The continuing saga of our adventures using RightStart Geometry and RightStart B. I have an 11yo and a 7yo who have average math ability.The 11yo has done Miquon, Singapore, RightStart Transitions, Level D and Level E; RightStart has saved her from a life a math phobia.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 73 The Amazing Nine-Point Circle
“In 1822 a German mathematician, Karl Feuerbach, showed that the nine-point circle is tangent to the inscribed circle. [....] Because of his work, this circle is known in Germany as the Feuerbach circle.”
So, folks in Germany apparently sit around talking about the Feuerbach circle, eh? Shoot, I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of this before. Given all of the history (two Frenchmen did the original proof) I’m not sure how I missed out. Hmmm.
Kid1 has problems keeping track of what she is looking for. I am called upon to explain that XO is a line segment rather than an angle, for example. Over the course of the next few lessons she will get better at this, I’m sure.
Lesson 74 Drawing Arcs
Kid1 is content drawing hearts, interstate signs, radiation warning signs, and a gothic arch. Math meets art. What could be better?
Lesson 75 Angles ‘n Arcs
The lesson teaches inscribed angles and intercepted arcs. It bandies terms like “chord”. I’ve never been too terribly fond of this stuff, and Kid1 seems to be following in my footsteps. Mostly I hope she figures it out and doesn’t ask me too many questions.
Lesson 76 Arc Length
Problem 1 on the worksheet involves finding the length of an arc to the nearest tenth of a centimeter. Both Kid1 and I measure the angle from the center of the circle to the arc ends repeatedly; we do NOT get the measure shown in the answer sheet. This means that Kid1 can NOT get the same final answer for the length of the arc as the answer sheet.. Her work shows the same steps, though -- the answer sheets give the steps for figuring out each problem.
Problem 2 features a gothic arch. I sort of blanch when I see it, but Kid1 acts like everyone knows the way a gothic arch is formed, for heaven’s sake. She explains it to me; I immediately forget.
Problem 4 is finding the distance from Earth’s poles to the equater. It reminds me of something out of Challenge Math, or some other such math book. It takes a moment for Kid1 to “get” that working in 3D isn’t too terribly different from working in 2D.
Problem 5 is a landscaping problem. I tend to dislike these, mostly since I studied landscaping in college and find myself questioning why the heck someone would want to put that in their yard. I mean, really, why would Morgan want to put bricks around a circular garden? Why not something else? What type of bricks? Will she be interplanting moss between the bricks? Will she be levelling these so she can mow easily around it? And how did she end up running out of bricks? Did she not plan? If that’s the case (that she didn’t plan for how big a circle she needed to make) it’s entirely possible that she did not plan well for plant spacing (a pet peeve of mine).
On the bright side, Morgan is working with the metric system, so when she runs short by .7 meters it’s easy to figure out how many bricks she needs (although Kid1 points out that the inside of the brick circle is a different measure than the outside, since bricks aren’t actually wedge shaped -- woohoo, that’s my girl!).
After finishing problem 3 (trefoils and quatrefoils, which are apprently as easy as gothic arches; problem 3 falls at the end for Kid1 because of the way the problems are laid out on the page), there is an option of writing a paper on the metric system. We have discussed the metric system some during the course of the lesson. Kid1 declines writing a paper.
Somewhere in the course of this lesson I realize that she needs a refresher on multiplying fractions.
Lesson 77 Area of a Circle
For the second work sheet the student figures out the width of a parallelogram as it relates to the diameter of a circle. The width is equivalent to half the circle’s diameter, but Kid1 is mortally offended that the width is therefor pi r. She says it’s just plain wrong -- she agrees that it is half of 2pi r, but feels that saying “pi r” is somehow vile and unnatural.
You can imagine what happens when she has to cut up the circle and lay it on top of the parallelogram ... the parallelogram has a height of r ... she is supposed to give the area of the circle ... sure enough, she writes” r pi times r”. She refuses to call it pi r squared. Whatever. When she was young she was mortally offended that the indefinite article used before a word that begins with a vowel is "an", and vowed never to use it as long as she lived, and to strive to convert others to her way of thinking. This is likely to be another such case.
07 November 2006
31 October 2006
Aack.
Floor guy just called. Is it okay if they come today and start ripping up the floor?
(It was supposed to be later this week.)
My new Halloween costume: Mom on overload. Too much to cope with.
Blogging may resume in a few days, after I've recovered from the shock. The one positive thing about this is that it's Halloween, so there just might be enough chocolate in the house to get me through this.
(It was supposed to be later this week.)
My new Halloween costume: Mom on overload. Too much to cope with.
Blogging may resume in a few days, after I've recovered from the shock. The one positive thing about this is that it's Halloween, so there just might be enough chocolate in the house to get me through this.
27 October 2006
House Work
New floor:
Old floors:
We're hiring someone to do the actual installation. The wisdom of this became apparent when MrV opened the top box and started classifying each individual piece of wood as to where he thought it would look best: "I think this one we should put this distance from the stairs; I don't like this one, and maybe they could put it in the closet." Lordy, it would take us a year to try various layouts to optimize the "design". The crew we hired estimated 1.5 days.
The fact that someone else is actually installing the floor doesn't mean that we get off the hook from doing much work. We have to move all the furniture out of the living room and dining room (this means finding some place for it all) and ripping up the old floor.
Which is a long, roundabout way of saying that not much knitting or sewing is going on.
Old floors:
We're hiring someone to do the actual installation. The wisdom of this became apparent when MrV opened the top box and started classifying each individual piece of wood as to where he thought it would look best: "I think this one we should put this distance from the stairs; I don't like this one, and maybe they could put it in the closet." Lordy, it would take us a year to try various layouts to optimize the "design". The crew we hired estimated 1.5 days.
The fact that someone else is actually installing the floor doesn't mean that we get off the hook from doing much work. We have to move all the furniture out of the living room and dining room (this means finding some place for it all) and ripping up the old floor.
Which is a long, roundabout way of saying that not much knitting or sewing is going on.
25 October 2006
Family Portrait
I wanted to wear swimsuits and snorkels, but I was voted down by kids who wanted to WEAR HATS.
Wow, the original looked okay, but now that I've uploaded it onto Blogger it just sort of shouts "This Woman is Frazzled!"
Nothing like blogging to learn new things about yourself. I've just realized I need a trip to Oahu. Solo.
Wow, the original looked okay, but now that I've uploaded it onto Blogger it just sort of shouts "This Woman is Frazzled!"
Nothing like blogging to learn new things about yourself. I've just realized I need a trip to Oahu. Solo.
24 October 2006
RightStart Geometry and a tiny bit of RightStart B
The continuing saga of our adventures using RightStart Geometry and RightStart B. I have an 11yo and a 7yo who have average math ability.The 11yo has done Miquon, Singapore, RightStart Transitions, Level D and Level E; RightStart has saved her from a life a math phobia.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 68 Circle Designs
This looks like a cool, easy lesson. Except that once Kid1 starts working on the first worksheet she discovers that the circle design, with a designated radius of 60mm, doesn’t fit on the page. She is highly annoyed. The second worksheet had designs using a radius of 30mm. Hmmmm. It occurs to her that the first worksheet has a typo.
She does both worksheets using circles with 30mm radii. It works. But it’s still ... annoying.
Lesson 69 Rounding Edges with Tangents
I don’t believe I’ve ever learned the official way to round a corner using a tangent. I always just sort of eyeballed it and guessed. Kid1 starts to ask me how to do something; I gamely start drawing parallels and perpendiculars (with no clue where, exactly, I’m headed). It becomes clear to her what she is to do. Thank goodness. I hope she’s around when her younger sister gets to this lesson, because I’m lost.
Lesson 70 Tangent Circles
“Oh, good. I’ve been waiting for this lesson!” Apparently she had peeked ahead, and was anticipating drawing a trefoil, quatrefoil, spiral and yin-yang symbol.
During the lesson she stumbles somewhat on drawing the spiral. By the time she reads aloud and explains to me her question she figures out what she needs to do (whew! I just dodged another bullet!).
I had not paid much attention to the equipment needed for Geometry, and thought we had the appropriate compass. We have the Safe-T Compass used for lower levels of RightStart; these lessons really need the mmArc Compass. Kid1 manages to muddle through (although she thinks the spiral would’ve turned out better with the mmArc Compass). I’ve noticed that Hobby Lobby has a lot of this equipment in their drafting section; I’ll try to get by there to see if they stock the mmArc Compass.
Lesson 71 Bisecting Angles
I always thought that it was fun to bisect angles. Kid1 shares my enthusiasm. This is an easy, fun lesson. She asks me no questions, but if she had I could’ve answered -- I love this stuff.
Lesson 72 Perpendicular Bisectors
The lesson flows smoothly. I have no contact with it whatsoever. It’s an odd feeling after all those intense one-on-one lessons in earlier levels.
RightStart B:
We have started back up with RightStart B, pretty much right where we left off. Really, though, I haven't been keeping track of what we do day-to-day. I'll try to get back to it. Frankly, by the time we finish the lesson I'm pretty much mathed-out for the day, and don't care to think about it any longer (fortunately, Kid2 isn't catching this attitude -- she thinks it's all great fun).
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 68 Circle Designs
This looks like a cool, easy lesson. Except that once Kid1 starts working on the first worksheet she discovers that the circle design, with a designated radius of 60mm, doesn’t fit on the page. She is highly annoyed. The second worksheet had designs using a radius of 30mm. Hmmmm. It occurs to her that the first worksheet has a typo.
She does both worksheets using circles with 30mm radii. It works. But it’s still ... annoying.
Lesson 69 Rounding Edges with Tangents
I don’t believe I’ve ever learned the official way to round a corner using a tangent. I always just sort of eyeballed it and guessed. Kid1 starts to ask me how to do something; I gamely start drawing parallels and perpendiculars (with no clue where, exactly, I’m headed). It becomes clear to her what she is to do. Thank goodness. I hope she’s around when her younger sister gets to this lesson, because I’m lost.
Lesson 70 Tangent Circles
“Oh, good. I’ve been waiting for this lesson!” Apparently she had peeked ahead, and was anticipating drawing a trefoil, quatrefoil, spiral and yin-yang symbol.
During the lesson she stumbles somewhat on drawing the spiral. By the time she reads aloud and explains to me her question she figures out what she needs to do (whew! I just dodged another bullet!).
I had not paid much attention to the equipment needed for Geometry, and thought we had the appropriate compass. We have the Safe-T Compass used for lower levels of RightStart; these lessons really need the mmArc Compass. Kid1 manages to muddle through (although she thinks the spiral would’ve turned out better with the mmArc Compass). I’ve noticed that Hobby Lobby has a lot of this equipment in their drafting section; I’ll try to get by there to see if they stock the mmArc Compass.
Lesson 71 Bisecting Angles
I always thought that it was fun to bisect angles. Kid1 shares my enthusiasm. This is an easy, fun lesson. She asks me no questions, but if she had I could’ve answered -- I love this stuff.
Lesson 72 Perpendicular Bisectors
The lesson flows smoothly. I have no contact with it whatsoever. It’s an odd feeling after all those intense one-on-one lessons in earlier levels.
RightStart B:
We have started back up with RightStart B, pretty much right where we left off. Really, though, I haven't been keeping track of what we do day-to-day. I'll try to get back to it. Frankly, by the time we finish the lesson I'm pretty much mathed-out for the day, and don't care to think about it any longer (fortunately, Kid2 isn't catching this attitude -- she thinks it's all great fun).
19 October 2006
Socktoberfest: Stash Flash Edition
Last week the suggestion was posted to flash your sock yarn stash for Socktoberfest. And I do have a bit of a sock yarn stash. It's to the left:
During the course of the week, though, I started getting all existential about "what is 'sock' stash? Can we truly differentiate? What criteria should we use?" The whole Dulaan-knitting-prompted these thoughts.
You see, I was merrily knitting along on Dulaan socks with that blue yarn in the front left. Cute little socks. Oh yeah. But the thought crossed my mind: "Would my kids go sledding in these socks?" Sledding is cold, but not as cold as Mongolia. And sledding is about 2 blocks away from here, so you can practically run over to The Hill, take a couple of runs down, and run back home without even putting on a hat. And yet, the blue socks were too wimpy to function as sledding socks. What was I thinking, knitting them up for freezing Mongolian children, who don't have a warm home waiting for them 2 blocks away?
So, those socks (and the accompanying pile of sock yarn) have been ditched. I discovered a skein of red heavy worsted Farm Yarn from Little Turtle Knits. This is the sort of stuff that sneers at cold weather, by golly. It's knitting up into some really righteous winter socks.
And I also discovered a pattern for socks out of Lopi Lite, right there on the suggested-patterns-for-Dulaan-list . I had some here to make a felted bag, but really, do I really need yet another felted bag? Heck, no. Throw that Lopi Lite on the new, improved sock yarn pile!
In the middle of the picture is a display of my sock knitting books: Sensational Socks, Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook, and Folk Socks. I also have sock patterns in several other knitting books, and a slew of back issues of Interweave Knits and Vogue Knitting that contain sock patterns. I've never used a single one of them. I always end up pulling a pattern off the internet for free.
Socktoberfest and Dulaan have me rethinking what I want to accomplish regarding sock knitting, and how I want to accomplish it. It's good to step back and look at these piles, and think "why?"
During the course of the week, though, I started getting all existential about "what is 'sock' stash? Can we truly differentiate? What criteria should we use?" The whole Dulaan-knitting-prompted these thoughts.
You see, I was merrily knitting along on Dulaan socks with that blue yarn in the front left. Cute little socks. Oh yeah. But the thought crossed my mind: "Would my kids go sledding in these socks?" Sledding is cold, but not as cold as Mongolia. And sledding is about 2 blocks away from here, so you can practically run over to The Hill, take a couple of runs down, and run back home without even putting on a hat. And yet, the blue socks were too wimpy to function as sledding socks. What was I thinking, knitting them up for freezing Mongolian children, who don't have a warm home waiting for them 2 blocks away?
So, those socks (and the accompanying pile of sock yarn) have been ditched. I discovered a skein of red heavy worsted Farm Yarn from Little Turtle Knits. This is the sort of stuff that sneers at cold weather, by golly. It's knitting up into some really righteous winter socks.
And I also discovered a pattern for socks out of Lopi Lite, right there on the suggested-patterns-for-Dulaan-list . I had some here to make a felted bag, but really, do I really need yet another felted bag? Heck, no. Throw that Lopi Lite on the new, improved sock yarn pile!
In the middle of the picture is a display of my sock knitting books: Sensational Socks, Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook, and Folk Socks. I also have sock patterns in several other knitting books, and a slew of back issues of Interweave Knits and Vogue Knitting that contain sock patterns. I've never used a single one of them. I always end up pulling a pattern off the internet for free.
Socktoberfest and Dulaan have me rethinking what I want to accomplish regarding sock knitting, and how I want to accomplish it. It's good to step back and look at these piles, and think "why?"
17 October 2006
Tuesday Teatime
Today's teatime featured a fruit juice beverage made by Kid2 out of her Brownie Try-It book, thus completing her requirements for Make it, Eat it. This is her first completed Try-It, and she was truly excited to finish it up.
We also had angel food cake from Trader Joe's, with sides of Soy Delicious Carob Mint (fruit juice sweetened!) and enough whipped cream to cover the plate in mounds of white.
Teatime took place at the kitchen table since the dining room is currently in use for Halloween-costume-construction. I read various poems from All the Small Poems and Fourteen More by Valerie Worth. I picked out poems about skeletons, spiders, geese flying south ... various autumn images. I also chose others that had a theme that I knew the kids would enjoy (for example, Kid2 loves potatoes, so I read about potatoes). I like this book of poetry, and I think the kids do, too.
We also had angel food cake from Trader Joe's, with sides of Soy Delicious Carob Mint (fruit juice sweetened!) and enough whipped cream to cover the plate in mounds of white.
Teatime took place at the kitchen table since the dining room is currently in use for Halloween-costume-construction. I read various poems from All the Small Poems and Fourteen More by Valerie Worth. I picked out poems about skeletons, spiders, geese flying south ... various autumn images. I also chose others that had a theme that I knew the kids would enjoy (for example, Kid2 loves potatoes, so I read about potatoes). I like this book of poetry, and I think the kids do, too.
Holiday from Geometry
I was going to say "Math Holiday", but that isn't accurate. We've been doing some long division, working out of RightStart Level E, and also in Murderous Maths (beloved math books that they are). And also a fair bit of real life math, including some of the mathy bits at The Magic House , which had Homeschool Day yesterday.
Kid2 is getting back into the swing of doing RightStart Level B. We've picked up right where we left off, with the introduction of the Base 10 cards. I figured we might as well pull out the Cuisenaire Base 10 block set, by golly, since that's what the cards are picturing. This set off a spate of building:
We have the wooden set. And we've discovered that you can use all the hundred flats and 10 rods to build a tower, peopled with the little ones cubes. You can even take away some of the 10 rods and retain structural integrity. But if you take off the topmost hundred flat, the tower collapses. Interesting, eh? And we also discovered that if you repeatedly knock over the tower on purpose you eventually crack one of the hundred flats, and Mommy gets all out-of-sorts and delivers a stern lecture about the number of building blocks we own which could be used for this purpose, for pete's sake, so why are we bashing around the math manipulatives? (leaving kids to wonder why Mommy was taking pictures of the tower if she was going to turn around and get all cranky about it, but that's sort of outside of the realm of "learning about math").
Kid2 is getting back into the swing of doing RightStart Level B. We've picked up right where we left off, with the introduction of the Base 10 cards. I figured we might as well pull out the Cuisenaire Base 10 block set, by golly, since that's what the cards are picturing. This set off a spate of building:
We have the wooden set. And we've discovered that you can use all the hundred flats and 10 rods to build a tower, peopled with the little ones cubes. You can even take away some of the 10 rods and retain structural integrity. But if you take off the topmost hundred flat, the tower collapses. Interesting, eh? And we also discovered that if you repeatedly knock over the tower on purpose you eventually crack one of the hundred flats, and Mommy gets all out-of-sorts and delivers a stern lecture about the number of building blocks we own which could be used for this purpose, for pete's sake, so why are we bashing around the math manipulatives? (leaving kids to wonder why Mommy was taking pictures of the tower if she was going to turn around and get all cranky about it, but that's sort of outside of the realm of "learning about math").
16 October 2006
As Requested, The Machine
I got it Friday morning, brought it home, set the box on the floor, and didn't get a chance to touch it until Sunday evening:
Yes, a Babylock Imagine. I chose Babylock over Viking because of the ease of threading (which, had you seen me trying to thread the Babylock Sunday night, you would've realized what a brilliant move that was on my part, given how inept I was even with the super-simple Babylock "Woosh" to help me).
First project up is going to be Halloween costumes. We have a bolt of bright pink satin-like fabric, we have a pattern. We have no notions, though, like bright pink thread (we seem to have used it all up, or else it's lost in one of the kids' rooms), single-fold bias tape, maybe even another package of 1/4 inch elastic.
But, of course, we have to wait to get the notions until after our field trip today. And then, of course, we have dance class this afternoon, yada, yada, yada.
Sigh. I've got the machine, now I desperately need time to actually use it.
Yes, a Babylock Imagine. I chose Babylock over Viking because of the ease of threading (which, had you seen me trying to thread the Babylock Sunday night, you would've realized what a brilliant move that was on my part, given how inept I was even with the super-simple Babylock "Woosh" to help me).
First project up is going to be Halloween costumes. We have a bolt of bright pink satin-like fabric, we have a pattern. We have no notions, though, like bright pink thread (we seem to have used it all up, or else it's lost in one of the kids' rooms), single-fold bias tape, maybe even another package of 1/4 inch elastic.
But, of course, we have to wait to get the notions until after our field trip today. And then, of course, we have dance class this afternoon, yada, yada, yada.
Sigh. I've got the machine, now I desperately need time to actually use it.
10 October 2006
RightStart Geometry
The continuing saga of our adventures using RightStart Geometry and RightStart B. I have an 11yo and a 7yo who have average math ability.The 11yo has done Miquon, Singapore, RightStart Transitions, Level D and Level E; RightStart has saved her from a life a math phobia.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 65 Tangents to Circles
Working with tangents, radii, and tangent segments, and solving some problems using these concepts. The first group of worksheet problems involves drawing tangents to a circles; the ever-popular “compare with other students in your class” appears. Next, the student is to draw tangent segments from points on either side of a circle and “compare with your classmates”. Kid1 works through all of these problems with no apparent issue.
The book gives some prodding for the last set of problems: “...you need to remember several things. What is the sum of hte angles in a quadrilateral? What is the radius if you know the diameter? What is the angle between a tangent and a radius? Do you remember wome basic Pythagorean triples?” But, alsa, Kid1 bogs down and claims she can’t do it.
I start at the top and review every problem on the worksheet with her. Then we review the answers to all the questions listed above. I comment that the fact that these questions are listed tells us that we probably need to use this knowledge to solve the last couple of problems. Yes, they look complicated on the page (all those segments! all those labels!), but if she breaks it down bit by bit she can figure out the answer.
I hold her hand. “Okay, what do we know? So, if we know this angle, what does that tell us about that angle?” And later, “So, if the length of this side of the triangle is 12, and the length of this side is 5, what’s the length of the other side? Okay, let’s review some basic Pythagorean triples: 3,4,5 and 5,12,13 and 7,24,25 ... so, what do you think?”
I’m not sure how imbedded any of this information is in her brain, but at least she now has experience in solving this type of problem. I wonder if she’ll be able to do it on her own later.
Lesson 66 Circumscribed Polygons
Kid1 is offended that the materials list is incomplete. Other than that, she plugs through the work. I’ve noticed that we alternate upsetting lessons with calm lessons.
Lesson 67 Pi, a Special Number
This lesson is still “in process” at our house. Pi has been discussed and played with for several lessons now; this lesson draws it all together. The history of pi is given, art based on pi is discussed.
There are 2 worksheets. The materials list for the worksheets is simply “ruler”. But, aha, if you’re working with pi (3.14, or maybe 22 over 7) then you’re going to have a bunch of calculations going, right? And they may involve long division, or multi-digit multiplication. And you may realize that back at that previous level of RightStart when you sort of suspected your child didn’t really “get” long division you were right. And that, as a matter of fact, that child has maybe forgotten everything discussed about multiplying with decimal numbers. And, if your child is a stickler for following the rules (because, after all, the materials list didn’t mention using a calculator) she’s feeling low about math right now.
Although I’m fine with her using a calculator to find the answers, she and I agree that she needs to understand how the calculations are done. We have stopped mid-worksheet to review long division.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 65 Tangents to Circles
Working with tangents, radii, and tangent segments, and solving some problems using these concepts. The first group of worksheet problems involves drawing tangents to a circles; the ever-popular “compare with other students in your class” appears. Next, the student is to draw tangent segments from points on either side of a circle and “compare with your classmates”. Kid1 works through all of these problems with no apparent issue.
The book gives some prodding for the last set of problems: “...you need to remember several things. What is the sum of hte angles in a quadrilateral? What is the radius if you know the diameter? What is the angle between a tangent and a radius? Do you remember wome basic Pythagorean triples?” But, alsa, Kid1 bogs down and claims she can’t do it.
I start at the top and review every problem on the worksheet with her. Then we review the answers to all the questions listed above. I comment that the fact that these questions are listed tells us that we probably need to use this knowledge to solve the last couple of problems. Yes, they look complicated on the page (all those segments! all those labels!), but if she breaks it down bit by bit she can figure out the answer.
I hold her hand. “Okay, what do we know? So, if we know this angle, what does that tell us about that angle?” And later, “So, if the length of this side of the triangle is 12, and the length of this side is 5, what’s the length of the other side? Okay, let’s review some basic Pythagorean triples: 3,4,5 and 5,12,13 and 7,24,25 ... so, what do you think?”
I’m not sure how imbedded any of this information is in her brain, but at least she now has experience in solving this type of problem. I wonder if she’ll be able to do it on her own later.
Lesson 66 Circumscribed Polygons
Kid1 is offended that the materials list is incomplete. Other than that, she plugs through the work. I’ve noticed that we alternate upsetting lessons with calm lessons.
Lesson 67 Pi, a Special Number
This lesson is still “in process” at our house. Pi has been discussed and played with for several lessons now; this lesson draws it all together. The history of pi is given, art based on pi is discussed.
There are 2 worksheets. The materials list for the worksheets is simply “ruler”. But, aha, if you’re working with pi (3.14, or maybe 22 over 7) then you’re going to have a bunch of calculations going, right? And they may involve long division, or multi-digit multiplication. And you may realize that back at that previous level of RightStart when you sort of suspected your child didn’t really “get” long division you were right. And that, as a matter of fact, that child has maybe forgotten everything discussed about multiplying with decimal numbers. And, if your child is a stickler for following the rules (because, after all, the materials list didn’t mention using a calculator) she’s feeling low about math right now.
Although I’m fine with her using a calculator to find the answers, she and I agree that she needs to understand how the calculations are done. We have stopped mid-worksheet to review long division.
09 October 2006
The Dulaan-Socktoberfest Confluence
Over the past few months I've noticed that weather systems tend to break southwest of here, and pass around us. When I ask people about this, they say, "Oh, that must be because of the confluence."
Hmmm.
Back in Ohio, weather systems tended to break west of town. In that case, it was because we were in an extremely flat area, and there was a large ridge west of town. I can pretty much picture how a large mass of land might interrupt the eastward march of rainclouds, but I struggle to picture how a confluence has the same effect. I keep mentioning it to other people, but no one has been able to explain it. I took meteorology, I "get" a lot of geography, but I don't feel like figuring this out myself. So, I keep hoping that someone will come along and do my thinking for me.
In the meantime, I keep watching the weather maps, watching the great green blobs break up southwest of here, and keep thinking to myself, "Hmmmmm ... confluence ... cooooonnnfluuuuuuence ...." (I sort of like the word, y'know.)
So, here is my Dulaan - Socktoberfest confluence. I'm not sure what it will shield me from. Probably not weather.
I'd like to think it will shield me from plumbing problems, but that's sort of unlikely (snicker snicker snort -- if you lived here you'd know how really unlikely that is, and how handy it would be to have some magical talisman that guarantees working plumbing).
I think the most I can ascribe to this particular confluence its that it's shielding me from knitting on a Weasley. Check out that background upon which this cute little sock sets -- that's about 20 inches of stockinette on size 4 needles over 102 stitches. I'm normally a big fan of mindless knitting, but it's starting to wear on me. I'm enjoying this quick little break for child-size socks in variegated yarn.
Happy Dulaan! Happy Socktoberfest! Have a nice confluence!
Hmmm.
Back in Ohio, weather systems tended to break west of town. In that case, it was because we were in an extremely flat area, and there was a large ridge west of town. I can pretty much picture how a large mass of land might interrupt the eastward march of rainclouds, but I struggle to picture how a confluence has the same effect. I keep mentioning it to other people, but no one has been able to explain it. I took meteorology, I "get" a lot of geography, but I don't feel like figuring this out myself. So, I keep hoping that someone will come along and do my thinking for me.
In the meantime, I keep watching the weather maps, watching the great green blobs break up southwest of here, and keep thinking to myself, "Hmmmmm ... confluence ... cooooonnnfluuuuuuence ...." (I sort of like the word, y'know.)
So, here is my Dulaan - Socktoberfest confluence. I'm not sure what it will shield me from. Probably not weather.
I'd like to think it will shield me from plumbing problems, but that's sort of unlikely (snicker snicker snort -- if you lived here you'd know how really unlikely that is, and how handy it would be to have some magical talisman that guarantees working plumbing).
I think the most I can ascribe to this particular confluence its that it's shielding me from knitting on a Weasley. Check out that background upon which this cute little sock sets -- that's about 20 inches of stockinette on size 4 needles over 102 stitches. I'm normally a big fan of mindless knitting, but it's starting to wear on me. I'm enjoying this quick little break for child-size socks in variegated yarn.
Happy Dulaan! Happy Socktoberfest! Have a nice confluence!
06 October 2006
Socktoberfest Week One: A Sock-Knitting Memory
I had been knitting for years and years before I ever got around to knitting a sock. I'm not sure why -- I guess I simply wasn't interested in socks until recently.
But eventually the sock-knitting bug bit, and I decided to try a pair. I got some Wool-Ease in worsted weight for the adventure:
It's an off-white, with little strands of grey in it. I thought it looked like a sheep's fleece. Oh, these socks were destined to be cozy and wonderful!
I knit them up while watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding on DVD. I used a very basic pattern, mostly stockinette.
I tried them on. Egads, they gave the impression that they weren't socks at all -- instead, it looked as though I had fat ankles covered with pasty skin and lots of unshaven leg hair (those little strand of grey). Okay, my skin really is pasty, and my legs typically unshaven (although the hair isn't quite that dark), but my ankles most certainly aren't that fat!
As it happened, the socks soon developed a wicked hole in them. I discarded them, and assumed that the hole was a funtion of Wool-Ease not making good socks. No more Wool-Ease for me!
But, alas, it was many a skein of sock yarn before I realized that the yarn I liked to purchase to make socks often bore no resemblance to the yarn I liked to have in the socks I wear. There were some winners in there (notably Cascade Fixation), but there were also a distressing amount of losers. I have most of the skeins still hanging around, hoping to re-purpose them for something else. (I'm not quite sure what -- they'd make great Barbie pullovers and cardigans, although at this point I have enough yarn to knit sweaters for every Barbie in the metro area.)
I finally discovered that I really did like the yarns everyone raved about, like Lorna's Laces and Regia. This should have made for many happy pairs of socks flying off my needles. But, alas, I also realized that the sock patterns I liked to knit often bore no resemblance to the type of sock I like to wear. I like to knit lacey, interesting patterns. I find wearing fussy socks with little holes all over them really really annoying. Sigh. At this point I had amassed quite a collection of sock patterns in books an magazine, most of which were for socks it would drive me nuts to wear.
It would be great if I figured out how to make gift socks, but the whole sizing issue paralyzes me. I feel like I need to make plaster casts of the recipients feet to I can constantly try the socks on the model. It's a performance-anxiety thing.
The road to sock-knitting has been a rocky one for me. But, aha, if my kids should decide to take up sock knitting I have plenty of yarn and patterns for them to forage!
But eventually the sock-knitting bug bit, and I decided to try a pair. I got some Wool-Ease in worsted weight for the adventure:
It's an off-white, with little strands of grey in it. I thought it looked like a sheep's fleece. Oh, these socks were destined to be cozy and wonderful!
I knit them up while watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding on DVD. I used a very basic pattern, mostly stockinette.
I tried them on. Egads, they gave the impression that they weren't socks at all -- instead, it looked as though I had fat ankles covered with pasty skin and lots of unshaven leg hair (those little strand of grey). Okay, my skin really is pasty, and my legs typically unshaven (although the hair isn't quite that dark), but my ankles most certainly aren't that fat!
As it happened, the socks soon developed a wicked hole in them. I discarded them, and assumed that the hole was a funtion of Wool-Ease not making good socks. No more Wool-Ease for me!
But, alas, it was many a skein of sock yarn before I realized that the yarn I liked to purchase to make socks often bore no resemblance to the yarn I liked to have in the socks I wear. There were some winners in there (notably Cascade Fixation), but there were also a distressing amount of losers. I have most of the skeins still hanging around, hoping to re-purpose them for something else. (I'm not quite sure what -- they'd make great Barbie pullovers and cardigans, although at this point I have enough yarn to knit sweaters for every Barbie in the metro area.)
I finally discovered that I really did like the yarns everyone raved about, like Lorna's Laces and Regia. This should have made for many happy pairs of socks flying off my needles. But, alas, I also realized that the sock patterns I liked to knit often bore no resemblance to the type of sock I like to wear. I like to knit lacey, interesting patterns. I find wearing fussy socks with little holes all over them really really annoying. Sigh. At this point I had amassed quite a collection of sock patterns in books an magazine, most of which were for socks it would drive me nuts to wear.
It would be great if I figured out how to make gift socks, but the whole sizing issue paralyzes me. I feel like I need to make plaster casts of the recipients feet to I can constantly try the socks on the model. It's a performance-anxiety thing.
The road to sock-knitting has been a rocky one for me. But, aha, if my kids should decide to take up sock knitting I have plenty of yarn and patterns for them to forage!
05 October 2006
I Don't Know if I'm One in a Million, but I'm Definitely One in 2007
Yes, I have signed up to participate inthe Dulaan Project . I emailed in to Ryan at Mossy Cottage Knits that I would provide 5 warm, cozy items for kids in Mongolia by next July. (Please note that for some reason I am able to link to Mossy Cottage Knits tonight. Sorry.) If you haven't heard about it yet, take the time to read the flyer I've linked. Or, for that matter, just google a phrase like "kids and Mongolia" to learn about the struggle to survive.
This is going to be a family affair. It's going to be a homeschool affair, too.
Two of the 5 items will be No-Sew Fleece Blankets. The kids have made these blankets before; one of the VBSes they attended this summer made them and shipped them to Mexico. And the kids also made No-Sew Fleece Pillows for MrV and Grandpa (out of Old Gold and Black of course). So, they've plenty of experience in the No-Sew Fleece department. We plan to go to JoAnn Fabrics sometime from Oct. 7-9, to check out the 72inch No-Sew Fleece Throw kits they have on sale for $13.99. But we might simply buy some fleece on sale, either this weekend or some future weekend.
And the other three items ... well, who knows. I'll be knitting those. I'm thinking about making a pair of socks (since I've also joined Socktoberfest). And a vest or sweater. And, well, something else that I'll think of later.
As a bonus, I think this would be an excellent time to learn more about Mongolia in our homeschooling. I'm trying to put together links and resources for that. Didn't we go through some history of the area in Story of the World? I seem to remember it, because I thought it would be cool at the time to felt a doll-size ger; I also remeber Kid1 pleading that we re-read-aloud I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade (we ended up doing neither, sigh).
I could also see rabbit trails of things like climate (for my weather-obsessed Kid2). What other areas have similar climate? And, of course, a rabbit trail about wool, and why it felts, and why it's so important in that type of climate. And maybe a rabbit trail about different dwellings for different cultures and climates. Oh, such possiblities.
And, of course, there's all the fun math: if 200 people have pledged to make 5 items each, how many items will be shipped? What happens if 2000 people make 5 items each? What if they each made 6 items instead of the 5 they originally said they would do?
This is going to be a family affair. It's going to be a homeschool affair, too.
Two of the 5 items will be No-Sew Fleece Blankets. The kids have made these blankets before; one of the VBSes they attended this summer made them and shipped them to Mexico. And the kids also made No-Sew Fleece Pillows for MrV and Grandpa (out of Old Gold and Black of course). So, they've plenty of experience in the No-Sew Fleece department. We plan to go to JoAnn Fabrics sometime from Oct. 7-9, to check out the 72inch No-Sew Fleece Throw kits they have on sale for $13.99. But we might simply buy some fleece on sale, either this weekend or some future weekend.
And the other three items ... well, who knows. I'll be knitting those. I'm thinking about making a pair of socks (since I've also joined Socktoberfest). And a vest or sweater. And, well, something else that I'll think of later.
As a bonus, I think this would be an excellent time to learn more about Mongolia in our homeschooling. I'm trying to put together links and resources for that. Didn't we go through some history of the area in Story of the World? I seem to remember it, because I thought it would be cool at the time to felt a doll-size ger; I also remeber Kid1 pleading that we re-read-aloud I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade (we ended up doing neither, sigh).
I could also see rabbit trails of things like climate (for my weather-obsessed Kid2). What other areas have similar climate? And, of course, a rabbit trail about wool, and why it felts, and why it's so important in that type of climate. And maybe a rabbit trail about different dwellings for different cultures and climates. Oh, such possiblities.
And, of course, there's all the fun math: if 200 people have pledged to make 5 items each, how many items will be shipped? What happens if 2000 people make 5 items each? What if they each made 6 items instead of the 5 they originally said they would do?
03 October 2006
Magic Yarn Ball Swap!
My Magic Yarn Ball arrived today!
I opened the box and discovered:
Mmmmm, Hershey's caramel-filled Kisses (which I didn't even know existed!), a cute ladybug card, and a ball of Cascade Sierra Quattro with stitch markers dangling out, as well as a glimpse of something red ...
Action shot as I unwind one ball and wind another:
That glimpse of red was a ladybug button. So far I've found 2 of those, as well as a cool wooden toggle. But there are some intriguing bumps left in the ball, so I'll continue unwinding/rewinding:
The rewound ball with all the goodies! Beautiful stitch markers, stay-put white ring markers, coil knitting needle holders (another thing I didn't realize existed in the world, and will be So Very Handy -- how did I live without these?), cute buttons, funky tube beads. Great package! Thanks to the talented and creative ksjhwkr for a great swap!
(Please note that as soon as I snapped this picture we ripped into the candy.)
My kids were amazed that I rewound the ball into a new ball as I went along. Kid1 had made a Magic Yarn Ball for Kid2's birthday last week. This is how they believed it should be unwrapped:
Now, guess who got to wind that ball of red yarn back into a ball....
I opened the box and discovered:
Mmmmm, Hershey's caramel-filled Kisses (which I didn't even know existed!), a cute ladybug card, and a ball of Cascade Sierra Quattro with stitch markers dangling out, as well as a glimpse of something red ...
Action shot as I unwind one ball and wind another:
That glimpse of red was a ladybug button. So far I've found 2 of those, as well as a cool wooden toggle. But there are some intriguing bumps left in the ball, so I'll continue unwinding/rewinding:
The rewound ball with all the goodies! Beautiful stitch markers, stay-put white ring markers, coil knitting needle holders (another thing I didn't realize existed in the world, and will be So Very Handy -- how did I live without these?), cute buttons, funky tube beads. Great package! Thanks to the talented and creative ksjhwkr for a great swap!
(Please note that as soon as I snapped this picture we ripped into the candy.)
My kids were amazed that I rewound the ball into a new ball as I went along. Kid1 had made a Magic Yarn Ball for Kid2's birthday last week. This is how they believed it should be unwrapped:
Now, guess who got to wind that ball of red yarn back into a ball....
RightStart Geometry
The continuing saga of our adventures using RightStart Geometry and RightStart B. I have a 10yo and a 6yo who have average math ability.The 10yo has done Miquon, Singapore, RightStart Transitions, Level D and Level E; RightStart has saved her from a life a math phobia.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 61 The Square Root Spiral
“This lesson took a long time. But it didn’t take much brain power. It just took awhile to draw all of those triangles. The chart went really fast.”
It would be cool to make some other designs with the spirals, but, as she said, it took forever to make them.
Lesson 62 Circle Basics
Kid1 is pretty clear on radius and diameter from reading the Sir Cumference books. But, if she weren’t, this lesson explains it simply and well. Reviews circumference, diameter, radius, arc, sector; the worksheet is matching definitions to pictures. Very quick.
Lesson 63 Ratio of Circumference to Diameter
Working with circles. Drawing around various mugs and cans (the book suggests going out and drawing around a bicycle tire with chalk -- that sounds cool to me, but Kid1 opts to stay indoors). Then use something such as beans or paper clips to measure circumference and diameter. Kid1 uses unpopped popcorn. I can’t help but think this would be a real mess in a classroom. Heck, this could be a real mess in some households, with popcorn and beans flying around the room. Fortunately, my kids are sedate.
Lesson 64 Inscribed Polygons
I swear Kid1 has done this before, but she doesn’t remember it. Perhaps I just remember seeing it in various Waldorf-based books. It takes quite a while for her to construct all of the polygons. And the chart contains the dreaded word ratio. This marks the first time all week she’s asked me for help with math -- what do they mean when they ask for a ratio? I explain it for the umpteenth time, commenting that she will eventually learn it since it seems to come up at least once a week.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 61 The Square Root Spiral
“This lesson took a long time. But it didn’t take much brain power. It just took awhile to draw all of those triangles. The chart went really fast.”
It would be cool to make some other designs with the spirals, but, as she said, it took forever to make them.
Lesson 62 Circle Basics
Kid1 is pretty clear on radius and diameter from reading the Sir Cumference books. But, if she weren’t, this lesson explains it simply and well. Reviews circumference, diameter, radius, arc, sector; the worksheet is matching definitions to pictures. Very quick.
Lesson 63 Ratio of Circumference to Diameter
Working with circles. Drawing around various mugs and cans (the book suggests going out and drawing around a bicycle tire with chalk -- that sounds cool to me, but Kid1 opts to stay indoors). Then use something such as beans or paper clips to measure circumference and diameter. Kid1 uses unpopped popcorn. I can’t help but think this would be a real mess in a classroom. Heck, this could be a real mess in some households, with popcorn and beans flying around the room. Fortunately, my kids are sedate.
Lesson 64 Inscribed Polygons
I swear Kid1 has done this before, but she doesn’t remember it. Perhaps I just remember seeing it in various Waldorf-based books. It takes quite a while for her to construct all of the polygons. And the chart contains the dreaded word ratio. This marks the first time all week she’s asked me for help with math -- what do they mean when they ask for a ratio? I explain it for the umpteenth time, commenting that she will eventually learn it since it seems to come up at least once a week.
02 October 2006
Purple!
I had a sea of purple in my mailbox!
One envelope was from Poppins, whe sent me all sorts of wonderful stuff during the Secret Pal swap at TheDenimJumper this summer. That swap was supposedly over in August, but Poppins sent a super-surprising pacakge ... beautiful stitch markers (wrapped in purple), a CD, some of those amazing postcards she's famous for, a yummy recipe, and a specially-translated-from-German-by-Poppins knitting pattern. Woohoo! What a great surprise!
Of course, since I had so much fun with that swap at TheDenimJumper I was inspired to sign up for the Fall Fairy Swap at MotheringDotCom. And, on the same day I got Poppins package, I got a package from Ozzyemm, full of lavendar! Lavendar lip gloss, a lavendar sachet, a lavendar card, all of it enclosed in acres and acres of lavendar tissue. I love it!
And I love how the 2 packages coordinate!
The yarn? That's come Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece I had received from Webs earlier in the week. It, too, is purple, although my monitor shows it as more blue compared to that sea of purple in front of it. It will be a button up jacket for this fall. I'm all about purple this fall. How lucky to have a couple of swap-mates who caught that vibe!
One envelope was from Poppins, whe sent me all sorts of wonderful stuff during the Secret Pal swap at TheDenimJumper this summer. That swap was supposedly over in August, but Poppins sent a super-surprising pacakge ... beautiful stitch markers (wrapped in purple), a CD, some of those amazing postcards she's famous for, a yummy recipe, and a specially-translated-from-German-by-Poppins knitting pattern. Woohoo! What a great surprise!
Of course, since I had so much fun with that swap at TheDenimJumper I was inspired to sign up for the Fall Fairy Swap at MotheringDotCom. And, on the same day I got Poppins package, I got a package from Ozzyemm, full of lavendar! Lavendar lip gloss, a lavendar sachet, a lavendar card, all of it enclosed in acres and acres of lavendar tissue. I love it!
And I love how the 2 packages coordinate!
The yarn? That's come Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece I had received from Webs earlier in the week. It, too, is purple, although my monitor shows it as more blue compared to that sea of purple in front of it. It will be a button up jacket for this fall. I'm all about purple this fall. How lucky to have a couple of swap-mates who caught that vibe!
27 September 2006
Girl Scout Mania
After looking through the Junior badge book and the Brownie try-it book, they've come to a decision about which badges to work on: all of them.
Kid1 is doing this in a very methodical way, earmarking 2 or 3 to work on at a time. When finished with those she will move on to others. This isn't the way I would do it ... I would do all of them concurrently. I'd make some sort of spread sheet to show what I've got done on each and every one, and track my infinitesimal progress. Then I'd be all exhausted and discouraged after setting up this massive system, and ditch the whole idea of earning any more badges.
Kid1 didn't inherit that slow-and-steady-wins-the-race gene from me.
But, check it out, the socks match our current mania -- the stripes have Girl Scout colors of blue, brown, and green:
Knit our of Regia Strato in colorway Orion, which is discontinued. I know it's discontinued because MrV commented that he really liked them and would like to have a pair for himself. I looked the color up, and discovered the grim news that we might not be able to knit a pair for every person in our family ( but if I did knit a pair for MrV or anyone else, I'd do them toe-up so I didn't end up like Poppins and the Regia socks she's knitting for her husband, especially since I don't have relatives in Germany who can bring me more yarn).
We were at Old Navy over the weekend, and discovered socks with the same stripes. So, Regia has already abandoned these stripes, Old Navy and I are just now getting on the bandwagon. What does this tell us?
Kid1 is doing this in a very methodical way, earmarking 2 or 3 to work on at a time. When finished with those she will move on to others. This isn't the way I would do it ... I would do all of them concurrently. I'd make some sort of spread sheet to show what I've got done on each and every one, and track my infinitesimal progress. Then I'd be all exhausted and discouraged after setting up this massive system, and ditch the whole idea of earning any more badges.
Kid1 didn't inherit that slow-and-steady-wins-the-race gene from me.
But, check it out, the socks match our current mania -- the stripes have Girl Scout colors of blue, brown, and green:
Knit our of Regia Strato in colorway Orion, which is discontinued. I know it's discontinued because MrV commented that he really liked them and would like to have a pair for himself. I looked the color up, and discovered the grim news that we might not be able to knit a pair for every person in our family ( but if I did knit a pair for MrV or anyone else, I'd do them toe-up so I didn't end up like Poppins and the Regia socks she's knitting for her husband, especially since I don't have relatives in Germany who can bring me more yarn).
We were at Old Navy over the weekend, and discovered socks with the same stripes. So, Regia has already abandoned these stripes, Old Navy and I are just now getting on the bandwagon. What does this tell us?
26 September 2006
RightStart Geometry
The continuing saga of our adventures using RightStart Geometry and RightStart B. I have a 11yo and a 6yo who have average math ability.The 11yo has done Miquon, Singapore, RightStart Transitions, Level D and Level E; RightStart has saved her from a life a math phobia.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 57 Squares on Right Triangles
Still building up to the Pythagorean Theorem, which Kid1 has heard of before (notably in the book Murderous Maths). The lesson is simple and to the point.
Lesson 58 proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem
Finally, geometry with proofs. The lesson gives some history of the the Pythagorean Theorem (The Egyptians, the Chinese, and Hindu mathematicians knew about it before Pythagoras; James Garfield wrote a proof for it). The lesson also gives a brief explanation of what a proof is. I’ve been casually explaining this to her as we go along. Finally, the lesson highlights “You need to know” pointing to c squared equals a squared plus b squared.
The worksheets involve playing around with congruent figures, stating the theorem in your own words, and working through an informal proof.
Lesson 59 Finding Square Roots
Students learn the square root symbol, review simple square roots (like the square root of 25, say, or 64) and practice doing square roots on a calculator. Some lesson time is given to learning to use the calculator efficiently, something I was never taught to do, because of which I tend to avoid the Memory key. We do not own the calculator sold by the RightStart program; this isn’t a problem, since the directions are pretty generic.
Kid1 whips through this lesson
Lesson 60 More Right Angle Problems
Two pages of worksheets. The first takes over an hour, as I am not available for questions and she has to slowly figure things out on her own (By the way, she seems to have learned the skill of looking at the answer and then working backwards to figure out how she should have done the problem).
Most of the worksheet problems are practical story problems which involve a squared plus b squared equals c squared. One involves fitting skis into a trunk (later, at supper, we discuss that life is never that simple because a trunk isn’t actually a rectangle, and you always have a lip and the hinges to deal with; really, the best way to see if skis will fit in a trunk is to try to fit them in and see what happens). Another involves screen size of a television (although MrV points out that screen size is no longer such a big deal; what matters is whether they’ve put the speakers on the sides or on the top, thereby ruining your chances of ever fitting it onto the shelf).
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 57 Squares on Right Triangles
Still building up to the Pythagorean Theorem, which Kid1 has heard of before (notably in the book Murderous Maths). The lesson is simple and to the point.
Lesson 58 proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem
Finally, geometry with proofs. The lesson gives some history of the the Pythagorean Theorem (The Egyptians, the Chinese, and Hindu mathematicians knew about it before Pythagoras; James Garfield wrote a proof for it). The lesson also gives a brief explanation of what a proof is. I’ve been casually explaining this to her as we go along. Finally, the lesson highlights “You need to know” pointing to c squared equals a squared plus b squared.
The worksheets involve playing around with congruent figures, stating the theorem in your own words, and working through an informal proof.
Lesson 59 Finding Square Roots
Students learn the square root symbol, review simple square roots (like the square root of 25, say, or 64) and practice doing square roots on a calculator. Some lesson time is given to learning to use the calculator efficiently, something I was never taught to do, because of which I tend to avoid the Memory key. We do not own the calculator sold by the RightStart program; this isn’t a problem, since the directions are pretty generic.
Kid1 whips through this lesson
Lesson 60 More Right Angle Problems
Two pages of worksheets. The first takes over an hour, as I am not available for questions and she has to slowly figure things out on her own (By the way, she seems to have learned the skill of looking at the answer and then working backwards to figure out how she should have done the problem).
Most of the worksheet problems are practical story problems which involve a squared plus b squared equals c squared. One involves fitting skis into a trunk (later, at supper, we discuss that life is never that simple because a trunk isn’t actually a rectangle, and you always have a lip and the hinges to deal with; really, the best way to see if skis will fit in a trunk is to try to fit them in and see what happens). Another involves screen size of a television (although MrV points out that screen size is no longer such a big deal; what matters is whether they’ve put the speakers on the sides or on the top, thereby ruining your chances of ever fitting it onto the shelf).
21 September 2006
Tuesday Teatime
We read all of Got Geography. The poems were great, the collection wasn't too terribly long, and BONUS! it somewhat assuaged that nagging feeling that we don't spend enough time on geography in its many forms.
We dined on slice and bake chocolate chip cookies. The refrigerated dough was on sale this week, plus it was cool enough to turn on the oven to bake. I must admit, though, that the cookies and dough aren't as good as I remember them (yes, I sample the raw dough -- I figure it's pasteurized). But they still smelled wonderful in the oven, and sometimes that's pleasure enough to make up for lack of taste.
And, of course, milk in our china cups. For dunking.
Whew, September hasn't been the best for Teatimes. But this was a nice little break in a busy day within a busy week.
And now, if you'll excuse me, I just got a wonking huge box from Webs . It is time to dump everything else I should be doing, and swatch.
20 September 2006
More Sock Thoughts
I've decided that what I like about toe-up socks is that they require practically no planning. You just cast on some stitches (note to OliveOyl: I was inspired by this sock in Knitty to cast on this way for 18 stitches on 2 double points). You increase until it looks like it will fit around your foot, then knit merrily away. You stick in a heel (I didn't like the heel in the Widdershins sock, as it involved too much thinking, so I used the heel in Wendy's toe-up sock instead, modifying for the number of stitches I was using). Also, you stick a couple of safety pins in to remind you where you put the heel, so you have a clue when you knit the second sock.
Then you just knit as long as you feel like it, and bind off whenever you want to.
How relaxed this all looks, lounging on the big comfy chair! Really, you wouldn't know looking at all this comfy coziness that we're dealing with the ongoing water-heater drama (I have not one, but two new water heaters in my basement right now, neither of which is in that great of condition, both of which probably need to be removed; speaking of which, when you remove these could you please not slosh water -- nasty rusty water, especially -- all over the carpet and gouge holes in the walls, or at least tell me there's a problem instead of leaving me to walk downstairs and discover it myself?), that we're getting ready for a vacation that has morphed into a disaster-on-wheels before we've even packed the car, that we're in the throes of more birthday celebrations than we have people in our family (how did that happen?), that we're trying to do school, repair the driveway, get used to going to dance and choir and swimming (which means I need to have planned menus done hours and hours ahead of time that we can eat as soon as we can get home ... and they need to be gluten free, dairy free, almond/cashew free, pinto/kidney bean free, no trans fats, low saturated fats, no beef or pork as major ingredients, and take into account long time between prep and serving) ....
September is sort of a stressful month around here. Toe-up socks are mindless. It's a good combination.
Then you just knit as long as you feel like it, and bind off whenever you want to.
How relaxed this all looks, lounging on the big comfy chair! Really, you wouldn't know looking at all this comfy coziness that we're dealing with the ongoing water-heater drama (I have not one, but two new water heaters in my basement right now, neither of which is in that great of condition, both of which probably need to be removed; speaking of which, when you remove these could you please not slosh water -- nasty rusty water, especially -- all over the carpet and gouge holes in the walls, or at least tell me there's a problem instead of leaving me to walk downstairs and discover it myself?), that we're getting ready for a vacation that has morphed into a disaster-on-wheels before we've even packed the car, that we're in the throes of more birthday celebrations than we have people in our family (how did that happen?), that we're trying to do school, repair the driveway, get used to going to dance and choir and swimming (which means I need to have planned menus done hours and hours ahead of time that we can eat as soon as we can get home ... and they need to be gluten free, dairy free, almond/cashew free, pinto/kidney bean free, no trans fats, low saturated fats, no beef or pork as major ingredients, and take into account long time between prep and serving) ....
September is sort of a stressful month around here. Toe-up socks are mindless. It's a good combination.
19 September 2006
RightStart Geometry
The continuing saga of our adventures using RightStart Geometry and RightStart B. I have a 10yo and a 6yo who have average math ability.The 10yo has done Miquon, Singapore, RightStart Transitions, Level D and Level E; RightStart has saved her from a life a math phobia.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 54 Rectangles Inscribed in a Triangle
In lesson 53 Kid1 was unable to bisect a side of a triangle -- she forgot to draw a perpendicular back up to the line segment she was bisecting. I had showed her how to do it, and wondered whether she had really learned what to do.
The same thing happened in this lesson. This time it was a matter of a quick, “Remember, you go straight up here.” Ah. I think the lesson will sink in more with the repetition. I know I’m getting better at it.
Lesson 55 Connecting Midpoints in a Quadrilateral
Kid1 has a headcold. She stops frequently to get a tissue to wipe her nose. Every time she stops for tissue she tries to sneak a peek at The Sea of Monsters to read just a few more sentences. The lesson is interminable. She is to draw a quadrilateral, find the midpoint of each side, inscribe a new quadrilateral in it, measure the area of each, compare the two areas. This last bit involves using ratios, which clearly still puzzle her. It doesn’t help that her measurements are a wee bit off, giving her a ratio of 18 to 10. I prompt, “What is that a lot like?” Her mind is stopped up with snot. I suggest she stop after the first worksheet. She does.
The next day her head is clear. She knocks off the second worksheet in no time. She comments that it is much easier than she thought it would be.
Lesson 56 Introducing the Pythagorean Theorem
I always wanted to have more Montessori math manipulatives around when the kids were little. I thought it would be cool to play around with some of the Pythagorean stuff.
The lesson involves drawing squares, each using the side of the triangle as one side of the square, then comparing the areas. Easy. Kid1’s unsolicited comment: “This lesson was short and fun.”
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 54 Rectangles Inscribed in a Triangle
In lesson 53 Kid1 was unable to bisect a side of a triangle -- she forgot to draw a perpendicular back up to the line segment she was bisecting. I had showed her how to do it, and wondered whether she had really learned what to do.
The same thing happened in this lesson. This time it was a matter of a quick, “Remember, you go straight up here.” Ah. I think the lesson will sink in more with the repetition. I know I’m getting better at it.
Lesson 55 Connecting Midpoints in a Quadrilateral
Kid1 has a headcold. She stops frequently to get a tissue to wipe her nose. Every time she stops for tissue she tries to sneak a peek at The Sea of Monsters to read just a few more sentences. The lesson is interminable. She is to draw a quadrilateral, find the midpoint of each side, inscribe a new quadrilateral in it, measure the area of each, compare the two areas. This last bit involves using ratios, which clearly still puzzle her. It doesn’t help that her measurements are a wee bit off, giving her a ratio of 18 to 10. I prompt, “What is that a lot like?” Her mind is stopped up with snot. I suggest she stop after the first worksheet. She does.
The next day her head is clear. She knocks off the second worksheet in no time. She comments that it is much easier than she thought it would be.
Lesson 56 Introducing the Pythagorean Theorem
I always wanted to have more Montessori math manipulatives around when the kids were little. I thought it would be cool to play around with some of the Pythagorean stuff.
The lesson involves drawing squares, each using the side of the triangle as one side of the square, then comparing the areas. Easy. Kid1’s unsolicited comment: “This lesson was short and fun.”
14 September 2006
If our socks could talk...
" 'There, that's finished,' Mama said. She stood and held her knitting up to the window. It was a gray stocking for Papa.... A year ago those stockings had been crinkly wool on the back of one of those merinos. Papa had sheared the fleece from the sheep's back, and Mama had washed it and combed it smooth with her spiky-toothed carding brushes. Then she had spun it into yarn on her spinning wheel. And now that yarn had been knitted into a pair of stockings.
"Charlotte looked at these stockings, flat and soft and gray in Mama's hands. It seemed to her they were made of more than just wool. There were words and thoughts knitted into them like the tiny prickles of grass seed that sometimes stayed stuck in the wool even after it had been washed and carded and spun. All the words that had been spoken while Mama's quick hands made the needles cross and uncross around the endless strand of wool -- all those words about the war, and Mr. Madison, and the cannon-heavy ships -- they were all there, knitted into Papa's stockings."
(From Little House by Boston Bay, by Melissa Wiley)
I imagine the stockings in the book looked a little like this.
Reading that passage inspired me to start a pair of sensible socks. I have no sheep, no roving to card, no handspun wool, so I picked a sensible-looking skein from my stash, in this case some Regia:
I think knitting toe-up socks is ever so much more sensible than top-down. Top-down always strikes me as backwards and queer.
In any case, if these socks could talk, I don't know what they'd say about the sheep, or the spinning with polyamide. I imagine the conversation would be in German or Italian, though. The skein travelled through WEBS yarn store, so it was in the same state (Massachusetts) as the stockings in the above passage.
And those green needles? I don't even know where they're from. I got them from my grandma, who got them from another lady at the Assisted Living Facility. They're not even a matched set anymore.
As I knit, the socks are now able to quote from Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra (don't knock it -- that episode features Picard doing an extemporaneous telling of Gilgamesh, and also shows him reading the Homeric hymns in Greek -- a classical ed. goldmine!). They've been to dance class and met a woman who spent $800 on Sonlight curriculum for 2 of her kids this year (she was carrying a very nice Sonlight tote bag; the socks were the conversation starter, but that tote bag got us into the homeschool discussion). They have been to the playground.
Today they will go to swim class. From there, who knows? The world is open.
"Charlotte looked at these stockings, flat and soft and gray in Mama's hands. It seemed to her they were made of more than just wool. There were words and thoughts knitted into them like the tiny prickles of grass seed that sometimes stayed stuck in the wool even after it had been washed and carded and spun. All the words that had been spoken while Mama's quick hands made the needles cross and uncross around the endless strand of wool -- all those words about the war, and Mr. Madison, and the cannon-heavy ships -- they were all there, knitted into Papa's stockings."
(From Little House by Boston Bay, by Melissa Wiley)
I imagine the stockings in the book looked a little like this.
Reading that passage inspired me to start a pair of sensible socks. I have no sheep, no roving to card, no handspun wool, so I picked a sensible-looking skein from my stash, in this case some Regia:
I think knitting toe-up socks is ever so much more sensible than top-down. Top-down always strikes me as backwards and queer.
In any case, if these socks could talk, I don't know what they'd say about the sheep, or the spinning with polyamide. I imagine the conversation would be in German or Italian, though. The skein travelled through WEBS yarn store, so it was in the same state (Massachusetts) as the stockings in the above passage.
And those green needles? I don't even know where they're from. I got them from my grandma, who got them from another lady at the Assisted Living Facility. They're not even a matched set anymore.
As I knit, the socks are now able to quote from Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra (don't knock it -- that episode features Picard doing an extemporaneous telling of Gilgamesh, and also shows him reading the Homeric hymns in Greek -- a classical ed. goldmine!). They've been to dance class and met a woman who spent $800 on Sonlight curriculum for 2 of her kids this year (she was carrying a very nice Sonlight tote bag; the socks were the conversation starter, but that tote bag got us into the homeschool discussion). They have been to the playground.
Today they will go to swim class. From there, who knows? The world is open.
12 September 2006
RightStart Geometry
The continuing saga of our adventures using RightStart Geometry and RightStart B. I have a 10yo and a 6yo who have average math ability.The 10yo has done Miquon, Singapore, RightStart Transitions, Level D and Level E; RightStart has saved her from a life a math phobia.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 53 Connecting Midpoints in a Triangle
This ended up being the only math lesson done all week (due to a field trip and then illness). It ended up being a doozy, though.
The worksheet has a triangle on it; the student is supposed to find the midpoint of each side of the triangle, then connect the midpoints. Kid1 quickly found the midpoint of the base, next found the midpoint of one of the legs, then collapsed into tears of frustration trying to find the midpoint of the other leg.
She cried for help (in a very specific way -- the directions to parents say that the student should ask specific questions, not just a general “I don’t get it”). I, of course, have no memory of how to find the midpoint of anything other than just measuring the line and dividing by two. I absent-mindedly roated the T-square around while contemplating how to approach the problem. Kid1 huffily pointed out that the T-square is to remain in the same direction through all the work, and that had been taught in one of the early lessons (subtext: get a clue, Mom). Then I had the brilliant notion to ask her to show me everything she’d done so far.
“Well, I found the midpoint of the base, then of this line....”
“No, show me step by step. Be specific.”
She showed me. Aha, now I sort of remember how to do this. It’s a matter of using the 45 angle, dropping down to a line parallel to the base, make a new triangle, then drawing a line back from the apex of that triangle back to the line you’re bisecting. Kid1 had neglected that last step of going from the apex back up to the line; actually, I wasn’t sure this was exactly how you’re supposed to do it, but it appeared to work.
Next she connected the midpoints. She was supposed to discuss whether lines in the new triangle were parallel to the lines in the outer triangle. “Some lines seem to be parallel; you can check it with your drawing tools.” The book cheerfully prompted, “If you’ve forgotten how, look back to Lesson 33.” We dutifully turn to Lesson 33, and discover that it’s about Area of a Triangle. Huh?
I know there’s some way to use your drawing tools to figure out parallel lines, but my memory of it is as hazy as my memory of how to bisect a line segment. I suggest she eyeball it. Actually, her lines are a bit off due to the imprecision of her work. I suggest she just go with it because it makes sense to me (some sort of distant memory of 10th grade geometry, I guess) plus I peeked at the answer page.
The rest of the lesson went okay -- just a matter of figuring ratios. Well, it went okay once we had a quick review of what ratios are.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 53 Connecting Midpoints in a Triangle
This ended up being the only math lesson done all week (due to a field trip and then illness). It ended up being a doozy, though.
The worksheet has a triangle on it; the student is supposed to find the midpoint of each side of the triangle, then connect the midpoints. Kid1 quickly found the midpoint of the base, next found the midpoint of one of the legs, then collapsed into tears of frustration trying to find the midpoint of the other leg.
She cried for help (in a very specific way -- the directions to parents say that the student should ask specific questions, not just a general “I don’t get it”). I, of course, have no memory of how to find the midpoint of anything other than just measuring the line and dividing by two. I absent-mindedly roated the T-square around while contemplating how to approach the problem. Kid1 huffily pointed out that the T-square is to remain in the same direction through all the work, and that had been taught in one of the early lessons (subtext: get a clue, Mom). Then I had the brilliant notion to ask her to show me everything she’d done so far.
“Well, I found the midpoint of the base, then of this line....”
“No, show me step by step. Be specific.”
She showed me. Aha, now I sort of remember how to do this. It’s a matter of using the 45 angle, dropping down to a line parallel to the base, make a new triangle, then drawing a line back from the apex of that triangle back to the line you’re bisecting. Kid1 had neglected that last step of going from the apex back up to the line; actually, I wasn’t sure this was exactly how you’re supposed to do it, but it appeared to work.
Next she connected the midpoints. She was supposed to discuss whether lines in the new triangle were parallel to the lines in the outer triangle. “Some lines seem to be parallel; you can check it with your drawing tools.” The book cheerfully prompted, “If you’ve forgotten how, look back to Lesson 33.” We dutifully turn to Lesson 33, and discover that it’s about Area of a Triangle. Huh?
I know there’s some way to use your drawing tools to figure out parallel lines, but my memory of it is as hazy as my memory of how to bisect a line segment. I suggest she eyeball it. Actually, her lines are a bit off due to the imprecision of her work. I suggest she just go with it because it makes sense to me (some sort of distant memory of 10th grade geometry, I guess) plus I peeked at the answer page.
The rest of the lesson went okay -- just a matter of figuring ratios. Well, it went okay once we had a quick review of what ratios are.
11 September 2006
Braced for the onslaught
This week marks the beginning of extracurricular activities -- all of them. This means hours upon hours of sitting and waiting while kids swim, dance and sing.
This is what I've got so far:
Two portable projects -- a Klein bottle hat, and a toe-up sock.
Last year we didn't sign up for any outside classes since we were in the midst of moving. Oh, the glorious freedom of not having to rush to anything at 4pm every single weekday! On the other hand, it was sort of lonely and isolating.
This year we have a modest schedule. Each child has church choir (meets concurrently on Sunday), a dance class, and a swim class. They have also signed up for Scouts, but as Juliettes, which are the independent scouts. This area apparently doesn't have any Interest Groups -- all the troops here are associated with schools. Kid1 used to belong to an awesome Interest Group troop full of homeschoolers.
Kid1: "I don't want to join a troop. They might want to work on different badges then I want to work on. But I still want to sell cookies."
Me: "Ummm. Well. I don't think you can sell cookies if you're a Juliette." (Exit to scream and jump with excitement at the prospect of No Cookie Sales.)
Kid2: "I don't think this is fair. I should have a chance to join a troop. I never got to belong to a troop."
Kid1: "Oh, for pete's sake. The meetings are boring. You wouldn't like them anyway."
Which is true. Kid2 likes the concept of being around other kids, but often finds the reality of the other kids downright annoying. I think she is a Highly Sensitive Child. Or maybe she's just a control freak. In any event, three programs a week is plenty for her to deal with.
This is what I've got so far:
Two portable projects -- a Klein bottle hat, and a toe-up sock.
Last year we didn't sign up for any outside classes since we were in the midst of moving. Oh, the glorious freedom of not having to rush to anything at 4pm every single weekday! On the other hand, it was sort of lonely and isolating.
This year we have a modest schedule. Each child has church choir (meets concurrently on Sunday), a dance class, and a swim class. They have also signed up for Scouts, but as Juliettes, which are the independent scouts. This area apparently doesn't have any Interest Groups -- all the troops here are associated with schools. Kid1 used to belong to an awesome Interest Group troop full of homeschoolers.
Kid1: "I don't want to join a troop. They might want to work on different badges then I want to work on. But I still want to sell cookies."
Me: "Ummm. Well. I don't think you can sell cookies if you're a Juliette." (Exit to scream and jump with excitement at the prospect of No Cookie Sales.)
Kid2: "I don't think this is fair. I should have a chance to join a troop. I never got to belong to a troop."
Kid1: "Oh, for pete's sake. The meetings are boring. You wouldn't like them anyway."
Which is true. Kid2 likes the concept of being around other kids, but often finds the reality of the other kids downright annoying. I think she is a Highly Sensitive Child. Or maybe she's just a control freak. In any event, three programs a week is plenty for her to deal with.
08 September 2006
That feeling you get when you finish a great book in the middle of the night, and want to tell someone about it
I got a copy of Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief yesterday. On a whim, I started reading it after the kids went to bed.
I finished it at 2a.m. Y'all gotta know, I never stay up after 10p.m. Never. But, well, I kept thinking that in a few more pages I'd get to a good stopping point....
No, that's a lie. It was pretty apparent early on that this book was non-stop.
I'd love to write the witty, wonderful review this book deserves, but I'm operating on way too little sleep. Let's just say that I wanted to bounce into Kid1's bedroom as soon as I finished the book, wake her up and tell her about it. That's how excited I was.
Greek gods! Olympus! Hades! New York! Las Vegas! Los Angeles! A quest! Characters swearing at each other in ancient Greek, and the occasional Latin! General goofiiness!
Wafting around the internet this morning, I see that people are drawing comparisons to Harry Potter. Pshaw. I'd compare it more to Terry Pratchett's DiscWorld.
You need to go read it. Really. It's vital to your classical education.
I finished it at 2a.m. Y'all gotta know, I never stay up after 10p.m. Never. But, well, I kept thinking that in a few more pages I'd get to a good stopping point....
No, that's a lie. It was pretty apparent early on that this book was non-stop.
I'd love to write the witty, wonderful review this book deserves, but I'm operating on way too little sleep. Let's just say that I wanted to bounce into Kid1's bedroom as soon as I finished the book, wake her up and tell her about it. That's how excited I was.
Greek gods! Olympus! Hades! New York! Las Vegas! Los Angeles! A quest! Characters swearing at each other in ancient Greek, and the occasional Latin! General goofiiness!
Wafting around the internet this morning, I see that people are drawing comparisons to Harry Potter. Pshaw. I'd compare it more to Terry Pratchett's DiscWorld.
You need to go read it. Really. It's vital to your classical education.
05 September 2006
RightStart Geometry
The continuing saga of our adventures using RightStart Geometry and RightStart B. I have a 10yo and a 6yo who have average math ability.The 10yo has done Miquon, Singapore, RightStart Transitions, Level D and Level E; RightStart has saved her from a life a math phobia.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 49 Other Congruent Triangles (SAS, ASA)
The Student is to start off by doing 4 problems on the worksheet, then reading the lesson, then finishing the worksheet. The final problem makes use of the recent lessons on transversals and alternate angles (lesson 47). Kid1 gets a different answer for the last problem then that shown in the book. We look it over together, discuss why various answers may be true. I tell her that she will eventually be able to write up this discussion as a “proof”. I mean to email Dr. Cotter and ask if the answer sheet should list the alternate answers, but forget about it in the hurleyburley of life.
Lesson 50 Side and Angle Relationships in Triangles
Read about half the lesson, do the worksheet, then finish reading the lesson. The student should’ve discovered the relationship between angles and sides while doing the worksheet. I like this set up. It’s a nice change from the “we’re going to tell you about it, then you go drudge through a bunch of problems practicing what we just told you.”
Lesson 51 Median in Triangles
Major typo on this page. First there is a picture captioned “Line segments ME, DI, and AN are medians.” Then there is a blank space captioned “Line segments AR, EN, and OT are not medians.” Well, yes, given that AR, EN, and OT don’t exist, they certainly aren’t medians. But we can only speculate what other non-medians might look like.
On the worksheept the student is to draw a trinagle and construct medians, then compare answers with classmates. Sigh. Not only do we have nonexistent medians, we have nonexistent clasmates.
Lesson 52 More About Medians in Triangles
This lesson is one of those “1 or 2 days” types of lessons. Kid1 doesn’t notice this designation, and struggles through the entire thing in one day. It starts off with a materials list that requires a pencil with a new eraser, a craft stick (we cannot find any of the dozens we swear we have, and consider eating popsicles to liberate some more; in the end, she uses a pencil with flat sides). The odd materials are used to try balancing triangles on various points and lines -- a triangle can balance on a meridian, and also on its centroid point.
The worksheets require much measurement. She is to find areas of various triangles. She has forgotten how to find the area of a triangle. She is wailing and gnashing teeth. I remind her, “Remember that thing with the parallelograms?” That’s enough to remind her of one way she had derived the method for finding area of a triangle (frankly, I couldn’t remember the formula either after a 20 year lull in my need to know it; the parallelogram example is how I derive it).
But, oh, the anguish ... many of her measurements are a wee bit off from the measurements used in the book. I remember this sort of thing happening with earlier levels of RightStart -- we would often find ourselves a bit off, a millimeter here or there, from the book’s measures. So frustrating. I look at her worksheet, look at the answers, say, “Look, do you understand the point they’re trying to make? Okay, then. That’s what’s important.”
(For the record, she usually checks her own answers. This turned into a tandem math lesson, though.)
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 49 Other Congruent Triangles (SAS, ASA)
The Student is to start off by doing 4 problems on the worksheet, then reading the lesson, then finishing the worksheet. The final problem makes use of the recent lessons on transversals and alternate angles (lesson 47). Kid1 gets a different answer for the last problem then that shown in the book. We look it over together, discuss why various answers may be true. I tell her that she will eventually be able to write up this discussion as a “proof”. I mean to email Dr. Cotter and ask if the answer sheet should list the alternate answers, but forget about it in the hurleyburley of life.
Lesson 50 Side and Angle Relationships in Triangles
Read about half the lesson, do the worksheet, then finish reading the lesson. The student should’ve discovered the relationship between angles and sides while doing the worksheet. I like this set up. It’s a nice change from the “we’re going to tell you about it, then you go drudge through a bunch of problems practicing what we just told you.”
Lesson 51 Median in Triangles
Major typo on this page. First there is a picture captioned “Line segments ME, DI, and AN are medians.” Then there is a blank space captioned “Line segments AR, EN, and OT are not medians.” Well, yes, given that AR, EN, and OT don’t exist, they certainly aren’t medians. But we can only speculate what other non-medians might look like.
On the worksheept the student is to draw a trinagle and construct medians, then compare answers with classmates. Sigh. Not only do we have nonexistent medians, we have nonexistent clasmates.
Lesson 52 More About Medians in Triangles
This lesson is one of those “1 or 2 days” types of lessons. Kid1 doesn’t notice this designation, and struggles through the entire thing in one day. It starts off with a materials list that requires a pencil with a new eraser, a craft stick (we cannot find any of the dozens we swear we have, and consider eating popsicles to liberate some more; in the end, she uses a pencil with flat sides). The odd materials are used to try balancing triangles on various points and lines -- a triangle can balance on a meridian, and also on its centroid point.
The worksheets require much measurement. She is to find areas of various triangles. She has forgotten how to find the area of a triangle. She is wailing and gnashing teeth. I remind her, “Remember that thing with the parallelograms?” That’s enough to remind her of one way she had derived the method for finding area of a triangle (frankly, I couldn’t remember the formula either after a 20 year lull in my need to know it; the parallelogram example is how I derive it).
But, oh, the anguish ... many of her measurements are a wee bit off from the measurements used in the book. I remember this sort of thing happening with earlier levels of RightStart -- we would often find ourselves a bit off, a millimeter here or there, from the book’s measures. So frustrating. I look at her worksheet, look at the answers, say, “Look, do you understand the point they’re trying to make? Okay, then. That’s what’s important.”
(For the record, she usually checks her own answers. This turned into a tandem math lesson, though.)
31 August 2006
Picovoli and other disappointing things
Pattern here.
Debbie Bliss Cathay, size 4 needles, knit in size 32.
My impressions? Eh. I like the shaping. The picots ... the picots are annoying. They're made by yarn overs/knit 2 together for a row, then 2 rows of stockinette stitch, then folding along the yo/k2tog row and sew down the live stitches. This makes for a bulky picot. Also, check out how this top hugs that flab roll on my back. Yikes, I didn't know I had a flab roll there!
Overall, I didn't feel like this item deserved more effort in the picture-taking department, because I'm wallowing in disappointment right now.
I blocked it by immersing in water, rolling up in a towel to blot excess water, then laying out on another towel. The Cathay bled a periwinkly outline on the towel I laid it on. The blocking helped the picots, but they still need to be beaten in submission with an iron or something. I suspect that it will take another session with the iron after every wash. Bleh.
Someday I might unsew the edges, unravel the picots, and put a smoother edge on it. Sheesh, sounds like a lot of work.
Other disappointments:
We just finished reading Charlotte's Web. Charlotte died, once again. We all sat on the couch, bawling. Do you know how many times I've read that book? How many times I've heard it? My mom used to read it to me when I was little. We cried every time Charlotte died. I don't know how many times she read it to me, but I felt like I had nearly memorized it by the time the fateful day came that I picked it up on my own (we owned a hardback copy). I had been working on those uber-boring reading exercises in school, probably first grade, and just happened to pick it up ... opened it ... and started reading. "Where's Papa going with that ax?" Oh my gosh, I was Reading. Reading a Chapter Book! On My Own! It was one of the most exciting moments of elementary school. And catapulted the book to the category of Sacred Text in my mind.
These days we have it as a book on tape read by the author. He does an excellent job, and never starts sobbing inconsolably when Charlotte dies. The kids have listened to it about a billion times. You'd think we'd be hardened to it by now. But, no, I got out the hardback from the library to read to the kids because it's the August selection in The Arrow, from whence I get our copywork and dictation selections. The kids had never seen the pictures! Amazing! But, you know, I had never read it aloud to them.
Another disappointment is our water heater. It was installed in 1980. It's feeling its age, rather like Charlotte did there at the end when she couldn't climb down to go back to Zuckerman's farm. It's so old that the parts aren't made for it anymore. It's so huge that it's going to be a massive PITB to get it out of the basement if we need to replace it. Sigh.
Debbie Bliss Cathay, size 4 needles, knit in size 32.
My impressions? Eh. I like the shaping. The picots ... the picots are annoying. They're made by yarn overs/knit 2 together for a row, then 2 rows of stockinette stitch, then folding along the yo/k2tog row and sew down the live stitches. This makes for a bulky picot. Also, check out how this top hugs that flab roll on my back. Yikes, I didn't know I had a flab roll there!
Overall, I didn't feel like this item deserved more effort in the picture-taking department, because I'm wallowing in disappointment right now.
I blocked it by immersing in water, rolling up in a towel to blot excess water, then laying out on another towel. The Cathay bled a periwinkly outline on the towel I laid it on. The blocking helped the picots, but they still need to be beaten in submission with an iron or something. I suspect that it will take another session with the iron after every wash. Bleh.
Someday I might unsew the edges, unravel the picots, and put a smoother edge on it. Sheesh, sounds like a lot of work.
Other disappointments:
We just finished reading Charlotte's Web. Charlotte died, once again. We all sat on the couch, bawling. Do you know how many times I've read that book? How many times I've heard it? My mom used to read it to me when I was little. We cried every time Charlotte died. I don't know how many times she read it to me, but I felt like I had nearly memorized it by the time the fateful day came that I picked it up on my own (we owned a hardback copy). I had been working on those uber-boring reading exercises in school, probably first grade, and just happened to pick it up ... opened it ... and started reading. "Where's Papa going with that ax?" Oh my gosh, I was Reading. Reading a Chapter Book! On My Own! It was one of the most exciting moments of elementary school. And catapulted the book to the category of Sacred Text in my mind.
These days we have it as a book on tape read by the author. He does an excellent job, and never starts sobbing inconsolably when Charlotte dies. The kids have listened to it about a billion times. You'd think we'd be hardened to it by now. But, no, I got out the hardback from the library to read to the kids because it's the August selection in The Arrow, from whence I get our copywork and dictation selections. The kids had never seen the pictures! Amazing! But, you know, I had never read it aloud to them.
Another disappointment is our water heater. It was installed in 1980. It's feeling its age, rather like Charlotte did there at the end when she couldn't climb down to go back to Zuckerman's farm. It's so old that the parts aren't made for it anymore. It's so huge that it's going to be a massive PITB to get it out of the basement if we need to replace it. Sigh.
29 August 2006
RightStart Geometry
The continuing saga of our adventures using RightStart Geometry and RightStart B. I have a 10yo and a 6yo who have average math ability.The 10yo has done Miquon, Singapore, RightStart Transitions, Level D and Level E; RightStart has saved her from a life a math phobia.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 44 Measure of the Angles in a Polygon
Now that the student understand the idea of supplementary angles, she can start applying that knowledge to polygons. Well, theoretically she should be able to do this. In reality, the student is a bit surprised that she’s actually doing something with all that rigamorole about supplementary angles from the last lesson.
My personal favorite part of the lesson is the paragraph that begins with bold type: “A tough question” and goes on to say, “You can skip this paragraph if you aren’t curious or already know why you can’t divide the quadrilateral into three triangles.” I think it’s daring and wonderful to tell kids they can skip parts of the math book, and customize what they learn.
The worksheet instructions casually mention that “there is a little algebra.” Hey, no big deal. By now the student-reader realizes that “algebra” isn’t something to worry about.
Lesson 45 Classifying Triangle by Sides and Angles
After a review of equilateral, isosceles, scalene, acute, right and obtuse triangles, it’s time to play little math games. You’re given measures of some angles of the triangle, and need to find the rest. I think stuff like this is fun. Kid1 doesn’t immediately catch on to how it’s done, but eventually gets into the swing of it.
She claims she doesn’t know what complementary angles are. I point out the definition back in lesson 43 (the front of the book lists when all vocabulary is introduced, so it’s easy to look up).
Lesson 46 External Angles of a Triangle
More fun figuring out angles, adding up to and subtracting from 180 in your head. Remeber in earlier years of math when that was a big deal -- adding and aubtracting 3 digits in your head? Now you barely notice you’re doing it, you’re so swept away by the fascinating angles.
Kid1 thinks she’s found an error in the book. When we look at it together we discover the book is correct.
Lesson 47 Angles Formed With Parallel Lines
“Mommy, this book makes angles so much more fun than any other math book!”
Take that curriculum review for what it’s worth -- she hasn’t seen that many other math books, particularly any that have much to do with angles. Today’s lesson is all about corresponding, interior, exterior, and alternate angles, as well as what a transversal is. The tone is light and fun.
Lesson 48 Triangles with Congruent Sides (SSS)
“Here you get a chance to use those inequalities you have been writing since first grade.” Yep, it’s time to use the greater-than less-than signs. The student cuts out strips of paper, then plays around with them to see what triangles can be formed. I happen to be working nearby, so have an opportunity to discuss that sometimes it seems other triangles can be formed because the strips she’s using are actually rectangles instead of lines.
My favorite line in the book: “You don’t have to memorize this, just think about what happens when you try to make a triangle.” Once again, RightStart emphasizes understanding a concept over memorizing it.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 44 Measure of the Angles in a Polygon
Now that the student understand the idea of supplementary angles, she can start applying that knowledge to polygons. Well, theoretically she should be able to do this. In reality, the student is a bit surprised that she’s actually doing something with all that rigamorole about supplementary angles from the last lesson.
My personal favorite part of the lesson is the paragraph that begins with bold type: “A tough question” and goes on to say, “You can skip this paragraph if you aren’t curious or already know why you can’t divide the quadrilateral into three triangles.” I think it’s daring and wonderful to tell kids they can skip parts of the math book, and customize what they learn.
The worksheet instructions casually mention that “there is a little algebra.” Hey, no big deal. By now the student-reader realizes that “algebra” isn’t something to worry about.
Lesson 45 Classifying Triangle by Sides and Angles
After a review of equilateral, isosceles, scalene, acute, right and obtuse triangles, it’s time to play little math games. You’re given measures of some angles of the triangle, and need to find the rest. I think stuff like this is fun. Kid1 doesn’t immediately catch on to how it’s done, but eventually gets into the swing of it.
She claims she doesn’t know what complementary angles are. I point out the definition back in lesson 43 (the front of the book lists when all vocabulary is introduced, so it’s easy to look up).
Lesson 46 External Angles of a Triangle
More fun figuring out angles, adding up to and subtracting from 180 in your head. Remeber in earlier years of math when that was a big deal -- adding and aubtracting 3 digits in your head? Now you barely notice you’re doing it, you’re so swept away by the fascinating angles.
Kid1 thinks she’s found an error in the book. When we look at it together we discover the book is correct.
Lesson 47 Angles Formed With Parallel Lines
“Mommy, this book makes angles so much more fun than any other math book!”
Take that curriculum review for what it’s worth -- she hasn’t seen that many other math books, particularly any that have much to do with angles. Today’s lesson is all about corresponding, interior, exterior, and alternate angles, as well as what a transversal is. The tone is light and fun.
Lesson 48 Triangles with Congruent Sides (SSS)
“Here you get a chance to use those inequalities you have been writing since first grade.” Yep, it’s time to use the greater-than less-than signs. The student cuts out strips of paper, then plays around with them to see what triangles can be formed. I happen to be working nearby, so have an opportunity to discuss that sometimes it seems other triangles can be formed because the strips she’s using are actually rectangles instead of lines.
My favorite line in the book: “You don’t have to memorize this, just think about what happens when you try to make a triangle.” Once again, RightStart emphasizes understanding a concept over memorizing it.
23 August 2006
Tuesday Teatime
Tuesday Teatime was held outside in our play fort. We grabbed popsicles and a book of poetry, climbed up, hunkered down, and read.
Our book was Cynthia Rylant's Boris. Boris is a cat, and cats are always popular subjects for poetry at our house. Cynthia Rylant has written an entire book of free verse about Boris and her relationship to him.
Several of the poems were above 6 year old Kid2's head. When we read about Boris in the vet's office swaggering out "with the latest copy of Cat Fancy in one paw and a martini in the other," she wasn't quite sure what was being described. "Is that a kind of doggy treat?" she asked. No, honey, it's a drink, a human drink, and don't worry if you don't quite understand - it's a little old for you. The point today is to enjoy the parts you do understand, and also see that people write poetry about everything, simply everything. And there are many silly, enjoyable-by-a-6-year-old moments in the book.
Kid1, at the sage old age of 10, declared that she really "got" the imagery. Hmmm, I wonder. I silently mused that good poetry (and prose) tells us something new year after year as we grow older. For now, though, it's okay to enjoy the bits and pieces we understand, sitting in a fort high above the ground with lemon popsicles in hand.
Our book was Cynthia Rylant's Boris. Boris is a cat, and cats are always popular subjects for poetry at our house. Cynthia Rylant has written an entire book of free verse about Boris and her relationship to him.
Several of the poems were above 6 year old Kid2's head. When we read about Boris in the vet's office swaggering out "with the latest copy of Cat Fancy in one paw and a martini in the other," she wasn't quite sure what was being described. "Is that a kind of doggy treat?" she asked. No, honey, it's a drink, a human drink, and don't worry if you don't quite understand - it's a little old for you. The point today is to enjoy the parts you do understand, and also see that people write poetry about everything, simply everything. And there are many silly, enjoyable-by-a-6-year-old moments in the book.
Kid1, at the sage old age of 10, declared that she really "got" the imagery. Hmmm, I wonder. I silently mused that good poetry (and prose) tells us something new year after year as we grow older. For now, though, it's okay to enjoy the bits and pieces we understand, sitting in a fort high above the ground with lemon popsicles in hand.
22 August 2006
RightStart Geometry
The continuing saga of our adventures using RightStart Geometry and RightStart B. I have a 10yo and a 6yo who have average math ability.The 10yo has done Miquon, Singapore, RightStart Transitions, Level D and Level E; RightStart has saved her from a life a math phobia.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 40 Area of Octagons.
Lesson 39, area of hexagons, took a long, long time -- over an hour. Lesson 40, area of octagons takes minutes. The student is simply to demonstrate ways it can be done -- no actual measuring takes place. It’s a fun lesson, stretching the imagination as Kid1 tries to come up with various ways to divide an octagon into triangles and rectangles.
Lesson 41 Ratios of Areas.
This gets off to a rocky start, as Kid1 is to draw a rectangle the same height as the one given, but twice the area. I pause to demonstrate how I would do it, a skill honed through years of laziness (“I would just take my T-square and draw a long line here ... and here ... see, I don’t even measure, I just use the lines they used for the top and bottom of their rectangle as my guide ... okay, now you’re ready to figure out how to make the area twice as large”).
I notice she has learned that tick marks can denote equivalent lines. Cool.
Lesson 42 Measuring Angles.
Kid1 is measuring the angle of her elbow with the goniometer. “This book is a lot less stuffy than a lot of textbooks, Mom.” Later she is flipping the goniometer around carelessly. I ask her to stop, not wanting her to ruin it. She replies that the book tells how to put it back together if it breaks. Yeah, well, it’s still not a good idea.
Lesson 43 Supplementary and Vertical Angles
Kid1 come bouncing into the room: “I thought this was going to be a long, boring hard lesson, and I was going to have to ask you for help, but it wasn’t. It was really good.“
“So, was it good because it was easy, or short, or what?”
“It wasn’t exactly easy ... it was just really fun. It wasn’t the most fun of any lesson -- I liked the lesson that was 2 worksheets where you had to name figures better.”
She shows me the worksheet. “Look, here I had to figure out this angle without measuring.” The picture shows various lines which would add up to 360 degrees; I can see that you could easily figure it out using the idea of supplementary angles. “My explanation of how I did it was a little different than their’s. I didn’t understand that I was supposed to write it out step by step as I went through it.” Yes, the students are supposed to be writing out how they arrive at some of their answers. And, yes, this one sounds like an informal proof.
I comment, “Someday you’ll learn to do this in a formal way ... it’s called a ‘proof’. You’ll prove that this angle is a certain measurement.”
She softly sighs, “Oooh,” her eyes shining with anticipation.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 40 Area of Octagons.
Lesson 39, area of hexagons, took a long, long time -- over an hour. Lesson 40, area of octagons takes minutes. The student is simply to demonstrate ways it can be done -- no actual measuring takes place. It’s a fun lesson, stretching the imagination as Kid1 tries to come up with various ways to divide an octagon into triangles and rectangles.
Lesson 41 Ratios of Areas.
This gets off to a rocky start, as Kid1 is to draw a rectangle the same height as the one given, but twice the area. I pause to demonstrate how I would do it, a skill honed through years of laziness (“I would just take my T-square and draw a long line here ... and here ... see, I don’t even measure, I just use the lines they used for the top and bottom of their rectangle as my guide ... okay, now you’re ready to figure out how to make the area twice as large”).
I notice she has learned that tick marks can denote equivalent lines. Cool.
Lesson 42 Measuring Angles.
Kid1 is measuring the angle of her elbow with the goniometer. “This book is a lot less stuffy than a lot of textbooks, Mom.” Later she is flipping the goniometer around carelessly. I ask her to stop, not wanting her to ruin it. She replies that the book tells how to put it back together if it breaks. Yeah, well, it’s still not a good idea.
Lesson 43 Supplementary and Vertical Angles
Kid1 come bouncing into the room: “I thought this was going to be a long, boring hard lesson, and I was going to have to ask you for help, but it wasn’t. It was really good.“
“So, was it good because it was easy, or short, or what?”
“It wasn’t exactly easy ... it was just really fun. It wasn’t the most fun of any lesson -- I liked the lesson that was 2 worksheets where you had to name figures better.”
She shows me the worksheet. “Look, here I had to figure out this angle without measuring.” The picture shows various lines which would add up to 360 degrees; I can see that you could easily figure it out using the idea of supplementary angles. “My explanation of how I did it was a little different than their’s. I didn’t understand that I was supposed to write it out step by step as I went through it.” Yes, the students are supposed to be writing out how they arrive at some of their answers. And, yes, this one sounds like an informal proof.
I comment, “Someday you’ll learn to do this in a formal way ... it’s called a ‘proof’. You’ll prove that this angle is a certain measurement.”
She softly sighs, “Oooh,” her eyes shining with anticipation.
21 August 2006
Sewing
Sewing Project 1: Sewing down the picots on Picovoli.
Oh, those picots. So many little picots. All those little live stitches in need of sewing down.
I've separated the Debbie Bliss Cathay into plies, and am sewing with about 3 plies at a time. I'm starting to get the hang of it; I started with the bottom hem, which came out sort of lumpy, and then did the neckline. Both areas stick out (the hem looks like a miniature tutu). I hope blocking will take care of that. I still need to do the armholes.
I still love the shaping on Picovoli -- those lovely princess darts in the front and back thrill me.
Sewing Project 2: Making hot pink fuzzy cushions with pale pink cording.
Since MrV was away doing Guy Stuff all weekend, we did Girl Stuff here. This included trashing the dining room by cutting out and sewing fuzzy, fleecy hot pink knitted fabric for cushions for the top of Kid2's toybox. The raw edge of the fabric drops fuzz everywhere; the fuzz clings to everything it touches. Kid1 said it looked like we'd had a pink snowstorm strike our house. I'm sure it will clog my vacuum cleaner.
The fabric was a horrible choice for sewing cushions -- it crept and crawled all over the place. It was quite stretchy -- a 60 inch strip I cut to encase cording would suddenly blossom into a 68 inch strip. Yikes.
So far I've only completed one of the two needed cushions. The seams are wobbly. The cording is crooked. I swear it is a different shape than the 15 by 17 rectangle I carefully measured out. But Kid2 is enchanted. Hot pink! Fuzz and fluff! It just screams "this belongs with Hello Kitty decor!"
Oh, those picots. So many little picots. All those little live stitches in need of sewing down.
I've separated the Debbie Bliss Cathay into plies, and am sewing with about 3 plies at a time. I'm starting to get the hang of it; I started with the bottom hem, which came out sort of lumpy, and then did the neckline. Both areas stick out (the hem looks like a miniature tutu). I hope blocking will take care of that. I still need to do the armholes.
I still love the shaping on Picovoli -- those lovely princess darts in the front and back thrill me.
Sewing Project 2: Making hot pink fuzzy cushions with pale pink cording.
Since MrV was away doing Guy Stuff all weekend, we did Girl Stuff here. This included trashing the dining room by cutting out and sewing fuzzy, fleecy hot pink knitted fabric for cushions for the top of Kid2's toybox. The raw edge of the fabric drops fuzz everywhere; the fuzz clings to everything it touches. Kid1 said it looked like we'd had a pink snowstorm strike our house. I'm sure it will clog my vacuum cleaner.
The fabric was a horrible choice for sewing cushions -- it crept and crawled all over the place. It was quite stretchy -- a 60 inch strip I cut to encase cording would suddenly blossom into a 68 inch strip. Yikes.
So far I've only completed one of the two needed cushions. The seams are wobbly. The cording is crooked. I swear it is a different shape than the 15 by 17 rectangle I carefully measured out. But Kid2 is enchanted. Hot pink! Fuzz and fluff! It just screams "this belongs with Hello Kitty decor!"
18 August 2006
Tuesday Teatime
This week's menu: Banana "ice cream" topped with fresh raspberries, with strawberry-kiwi juice to drink. (To make banana ice cream, peel and freeze chunks of bananas. When frozen, grind in Champion Juicer fitted with blank plate.)
We read Celia Thaxter's poem entitled August, and also Leisure by William H. Davies. Both can be found in Favorite Poems Old and New.
After that, we went with a back-to-school theme, since the local public schools started up this week. Favorite Poems Old and New supplied School-Bell by Eleanor Farjeon. Then I read selected poems from "Wahoo! Elementary" by Hudson Harrison. Honestly, I wasn't that thrilled with some of the poems in this book. I didn't feel a deep need to read a poem about head lice, for example (at least not today -- let's not rule it out forever). Kid1 had alread read the book to herself earlier in the week, so we discussed our thoughts on the various poems as we went along.
We finished with our traditional taking-turns-blowing-out-the-candle. This week we managed to make it through this without wax splattered across the tablecloth. Woohoo! Just goes to show that practice makes perfect.
We read Celia Thaxter's poem entitled August, and also Leisure by William H. Davies. Both can be found in Favorite Poems Old and New.
After that, we went with a back-to-school theme, since the local public schools started up this week. Favorite Poems Old and New supplied School-Bell by Eleanor Farjeon. Then I read selected poems from "Wahoo! Elementary" by Hudson Harrison. Honestly, I wasn't that thrilled with some of the poems in this book. I didn't feel a deep need to read a poem about head lice, for example (at least not today -- let's not rule it out forever). Kid1 had alread read the book to herself earlier in the week, so we discussed our thoughts on the various poems as we went along.
We finished with our traditional taking-turns-blowing-out-the-candle. This week we managed to make it through this without wax splattered across the tablecloth. Woohoo! Just goes to show that practice makes perfect.
15 August 2006
RightStart Geometry
The continuing saga of our adventures using RightStart Geometry and RightStart B. I have a 10yo and a 6yo who have average math ability.The 10yo has done Miquon, Singapore, RightStart Transitions, Level D and Level E; RightStart has saved her from a life a math phobia.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 35 Converting Inches to Centimeters. I noticed a sidebar on this lesson that gave a mnemonic for the conversion: 1 inch = 2.54 cm is like $1 is 25(quarter) times 4. Hmmm, how clever. I memorized the conversion through brute memorization of using it so often, although I typically use 1 inch equals 2.5 cm when I’m in a hurry (a 4 inch by 4 inch swatch of knitting is the same as a 10 cm by 10 cm swatch, as knitters all over the US are well aware).
After Kid1 completes the lesson I ask if if she remembers the conversion factor. She says, “yeah, it’s 2.75 ... wait, that’s not right ... .” “Wrong number of quarters, I think.” “Yeah, I knew it was something to do with quarters.” I start to pontificate that it’s better to remember it in regards to knitting swatches, and am about to start in on converting seam allowances in home sewing, but she wanders off.
Overall, though, I think maybe the the straight forward memorization is better than the mnemonic. I think she’ll eventually remember it the way I do, through extensive use in sewing and knitting.
Lesson 36 Name that Figure. Fun little game of naming figures which introduces the practice of using letters to indicate vertices. Also has a clever way to remember how to spell Isosceles. Sometimes she simply can’t remember the names of these figures. I worry about that -- does this mean she doesn’t “get” geometry?
Lesson 37 Finding the Areas of More Triangles. The worksheet includes the Guyana Flag problem, which was also in Level E. For some reason we did not do that lesson in Level E, so Kid1 is stymied ... she is trying to measure the sides of the flag in millimeters, and figure out the conversion ratio to give her the measurements given on the worksheet. I point out that she has everything she needs to know without measuring -- the worksheet says the left side is 26cm, the upper edge is 33.8cm, and point E is the center of the flag; we should assume it’s a perfect rectangle.
“Oh!” she exclaims, “that means these 4 triangles have the same area!” Ummmm, does it? I’m not sure off the top of my head, so I cover my confusion by pointing out that we know half the side will be 13cm, etc. etc. so we can find the area of all these other triangles.
As she gets to work I pull out Level E and flip to the lesson. I notice a sidebar: “A gifted child might notice that the triangles each take up 1/4 the rectangle.”
“Hey, guess what! According to this you’re gifted!” Ho ho ho, we laugh. After all, Kid1 is thoroughly convinced she stinks at math ... at least she was until we got involved in RightStart. I guess my worries yesterday were a bit unfounded -- some stuff she’s really good at, some stuff she still needs to work on.
Lesson 39 Area of Trapezoids. First problem; we also didn’t do the Level E lesson on distributive property. Although the geometry book explains it well, I give her a quick rundown (“Pretend I have the invecta balance here and I’m hanging those weights on it....”) and assure her that kids who never saw Level E or any RightStart whatsoever can figure this out. She runs into problems with the worksheet. The book has shown one reason the area of a trapezoid can be expressed as w1 plus w2 times h over 2. She is supposed to discover and explain another way of understanding it: 2 identical trapezoids, rotated and shoved together, make a parallelogram; if you find the area of the parallelogram and divide it in 2, you have the same formula.
She looks frustrated by the concept -- what the heck does the book want? What are they getting at? I say something to the effect, “they just want you to say that since you have 2 identical trapezoids of course you can divide the answer in half. I think maybe it’s so obvious you don’t understand why you have to say it. It’s that ‘gifted child’ thing from yesterday, you know.” She giggles, the mood lightens, and she continues with the lesson.
Lesson 39 Area of Hexagons. She starts off commenting, “you know what? There was another worksheet in the last lesson I didn’t do.” “Are you going to do it now?” “No, I don’t think so.” Thank goodness, because this lesson took at least 1.5 hours as it was. Of course, within that time we ran into a whoppin’ huge fight on the definition of a trapezoid -- for some reason she had concluded that an isosceles trapezoid wasn’t actually a trapezoid, possibly because all the trapezoids she’s been working with are non-isosceles. Thankfully, I found one pictured in lesson 36 (under the lesson on how to spell “isosceles”). Also, she’s quite peeved that 1.2 times 1.4 doesn’t equal something bigger than 1.68 ... pesky decimals.
The final problem involves measuring stars that she had drawn in earlier lessons. I’m glad I’m on hand to demonstrate that you round off the measurements quite a bit to get the ratios needed.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 35 Converting Inches to Centimeters. I noticed a sidebar on this lesson that gave a mnemonic for the conversion: 1 inch = 2.54 cm is like $1 is 25(quarter) times 4. Hmmm, how clever. I memorized the conversion through brute memorization of using it so often, although I typically use 1 inch equals 2.5 cm when I’m in a hurry (a 4 inch by 4 inch swatch of knitting is the same as a 10 cm by 10 cm swatch, as knitters all over the US are well aware).
After Kid1 completes the lesson I ask if if she remembers the conversion factor. She says, “yeah, it’s 2.75 ... wait, that’s not right ... .” “Wrong number of quarters, I think.” “Yeah, I knew it was something to do with quarters.” I start to pontificate that it’s better to remember it in regards to knitting swatches, and am about to start in on converting seam allowances in home sewing, but she wanders off.
Overall, though, I think maybe the the straight forward memorization is better than the mnemonic. I think she’ll eventually remember it the way I do, through extensive use in sewing and knitting.
Lesson 36 Name that Figure. Fun little game of naming figures which introduces the practice of using letters to indicate vertices. Also has a clever way to remember how to spell Isosceles. Sometimes she simply can’t remember the names of these figures. I worry about that -- does this mean she doesn’t “get” geometry?
Lesson 37 Finding the Areas of More Triangles. The worksheet includes the Guyana Flag problem, which was also in Level E. For some reason we did not do that lesson in Level E, so Kid1 is stymied ... she is trying to measure the sides of the flag in millimeters, and figure out the conversion ratio to give her the measurements given on the worksheet. I point out that she has everything she needs to know without measuring -- the worksheet says the left side is 26cm, the upper edge is 33.8cm, and point E is the center of the flag; we should assume it’s a perfect rectangle.
“Oh!” she exclaims, “that means these 4 triangles have the same area!” Ummmm, does it? I’m not sure off the top of my head, so I cover my confusion by pointing out that we know half the side will be 13cm, etc. etc. so we can find the area of all these other triangles.
As she gets to work I pull out Level E and flip to the lesson. I notice a sidebar: “A gifted child might notice that the triangles each take up 1/4 the rectangle.”
“Hey, guess what! According to this you’re gifted!” Ho ho ho, we laugh. After all, Kid1 is thoroughly convinced she stinks at math ... at least she was until we got involved in RightStart. I guess my worries yesterday were a bit unfounded -- some stuff she’s really good at, some stuff she still needs to work on.
Lesson 39 Area of Trapezoids. First problem; we also didn’t do the Level E lesson on distributive property. Although the geometry book explains it well, I give her a quick rundown (“Pretend I have the invecta balance here and I’m hanging those weights on it....”) and assure her that kids who never saw Level E or any RightStart whatsoever can figure this out. She runs into problems with the worksheet. The book has shown one reason the area of a trapezoid can be expressed as w1 plus w2 times h over 2. She is supposed to discover and explain another way of understanding it: 2 identical trapezoids, rotated and shoved together, make a parallelogram; if you find the area of the parallelogram and divide it in 2, you have the same formula.
She looks frustrated by the concept -- what the heck does the book want? What are they getting at? I say something to the effect, “they just want you to say that since you have 2 identical trapezoids of course you can divide the answer in half. I think maybe it’s so obvious you don’t understand why you have to say it. It’s that ‘gifted child’ thing from yesterday, you know.” She giggles, the mood lightens, and she continues with the lesson.
Lesson 39 Area of Hexagons. She starts off commenting, “you know what? There was another worksheet in the last lesson I didn’t do.” “Are you going to do it now?” “No, I don’t think so.” Thank goodness, because this lesson took at least 1.5 hours as it was. Of course, within that time we ran into a whoppin’ huge fight on the definition of a trapezoid -- for some reason she had concluded that an isosceles trapezoid wasn’t actually a trapezoid, possibly because all the trapezoids she’s been working with are non-isosceles. Thankfully, I found one pictured in lesson 36 (under the lesson on how to spell “isosceles”). Also, she’s quite peeved that 1.2 times 1.4 doesn’t equal something bigger than 1.68 ... pesky decimals.
The final problem involves measuring stars that she had drawn in earlier lessons. I’m glad I’m on hand to demonstrate that you round off the measurements quite a bit to get the ratios needed.
10 August 2006
Knitting Notes
How's Picovoli going, you ask?
Fa bene. Tres bon. Muy bien, gracias.
(I just realized I have no idea how to say "very good" in Latin or Mandarin. How embarassing.)
I love the darts. I don't think you can see them in this photo, but the waist nips in, then back out via decreases and increases. They look like the darts on June Cleaver's dress bodice. I love the effect. Then again, I'd like to prance around my house in those oh-so-structured dresses and high heels, with my hair done. (I just got in from mowing the lawn. I am sweaty and skanky. I never, ever saw June Cleaver look how I feel right now. But this is the only time I can grab the computer between Kid1's work on Rosetta Stone and her typing program.)
I loved all the stockinette. I enjoy stockinette, particularly on circular needles, because I can read while I knit. I have a huge pile of lovely, lovely books from the library right now. Picovoli is reposing on one now -- it's an Interlibrary Loan, with huge notices of NOT RENEWABLE all over it. (This, of course, simply means that my local library doesn't want to mess with renewal requests. I used to be in charge of ILL at a university library. Most lending libraries will grant at least one extension.) So, I must get this book read NOW. This has been a great knitting projecct under the circumstnaces.
Unfortunately, I'm now faced with sewing up all those picots. I don't think I can do that and read at the same time. I shall have to turn to watching television. Fortunately, we just discovered that we have access to 7 hours of Star Trek every week day -- 2 hours of Deep Space Nine, 5 hours of Next Generation. (Classic Star Trek is available on Saturdays.) So there's hope.
Overall, though, I'd rather read and knit than watch TV and knit. I used to knit in my college classes. Being a goody-two-shoes, I always checked with the professor first to make sure it was okay. This was back before knitting was trendy, so it was some weird, bohemian thing I was asking. And, hey, it kept me awake in class. I should've tried it in Soil Science, which had the very poor schedule placement of right-after-lunch. I mean, it's not like I consider Soil Science scintillating to begin with (there are those who do, I know). And right-after-lunch was the death knell. I always sat right in front, in hopes that would help me stay awake. Nope. Zzzzzz. Too bad, because now I'm not sure what to do with the clay soil on the front slope of our yard. (My mind wanders a lot when I mow. Consider a sampling of what it's like to be in my head whilst I'm pushing my mower, which, by the way, is not self-propelled. And have I mentioned how hot and humid it is today?)
The other BIG knitting news was reported to me yesterday afternoon by a very excited 6 year old ... the next American Girl movie will be about Molly. Now, Felicity and Samantha undoubtably knew how to knit, but Molly actually had a story line about knitting in one of her books. As I recall (amazingly, we own no Molly books) the girls in her class at school were trying to knit socks for the (WWII) soldiers. Molly sensed this would be a Bad Idea, probably because she didn't want to turn the heels (coward). So, they turned their knitting into a patchwork afghan. I've always wondered about this -- how can the cuff of a sock become an afghan square? Did girls back then typically work socks flat, then sew them up? Did they fearlessly cut them open? If they could do that, why couldn't they turn a heel? Was the author just sort of clueless about knitting? I need to re-read the book -- maybe I'm remembering this wrong. I'll definitely be watching the movie, though. We might get some kid-sock-knitting action going, or maybe some afghan-square-knitting action.
Fa bene. Tres bon. Muy bien, gracias.
(I just realized I have no idea how to say "very good" in Latin or Mandarin. How embarassing.)
I love the darts. I don't think you can see them in this photo, but the waist nips in, then back out via decreases and increases. They look like the darts on June Cleaver's dress bodice. I love the effect. Then again, I'd like to prance around my house in those oh-so-structured dresses and high heels, with my hair done. (I just got in from mowing the lawn. I am sweaty and skanky. I never, ever saw June Cleaver look how I feel right now. But this is the only time I can grab the computer between Kid1's work on Rosetta Stone and her typing program.)
I loved all the stockinette. I enjoy stockinette, particularly on circular needles, because I can read while I knit. I have a huge pile of lovely, lovely books from the library right now. Picovoli is reposing on one now -- it's an Interlibrary Loan, with huge notices of NOT RENEWABLE all over it. (This, of course, simply means that my local library doesn't want to mess with renewal requests. I used to be in charge of ILL at a university library. Most lending libraries will grant at least one extension.) So, I must get this book read NOW. This has been a great knitting projecct under the circumstnaces.
Unfortunately, I'm now faced with sewing up all those picots. I don't think I can do that and read at the same time. I shall have to turn to watching television. Fortunately, we just discovered that we have access to 7 hours of Star Trek every week day -- 2 hours of Deep Space Nine, 5 hours of Next Generation. (Classic Star Trek is available on Saturdays.) So there's hope.
Overall, though, I'd rather read and knit than watch TV and knit. I used to knit in my college classes. Being a goody-two-shoes, I always checked with the professor first to make sure it was okay. This was back before knitting was trendy, so it was some weird, bohemian thing I was asking. And, hey, it kept me awake in class. I should've tried it in Soil Science, which had the very poor schedule placement of right-after-lunch. I mean, it's not like I consider Soil Science scintillating to begin with (there are those who do, I know). And right-after-lunch was the death knell. I always sat right in front, in hopes that would help me stay awake. Nope. Zzzzzz. Too bad, because now I'm not sure what to do with the clay soil on the front slope of our yard. (My mind wanders a lot when I mow. Consider a sampling of what it's like to be in my head whilst I'm pushing my mower, which, by the way, is not self-propelled. And have I mentioned how hot and humid it is today?)
The other BIG knitting news was reported to me yesterday afternoon by a very excited 6 year old ... the next American Girl movie will be about Molly. Now, Felicity and Samantha undoubtably knew how to knit, but Molly actually had a story line about knitting in one of her books. As I recall (amazingly, we own no Molly books) the girls in her class at school were trying to knit socks for the (WWII) soldiers. Molly sensed this would be a Bad Idea, probably because she didn't want to turn the heels (coward). So, they turned their knitting into a patchwork afghan. I've always wondered about this -- how can the cuff of a sock become an afghan square? Did girls back then typically work socks flat, then sew them up? Did they fearlessly cut them open? If they could do that, why couldn't they turn a heel? Was the author just sort of clueless about knitting? I need to re-read the book -- maybe I'm remembering this wrong. I'll definitely be watching the movie, though. We might get some kid-sock-knitting action going, or maybe some afghan-square-knitting action.
09 August 2006
Tuesday Teatime
For a total change of pace, we used suppertime as Tuesday Teatime.
MrV was out of town, so we had the supper table to ourselves. I pulled out a copy of Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends. Many of those poems have to do with eating, such as Hungry Mungry, and Pancakes. We also read some non-food poems, like Afraid of the Dark.
I would read a poem, then pause to eat while we would discuss what I'd read. Often the discussion took the form of giggling and repeating favorite lines. Long after the meal was over I overheard lines and images repeated. On the other hand, some of the poems seemed to make no impression at all. That was okay with me -- I didn't like all of them either.
MrV was out of town, so we had the supper table to ourselves. I pulled out a copy of Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends. Many of those poems have to do with eating, such as Hungry Mungry, and Pancakes. We also read some non-food poems, like Afraid of the Dark.
I would read a poem, then pause to eat while we would discuss what I'd read. Often the discussion took the form of giggling and repeating favorite lines. Long after the meal was over I overheard lines and images repeated. On the other hand, some of the poems seemed to make no impression at all. That was okay with me -- I didn't like all of them either.
08 August 2006
RightStart Geometry
The continuing saga of our adventures using RightStart Geometry and RightStart B. I have a 10yo and a 6yo who have average math ability.The 10yo has done Miquon, Singapore, RightStart Transitions, Level D and Level E; RightStart has saved her from a life a math phobia.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 29, Area of Consecutive Squares. Attention please: this is a very bad place to take a break of several months! Really! Lesson 28 goes with lesson 29! If you take a couple of months off, it can get really weird, particularly if your student has issues with the concept presented anyway.
In our house tears soon welled up. She moaned, “I don’t understand this equation!” Pointing to w squared plus 2w plus 1, she read, “width squared plus 2 width plus 1.” I suggested that she read the w as “whatever number you want” instead of “width” -- does that help? Yes, for some reason it does. Or maybe it’s just getting a grip and realizing that yes, she will do this math and survive.
The question at the end of worksheet 29-2, “on what worksheet did you work with that relationship?” is tough, considering it has been several weeks since she did ANY worksheets. I give prompts.
Lesson 30 Perimeter Formula for Rectangles. In this case w is width. She likes perimeter, and would rather do it than area.
Lesson 31 Area of a Parallelogram. While working on the worksheet she calls out to me, “what are factors?” I walk in and glance at her paper, discussing that factors are the things that are multiplied to make a number. The question says that the preceding problems should’ve reminded her of factors. Hmm, that’s odd -- how would the perimeters that’s she’s been doing remind her of factors? But I have something else on my mind, and wander off. She complains that she got the next question wrong. I look at the sheet and, AHA! This was all about area, not perimeter! Egads! I brood because my child can’t remember the difference between perimeter vs. area. Overall, this lesson took an hour and a half, including discussion about whether to erase incorrectly drawn rectangles (based on perimeter) or throw the whole thing out and start over.
Lesson 32 Comparing Calculated Areas of Parallelograms.. Piece of cake. It’s amazing -- days in the depths of despair over math are followed by days of absolute confidence.
Lesson 33 Area of a Triangle. Yes, we did these lessons back in Level E, but still, this lack of interaction is scary. She gets out math, does it, puts it away. Is she learning anything?
I can't resist discussing the sidebar comment, just so I can feel involved. "Remember, formulas should not be rote memorized. Thik them through so they make sense."
"Did you notice that comment? Eh? Eh?"
"Yes, Mom." Heavy sigh, eye roll.
Lesson 34 Comparing Calculated Areas of Triangles. One great feature of RightStart Geometry is that if the hypothetical homeschooling parent decides to join the Self-Inflicted Injury of the Week Club, the parent can sit with her hypothetically bandaged ankle propped up, writing in her hypothetical homeschooling log that they just had an impromptu First Aid lesson while at the same time the student can do math! Cool!
When I hobbled in to see what Kid1 was up to I discovered she was jotting down a list of mistakes she had found so far in the book -- the time the book didn’t list one of the worksheets to be done, the time the materials list didn’t mention a calculator, and today’s snafu -- part of the worksheet was left off. She suspected that there should be another problem on the worksheet; when she checked the answer sheet the answer was there, but no corresponding problem had been on the worksheet.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 29, Area of Consecutive Squares. Attention please: this is a very bad place to take a break of several months! Really! Lesson 28 goes with lesson 29! If you take a couple of months off, it can get really weird, particularly if your student has issues with the concept presented anyway.
In our house tears soon welled up. She moaned, “I don’t understand this equation!” Pointing to w squared plus 2w plus 1, she read, “width squared plus 2 width plus 1.” I suggested that she read the w as “whatever number you want” instead of “width” -- does that help? Yes, for some reason it does. Or maybe it’s just getting a grip and realizing that yes, she will do this math and survive.
The question at the end of worksheet 29-2, “on what worksheet did you work with that relationship?” is tough, considering it has been several weeks since she did ANY worksheets. I give prompts.
Lesson 30 Perimeter Formula for Rectangles. In this case w is width. She likes perimeter, and would rather do it than area.
Lesson 31 Area of a Parallelogram. While working on the worksheet she calls out to me, “what are factors?” I walk in and glance at her paper, discussing that factors are the things that are multiplied to make a number. The question says that the preceding problems should’ve reminded her of factors. Hmm, that’s odd -- how would the perimeters that’s she’s been doing remind her of factors? But I have something else on my mind, and wander off. She complains that she got the next question wrong. I look at the sheet and, AHA! This was all about area, not perimeter! Egads! I brood because my child can’t remember the difference between perimeter vs. area. Overall, this lesson took an hour and a half, including discussion about whether to erase incorrectly drawn rectangles (based on perimeter) or throw the whole thing out and start over.
Lesson 32 Comparing Calculated Areas of Parallelograms.. Piece of cake. It’s amazing -- days in the depths of despair over math are followed by days of absolute confidence.
Lesson 33 Area of a Triangle. Yes, we did these lessons back in Level E, but still, this lack of interaction is scary. She gets out math, does it, puts it away. Is she learning anything?
I can't resist discussing the sidebar comment, just so I can feel involved. "Remember, formulas should not be rote memorized. Thik them through so they make sense."
"Did you notice that comment? Eh? Eh?"
"Yes, Mom." Heavy sigh, eye roll.
Lesson 34 Comparing Calculated Areas of Triangles. One great feature of RightStart Geometry is that if the hypothetical homeschooling parent decides to join the Self-Inflicted Injury of the Week Club, the parent can sit with her hypothetically bandaged ankle propped up, writing in her hypothetical homeschooling log that they just had an impromptu First Aid lesson while at the same time the student can do math! Cool!
When I hobbled in to see what Kid1 was up to I discovered she was jotting down a list of mistakes she had found so far in the book -- the time the book didn’t list one of the worksheets to be done, the time the materials list didn’t mention a calculator, and today’s snafu -- part of the worksheet was left off. She suspected that there should be another problem on the worksheet; when she checked the answer sheet the answer was there, but no corresponding problem had been on the worksheet.
07 August 2006
"Warning,"
the writing on the box declared, "Contents may cause dizziness, faintness, and shortness of breath due to happiness. Sender is not liable if recipient ignores children and husband as a result of opening."
(With a little sub script declaring: "Post office people, this is a joke. Contents are benign.")
Yes, it's another fabulous Secret Pal package from TheDenimJumper homeschool Secret Pal Swap.
This one features 2 boxes of tea, including one from Germany called Sommernachtstraum/Summer Night's Dream. Did my Secret Pal realize that we're about to start reading A Midsummer Night's Dream for our Shakespeare play this year? I have the video out of the library -- we can sip this tea while watching, then have some more while reading the play.
A Lord Peter Wimsey book was also in the box. I just finished my first Amelia Peabody/Elizabeth Peters book, and this will be the perfect follow up.
Lip balm -- can you ever have enough lip balm? I can't. And hand balm, too! Both in cute little containers I can pop in my purse.
The yarn is Lana Grossa, Meilenweit Cotton Spirit, a blend of cotton, wool and polymide. Oooooh, this is going to make some nice socks! Kid2 saw it and instantly asked, "Can you make some socks for me out of this?" No, no, no. This is for me!
And the hot pink trim -- you should've seen Kid1's jaw drop when she saw it! It's so glitzy and fun.
I think the hot chocolate mix proves my Secret Pal's sense of humor; I've decided it's never going to be cool enough to drink hot chocolate again. Although, really, we seem to have acclimated to the heat -- we can be out in 95F/35C and feel quite comfy. We figure we're going to need heavy coats if it ever dips down to 65F/18C. Hmmm, maybe that hot chocolate is a good idea after all.
Post it notes -- don't homeschool without them! And such big, fun ones!
A ringbound quote book that my Secret Pal made for me. This is so cool! MrV wants one, too! My current favorite quote: "Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands and then only eat one of the pieces." (Judith Viorst)
And also, a bag of Mozart Kugeln candies -- chocolate, marzipan and pistachio praline. Mmmmmm, I'm waiting to open this so I have appropriate time and privacy to swoon.
The Secret Pal game is wrapping up now. It's been great fun. I think another will be starting, so if you missed out on this one you can keep on eye on TheDenimJumper for the next. Heck, keep an eye on TheDenimJumper anyway -- it's a great place to discuss homeschooling.
(With a little sub script declaring: "Post office people, this is a joke. Contents are benign.")
Yes, it's another fabulous Secret Pal package from TheDenimJumper homeschool Secret Pal Swap.
This one features 2 boxes of tea, including one from Germany called Sommernachtstraum/Summer Night's Dream. Did my Secret Pal realize that we're about to start reading A Midsummer Night's Dream for our Shakespeare play this year? I have the video out of the library -- we can sip this tea while watching, then have some more while reading the play.
A Lord Peter Wimsey book was also in the box. I just finished my first Amelia Peabody/Elizabeth Peters book, and this will be the perfect follow up.
Lip balm -- can you ever have enough lip balm? I can't. And hand balm, too! Both in cute little containers I can pop in my purse.
The yarn is Lana Grossa, Meilenweit Cotton Spirit, a blend of cotton, wool and polymide. Oooooh, this is going to make some nice socks! Kid2 saw it and instantly asked, "Can you make some socks for me out of this?" No, no, no. This is for me!
And the hot pink trim -- you should've seen Kid1's jaw drop when she saw it! It's so glitzy and fun.
I think the hot chocolate mix proves my Secret Pal's sense of humor; I've decided it's never going to be cool enough to drink hot chocolate again. Although, really, we seem to have acclimated to the heat -- we can be out in 95F/35C and feel quite comfy. We figure we're going to need heavy coats if it ever dips down to 65F/18C. Hmmm, maybe that hot chocolate is a good idea after all.
Post it notes -- don't homeschool without them! And such big, fun ones!
A ringbound quote book that my Secret Pal made for me. This is so cool! MrV wants one, too! My current favorite quote: "Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands and then only eat one of the pieces." (Judith Viorst)
And also, a bag of Mozart Kugeln candies -- chocolate, marzipan and pistachio praline. Mmmmmm, I'm waiting to open this so I have appropriate time and privacy to swoon.
The Secret Pal game is wrapping up now. It's been great fun. I think another will be starting, so if you missed out on this one you can keep on eye on TheDenimJumper for the next. Heck, keep an eye on TheDenimJumper anyway -- it's a great place to discuss homeschooling.
04 August 2006
First Week Back to Homeschooling
Back story: I've been talking about Latin-centered curriculum with my kids all summer, emphasizing how wonderful it will be to pare down the number of subjects studied. Kid1 seemed on board with the idea, especially ditching Rod&Staff grammar which she has grown to loathe as much as I do.
Last week Kid1 announced that she would like to start school this week because "there's such a thing as too much free time," and the days seem to pass more quickly when she's busy. My brow furrowed; an entire conversation about her (failed) resolve to do math or spelling every day all summer hung palpably in the air. I said,"well, you could figure out things for yourself to keep yourself busy, you know." The conversation died. I assumed she meant that she wanted me to be responsible for keeping her busy. I am her accountability partner, it would seem.
So, okay, we would "start school" this week. I suggested a light schedule -- our key subjects are Latin and math, so maybe just some Latin review and math every day.
"Spelling -- remember that I want to do spelling." Kid1 has a deep love of Spelling Power. I am not so thrilled with it, but it's only 15 minutes a day, so it doesn't really interrupt my Multum non Multa groove.
"And I want to learn about the Romans in Britain this year."
"????. You hated the Romans, remember?" Really, we had to skip the last several chapters of Story of the World vol.1 because she was fed up with the Romans.
"Yeah, well, now I want to learn about them." On the other hand, starting Latin this week has been voted down. Go figure.
Kid2 took this as a signal to announce, "I want to learn about the Egyptians this year!" Kid2 had never ever expressed any interest whatsoever in the Egyptians, and I have an unsettling feeling that "learn about the Egyptians" really means "mummify a chicken." Yikes! I said nothing in reply, fearing what I would hear if I probed.
Oh, and the Classical Writing books suggest that kids learn to type so it's easier for them to write out their papers. So, we'll throw typing onto the stack of things to do.
And, coincidentally, Mr.V just got Rosetta Stone Spanish levels 1 and 2, and "Mommy, I've really been wanting to learn Spanish. Can I go ahead and try this?"
At this point the Multum non Multa idea is out the window. Heck, "Latin-centered" is out the window. Kid1's schedule for the week has been spelling, RightStart Geometry, Rosetta Stone Spanish, and typing.
Kid2 has done a bit of phonics. Later in the week she realized that one of her dolls wants to learn to read, although apparently the doll had vision problems and needed reading glasses (for the record, none of us wear glasses, although I've noticed some short-arm-syndrome creeping into my vision). We found a pair of doll-glasses in the basement, and Kid2 has been teaching phonics rather than learning it herself.
Our read alouds have been Norse Myths, King Arthur, and the Little House in the Highlands series.
Honestly, the biggest chunk of time this week has been spent on this:
The origami stuff was in the basement. The weather has been stinkin' hot. The basement is cool.
I love the elephants.
Last week Kid1 announced that she would like to start school this week because "there's such a thing as too much free time," and the days seem to pass more quickly when she's busy. My brow furrowed; an entire conversation about her (failed) resolve to do math or spelling every day all summer hung palpably in the air. I said,"well, you could figure out things for yourself to keep yourself busy, you know." The conversation died. I assumed she meant that she wanted me to be responsible for keeping her busy. I am her accountability partner, it would seem.
So, okay, we would "start school" this week. I suggested a light schedule -- our key subjects are Latin and math, so maybe just some Latin review and math every day.
"Spelling -- remember that I want to do spelling." Kid1 has a deep love of Spelling Power. I am not so thrilled with it, but it's only 15 minutes a day, so it doesn't really interrupt my Multum non Multa groove.
"And I want to learn about the Romans in Britain this year."
"????. You hated the Romans, remember?" Really, we had to skip the last several chapters of Story of the World vol.1 because she was fed up with the Romans.
"Yeah, well, now I want to learn about them." On the other hand, starting Latin this week has been voted down. Go figure.
Kid2 took this as a signal to announce, "I want to learn about the Egyptians this year!" Kid2 had never ever expressed any interest whatsoever in the Egyptians, and I have an unsettling feeling that "learn about the Egyptians" really means "mummify a chicken." Yikes! I said nothing in reply, fearing what I would hear if I probed.
Oh, and the Classical Writing books suggest that kids learn to type so it's easier for them to write out their papers. So, we'll throw typing onto the stack of things to do.
And, coincidentally, Mr.V just got Rosetta Stone Spanish levels 1 and 2, and "Mommy, I've really been wanting to learn Spanish. Can I go ahead and try this?"
At this point the Multum non Multa idea is out the window. Heck, "Latin-centered" is out the window. Kid1's schedule for the week has been spelling, RightStart Geometry, Rosetta Stone Spanish, and typing.
Kid2 has done a bit of phonics. Later in the week she realized that one of her dolls wants to learn to read, although apparently the doll had vision problems and needed reading glasses (for the record, none of us wear glasses, although I've noticed some short-arm-syndrome creeping into my vision). We found a pair of doll-glasses in the basement, and Kid2 has been teaching phonics rather than learning it herself.
Our read alouds have been Norse Myths, King Arthur, and the Little House in the Highlands series.
Honestly, the biggest chunk of time this week has been spent on this:
The origami stuff was in the basement. The weather has been stinkin' hot. The basement is cool.
I love the elephants.
03 August 2006
Random Knitting Thoughts
I took Picovoli and the coordinating knitting bag to a kid-thing yesterday. I was so impressed with myself -- I was going to sit in the background, knitting away, looking coordinated even though I didn't attempt to match my clothing to the knitting and bag (mostly because I didn't think of it until just now). The other moms were going to be So Impressed.
When I got there and pulled out my knitting I realized that I had lost my beginning-of-row marker some time in the last 34 rows of knitting. And, since it was time to place new markers based on the position of that marker, well, hmmm, not much I could do.
I think the problem was that I used official stitch markers. I usually use hair elastics I find down the side of the couch, or old twist ties that are littering the floor. Hair elastics and twist ties have more zing. One sees them and thinks, "what is all that crap hanging on my knitting?" and then recalls that one is marking one's place. Regular stitch markers are so anonymous, they quietly drop off into oblivion.
So I'll have to wait to impress that particular group of moms. One of them impressed me -- I overheard her comment that her choices in medication for a particular condition were limited since, "I'm still nursing," and she gestured to her 2 year old just like it was the most normal thing in the world to be nursing a 2 year old. Woohoo.
In the meantime, I keep popping up with new things I want to start knitting NOW. I found some green merino laceweight in my closet, purchased to knit myself a shawl. I look hideous in green, but this is yarn is so very pretty I might just cast it on and knit a ... thing. A lace thing. A lace thing that exists simply to be soft and lacy and green. Also, I was looking through my Mason Dixon book and was overcome by the notion that I can knit that rug we need for the back door on big, stocky needles. Plus, the new Interweave Knits arrived, full of patterns I could actually picture myself knitting and wearing.
I've also been thinking about sewing. I've spent the morning pondering a subscription to Burda Moden, or maybe re-subscribing to Ottobre. This reminded me that I used to buy Mon Trictot magazine at that dirty little grocery store out past the dorms at college. Does Mon Tricot still exist? I got rid of all my old copies in a fit of decluttering -- I'm not sure why, since the patterns were no worse (and often better) than those in all those old copies of Vogue Knitting and Easy Knitting I kept. In college I knit myself a sweater set out of Mon Tricot, using Unger Cruise (the owner of the nearby yarn store was quite a fan of Unger Cruise or any other acrylic yarn -- she liked the fact that she could break off the yarn by melting it with her lit cigarette, freeing her of the need to keep track of scissors). Gees, those were the days, knitting crappy acrylic just because it was there and I felt like knitting, even though knitting wasn't fashionable at the time. I think I've become overly pragamatic as I've aged.
When I got there and pulled out my knitting I realized that I had lost my beginning-of-row marker some time in the last 34 rows of knitting. And, since it was time to place new markers based on the position of that marker, well, hmmm, not much I could do.
I think the problem was that I used official stitch markers. I usually use hair elastics I find down the side of the couch, or old twist ties that are littering the floor. Hair elastics and twist ties have more zing. One sees them and thinks, "what is all that crap hanging on my knitting?" and then recalls that one is marking one's place. Regular stitch markers are so anonymous, they quietly drop off into oblivion.
So I'll have to wait to impress that particular group of moms. One of them impressed me -- I overheard her comment that her choices in medication for a particular condition were limited since, "I'm still nursing," and she gestured to her 2 year old just like it was the most normal thing in the world to be nursing a 2 year old. Woohoo.
In the meantime, I keep popping up with new things I want to start knitting NOW. I found some green merino laceweight in my closet, purchased to knit myself a shawl. I look hideous in green, but this is yarn is so very pretty I might just cast it on and knit a ... thing. A lace thing. A lace thing that exists simply to be soft and lacy and green. Also, I was looking through my Mason Dixon book and was overcome by the notion that I can knit that rug we need for the back door on big, stocky needles. Plus, the new Interweave Knits arrived, full of patterns I could actually picture myself knitting and wearing.
I've also been thinking about sewing. I've spent the morning pondering a subscription to Burda Moden, or maybe re-subscribing to Ottobre. This reminded me that I used to buy Mon Trictot magazine at that dirty little grocery store out past the dorms at college. Does Mon Tricot still exist? I got rid of all my old copies in a fit of decluttering -- I'm not sure why, since the patterns were no worse (and often better) than those in all those old copies of Vogue Knitting and Easy Knitting I kept. In college I knit myself a sweater set out of Mon Tricot, using Unger Cruise (the owner of the nearby yarn store was quite a fan of Unger Cruise or any other acrylic yarn -- she liked the fact that she could break off the yarn by melting it with her lit cigarette, freeing her of the need to keep track of scissors). Gees, those were the days, knitting crappy acrylic just because it was there and I felt like knitting, even though knitting wasn't fashionable at the time. I think I've become overly pragamatic as I've aged.
02 August 2006
Tuesday Teatime
Kid2 appeared in the kitchen yesterday morning brandishing all the small poems and fourteen more by Valerie Worth. I told her that I wasn't going to read it aloud at the moment since I was about to eat breakfast, but, hey, it's Tuesday! How about we have a Tuesday Teatime?
She danced out of the room, re-entering a few minutes later to announce that she'd found a poem that she wanted to share at our teatime -- Sea Lions. She had pre-read it, and could read all the words (at age 6 she still finds some words rather shifty and prone to playing tricks on her).
Gratuitous picture of our dining room:
It spent most of July in a jumble of drop cloths and icky sticky bits of wallpaper. Two layers of wallpaper were removed, taking off some of the drywall with it. Drywall was repaired, ceiling was repaired (former owners were quite fond of massive draperies that hung by bolts from the ceiling), walls painted, ceiling painted, queer assortment of electrical outlets replaced. We still need to rip up the ugly grey carpet, install a wood floor, purchase a rug and a sane window treatment ... but in the meantime, it's actually usable as a place to have tea.
I had a niggling feeling there was some festival yesterday or today. A quick look at our plethora of festival books showed that it was Lammas, which is also Loaf-mass. Well, it was waaay too hot to bake a loaf of bread to celebrate the beginning of the harvest, so we stopped by Trader Joe's and got a Lemon Crown Cake and a bottle of pineapple juice -- both were a golden yellow that put me in mind of the end of summer.
Kid2 led off our teatime with her reading of Sea Lions. Next, I shared some of the information I had found on Lammas. One of the sources I read noted that bees were busy this time of year, so it seemed quite appropriate to read The Queen Bee from The Brothers Grimm. That led naturally to reading the poem Hurt No Living Thing by Christina Rosetti. I also read How Doth the Little Busy Bee by Isaac Watts, and Go to the Ant from the Bible (all three selections found in Favorite Poems Old and New ).
Next, I read a version of the Sumerian myth of Inanna and her trip to the Underworld, which bears a resemblance to the tale of Persephone and Hades.
After the story was finished, Kid2 gave us a reprise of Sea Lions. This time she concentrated on reading it "poetically".
A great start to another season of teatimes!
She danced out of the room, re-entering a few minutes later to announce that she'd found a poem that she wanted to share at our teatime -- Sea Lions. She had pre-read it, and could read all the words (at age 6 she still finds some words rather shifty and prone to playing tricks on her).
Gratuitous picture of our dining room:
It spent most of July in a jumble of drop cloths and icky sticky bits of wallpaper. Two layers of wallpaper were removed, taking off some of the drywall with it. Drywall was repaired, ceiling was repaired (former owners were quite fond of massive draperies that hung by bolts from the ceiling), walls painted, ceiling painted, queer assortment of electrical outlets replaced. We still need to rip up the ugly grey carpet, install a wood floor, purchase a rug and a sane window treatment ... but in the meantime, it's actually usable as a place to have tea.
I had a niggling feeling there was some festival yesterday or today. A quick look at our plethora of festival books showed that it was Lammas, which is also Loaf-mass. Well, it was waaay too hot to bake a loaf of bread to celebrate the beginning of the harvest, so we stopped by Trader Joe's and got a Lemon Crown Cake and a bottle of pineapple juice -- both were a golden yellow that put me in mind of the end of summer.
Kid2 led off our teatime with her reading of Sea Lions. Next, I shared some of the information I had found on Lammas. One of the sources I read noted that bees were busy this time of year, so it seemed quite appropriate to read The Queen Bee from The Brothers Grimm. That led naturally to reading the poem Hurt No Living Thing by Christina Rosetti. I also read How Doth the Little Busy Bee by Isaac Watts, and Go to the Ant from the Bible (all three selections found in Favorite Poems Old and New ).
Next, I read a version of the Sumerian myth of Inanna and her trip to the Underworld, which bears a resemblance to the tale of Persephone and Hades.
After the story was finished, Kid2 gave us a reprise of Sea Lions. This time she concentrated on reading it "poetically".
A great start to another season of teatimes!
01 August 2006
It's the little things
Here's my knitting set atop my knitting bag:
Note how the purple yarn I'm using exactly matches the purple flowers embroidered on the bag. Isn't that cool? Do you think people see me knitting and think, "Wow, what a pulled-together woman -- her knitting matches her knitting bag!"?
Probably no one has noticed at all. That's why I'm pointing it out to you, so you can know that for one brief, shining moment I was that pulled together.
The knitting is Picovoli. I didn't rip it out last week. I found a schematic for it which showed that it was really shaping up just fine. Also, I got an email intervention from veteran Picovoli-knitter Poppins who told me something to the effect of "trust the pattern" (which reminded me of bit in Mason-Dixon Knitting where they say they want to have an Outward Bound-type event with linen yarn and everyone will "start crying because we all trusted the yarn" -- God help me, I think that's hilarious, which probably proves to y'all I need to get out more). Anyway, I'm trusting and knitting. I really didn't believe the pattern-writer, Grumperina, would have a major booboo in the pattern, so it's a relief to forge ahead.
Someone at Mothering.com was posting about knitting a wedding veil. I'm seized with a sudden urge to knit something large and lacy and stupidly complex. It occurs to me that I have at least 8 years before Kid1 will need a veil -- should I start now? What if she never marries? What if she marries, but doesn't want a veil? Should these considerations stand in my way?
Note how the purple yarn I'm using exactly matches the purple flowers embroidered on the bag. Isn't that cool? Do you think people see me knitting and think, "Wow, what a pulled-together woman -- her knitting matches her knitting bag!"?
Probably no one has noticed at all. That's why I'm pointing it out to you, so you can know that for one brief, shining moment I was that pulled together.
The knitting is Picovoli. I didn't rip it out last week. I found a schematic for it which showed that it was really shaping up just fine. Also, I got an email intervention from veteran Picovoli-knitter Poppins who told me something to the effect of "trust the pattern" (which reminded me of bit in Mason-Dixon Knitting where they say they want to have an Outward Bound-type event with linen yarn and everyone will "start crying because we all trusted the yarn" -- God help me, I think that's hilarious, which probably proves to y'all I need to get out more). Anyway, I'm trusting and knitting. I really didn't believe the pattern-writer, Grumperina, would have a major booboo in the pattern, so it's a relief to forge ahead.
Someone at Mothering.com was posting about knitting a wedding veil. I'm seized with a sudden urge to knit something large and lacy and stupidly complex. It occurs to me that I have at least 8 years before Kid1 will need a veil -- should I start now? What if she never marries? What if she marries, but doesn't want a veil? Should these considerations stand in my way?
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