell them they are math geniuses and to them shouting out answers and questions. I am watching their experience of math transform before my very eyes.

Life and Valentine's Day are good.

Vincenzo made this dish at art class recently, and we pressed it into service today.


Construction paper + a black sharpie + some nice words + sugar = love.


With all of this love and math in the air, I may just run away with the math tutor.

* * *

4 comments:

Teacher Mommy said...

Hehehe. As long as it's to some sunny beach somewhere.

Oh wait. You HAVE sun where you live.

*grumble*

Now I really don't feel bad about making you wait until Friday for the rest of the story. :D

Kerri said...

so you are not jealous that I got up at 0 dark 30 today to lovingly cookie cut 40 heart shaped brownies from the pan for the classes? It goes so well with the morning coffee. lucky for me, Leah's class has only 10 kids in it. that's, like, 2 alatorre families!
Happy valentine's day to you, the math tutor and the rest of the family.

Homemaker Man said...

Very nice. Happy Valentine's day.

Kristin said...

Tee Hee. I love your humor. I made cookies for everyone--and I am no baker. (It's usually enough for me to make dinner.) It feels so freeing to do something because you want to, not because you think you have to.

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