Perk Up The Old Brain Cells

Have you noticed how our minds suddenly don't seem as sharp as they used to be? A discussion on which president was in power when a certain event takes place leaves you at a loss, or you notice that balancing your checkbook doesn't come as easily as it used to. My husband is always telling me that a particular singer wrote a favorite song when I know for a fact that it was someone else entirely. (Sometimes, a little time spent in research proves us both wrong.)

At least 3 times, I know that one or the other of us has wondered aloud how long social security has been around. Even when we go to the trouble to find out, the information doesn't always stick around in our aging brains for long.

It happens to all of us, but the good news is, that we can do something about it. There is a place to find answers to most of our questions, and, if we forget those answers, to look them up again.

When I offered to tutor my 6th grade grandson in math over the summer months, I found out that this old brain had practically calcified where the subject of math was concerned.

I rushed to the internet and found this wonderful site where you can study just about any subject online for free. Go Here That's right ---I said, for free!

Once there, I brought up middle school math and found, after a few lessons, in fractions, decimals, and basic geometry, that at least a part of my old mathematical ability had returned, and I decided to keep working my way up to see just how far I could go.

They give you examples of how to find the answers to problems, and then give you a quiz so that you can put into practice what you have learned. The quiz is graded and you can go back to see what you have missed and work on it until you figure out how to do it right. No teacher breathing down your neck. No stern parent waiting to see your homework. Just glorious freedom to learn at your own pace.

Who knows, I may not even flinch when that same grandson calls to ask for help with his calculus homework. Not only has he reaped the benefits of my online study, but so have I. Math problems have forced both our minds to concentrate, to reason, and to come to a conclusion --- all things that I had almost forgotten how to do.