The answer to the title question of this entry?  Practice, practice, practice.  The idea of repetition begetting success has hit home here recently, and I'm reminded of the old joke in the title.

Since school is now only weeks away, I'm trying (emphasis on that word!) to get the girls slightly more focused on activities they will do in school.  This is coming in more worksheet like form.  K got sheets on circling letters in a poem and putting together puzzles, both of which she handled with no problems.  J actually asked for a worksheet on long division.  I printed one out after I picked myself up from shock.  I also printed one on fractions.  She did the fraction one last night, with a great deal of frustration.  Again, many of the mistakes were just silly errors, and a result of being out of practice with these skills.  She is such a perfectionist--her perfectionist mother wonders where that must come from. 

We'll attempt the long division page tonight, but with a reminder for her about needing to practice.  I think this will hit home if I tie it in to her clarinet.  She recently received her band tryout piece in the mail and again, had some frustration initially with the challenges of the piece.  Last night, she noticed that sections of the music improved because of her practicing.  I plan to make the same correlation with her math problems.

This is one of the problems I've seen in schools lately.  Teachers have a lot of material to cover for the standardized testing, but little time to allow students to practice those skills.  Unfortnately, the students who take longer to master some skills are the ones who end up suffering.  I'm sure there are plenty of teachers out there who are frustrated by this as well.  I wish there was an easy solution.  I know that not all students have parents who will have the time, energy, patience, and education to give their kids extra time to practice their skills, be it in reading, math, or music.  What happens to those kids?  I don't know, and I worry about them. 

In the meantime, we'll keep practicing.  I'm reminded of a saying I heard once about a stonecutter knowing that the stone doesn't break because of the 1000th blow, but because of all of the blows that came before that one.  Practicing is like that too.  Results will come, and sometimes when you least expect it.

We've returned from a quick but relaxing (and much needed) trip to the beach.  The girls were 4 years younger on the last beach trip, which means K had just turned 1.  It's amazing to see how much they've grown and changed in that time.  We've taken a small break from the brain activities I've been so diligently providing this summer, although J had several beach questions that we're going to figure out, such as, "Why are some waves bigger than others?" and "What makes the tide go in and out?"  I also hope to have her do some more cooking later this week.  The beach did remind me of something, too.  In this society that preaches having the newest and latest gadget, I would much rather spend money on experiences instead of things.  The memories are much more worthwhile to me, and to the girls, I hope.  While I know that J is begging for her own cell phone this year, it's nice to just focus on the basics, like riding the waves, building sandcasters, seeing dolphins, and being together as a family. 

To return to the fun of learning in the summer--one of the math puzzles we're trying is called a KenKen puzzle.  I found these at http://www.education.com/worksheets/middle-school/.  There are several puzzles that are in .pdf form, so you can save them to your computer.  There is a range of difficulty in puzzles, and you can download the answers as well.  KenKen means "wisdom squared" in Japanese.  They are a combination of math and sudoku puzzles.  You need to figure out the computation and only use each number in each row and column once.  I think the first one I chose for J to do may have been too difficult, so we may have to back up to a really basic one.  I've also noticed that often she wants my support and guidance for math more, even though I know she knows how to do the problems (sometimes better than I do, depending on the computation!)  I'm embarrassed to admit that I had to do a lot more review for 5th grade math than I expected, and I'm sure 6th grade this year will not be an improvement for me!  Yikes.  I'll report back on our success later in the week.  I also think her need for support goes back to that logic thing I mentioned in earlier posts--she has difficulty following the reasoning of these kinds of things, so it's good practice for her.

K is working on tying shoelaces, which is a hit or miss skill for her right now.  Just to clear the air, we use the "two bunny ears" method.  Go ahead and laugh (my husband does), but that's how I learned.  I truly cannot do it the other way.  We're also making sure she knows our address well, although she has our phone number including the area code down pat.  Last week, she got the final round of immunizations needed to go to kindergarten, and I think she is actually starting to feel ready to go. 

Finally, a reader recommendation for more math practice:  www.ixl.com (see comments on my entry "A Taste of the Orient").  This mom used this site for her 6 and 9 year old children.  You can select your state and it will ask you problems that relate to your state's standards for testing.  You can do a limited amount of practice problems for free, and it does show you the correct answer when your answer is wrong.  The reader who suggested it says she pays $12/month for both children to use the site as registered members, which allows you more access to the features they provide.  I liked that they made the problems like a fast paced quiz show, which kept it interesting and challenging, but still fun. 

I'm already starting to see back to school signs in stores (for crying out loud, I even saw Halloween stuff at one place that will remain nameless!!)  Time is truly flying by for us this summer.  Have fun and keep learning.  Thanks for reading!

I admit it, I am not a math minded person.  I never have been.  Considering that I'm a musician, I've always felt a bit odd that I don't like math more.  After all, the music notation system is all based on fractions.  (My younger students just love it when I tell them that.)  I know that J likes math, but still has her struggles with it, and from what I observe, most of the struggles come from using logic. 

Fortunately, she does like puzzles.  We regularly complete the crossword puzzle in the LancMoms section of the newspaper when it shows up, and she likes Sudoku puzzles.  A few years ago, I acquired her a set of Tangrams.  Tangrams are a set of geometric pieces (five triangles, one square, and one rhomboid) that when placed together, can make certain shapes.  The object is to replicate shapes found in a book or online using all of the "tans" or pieces.  The figures can be random shapes or look like animals or people.  Some of them are REALLY challenging. 

It's a game you can do by yourself or with others.  You can time each other to see how long it takes to figure out the puzzle, or work together.  I found several websites about Tangrams, but this one has lots of free downloads of printables, software, and history of Tangrams, which came from China.  www.tangrams.ca. 

Although I haven't tried it with K, I'm sure even she would like Tangrams.  I know that she would just use the shapes to make her own creations, like she creates her own "words" with Bananagrams.  That's fine.  It's still stretching her mind without her even realizing it, which is my goal with all of these summer activities.

One other small revelation:  J said to me in the car today, "You know, mom, it's not good to be too obsessed with one thing.  If you are, you miss out on a lot of other new experiences."  Wow.  Maybe some days I do get this parent thing right after all.  I'm going to enjoy the moment while it lasts. 

Thanks for reading, and enjoy those little moments.