What I'm Learning during my second trip through 5th Grade

First off, I'm learning that they've changed the names of some of the stuff in Math as well as changing the way the stuff is done. The second thing that's quickly become apparent is that "the old dogs and new tricks" thing is a lot harder to get a handle on when you're actually an Old Dog.

So, when did an average become a mean? Did I learn that back in 1965 and have just forgotten it? Before you even get to the mean part, you've got to learn the parts about, organizing your data and finding the range. Mean is the 3rd step and then you've got to find the Median and Mode.

We're working on graphs now and learning even more new, or forgotten, terms.

I still can't remember the difference between a mean, mode, and median.

I think brain cells are dying here.

And while I'm moaning here, what's up with the Book Reports? Back when I was in school, there were two kinds, Written and Oral. Zach brought home 3 or 4 pages of book report examples! Each 9 weeks he has to do 2 of them, for 1 the teacher assigns the form, the 2nd is his choice which could include,

Writing a Radio Announcement about the book

Giving a Sales Pitch about the book

Creating a Book Jacket

Make a Movie about the book

,,,And the list goes on (they could even do a Power Point Presentation).

I think I prefer the old way when you only had two choices and the teacher decided which one you were to do.

I hope I can pass the 5th grade this go-round and if I do, I might have to drop out before entering the 6th again.