Credit Where Credit Is Due...

I am sitting here plugging away on the Quantitative Business Math homework, laying out the formulas and singing a little happy cheer every time a page-long problem equates correctly. Only 42 more to go...then I can start my Biology paper. Woo Hoo! It is about this time each hour night I pour a glass of wine and ask the rhetorical question: why on earth am I doing this?

Truth be told, I greatly enjoy working on my degree...although I prefer my English Literature classes to math and biology. In a few weeks I will be choosing my classes for next semester, with each semester bringing me that much closer to the coveted degree. All this aside, I had quite the epiphany this evening.

Instead of earning credits in Quantitative Business Math, I believe all Moms should be handed credits for life experience. Stick with me here...I think I am really on to something.

Case in point...several credits for enduring the three-o'clock-in-the-morning-flu-fest starring three children under five and knowing how to make them all feel better the only way a Mommy can. You can't find THAT in any biology book, baby.

Or...or...you wanna talk Economics? How about keeping within a grocery budget for a family of five by carefully coordinating three store fliers and a multitude of coupons? And for those of us creating and maintaining monthly budgets? Please tell me there is credit given for this knowledge!

Anyone responsible for the family laundry gets an "A" in my Chemistry book. Only intense skills could possibly remove chocolate ice cream, barbecue sauce, and ketchup out of uniforms needed for tomorrow's game. And foreign language skills? We parents navigate the world of text language and despite my personal emphatic refusal to utilize it, I do understand it. And don't even get me started on the stamina required to correct the younger generation of the need to pepper every sentence with "like."  Sheer genius...

I am hoping to claim bonus credits for my supreme music appreciation, although I will not push my luck with my singing skills...they could set me back a bit in my endeavors.

So President Obama, when you read this (and you will read this) maybe it's time to look at this "No Child Left Behind" situation and give my way a try.  I really appreciate the blend of higher education and life experience, I really want my degree, and I really don't want to work out another QBUS formula tonight.