An Active Week - and MATH!

This week F returned (again) to the California Science Center, where he took his grandparents on a tour of the amazing things there that he loves.

We sat together on the couch one evening going through 3rd grade math problems which he does in his head. Three digit subtraction with regrouping and zeroes... "easy." Multiplication and division... "easy."

He learned to add fractions with the same denominator. "Easy." He loves fractions. He also already relates fractions to percentages. I think we'll be moving on soon, though he still operates in the concrete mode a lot, but hey, so do I.

We have been using the World Cup to create word problems. So his father asked him at CPK to think about a problem and then by the time he was done eating he could explain his answer. The question was: if two teams from each group go on to the second round, and the second round has 16 teams, how many teams started in the first place?

First he tried to think it out by trying to determine which operators he would need. He decided it would be multiplication or division. But he didn't know quite how to put the numbers (abstract) in an order that would result in a simple answer. So... he drew a box (concrete) for each group of four teams, filled in two random boxes as the winners of the round robin, counted out how many boxes/groups he needed (8), then counted the total squares (32). So we then launched into the lesson about the other ways to do it - 16x2, 8x4, whatever, he was already mentally able to see how it all worked and was very excited about it. Then he drew the leaderboard showing how the single elimination games would eventually play out.

So then his father asked... if every team plays every other team in its group one time in the round robin, and then it becomes single elimination, how many games does the winning team end up playing? That was easy --3+1+1+1+1. And then... if each game is 90 minutes, and they play 7 games, how many minutes do they have to play? He counted by 90s. BY 90s, people! So naturally we then showed him the abstract for that. He has understood multiplication as a function of addition since early 1st grade, maybe earlier, but now he's starting to put the concrete and the abstracts together. Half a year of 3rd grade math before the check arrived.

And I pointed out that there was a pattern to single elimination - 16 teams to 8 to 4 to 2 to 1 winner. So he said "divide by twos." It's obvious to us adults, but he hasn't even officially learned multiplication yet, much less division....

Then we did some multiplication with "magic zeros" so he can shortcut any multiplication with an even tens like 7 x 90 = (7 x 9) x 10. "Easy."

Is it time for 4th grade yet? It's going to be a challenge to get him to practice these things while hack-schooling, but he's very, very good at applying math to real problems so we'll just sneak it in as much as we can.

Launching Summer Learning!

Summer is off to a great start. We took F and some family friends to Cal Science Center to see the Endeavour and the Pompeii exhibit. F had been reading about Pompeii and he is fascinated by volcanoes and geological disasters, so it was a good thing for him to see. S had been studying ancient history including Greek and Roman history so it was good for him to see as well. Adults really appreciate it, though... endlessly fascinating stuff.

Did you know the Romans had no word for volcano prior to Pompeii?

F earned his Red Belt in Tae Kwon Do, his best belt test ever. So focused and confident - broke both boards and was so proud of himself. I am a proud mom, too. It's my reward for dragging him there week after week.

Then F spent a long weekend RV camping with his grandparents at the beach. They played a lot of Rummy Cubes which helps develop his social skills and strategic thinking skills. We're just waiting for camp to open next week. I wish I weren't swamped at work so I could make the most of this week with him! Fortunately Dad is mostly home.

Summer Swimming For Dollars

I may not know the first thing about teaching a kid to swim... but I know what I want my son to achieve this summer. (Rubric) It's as simple as not being afraid to go in the shallow end, no more terror when a drop of water gets on his face, and at least the very basic lifesaving skill of treading water. We don't have a pool, so it is more difficult to get through some of these challenges. I'd also like him to be able to do swimming and watercraft activities at Camp Whitsett this year, and these require passing a basic swim test.

If he won't even go into the water, swimming lessons are probably not the way to go. I mean, maybe private lessons would work, but around here these private lessons are so cost inhibitive I'd rather just deal with it myself. There are plenty of group classes, but some require an evaluation before being placed in a class, and at LAVC, for example, they said if he won't even go into the water, I should start with private lessons first. I had hoped seeing other kids go would encourage him, but alas.

So public pools (yuck) and neighbors will have to do. Instead of money I'll be spending patience... which I admit I don't have a lot of, especially when an 8-year-old resists. Vehemently.

Anyway, given how much time we spend around water in the summer, the last thing I need is to worry about him more than necessary. So I'm going to try a little goal-oriented approach to help him along. First, we're going to watch "swim lesson" videos so that he can see what he's expected to do and learn from modeling. He does well with learning by watching video, whereas being dragged out to the

Next, we're going to earn dollars. Yes, I am going to bribe him. This will work better than stickers or points or artificial currency because he wants to spend his money on Pokemon cards. I am not a fan of extrinsic rewards but in this case, given how many years we have failed at learning to swim, it might be worth it, especially since I am forcing this on him instead of it being something he chooses for himself.

The basic skills I want him to master are based on the American Red Cross swim skills chart. I'm going to develop a kind of rubric that lets him fish money out of the bottom of the pool and hopefully makes it fun. As he progresses from going under to floating to treading water to dog paddling to swimming to triathlons to ... kidding! ... he'll earn dollars and get to spend them on water toys, Pokemon cards, or whatever else he wants.

Wish me luck.