Math Attack

It has been a math sort of day. We have read 'How Much is a Million' a few times in the last few months, and he was looking at it again yesterday. He read the list from 10 to 1,000,000 correctly, and so I asked him about it this morning. He remembered it still. It sort of set the stage for the rest of the day.

We often play with numbers. He likes me to ask him questions like "How much is 43 plus 68?" He contemplates, and 9 times out of 10, gives me the correct answer. His process is not necessarily standard, but he arrives at his destination nonetheless. I love that I can allow him the ability to play with numbers like this, and not insist that he follow the prescribed way of achieving the answer. I think it is building a solid foundation of confidence and joy in numbers.

I printed out a worksheet of double digit adding this afternoon, and he successfully completed all of the questions. It was good practice for writing numbers, as we do most of our math mentally. His numbers are not as solid as his letters are getting, but luckily, he really enjoyed the worksheet, and asked if we can do more of them. Hopefully, this will give him the practice he needs to remember the directions of his numerals.

Meanwhile, we continue to play with numbers, in the same way we play with language and rhyming throughout our day.

Lake County Farm Park

We took a field trip with Nana today to the Lake County Farm Park. The annual quilt show was on, and we had a great time looking at all of the different submissions. In addition to the prizes awarded by the judges, there will also be several 'People's Choice Awards', determined by votes placed in the ballot box by the door.

We went through the whole exhibit several times, as we all decided which quilts we would be voting for. It was hard to decide, and we each chose different ones. I think the Sunchild had a lot of fun spying from behind the different quilts. He is very much into hiding these days.

It didn't feel very much like Spring yet today, but the animals know it is approaching. There were all sorts of new creatures in the barn at the FarmPark. We saw baby Nubian goats, tiny lambs, and 3 day old piglets too. Next door to the newborn pigs were a litter that were about a month old, and they were a riot! The pounced on each other & played like little puppies. I tried to capture some of their antics on video, but they calmed down as I pulled it out. Then the Mama Sow rearranged her bulk so that the piglets could nurse. I did manage to capture that on the camera, and it was rather amusing.

Before we left, we visited the stables, and hung out with the horses for a wee bit. There was a massive black Clydesdale mare named Jennifer, who caught my eye. The Sunchild approached a woman who was grooming a mule. She was a FarmPark volunteer, who made time to come down & exercise some of the horses there. We watched her ride in the arena for a while before we left.

In the main building, they have a space known as the 'Dairy Parlor'. They do milkings in there, and if you time it right, you can watch. We missed the milking time, but we were there for a demonstration. One of the staff brought a beautiful Swiss Brown Cow up onto the milking platform, and described for the small audience what the various tubes & devices were for. Then he invited us all up to give it a try! The Sunchild wasn't too sure that he wanted anything to do with that, but I convinced him to come up & watch me do it. Of course, once he saw how easy it was, he wanted to give it a try as well. He managed to do it on the first go. We both got a thrill out of trying something new on this trip! 

We had some lovely weather last week, which inspired us to get out and play. The playground was swamped by all of the snowmelt, especially near the swingset.

The Sunchild got the idea that we could drain the huge puddle if we dug some drainage ditches leading from it. This project was somewhat complicated by the railroad tie edging that was sunk into the perimeter of the playground. Luckily, we found a weak spot in the wall, and with much effort & concentration, were able to bring the water level down somewhat.

In other news, the Sunchild and his Papa went rollerskating with the Grandparents yesterday. They both had a great time, and I am looking forward to going with them one of these days.

We have been working intermittently on handwriting lately. I have been stressing the importance of working on the lower case alphabet, due to its predominance in printed text. Luckily, the Sunchild is interested. He received some cards for Valentine's day, and has been writing thank-you's in return. He gets his practice this way, yet I don't have to force the issue, as he recognizes the importance of expressing gratitude. Besides, it is a lot more fun to write something with content than it is to write boring lists of words or letters. His handwriting is improving dramatically, too, so I am confident that we are on the right path in this.

He has recently spent some of his Yuletide & birthday monies on new Bionicles from Ebay. We talked a lot about getting the most bang for your buck in this way. He spent about $20, and got 4 canisters of Bionicles, whereas they are about $9 apiece in the stores. He enjoyed the auction immensely, and wanted to keep on shopping, but I insisted that we wait a bit, since he has one more item on the way. We are keeping an eye out for a Viking ship in the meanwhile. The Sunchild would like to add: "When we do get back into buying things on Ebay, I would like to look for more Borrahk-Kal." I think he especially enjoys the fact that he can add to his collection, while not being limited to the one or two sets currently available in stores. This is opening his eyes a bit further to the nature of commerce in the modern world. 

Today has been "Electricity Day". We worked some more with his Snap Circuits set, exploring the different ways electricity can move through a circuit. I read quite a few sections from David MacCauley's "How Things Work" book, to help both of us get a better understanding of electricity.

Then we explored the new electricity kit which he got from his Nana & Grandpa for his birthday. It is called "ElectroWizard Inventions" and it is a lot of fun. We actually worked with it a bit yesterday, but were unable to completely 'grok' what was happening without additional research. Hence, this mornings reading selections.

After delving into the nature of electrons, we pulled the kit back out & set up the motor again. He is able to explain why the coil turns, and what is causing the light to flicker (I caught that on video!) We also made a telegraph, which was less successful, although we did get it to work a bit. The next project is a working radio. I think we need to save that one for after lunch.

I really enjoy watching him delve into things. He has been moving between both of his electrical kits while I have been blogging, and is experimenting with his own creations. He explained the concept of resistance to me today, using as a metaphor narrow roads where only one car can fit, and larger roads, where the traffic doesn't get as backed up. It makes me glad that I don't have to interrupt his learning process so that he can be shuttled off to Spelling class, or Gym. I like that he is able to feed his intellect until his appetite is satiated.