Jul. 8, 2008 - Chicken with Bubbles.
I'm glad to know I have spent hundreds of dollars on an elite math camp for my kid to experience cafeteria food. Today, he took what he told his brother was "mystery meat." It was supposed to be a chicken patty, he explained to us, but the meat had bubbles in it. This he found "suspicious." He also ate an orange but noted that the apple and orange crate looked the exact same as when he took an orange yesterday. "Are you saying they restocked or that no one is taking fruit?" I asked. He reported that he had looked around and saw no one else eating fruit but perhaps they just ate it really fast. However, he also looked for and did not see any apple cores or orange peels and thus concluded the other kids aren't eating fruit.
If he learns this much from lunch, I can only imagine what he must be learning in math. So I ask. This morning was spent on Sierpinski triangles. This sounds intriguing as he describes them to me. And is this new? Of course not. J has been there, done that with Mr. Stucki. Mr. Stucki, I might point out, taught my kid all this in exchange for a cup of coffee each week. So far, I've spent about $75 worth of class time for the elite math institution of IL to teach the elite math kids of IL what I organized for free for a bunch of homeschoolers two years ago. I am sure there is a lesson in there somewhere. I'll pause for the public schooled amongst us to figure it out.
After lunch, they watched about 40 minutes of Jurassic Park. Are they going to watch the whole movie, I ask? And if so, why? He thinks they will, over several days. They are to watch for small changes that can lead to big changes over time, something about moth DNA introduced to dinosaur DNA or something. My antennae, ever highly attuned to macro-evolutionary prattle, go sky high here. Did they make any connection to evolution? No, he says. But I'm going to write IMSA on this one...I can get Jurassic Park for free from our public library...certainly there is a better use of the $16 worth of class time it will take up?
Any new math after lunch? Well, first there was recess. They did math shape puzzles. J was the only one who solved his "legally." What does he mean by that, I query? It means J solved it and the other kids took pictures of his on their cell phones (his comment--"which, coincidentally, I noticed are not allowed in the building") and then recreated the puzzle at their own seats.
Cell phones?
Moving on. Yes, after lunch, they did the Dragon fractal which was both really fun and a new thing to J. However, he was embarassed during class. Why? The kid he chose to hang out with today, James, announced in the middle of class that he didn't want to hang out with anyone but J. This embarassed J a lot (since I've seen my kid blush when just THINKING about saying something in a group, this doesn't surprise me to hear). But why did James say that? And why in the middle of class? J doesn't know but James said J was cool which J "found surprising since I don't intend to ever be cool." This is a resolution I think he will be able to keep.
However, today was termed "really fun" as opposed to yesterday's "good but not exceptional." I think J is learning a lot, very little of it connected to math. Off to email IMSA about Jurassic Park.
Blessings, Holly
