I'm not broke, but you can see the cracks

Right now in my classes I am trying to review basic skills with my students. I hate this part of the year because it seems like no matter how far back I go, I need to go back farther with them. I go back to review place value and how to order decimals, but this is pointless because most of my students don't understand the purpose of a decimal point. They don't understand the difference between a whole number and a fraction. They don't understand that in numbers like 15 and 3000, even if you don't see a decimal point, there is one at the end of all the numbers. So they can't tell the difference between the number 501 and .501.

I go back to teach them how to multiply fractions, and even though they understand the process, they get the answers wrong because they don't know how to reduce. So I review how to reduce but they don't understand because they don't know how to tell if I number is divisible by 5, 4, 3 or even by 2. So I ask them the difference between even and odd numbers, and they don't know the answer to that either. And this is in my advanced class.

Meanwhile, on the weekends I have been very into solving sudoku puzzles. I take the hardest ones and dive in for half an hour or so. I like them because they are complicated enough that it takes my full attention to be able to figure them out. I can't let my mind wander into thinking about how to teach children the difference between even and odd numbers. I also like them because they are easy enough that I can use logic to find a solution. Not like trying to find a solution to how to teach kids all of these things, when the things I am really supposed to be teaching them are how to solve equations and the Pythagorean Theorem.

On the other hand, I prefer to think about how to solve a problem like teaching, than to think about how to solve a problem like how to stay happy while I am here. The "fuck you" attitude gets me through the weeks, but the weekends are where things start to break down. Those hours by myself are when I can really start to feel the cracks. Once I get down this track, it is only the blasting music of my car stereo system that helps me focus my thoughts and get back to something that I can handle.