Boy Geniuses

The #1 son's academic team placed 2nd in the conference tournament last night. He didn't get home until 10:45, which is not right for a middle school child. Whoever decided that tournament would run over one night needs to be deprived of sleep and locked in a room with 30 middle school students who have also been deprived of sleep.

#1's team received a bye the first round, then played games at 5:15, 6:30, and 7:45. I don't know what went horribly wrong, but #1 called his dad at 9:15 and said they were starting the 4th quarter. There were probably teams that arrived late for the first round. Too bad, so sad. Keep the thing on schedule. Maybe a forfeit would assure their punctuality next year. We've had teams show up over 30 minutes late this year. That is just irresponsible.

The #1 son also ferreted out the information that the genius kid on the team who beat them has entered the Physics division of the regional science fair. My boy has won the Physics division for the past two years. This year, his project is in the Engineering category. This is the genius kid's first entry in Physics. I think they both breathed a sigh of relief. The genius won the overall title last year.

In other boy genius news, Basementia Buddy has ordered me to FOIL my son thoroughly this weekend. The conference math contest is on Tuesday. FOIL means how to multiply problems such as (4 + x)(3 - y). I've got it covered. First, Outer, Inner, Last. That's how you multiply to get the answer of 12 - 4y + 3x - xy. I don't know why kids think this is so hard. It's much easier than slope, which my boy says he has mastered, but which I have some mental block about, because I always have to consult Math Mabel, even though I remember her motto of "You have to rise before you can run."

On the horizon, we have math contest, all-district choir, freshman orientation, science fair, academic banquet, and athletic banquet. Not to mention all of MY stuff. The school year is starting to fly. Finally.