M is for...

Math.

Why is math scary to so many people?  If you think about it, it would make more sense to be scared of words, than of math.  Words can be tricky, but math is steadfast and absolute.  The only time most people run into trouble is when you mix words and math – remember those story problems?  Logic doesn't enter into fear, though, and math can be mighty scary to me!

Neither of my two older kids had any real issues with math.  Good thing, since their mother is practically phobic about it.  I did fine until junior high – Mr. T, sitting behind his desk with his newspaper, probably dreaming about retirement, wasn’t very helpful for those of us who felt a bit insecure.

Apparently I’m not as dumb about it as I feel; sometimes, the most startling equations just appear in my head, as when I’m working on a building project or planning a major modification in a knitting project.  But then it’s not math, see, it’s building or knitting.

The two youngest kids are having middle-school-math-growing-pains.  Me, too.  One spent the entire first year of middle school in tears over math homework every day.  One said, on more than one occasion, “I don’t need any help; I just don’t know how to do it!”  (What?)  The hardest part is teaching the kids that if they don’t actually learn to solve what is in front of them, they cannot move on to the next step.

So, have I gotten over my fear of math?  No, in fact there are still times when, if I look at a problem in the book or on a worksheet, I feel a bit of anxiety and have to take myself sternly in hand.  After all, if I don’t approach it calmly, none of us will get through it successfully.  We’re fortunate that daughter Carey lives next door, as she has a great talent for teaching math and can stay calm and matter-of-fact when things are a bit tense.  We have more tools available to help, too – Girlie learned how to use her scientific calculator within a couple days and explained it to me, and quite a lot of our school math is available in an interactive online platform.  Very, very helpful.  If all else fails, Google is my trusty friend.  I don’t know what we’re going to do when we get to high school math…

One of my biggest math challenges in knitting was figuring out how to make a large sphere for a ‘balloon ball’.  It’s a fabric sphere with a small hole in one end.  You insert most of a balloon, inflate ‘til it fills up the sphere, tie it off, and tuck the knot into the fabric.  It makes a great, light-weight, indoor-safe play ball and the balloon, protected by the fabric, can last weeks.  To knit one, I had to figure out the rate of increase, how long to knit evenly, and mirrored decreases.  There are plenty of patterns available now for similar items, or even Christmas ornaments that could be enlarged, but I was pretty pleased with myself – I did the math.