Feb. 19, 2008
Today
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Well, I have gotten this much out of the Attack of the Flu-bug - more "free" time as we have been forced to slow down or even cancel school for several days now. And that is why I have posted more in the past few days than in the past 9 months! Your daily Flu Report is summarized in these comments from this morning: Ethan to Eliza: Alexandra's out! Now it's down to just you and me! Madeline: I feel so left out! I haven't gotten a fever, just feeling yucky.  As we all do, excepting those two aforementioned, with the yuckiness (I shall spare you any further details!  ) extending long past the fever. ****** And for your entertainment, the following is "borrowed, borrowed without permission" from Alexandra's comment on a friend's blog. speaking of madeline...today while we were watching a movie, madeline suddenly remarked, "that guy looks like a preposition." i gave her this look: O_o and she 'explained' herself by pointing out his "curvy head and big, long nose." okay...SOMEBODY'S been watching too much 'Schoolhouse Rock' and speaking of valentine's day, on the very day, right when mama had just given daddy his valentine's present (hershey's pot of gold. best thing in the universe) and he was happily enjoying it by eating it (that's the best way to enjoy chocolate after all...by eating it) and sharing the eating of some with mama (that is the second best way to enjoy chocolate...by sharing it) i happened to notice a loose thread on his sleeve. now you must understand one thing about me: i cannot abide loose threads. they irritate me to no end. there is some sort of mechanism in me that is quite automatic, and it urges me to lose no time in pulling that erratic thread, telling me that not only is it the obvious thing to do but it is moreover the right thing to do. so pull it i did. as suddenly as the thought to pull it had placed itself in my head, instantly a new thought introduced itself: "what if this thread is connected to something? something like---" SNAP! "his button?!" aye, alas...the bright idea came too late. in all but an instant i pulled the thread, his button came off, and it clattered noisily to the floor. mama and daddy froze in their conversation. they looked slowly from the button on the floor, to the thread in my hand, to the hole in daddy's sleeve. i blushed and placed the offending thread in daddy's hand, as if that could somehow make up for the hole in his sleeve. i picked up the button and shrugged sheepishly. "i suppose i could sew that back on..." i started, but daddy interrupted me: "of course you will! but...where are you going to put it so you'll remember?" this was a serious question, and one that needed careful consideration. so i picked up the button, stared at it for a few seconds, and then promptly attached it to my earing. it looked weird, but it worked! his sleeve is fixed!! ****** Lastly, I invite you all to postulate in your own minds and for your enjoyment alone, the possible ends of the very dangerous fight that Madeline and I have undertaken together - SAT prep. It might well be that one or both of us shall perish on the way! Algebra pummels Madeline, with one polynomial tied behind Its back, but she takes the punishment and doggedly fights back. Each round, she slowly beats it into submission. I am confident that she will emerge the victor, though she drags herself to her corner at the end of day. And I, being older and tireder, have not her stamina and often wonder what I will look like at the end of it all? (In plain language, Madeline's intense dislike of math led her to forget nearly all the algebra she ever learned, not even allowing a bit of it to linger as a bad memory. She was thrilled to be done with it, knowing that she'd never need it again. Oooops. So now we're trying to relearn it all in a few weeks.) Her constant question is Why? "Why do we need to know algebra? Why is it so important? When will I ever use it again?" The answers that Jay and I have given do not satisfy her as she has been able to see other answers to the hypothetical problems that we pose, ones that do not require algebra for the solving. So I am asking for real life occasions that use algebra. I know that she would be more content to pour herself into this if she saw a practical application for her future beyond the college entrance exams. |
Comments
Feb. 19, 2008 - Untitled Comment
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Posted by opckid
Feb. 22, 2008 - *cough*
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Feb. 26, 2008 - Untitled Comment
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