Sorry it's been so long since I posted a picture! I got a new camera (which does videos, by the way), and a new version of linux -- comes with new versions of all the other software, hence... I have not yet figured out how to work everything to get pictures up. I am getting there piece by piece, and soon, soon....
Deb was right, it's not linear.... two nights ago, Carrie Ann slept in her own bed until 7:30 am (wow), but last night, she was in mine at 11:30 pm already.... well, we are still making some progress.
One more brag... today in school, we did our math drills as usual. Yesterday, Matthias and Bethany both did levels 3 and 4 -- addition facts up to 3+12 and 4+12. Matthias finished both in 10 minutes and got only one wrong! Today.... Matthias did 4 and 5 -- one level up -- and finished in only 9 minutes! Bethany finished all of 3 and 4 in only 15 minutes! (That's 50 questions.) Wow! They are learning a lot!
Showing posts with label math. Show all posts
Showing posts with label math. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Marble Run and Number Fun
Matthias got himself one of these for his birthday (with his leftover birthday money from last year):
I think this is what he is thinking of:
One of Bethany's favourite questions lately has been: What's the biggest number you can think of? I have tried to explain the idea of infinity to her -- that no matter what number you can think of, you can always think of one more. Matthias caught on to this concept no problem when he was about that age, but Bethany asks it over and over! Once I explained, infinity is like if I started with a one, and then wrote zeros until I filled the whole line -- then the whole page -- then the other side -- then another page -- then another, until I had a stack that reached up to the ceiling -- then another stack until the whole living room was full! Here she caught on and said, "And then the whole house?!!" Last night she started by asking how many sticks she had to pick up, so I said, "As many as the number of years you want to live in heaven." "How many years are there in heaven?" she wondered. "Think of all the blades of grass in the lawn, plus all the hairs on our heads, plus all the sand in the sandbox, plus all the stars in the sky..." "Wow, that's a lot! Do you think it's 286?" 286 981 is the biggest number she can think of, and comes up whenever I try to explain infinity. (Sometimes the numbers are switched around a bit: 986 281, for example.) She doesn't say the "thousand" -- it's pronounced "nine hundred eighty-six two hundred eighty one." Last night, after I explained "all the..., plus all the..." and said it was a bigger number than I could even say, she said, "But it isn't really the biggest number, is it? Because the numbers keep counting on and on and on." So she is getting it -- kind of.
So I wish you 286 blessings and 981 love!
I think this is what he is thinking of:
One of Bethany's favourite questions lately has been: What's the biggest number you can think of? I have tried to explain the idea of infinity to her -- that no matter what number you can think of, you can always think of one more. Matthias caught on to this concept no problem when he was about that age, but Bethany asks it over and over! Once I explained, infinity is like if I started with a one, and then wrote zeros until I filled the whole line -- then the whole page -- then the other side -- then another page -- then another, until I had a stack that reached up to the ceiling -- then another stack until the whole living room was full! Here she caught on and said, "And then the whole house?!!" Last night she started by asking how many sticks she had to pick up, so I said, "As many as the number of years you want to live in heaven." "How many years are there in heaven?" she wondered. "Think of all the blades of grass in the lawn, plus all the hairs on our heads, plus all the sand in the sandbox, plus all the stars in the sky..." "Wow, that's a lot! Do you think it's 286?" 286 981 is the biggest number she can think of, and comes up whenever I try to explain infinity. (Sometimes the numbers are switched around a bit: 986 281, for example.) She doesn't say the "thousand" -- it's pronounced "nine hundred eighty-six two hundred eighty one." Last night, after I explained "all the..., plus all the..." and said it was a bigger number than I could even say, she said, "But it isn't really the biggest number, is it? Because the numbers keep counting on and on and on." So she is getting it -- kind of.
So I wish you 286 blessings and 981 love!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
How many days until...?
This is one of Bethany's favourite questions. This morning, she asked me how many days it had been since my 5th birthday. Usually I put her off with a non-answer -- 8 calendar pages until your birthday, don't ask me days until we are on the right page! Today, I decided to answer her, so she would realize why I don't want to calculate it all the time.
So, after much ado and calculation, I realized that it has been 9777 days since I turned 5. What a nice number! Later I checked my calculations at this site, and found out that I actually got it right. (There have been 7 leap years, plus 2000 which wasn't a leap year, since I was born.)
I also downloaded a "Days until my birthday" gadget for Bethany, so now I don't have to worry about that question any more.
(Just read over this post and realized almost every sentence ended in an exclamation point. Ever have that problem? I changed some.)
While I was doing schoolwork with Bethany and Matthias this morning, Carrie Ann ran into the kitchen shouting " 'Ot! 'Ot! 'Ot!" ("'Ot" means Hot.) What was so hot that it concerned her so much? I followed her, and she pointed at the heat vent in the hallway -- the furnace was on, and it was blowing hot air up in her face! She is still short enough, and her skin sensitive enough, that she didn't dare walk over it to get to the bedroom. Wow, that is one of the first times she has really managed to use English to get my attention and explain a problem to me! Neat!
So, after much ado and calculation, I realized that it has been 9777 days since I turned 5. What a nice number! Later I checked my calculations at this site, and found out that I actually got it right. (There have been 7 leap years, plus 2000 which wasn't a leap year, since I was born.)
I also downloaded a "Days until my birthday" gadget for Bethany, so now I don't have to worry about that question any more.
(Just read over this post and realized almost every sentence ended in an exclamation point. Ever have that problem? I changed some.)
While I was doing schoolwork with Bethany and Matthias this morning, Carrie Ann ran into the kitchen shouting " 'Ot! 'Ot! 'Ot!" ("'Ot" means Hot.) What was so hot that it concerned her so much? I followed her, and she pointed at the heat vent in the hallway -- the furnace was on, and it was blowing hot air up in her face! She is still short enough, and her skin sensitive enough, that she didn't dare walk over it to get to the bedroom. Wow, that is one of the first times she has really managed to use English to get my attention and explain a problem to me! Neat!
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