Calculus

Brett should really write this blog instead of me.  He is the one who really has a disdain for calculus.  He spent a lot of his senior year meeting with Mrs. Szynal and letting her know how pointless the math was, but working hard to understand it anyway.  Mrs. Szynal was great about meeting with him and learned to start her conversations with him "Brett, I know how you feel about the math, but let's get working on it."  She always said that she was amazed at how well he understood it for as much as he claimed to dislike it.

From Brett's experience we knew when Cal signed up for AP Calculus it would be a challenge.  He really wanted to take it, however, and we signed up for Dual Credit through IPFW as well.  After the first test none of us were sure if we made the right decision.  Mrs. Szynal had faith and Cal came up with ideas of how he could improve his knowledge of the subject.  He tried a couple of different ways to study on the next two tests.

It went better, but Cal still had a C in the class.  That is when we decided to try it Brett's way.  Cal agreed to meet with Mrs. Szynal three mornings a week and we agreed to support him.  I wasn't sure that this was the week to start this with tennis NLC, but Mrs. Szynal was more than agreeable and thoroughly explained all of the material he was struggling with.  We could start to see a difference as his quiz grade was 104%.  I was still nervous about the test.  He had it Friday morning after his long tennis match.  I didn't want to put pressure on him.  I knew if he did well he could possibly pull his grade to a B-.

Tonight Cal came downstairs and quietly said to his Dad, "My test grade posted in Calculus and I have a B-."  I wanted to cheer, but refrained.  I am so proud of his work in that class.  It would have been easy to just settle for a C.  He still has work to do, but he is definitely on the right path!!