Oct. 24, 2007 - Fraction Debate
First, a little background info- we have called our ten year old son "the attorney" since he was two. He is quite the mediator, loves to use large eloquent words, and debates EVERYTHING. Well, yesterday I was sitting with him while he was working on math. He was doing some fraction review. It was dealing with improper fractions and fractions equaling a whole such as 5/5, 3/3, 12/12, etc. He was certain that nothing cut would still be a whole. Giving him the example of a pie cut into pieces, with no pieces eaten, I was trying to explain that it would still equal a whole pie even though it was cut. My son insisted that the pie would NOT still be a whole pie since when you cut a pie there are crumbs on the knife so part of the whole was gone. OK, I then gave the example of a puzzle. He still insisted that, once cut, the puzzle would not be the same exact size as it was before cutting(tiny parts, splinters of the wood or paper, would be gone) I felt was fighting a loosing battle at that point! How could I disagree with his logic? It actually was true, no matter how minuscule the missing pieces would be! The only example I gave that he agreed with was that we are a whole family, 7/7, whether we are all standing together or not. Whew! We could get on with the figuring!
The blog challenge over this past week was to write about pencils. Since we are on the topic of my ten year old, this fits right in!
Pencils in a homeschooling household? Pencils are everywhere, right? We purchase those zip up pencil holders to go in the kids' notebooks and yet there are never pencils in them. There are pencils on the desk, next to the coffee pot, in the drawers, in the couch, under the couch, under beds, in the block wagon, in books, in the car, in the pockets of jeans ready to be washed. Just when I think we need more pencils, because there aren't any in notebooks or in the pencil holder on the desk, we clean house and find dozens.
Well, back to my son. Pencils left in the open are not safe if he is around! LOL He has always had the habit of taking off the erasers and also of tapping the newly sharpened leads off of the ends. I have learned not to sharpen many at a time to go in the holder, because they won't be sharp when you need to use them. "Sharpen as needed!" has become my pencil motto. I also have learned to hide extra erasers around the house. Everyone seems to have a favorite pencil, or pencils, that they like to use. But if the pencil monster has found the fav lying in an open book, it will not long have an eraser! Being able to pull out a spare eraser for the child who is then terribly upset that a favorite pencil is no longer of use, ruined without an eraser, can be a lifesaver!
Hmmm? If my son does decide to become an attorney, I think I know just what gift to get him when he passes the bar. You guessed it! A box of pencils, unsharpened of course, and a set of spare erasers!
Happy Homeschooling!
Comments
Oct. 24, 2007 - Nice Pencil Post
Posted by ThriceBlessed
Oct. 25, 2007 - Untitled Comment
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Tia Linschied
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Oct. 26, 2007 - Untitled Comment
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Dec. 4, 2007 - Tag !
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