I started my first class in pre-algebra this morning. Classes are three hours long each day, monday through thursday. The test are taken on our time in the testing center and I have to make an appointment to take it. That'll mean that I take my lunch with me on those days so that I can take the test after my class. I won't have time to do it before class starts since I am also taking a P.E. class and I have to do that before I leave the house or it'll be too hot later in the day.

On my drive to school, I prayed for the teacher, classmates and asked for favor, specifically that the Lord would allow my brain to absorb the information so that I'll do well in the class. I even prayed that if it were possible to use visual aides to teach math, that my teacher was one who taught that way. We shouldn't be so amazed when our prayers are answered so quickly. Ms. Gayden is one of those math teachers who does use visual aides to help teach the concepts. So far, or at least my first impressions tell me that I'll get a lot out of this class and I'm going to enjoy having this teacher.

When I took algebra in High School, I received A's and I even enjoyed the class, but it's not my strength or perhaps I should say, "I don't get excited about math like some people I know." I was hoping that I would start to remember everything I learned so many years ago. I haven't...at least I didn't feel totally lost, not even overwhelmed! However, I realized how very little I do remember (I don't even remember anything about the term,integers!) as we went through the first chapter of the book, which is about 125 pages. As if that wasn't enough to start our first day with, we started the first few pages of chapter two! Our first test is on Mon. and homework is due on tue and thur. This is going to be a very fast paced class as we attempt to stuff nine chapters of information into our brains in only one month.

My goal, other then to achieve an A in the class is to remember more of what I had learned in algebra, enough at least to be able to retest and pass into college algebra. Otherwise, I'll end up having to take two more classes before I can take college level math. I really don't want to have 6 more hours of math classes; classes that don't even count for my college credits! However, I am not going to rush through it just to get the grade. I want to learn the information and be able to apply it. So, I am prepared to work at it, do my best and "grow where I'm planted."

Now, to order my book and hope that it will get here this week. I really don't want to do the listed assignment all in one weekend! Being the optimist, I'll get the most out of this class experience; however, don't expect to hear me say that I'm changing my major to teach math. ;-)