Yes, I'm a Dork

Growing up in my house meant that I (along with my siblings) were expected to do well in school, continue our education after high school, and grow up to be successful contributors into society. You see, my mom was a teacher for 36ish years and so applying ourselves to do well when it came to our education was something that was important and expected.

I am blessed to say that school for the most part was pretty easy for me. I didn't have to study HOURS upon HOURS to get good grades. My school may have been a little easier than others, or maybe my siblings and I inherited great genes, but whatever the case, I didn't struggle with school.

In fact, of the 4 kids in my family (including me), all 4 of us graduated in the top 10 of our class...not 10%, but top 10 people....if you are wondering, I was #5.

That being said I HATED science and history. Although I could pass the classes, I didn't really learn much, retain much, or whatever. If you asked me about wars, presidents, geography, etc, I probably wouldn't be able to answer it. However, when it came to math, well, I LOVED math. There was just something so rewarding about getting to the end of a problem that took up a whole page and seeing that you got the right answer. Call it instant gratification, or whatever else, but I just loved math...and not just math, but Algebra, Geometry, Calculus, etc. It came easy to me and I loved the challenge.

After my first semester of college, where I took Calculus and passed with an A, I never took another math class. I didn't need anymore math credits for my major, so I stopped there.

Fast forward 11 years....I had a friend ask me if I would be interested in tutoring her homeschooled son who is not good at math and needed help. I told her I would love to. Of course, at the time I wasn't thinking that it had been 13-15 years since I have had an Algebra class. Once I committed, I got a little nervous. What if I don't remember how to do the math? What if he doesn't understand what I am doing? What if I can't explain it to him in a way that he "gets it"?

Monday morning was THE day. It was the first time I was going to sit down with him to tutor. We jumped in and went over so many concepts. He kept telling me he 'got it', but i was a little nervous that he was just telling me that. Don't get me wrong, I would make him do problems with me and then do them alone, but I was still a little uneasy that he wasn't grasping all that we were doing.

Well, he went to take his test this morning....yes, he is homeschooled, but has to go take a test that is administered by someone. When I showed up today to tutor him for a little bit, he shared his test results. This kid, who does not do well in math, does not like math, doesn't understand math, hates math, etc......THIS kid made a 100 on his test which covered all the material we went over Monday!!! To say I was proud woud be an understatement. I thought I was going to cry hearing this news.

His mom is a dear friend of mine and I wanted her to see progress with my tutoring because he has not had the best experience with tutors in the past, but I never expected a 100 on his first test!!!

That was such great news today....yes, I know I'm a dork that loves math, but now I am a dork that loves math AND can teach it too!!