Kangaroos and M&Ms

I have a fresh supply of erasers, pencils and paper. I have the internet and thanks to my friend Cathy, I also have plenty of M&Ms on hand, an essential tool to teach math. Almost every day there is a soft knock at my door. When I answer it there stands Coco and Yvette. Armed with pencils, notebooks and workbooks in hand, they say “Mom wants you to help us with our homework”. School is back in session.

Coco and Yvette live across the street from me. Their father is a fisherman who does not speak English. He is from Martinique where they speak Kweyol and French. Their mother speaks Kweyol and English. Although I don’t know for certain, they are both likely unable to assist their children in the homework department.


Over the years I spent a lot of time helping my own children with homework and frankly, I was relieved when I thought this activity in my life was over. Coco came alone today – a Sunday. He’s waited until the last minute to do his homework which is due tomorrow.


Today we are learning sentence structure. We are changing plural words to singular words. There are eighteen sentences he must change. He yawns; he lays on his paper; he zones out. He’s able to do the work, but doesn’t make a connection between what he is learning and how this will apply to his life. Actually, neither do I.


His dad is teaching him about the sea, how to fish, and how to trap crabs. Coco likes to work with his hands and wants to be just like his dad. His dad is a hard worker and he is gentle with his children. He is a good role model for Coco. He is teaching him a useful skill.

Coco will likely not be rich, but will be skilled and able to take care of himself…and it’s probably not going to make much difference if he knows that the singular spelling for Kangaroos is Kangaroo; a word used in one of his sentences. We looked Kangaroo up on the internet so now Coco knows what it is. Actually, in Coco’s life it probably won’t matter if he knows what a Kangaroo looks like.

Today I used the M&Ms for something different. Usually they are only used on math days. Today I put a small dish of candy on the table because Coco needs a sugar high to get through these sentences. Without a little sugar we could have been at the dining room table all night.