3rd Grade
I really struggled in first and second grade trying to learn and understand math. I'm talking simple addition and subtraction. I had been teased so much by dad that I couldn't trust-not anyone and not anything. In other words just because 2 + 3 equals five, that did not mean that 3 + 2 equals five. Nor did it mean that if it did this morning it would this afternoon, or tomorrow. My saintly second grade teacher, Miss Hanmore, finally got some popsicle sticks and gave me a whole passel of them. She helped me use tactile means to figure out that 2 + 3 or 3 + 2 are always going to equal 5. Always. Math wasn't my only challenge. I struggled with reading as well. The teacher would make reading flash cards for me to take home and practice the words. My dad would 'help' me practice my reading words. I went to school many times with black eyes due to his 'help'. I still have memories of sitting at the corner of the dining table with him holding the flash cards and f...