Back to School

We took the Easter week off since all of Beav's best buddies had the week off. He enjoyed the free time but I think he actually missed the routine! He was up at 6 this morning - he is NEVER up at 6 in the morning (except for Christmas morning, of course, when he wakes up at 5 am) and I had no trouble getting him to the table to do his work!

This week we are starting to examine Aesop and his fables. I have gathered together a stack of books I'm going to be taking various activities from but the bulk of our study will be from EMC 2733 Literature Pockets - Aesop's Fables. I like using "pockets" activities because if I am busy doing something else, I can just pull out a few folders for the day and he is able to work independently or with minimal help.

Of course, the first thing he asked was "who was Aesop" and then "Why do they spell his name so weird?" to "what are fables?"

Now, Beav has also taken to playing darts along side Ward and I. For anyone who has never played this game, let me tell you this...

Go out, purchase a dart board (soft tips if you are concerned about safety - Beav has always been around us when we played darts and so he's learned to stand back, etc as well as watched how we throw. 9 times out of 1o his own darts stay in there without bounce-back).

Here's the thing. The game of "501" (or any of the "01" games) begins with the concept of subtracting what you hit from your score. You begin with 501 (or 401, 301, etc) and if you hit 20, 18 and 12, you have to add your score and then subtract it from 501. On your next turn, you subtract what you get from 451 and you keep doing this.

BUT if you hit a "triple" or a "double" that triples or doubles the value of what number you have hit. So, if you hit a triple 18...that is 18 multiplied by 3...so with your one dart you have 54. Perhaps you hit a triple 13 on your second dart...for 39...and with your third dart you hit a "single bull" - not the exact center but the ring around the center...for 25.

So...you have 54+39+25 which brings your total to 118 points...

AND

You have to do this IN YOUR HEAD because the game of darts does not allow the use of calculators :) You can write down your score on a chalkboard or white board or paper and subtract it, but you are not allowed to use a calculator to figure out your score!

And, once you are below 170, you can start thinking about "doubling out" which is how the game is won. Let's say you are left with 75...you can hit a "single bull" and then the bull's eye...Or if you left yourself 40 points, that would mean you have to hit the "double 20" or the outer ring of the 20. And if you miss and hit a 20, then you have to move to a "double 10", etc.

So the math in the head is really working and put into practice. I know my own personal math skills have improved immensely since I started playing darts.


So, what I've noticed is that Beav's math skills are wonderful...but he's also figuring out DIVISION! The other day he figured out that not only was a triple 20 worth 60 points BUT that there were 30 groups of 2 in 60...and 3 of 20...and 6 groups of 10...His mind was working fast and furious picking out triples and their different combinations.

So not only was he working on basic math skills of addition and subtraction but he was also working on multiplication AND division!!!

AND he was having fun!!!

Who could ask for more?