I am in the middle of Lech Lecha with 7 yo, at the pasuk where Hashem tells Avram to look in all four directions. Since we spend two days on a pasuk, when we read it yesterday, I thought: "I should really print out a map of Israel and ask him to draw and label a compass rose. That way he will see why south is called desert and west is called sea." I mentioned it to him and he said, no thanks. Comes today, and I realize that I never printed out that map. While he is filling out a workbook page, I quickly printed out a map from http://www.daat.ac.il/he-il/maps/gvolot and he very agreeably drew a compass rose on it. He asked me to draw a circle, then he added the points. I reminded him that north is usually on top, then he copied the word from the pasuk. He added the rest, very nicely asked for help in writing the letters that he was not sure how to form, got every direction in the right spot. He already knew that desert is to the south and the Mediterranean is to the west. Once the compass rose was completed, he asked me if he could hang it up in his room. He placed it over his top bunk.
This is giving me a serious pause. This kid does not like projects and decorating and workbooks. He really did just bare minimum here, but it must have tapped into something, otherwise he would not care where his final result would be.
The unplanned and totally unschool-y moment happened when I was tucking in 9 yo. We agreed that he will do his mishna assignment first thing tomorrow morning. Lately he has been very interested in defining things precisely, so he wanted to know how early he should get started. I said that he can eat breakfast, get dressed and daven first. Next thing I know, he is manipulating these and trying to figure out how many combinations could there be: first get dressed, daven and breakfast, or first get dressed, breakfast and daven... He came up with five. I told him these are called permutations. He thought there were nine possibilities. I said that there are six, for three items. I mentioned factorials (he has read most of Life of Fred, I bet they are there somewhere). I also explained what they meant. Then he wanted to know what happens if you have four: get dressed, daven, eat breakfast, look at assignments. I explained that the number of possibilites is 4*3*2 and he figured out that. We got up to five items and he calculated that 5!=120
That was so unplanned, but all of a sudden, it was so vital to know, just how many ways are there to get things done.
Maybe that's a lesson for me, too.
Showing posts with label geography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label geography. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Monday, June 24, 2013
unschooling Russian
Usually, the conversation goes something like this: you're Russian? Your husband is Russian? Do you speak Russian to your kids? HOW COME you do not speak Russian to your kids? All of this is followed by a long tirade about how good it is to know more than one language, and how the speaker wishes to speak another language or how their sister/cousin/neighbor talks to her kids only in Spanish/German/French.
I have a few responses: 9 yo unambiguously told me before he was 2 that he only wanted to know the names of objects in English. If my kids are to pick up another language, I much rather it be Hebrew. We are not going back to Russia, so that is not the language I want my kids to be fluent in. Both my husband and I think in English, and talk to each other in English, so switching over to Russian would be artifice. Finally, if my kids would want to learn it, I would teach them.
Yesterday, I got a firsthand glimpse of how it would work.
DO you know what this is?
It is a kids' atlas that I grew up with. It is also the atlas that my husband had as a boy. We have it lying around, together with a bunch of other books. Yesterday 9 yo pulled it out and looked at it. He has done it before, but never asked any questions about it. Yesterday, he sat down on the couch, next to my husband and opened up to a page with explorers. He asked the name of each man, and tried guessing from their routes who is who. Then he opened to a political map. He knows that the atlas is old, but he checked for how old by looking for Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Mind you, the atlas is in Russian, and he does not know how to read Russian, but he knows what the borders of countries are supposed to look like. Then he opened up to each continent. The typical page has the countries labeled, with the flags on the side, and some select nationalities wearing traditional costumes. He went on to match the flags of the countries to the nationalities and the countries. That required reading the names. My husband was helping him with the letters. He had to sound out the word, look on the map for a country with a similar name, and then match it to an English translation that he knows. I do not think he would be interested in doing this were it not for geography. If he did not know his maps so well, this whole exercise would have been painful. However, they way he was doing it, it was more of a fun game.
He went continent by continent, all the way to Australia. He noted which nationalities were portrayed with daggers and swords, and which were shown almost naked. At the end of the day, he got a great lesson in reading Russian. (I got a lesson in how unabashedly biased the atlas is: there is one Korea, with capital in Pyongyang, and Arab territories, occupied by Israel are listed before Israel proper. Also, in North America, the only national costumes shown are those of Mexico, Eskimo (Canadian) and Cuba. Of course, if it's written down, it must be true...)
Is 9 yo going to be interested in continuing his Russian studies? Will he become a Russian speaker? Will he read fluently? Not likely, unless he continues to see a point in what he's doing.
I have a few responses: 9 yo unambiguously told me before he was 2 that he only wanted to know the names of objects in English. If my kids are to pick up another language, I much rather it be Hebrew. We are not going back to Russia, so that is not the language I want my kids to be fluent in. Both my husband and I think in English, and talk to each other in English, so switching over to Russian would be artifice. Finally, if my kids would want to learn it, I would teach them.
Yesterday, I got a firsthand glimpse of how it would work.
DO you know what this is?
It is a kids' atlas that I grew up with. It is also the atlas that my husband had as a boy. We have it lying around, together with a bunch of other books. Yesterday 9 yo pulled it out and looked at it. He has done it before, but never asked any questions about it. Yesterday, he sat down on the couch, next to my husband and opened up to a page with explorers. He asked the name of each man, and tried guessing from their routes who is who. Then he opened to a political map. He knows that the atlas is old, but he checked for how old by looking for Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Mind you, the atlas is in Russian, and he does not know how to read Russian, but he knows what the borders of countries are supposed to look like. Then he opened up to each continent. The typical page has the countries labeled, with the flags on the side, and some select nationalities wearing traditional costumes. He went on to match the flags of the countries to the nationalities and the countries. That required reading the names. My husband was helping him with the letters. He had to sound out the word, look on the map for a country with a similar name, and then match it to an English translation that he knows. I do not think he would be interested in doing this were it not for geography. If he did not know his maps so well, this whole exercise would have been painful. However, they way he was doing it, it was more of a fun game.
He went continent by continent, all the way to Australia. He noted which nationalities were portrayed with daggers and swords, and which were shown almost naked. At the end of the day, he got a great lesson in reading Russian. (I got a lesson in how unabashedly biased the atlas is: there is one Korea, with capital in Pyongyang, and Arab territories, occupied by Israel are listed before Israel proper. Also, in North America, the only national costumes shown are those of Mexico, Eskimo (Canadian) and Cuba. Of course, if it's written down, it must be true...)
Is 9 yo going to be interested in continuing his Russian studies? Will he become a Russian speaker? Will he read fluently? Not likely, unless he continues to see a point in what he's doing.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
map expert
This morning, 8 yo crawls out of bed and announces that he wants to write his own schedule. I let him, curious to see what will make the cut. Here is what he came up with:
12. Pokemon
13. 2nd class dismissed
14. recess
I noted the lack of chumash, he said that he will do it at the very end. I suggested doing it first, but he wanted to do it last.
For once, I was prepared for geography. I printed out a fill-in-the-blank map from enchantedlearning.com. I told him to get started from memory and then look up the rest. This is what he filled in from memory:
I cannot even check this, I don't know if they are all correct! This is what comes when you spend hours poring over the map, playing your version of Risk, playing world domination of Pokemons vs. Harpies, and just having fun with geography.
I am seriously thinking about letting them be.
Everything else went well, too, and he even did Chumash before Lashon HaTorah.
- Spelling
- cursive
- recess #1
- geography
- Yahadus
- lunch-recess
- lunch
- 1st class dismissed
At this point, I jumped in and showed what I had planned for today. He was mad, but added the following:
9. 2nd class starts
10. math
11 Lashon Hatorah12. Pokemon
13. 2nd class dismissed
14. recess
I noted the lack of chumash, he said that he will do it at the very end. I suggested doing it first, but he wanted to do it last.
For once, I was prepared for geography. I printed out a fill-in-the-blank map from enchantedlearning.com. I told him to get started from memory and then look up the rest. This is what he filled in from memory:
 |
| filled in map of Africa |
I am seriously thinking about letting them be.
Everything else went well, too, and he even did Chumash before Lashon HaTorah.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Money management
Today was another day when I scheduled too much.
After we davened, I asked 7 yo whether we should start with chumash. He said, yes. I wrote a bunch of mi amar el mi, he answered them quickly. Two were wrong. When I asked him to look them up, he just tried guessing. I asked him to open the chumash and look inside. He started moping and claiming that he did not want to do chumash. I said that we'll review and then do two pesukim and they are short. After more hesitation, he found them. Then I asked to review pesukim from yesterday. More resistance. I sort of brought up the "vayomer" issue. He said that it is probably just one mal'ach talking. I said that it could be someone in charge of overturning the plain. His eyes lit up. Then we did new pesukim. I explained Tzoar according to Rashi. He drew a map illustrating where Lot was going.
Then we went to Costco. The boys brought their allowance. Inside the store I insisted that boys walk together. I have a juicy story of 5 yo running away and hiding behind canoes and me having to alert workers to find him. ( FYI, Costco, does not do a floor page for anything, so try not to lose your kids there). They did stay together. They could not find toy section, the gift-giving season being over. I got my items and the boys showed up with: kite for 5 yo and sand play kit for 7 yo.
My policy on allowance is that I give it to you weekly, you give tzedakah and the rest is for you to do as you wish. I do not buy them toys. I do not buy them soda. I do not remind them to bring their allowance, but I do not manage how they spend it. I think it is better to learn money management this way than wait till you are older and the mistakes that you make are much larger. I went away for high school and was faced with the problem of managing very limited money without being able to work. Growing up, whenever I was gifted any money, it went to my parents. Needless to say, there was a sharp learning curve and I am naturally tight-fisted. It takes a lot for me not say anything when I see kids choosing to spend their money recklessly, but I am hoping that some recklessness now will help bigger lessons to sink in in the long run.
So they got their toys. They also got chips and cookies from the vending machine ( their money). On the way over and back, we listened to Purim music. I explained mishenichnas Adar, marbim besimcha. Then there was layehudim haita ora. I asked boys to guess when we say this. They seemed confused. I said that daddy says this every week. 5 yo guessed havdalah. Then he asked whether driving up to NY is going north. I confirmed. Then we discussed how NY is really to the north-east, while Toronto, where we went last summer, is truly north. 7 yo piped in that Lake Ontario is in the way of going straight north. Then he went on about which lake borders which state. This kid enjoys poring over maps, tracing rivers, studying borders, the sort of creative activities that I would like him to do, only he comes up with them on his own. The results stick better, too.
When we got home, they helped me unload the car. I got a large platter of macaroons for Pesach, but 2 yo picked it up awkwardly and half of them became squirrel food.
Then I was rushing through formal schoolwork, hoping to get to Adar project. It did not go so well. At some point, 7 yo did finish planned activities. Then he suggested using rice in his sand kit. I hesitantly agreed. He happily played with it. Creative thinking, out-of-the-box thinking, we got that. But that creativity produced quite a mess.
By clean-up time, it did not look so good. He felt that other kids made more mess. He did not do a good job sweeping spilled rice and then sulked. He talked about losing his temper. At some point, I lost mine and sent him to his room. After some minutes passed, he asked for a dictionary. I told he can get it, unsure what was his plan. A few minutes later, he told me that he looked up "temper" and now he's sorry, because he did not realize how bad it was what he was saying. I like to see internal guilt, instead of external pressure to improve behavior.
Looking forward to Rosh Chodesh pizza dinner.
After we davened, I asked 7 yo whether we should start with chumash. He said, yes. I wrote a bunch of mi amar el mi, he answered them quickly. Two were wrong. When I asked him to look them up, he just tried guessing. I asked him to open the chumash and look inside. He started moping and claiming that he did not want to do chumash. I said that we'll review and then do two pesukim and they are short. After more hesitation, he found them. Then I asked to review pesukim from yesterday. More resistance. I sort of brought up the "vayomer" issue. He said that it is probably just one mal'ach talking. I said that it could be someone in charge of overturning the plain. His eyes lit up. Then we did new pesukim. I explained Tzoar according to Rashi. He drew a map illustrating where Lot was going.
Then we went to Costco. The boys brought their allowance. Inside the store I insisted that boys walk together. I have a juicy story of 5 yo running away and hiding behind canoes and me having to alert workers to find him. ( FYI, Costco, does not do a floor page for anything, so try not to lose your kids there). They did stay together. They could not find toy section, the gift-giving season being over. I got my items and the boys showed up with: kite for 5 yo and sand play kit for 7 yo.
My policy on allowance is that I give it to you weekly, you give tzedakah and the rest is for you to do as you wish. I do not buy them toys. I do not buy them soda. I do not remind them to bring their allowance, but I do not manage how they spend it. I think it is better to learn money management this way than wait till you are older and the mistakes that you make are much larger. I went away for high school and was faced with the problem of managing very limited money without being able to work. Growing up, whenever I was gifted any money, it went to my parents. Needless to say, there was a sharp learning curve and I am naturally tight-fisted. It takes a lot for me not say anything when I see kids choosing to spend their money recklessly, but I am hoping that some recklessness now will help bigger lessons to sink in in the long run.
So they got their toys. They also got chips and cookies from the vending machine ( their money). On the way over and back, we listened to Purim music. I explained mishenichnas Adar, marbim besimcha. Then there was layehudim haita ora. I asked boys to guess when we say this. They seemed confused. I said that daddy says this every week. 5 yo guessed havdalah. Then he asked whether driving up to NY is going north. I confirmed. Then we discussed how NY is really to the north-east, while Toronto, where we went last summer, is truly north. 7 yo piped in that Lake Ontario is in the way of going straight north. Then he went on about which lake borders which state. This kid enjoys poring over maps, tracing rivers, studying borders, the sort of creative activities that I would like him to do, only he comes up with them on his own. The results stick better, too.
When we got home, they helped me unload the car. I got a large platter of macaroons for Pesach, but 2 yo picked it up awkwardly and half of them became squirrel food.
Then I was rushing through formal schoolwork, hoping to get to Adar project. It did not go so well. At some point, 7 yo did finish planned activities. Then he suggested using rice in his sand kit. I hesitantly agreed. He happily played with it. Creative thinking, out-of-the-box thinking, we got that. But that creativity produced quite a mess.
By clean-up time, it did not look so good. He felt that other kids made more mess. He did not do a good job sweeping spilled rice and then sulked. He talked about losing his temper. At some point, I lost mine and sent him to his room. After some minutes passed, he asked for a dictionary. I told he can get it, unsure what was his plan. A few minutes later, he told me that he looked up "temper" and now he's sorry, because he did not realize how bad it was what he was saying. I like to see internal guilt, instead of external pressure to improve behavior.
Looking forward to Rosh Chodesh pizza dinner.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
rainy indoor day
Highlights:
- For geography, we discussed where we live, starting with street and ending with universe. I stressed proper capitalization for 7 yo, he stuck in western hemisphere and multiverse. Then I asked him to write a sentence, including all of the above. With 5 yo, I just went over written words. Then I printed out maps, to demonstrate how these levels are related. 5 yo settled for circling the correct area. 7 yo colored in each location, with coloring in surrounding locations in another color.
- For math, 5 yo continued in his brother's text book. More breaking up tens into ones. 7 yo did some measurements.
- Next was Chumash and Yesh Lanu Lama. 5 yo did his work independently! I wrote a bunch of " mi amar el mi" and "al mi neemar" for 7 yo and he got most of them right, open Chumash. We reviewed pesukim from yesterday and did two more. He hemmed and hawed, but did go through them. I think his hesitation is because now he can express his fear of unknown ( new words that he has to read, translation). Once I asked him if he was nervous, he admitted so, and then went on. He asked an excellent question: how could Lot go out and talk to his sons-in-law, if people of S'dom were right outside the door? Then we listened to this aliyah at abaalkoreh.com, the kids sat in front of the computer like listening to iTunes. He is the musical one, loves to sing, let him pick up trop and get preview of next pesukim.
- For reading, 7 yo read about explorers ( ongoing topic), 5 read Big Dog, Little Dog. During reading, he didn't get is why the dogs were not comfortable in their beds. I thought it was obvious, but I bit my tongue. I had to show him first page again and asked him to compare dogs. He noticed different sweaters. He noticed that one had eyes open and the other one, closed. After all this, he noticed that one is big and one is small. Then we went back to the story. I asked him to compare the rooms. He noticed that one had a nightstand. I asked him why the other one didn't. Only then he realized that the beds were wrong sizes. This kids really perceives world in his own way.
- 7 yo asked for Spelling Power, so we did it. I decided to start with Level D ( 4th grade). I introduced the program, explaining that we will only study the words he does not know and only the words that will come up in his writing. I also explained that the rule for the group will be stated first, instead of his guessing what the words have in common. So far, so good.
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