We had a family game night of checkers and I had fun with our camera in between moves. These are some fun shots I did. I love the faces Matthew makes when he's deliberating or ecstatic!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Checkers game in progress
We had a family game night of checkers and I had fun with our camera in between moves. These are some fun shots I did. I love the faces Matthew makes when he's deliberating or ecstatic!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
We love literature!
Before she started first grade, Sarah was reading "Swiss Family Robinson". She's been engrossed in the story and delights in reading a 'real' chapter book (as compared to 'elementary' chapter books that are only 100 pages long). It's been so fun watching her read every day. She particularly enjoys using bookmarks cut out of pretty scrap booking paper (I finally found something useful for that darn paper! Who needs scrap booking?) She wanted bookmarks cut out of several pretty papers, but didn't want to 'waste' the bookmarks by having them lie in a pile. She wanted to use them all simultaneously, so she read the first chapters of 5 different books, then carefully placed the bookmark in and lined the books in a row.
She made a 'reading station' for herself downstairs on our school-table. First she found a wooden box to hold a variety of her favorite books (American Girls, Pony Pals, Heidi, and current interests mixed together). She also gathered a notebook and pen for writing down the words she needs a defining. Her page from last night's reading had these words: Vesuvius, Medusa, Pompeii, tunics, unison. Fun! She has been reading in much of her spare time, which absolutely delights me. I love taking pictures of her reading.
I'm very pleased that she shares one my deepest joys. I'm an unabashed bibliomaniac. That new toy, the Kindle, has so many rave reviews about how great it is to have so many books at your fingertips. I'm really honestly not even interested in it. It lacks the fundamental ingredient in enjoying a good book: the book itself. The sensory pleasures from holding the book, turning the pages, and smelling paper (especially the old-paper smell found in good used-book stores....oh YUM!) are irreplaceable. I've read books online before, and it's just not the same. I can't get the deep feeling of satisfaction from a story without having a physical interaction with the book. I suppose it could be compared to love....you can't REALLY grow to love someone if you only see pictures of them and never really spend time with them. Perhaps I am wrong, but that's my view. Give me a good book (especially nice hard-back ones), whet my mental appetite, and I'm happy for the rest of the day. It's so difficult to tear myself away from good writing so I can deal with life's necessary responsibilities. My only consolation in this is the knowledge that we will be able to learn for eternity....what bliss!
For Math we discovered some real *gems* in literature: Sir Cumference and the Round Table. There is an entire series about Sir Cumference and each book teaches the principle of geometry as part of a wonderful story. We found them in our library and REALLY enjoy them! I highly recommend them to anyone doing home school. The books are clever (there are twin brothers named Geo of Metry and Sym of Metry, a lady named Di of Ameter, and a small boy named Radius) and they present the facts in a way that's easy to remember. There is a riddle to solve, and the answer is only found after applying mathematical truths. It's so fun! These are definitely on our family wish-list now!
Taking our kids to school each morning is like running the gauntlet. The school is only one mile away, but merely dropping our kids off at school takes 45 minutes! The traffic jam to gain access to the school parking lot is ridiculous. We've started listening to audio books while we wait each morning. This week we've been listening to Greek legends. The narrator recently introduced the story of Prometheus. Delighted with the cool name, Matthew giggled, rubbed his hands together in excitement, and said in a voice shivering with pleasure: Proooomeeeeeeeeeeeeetheus!!! What a funny guy!
Friday, August 21, 2009
Chess anyone?
Sarah and Matthew recently decided that they love chess. I've never been a large fan of chess even though I own chess sets. After watching a documentary regarding children who play chess, Sarah has decided she wants to become good enough at the game that she could play blindfolded or over the phone without seeing the board. Come again? She's serious.
Each day she's been hurriedly doing her chores so she can have more time to play chess. She runs up to me with excitement, begging to set up a game. Nathan collected chess sets as a hobby before we had children, so we have a closet full of beautiful chess sets carved in stone, onyx, wood, ivory, metal, and fossil. Matthew LOVES to open the wooden cases and lovingly stroke the Turkish set carved with elephants. He'll close the box- almost reverently- and resign himself to play with the less-exotic carved ivory set with normal pieces. I really need to get them a cheap plastic set...just as a precaution.
They wanted to play chess several times a day each day this week and yesterday there was a breakthrough...Sarah was beating me when I wasn't trying to let her win. In the beginning games I would intentionally bait her with easy captures. Last night I played my best (which admittedly never was very good...I know less than a handful of strategies....all of which were learned this week from a book as I tried to educate myself on the game so I could teach them) and she captured my most valuable pieces before long. She's catching on quickly to strategy and she analyzes the board pretty well. Matthew also loves to point out possible dangers for each move. He's usually quite good at seeing when his piece could be captured, although he does like to play with more gusto than I prefer. He loves to capture pieces with the same vigor as the animated character from 'Geri's Game'...it's pretty funny to watch. As for Daniel, he desperately wants to play, so I set up a game with only pawns for him to start learning the moves.
I've been reading books on chess and they've learned stuff that I never knew my entire life (until now). I also found a great website for teaching kids everything about chess. The website makes it a game to learn all the names of the squares, the pieces, rules of movement, etc. It's a great resource.
We found out about a chess club that meets monthly in a public library here. Wanting to expose Sarah and Matthew to the game more, I inquired about the group. There's no members as young as her on the roster; it's mostly ages 10 and up. I'm trying to learn more techniques to teach her, so we'll see what happens. I realize she most likely will not become a master player of chess anytime in her life; I think she'll eventually lose interest and move onto something else. HOWEVER, as long as she is so interested in it, I want to nurture her ability as much as possible. She has a surprising knack for it. It's surprising to me because I assumed if she didn't love math, she wouldn't love chess. I'm happy to be wrong.
In my research about chess, I found a lot of surprising things. Evidently, chess promotes cognitive development so well that it has become a required class in some school districts. Frequently playing chess even has been proven to increase reading ability. It affects critical thinking, spatial intelligence, analyzing facts, calculating risk, planning for the future, etc. Test scores improved in ALL subjects when students played chess. I never had heard that before I started looking into it.
At Back to School night we asked the teachers whether there is a chess club at the school. There is, but they don't allow kindergarteners to play. I'm emailing the teacher in charge of the club and arguing a case for Sarah and Matthew. I hope they are allowed in.
Each day she's been hurriedly doing her chores so she can have more time to play chess. She runs up to me with excitement, begging to set up a game. Nathan collected chess sets as a hobby before we had children, so we have a closet full of beautiful chess sets carved in stone, onyx, wood, ivory, metal, and fossil. Matthew LOVES to open the wooden cases and lovingly stroke the Turkish set carved with elephants. He'll close the box- almost reverently- and resign himself to play with the less-exotic carved ivory set with normal pieces. I really need to get them a cheap plastic set...just as a precaution.
They wanted to play chess several times a day each day this week and yesterday there was a breakthrough...Sarah was beating me when I wasn't trying to let her win. In the beginning games I would intentionally bait her with easy captures. Last night I played my best (which admittedly never was very good...I know less than a handful of strategies....all of which were learned this week from a book as I tried to educate myself on the game so I could teach them) and she captured my most valuable pieces before long. She's catching on quickly to strategy and she analyzes the board pretty well. Matthew also loves to point out possible dangers for each move. He's usually quite good at seeing when his piece could be captured, although he does like to play with more gusto than I prefer. He loves to capture pieces with the same vigor as the animated character from 'Geri's Game'...it's pretty funny to watch. As for Daniel, he desperately wants to play, so I set up a game with only pawns for him to start learning the moves.
I've been reading books on chess and they've learned stuff that I never knew my entire life (until now). I also found a great website for teaching kids everything about chess. The website makes it a game to learn all the names of the squares, the pieces, rules of movement, etc. It's a great resource.
We found out about a chess club that meets monthly in a public library here. Wanting to expose Sarah and Matthew to the game more, I inquired about the group. There's no members as young as her on the roster; it's mostly ages 10 and up. I'm trying to learn more techniques to teach her, so we'll see what happens. I realize she most likely will not become a master player of chess anytime in her life; I think she'll eventually lose interest and move onto something else. HOWEVER, as long as she is so interested in it, I want to nurture her ability as much as possible. She has a surprising knack for it. It's surprising to me because I assumed if she didn't love math, she wouldn't love chess. I'm happy to be wrong.
In my research about chess, I found a lot of surprising things. Evidently, chess promotes cognitive development so well that it has become a required class in some school districts. Frequently playing chess even has been proven to increase reading ability. It affects critical thinking, spatial intelligence, analyzing facts, calculating risk, planning for the future, etc. Test scores improved in ALL subjects when students played chess. I never had heard that before I started looking into it.
At Back to School night we asked the teachers whether there is a chess club at the school. There is, but they don't allow kindergarteners to play. I'm emailing the teacher in charge of the club and arguing a case for Sarah and Matthew. I hope they are allowed in.
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