Common Core and Why I'm going Gray...

The math problem:

There are 90 fingers and 58 legs in a park. How many people and how many dogs are in the park?

Fairly easily we figure out there are 9 people, making Calvin use his ding dang arrow language since they don't know division yet. When I say fairly easily...I mean not as easy if I could just divide 90 by 10, instead we have to do something like this:

So from there I'm trying to help Calvin figure out how many dogs are in the park.

Me: Calvin, so first we need to figure out how many of those 58 legs are human legs. If there are 9 people how many human legs are in the park? (Again, no multiplying allowed).
Calvin: 90
Me: No. There are NINE PEOPLE who each have how many legs???
Calvin: 9
Me: No, how many legs does one person have?
Calvin: 2
Me: Good, now how many legs does 9 people have?
Calvin holds up his fingers and starts counting: One, two, one, two, one two...
Me (frustration rising): Uh, hold up what are you doing?  You are trying to count one, two nine times on your fingers??? Calvin, if there are 9 people and they each have 2 legs...oh nevermind, just do 9 plus 9.
Calvin: oh ok
Me: So what's 9 plus 9?
Calvin:18
Me: Great! So now we have to figure out how many dog legs, so what do we do?
Calvin: I don't know I don't get it.
Me:  Well there are 18 human legs and a total of 58 legs, so what would you do?
Calvin: I don't know this is too hard.
Me: Well if we subtract 18 from 58 do you think we would know how many dog legs?
Calvin: Yes (But you know that yes means  nothing to him, he's just trying to get through the problem as I am at this point).
Me: Ok so what is 58 minus 18
Calvin: 72
Me: MINUS--I SAID MINUS.
Calvin: Oh, uhmm 52
Me: Calvin...um ok lets do your tree language thing (yet another method of core curriculum). How can we break up 18.
Calvin: huh?
Me: Show me on paper, do your tree thing and break up 18. (He really likes tree language, and at least understands this one. He proceeds to show me that 18 can break up into 10 and 8.
Me: Ok great so what's 58 minus 10?
Calvin: 47
ME: 58 MINUS TEN!
Calvin: ohhh 48
Me: ok, what is 48 minus 8?
Calvin: 52

I then excuse myself to bang my head into the wall.

Me: 48 MINUS EEEEIGGGHT...48 MINUS EIGHT!
Calvin: Takes his fingers and says...58,57,56..
Me: "Stop what are you doing and why are you starting with 58?FFFFOOOURTY EIGHT MINUS EIGHT
Calvin: oh 40
Me: Ok, so we now know there are 40 dog legs. So, how many legs does each dog have?
Calvin: 40
Me: Calvin, each dog does not have 40 legs, how many legs does a dog have?
Calvin: oh 4.
Me: Good, so if each dog has 4 legs, how can we know how many dogs there are?
Calvin: I don't get it.

I have left again to bang my head into another wall.

Me: Ok there are 40 legs left, each dog has 4 legs, using your arrow language since nobody wants to teach you multiplication or division and have you do dumb math problems like this...how can you solve this.
Calvin: I don't know.
Me: Ok just do the arrow thing and start with 40 and subtract 4 over and over again till you get to 0.
Calvin: I don't get it...

And here is what the entire problems looks like vs. how we used to do it.

Zandertine

I had to throw this in there, because its so Z. She loves to blow her nose. She spotted the kleenex and then I got about 45 shots of her blowing her nose.

Calvin's Valentine Box

 

At the class party, sporting the cool shades Mrs. Moos got him.

Sick Valentine's

The whole family has taken turns being sick this week, with Z and I getting the tail end starting on Friday night, best Valentine's ever! Z started throwing up first, and I about an hour after. Good times, good times. My favorite moment, was when I was holding her as she is puking in a bucket and then thinking she is done I set it down. She starts puking again, so I quickly grab the bucket again (a little too quick) and it splatters fresh puke across both of our faces. She wasn't a fan, but quit frankly neither was I.  Thankfully she is super sweet and easy to love. She spent the entire weekend only wanting to be cuddled by mom, and watch Barney's for hours on end. Loved the cuddling, but Barney got old real fast!

And this cute boy kept busy by building this!

St. Patrick's Day

Calvin: Mom, when is St. Patrick's Day?
Me: In like a month.
Calvin: Oh, good I can't wait! That's when I get real gold!
Me: (panicked) Real gold?! I just don't remember that tradition.

Calvin then shows, me a gold coin from preschool (totally plastic) and the gold painted rocks he dug up from my mom's sandbox (Jill genius plan). He is saving them to sell for money one day.

Mine!

Calvin has been so busy with his Legos over the break. He is rebuilding all his old Ninjago sets. We had all his Legos organized by colors in different sacks, but we are close to the end, he just has a few things left to build. Along the way its been a challenge trying to keep Z away from the Legos, of course she wants in on the action too.  As we are building, we have come across some missing pieces, so I have been having Calvin circle the missing pieces in the catalog so I can order them.

It's Sunday morning and only Zander is up right now. She is playing at her little desk and I hear her open it
then she gets down off the chair and comes to me and holds out her hand and says, "Mine."

"Mine."

I can see a flash of what appears to be Legos.

I say, "Zander let me see."

She shakes her head no and pulls her hand away and says, "Mine."

Finally, after going back and forth she lets me see and sure enough, little girl has been hoarding Calvin's Legos in her desk. How they learn to be a stinker at such a young age is beyond me, but dang being a stinker at that age is super cute.

The Epitome of Calvin and Z's relationship...

This boy adores his sister...unfortunately, she doesn't quite feel the same way about him.

Reasons you should never reenact pinterest photos...Rani edition

My friend Nat found this: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/reasons-you-should-never-reenact-pinterest-photos And thought of me, so I thought I'd share my own Pinterest reenactments:

 So I loved this idea, but since I'm not a photographer, I wasn't willing to spend the money on a mini ladder or 6 crib mattresses with cute bedding. Instead I attempted the look by cheaping out with just pillows and quilts...and it shows!

I feel in love with this sweet picture on Pinterest and just knew this was going to be the sibling shot that I wanted to get, however age gap does seem to make a difference here. Instead of being a sweet little photo, I have something slightly creepy of the kiddee pornish variety.

And then we have the Christmas shots...

How do you get your little baby to hold the edge of the box so cute and peak out? I don't know! My baby didn't want to cooperate at all, and this was the best shot. She didn't want to look at me, and she kept slipping back down inside the box, and ya, this just wasn't working at all.

Then I tried the wrapped up light thing...ya again, I'm not a photographer clearly.

This one actually wasn't too unsuccessful  however...after taking the time to kiss her all over with my darkest lipstick, those dang lips didn't show up at all. I kept one real lip on her (top right corner on her forehead), that was the brightest one! So I had to photoshop the rest on. I could have spent more time, and manipulated the lips more to make them look more realistic, but meh...sometimes I just get lazy I guess. Oh, by the way, my baby hates smiling for pictures too.

Then for my favorite...yes I did try the cute baby in a pumpkin. And YES, she hated it!

Stay tuned for more Pinterest reenactments coming your way soon!

Mother's Day

I see all these cute posts from mom's and their kids are making them adorable things, their sons write them adorable notes, or do something completely adorable for them. So today I ask Calvin, "Hey, do you know what holiday is coming up?" Angrily, he says, "Yes! And I hate it!" Being optimistic, I'm thinking he must not really know what holiday is coming up, I then say, "So what holiday is coming?" He points to me and says, "Mom day." I guess I shouldn't hold my breath waiting for that sweet note or picture...

Not Responsible

Calvin: Mom, can you help me find my beyblades?
Me: Well, where did you play with them last?
Calvin: I don't know.
Me: Wouldn't it be easier if you kept track where you played with them at?
Calvin:  I'm not responsible enough.

Touché...