Why Change Math?

I don't understand the new way kids are supposed to do math. What's wrong with the way we were taught 30 years ago? Teachers tell my kids to not let me teach them how to multiply and divide (I'll be honest, that makes me angry). Apparently my method is ineffective now and they get it marked wrong if they use my simple method. Erin took one look at this test review of Nathan's and scrunched up her face and said why is this so complicated now? So at least I'm not alone in my thinking.

Maybe this is part of the Core Curriculum stuff that has been talked about so much lately on the news and has parents and teachers hating it. But supposedly Nebraska is one of only a few states that hasn't adopted it. So who knows. Nathan missed the day they learned division because he was at HAL and the teacher never taught him how to do it. So he may be forced to do my method and then get it wrong because it doesn't have a million steps. I also don't like how the kids have to explain how they get their answers and write down all the steps. What about the kids that do math accurately on their heads? Isn't getting the right answer proof enough that they understand it?  When I discussed this with Eric, he showed me this paper on reddit:

Eric and Nathan Engineering

Nathan recently attended a HAL (High Ability Learner) seminar about flying. They had a guest speaker that talked to the kids about the different kinds of engines and how they functioned. Nathan loved the seminar and has been talking about it ever since. It's all over my head but I try my best to listen. He told me that he seemed like the only one in the class that seemed interested and that understood it.

I told him that he's really smart with that kind of stuff just like Eric and that we think he'd make a great engineer. He got really excited when I told him that Eric is thinking about majoring in engineering too. He told me, "Mom, Eric and I can open a company together and call it 'Eric and Nathan Engineering.'"

I thought for sure he'd say Nathan and Eric Engineering but he put his big brother's name first. That would be really cool to see them work together.

The two of them are really cute. Eric loves sitting next to Nate during Sacrament meeting and playing games on paper the whole time. I had to finally put an end to that but it is cute to see them bonding.

Nathan talking about the seminar so much reminds me of Erin when she was in the early elementary years. She loved history and so when she'd get home from school, I swear she would repeat word for word the history lesson in school that day. She would go on for 20 or 30 minutes. It was really cute. Now I ask her about her day and I get a one word answer- "fine." Boy do I miss those days when she was talkative.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Second Funeral

I attended a funeral today for a girl in Erin's grade that committed suicide. I attended one last year when Erin was in 8th grade. My heart is broken for these girls and their families. Erin knows how hard I took the last one so she didn't even want to tell me that she knew this one. She ran with her in PE last semester. Both girls appeared to be happy girls. As a mother, there isn't anything more frightening than thinking about outliving your children.

As I try to make sense of this all, I keep thinking about the hymn found on page 220. It is a favorite of mine. We sing it often in FHE. Verse 2 has special meaning.

Lord, I Would Follow Thee
1. Savior, may I learn to love thee,
Walk the path that thou hast shown, Pause to help and lift another, Finding strength beyond my own. Savior, may I learn to love thee— Lord, I would follow thee.
2. Who am I to judge another
When I walk imperfectly?
In the quiet heart is hidden
Sorrow that the eye can’t see.
Who am I to judge another?
Lord, I would follow thee.
3. I would be my brother’s keeper;
I would learn the healer’s art.
To the wounded and the weary
I would show a gentle heart.
I would be my brother’s keeper—
Lord, I would follow thee.
4. Savior, may I love my brother
As I know thou lovest me,
Find in thee my strength, my beacon, For thy servant I would be.
Savior, may I love my brother—
Lord, I would follow thee.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A quilt for Grandma

I ordered the fabric for this quilt online. It was actually a lot brighter than I thought it would be. But I put some nice soft minky fabric on the back so hopefully that tones it down a little. A fabric store told me not to put batting in it if I use minky, so I didn't. But I wish I hadn't listened. Online, lots of people say one way or the other on the batting. It is a very light quilt without the batting and it was more difficult to hand bind. So for next time, I will use batting unless it's for a baby blanket. I think it makes a great baby blanket without the batting.

Happy birthday Grandma Bay!

My next project (when I save up enough money for the fabric) will be twin size quilts for the twins. I picked out the pattern (an Americana quilt) after seeing the ones my friend made for all four of her boys. I think they will be perfect for the boys. I already made them quilts but they aren't twin size so they are a bit too small for their beds and they get cold especially with Nebraska winters.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

1st and 5th in Pinewood Derby and Some Life Lessons

Zach's car in the lead

We FINALLY had the pinewood derby last night.  I know it's probably only been a month or two since we were given the cars to work on, but it feels like 6 months ago.  Mario and those boys worked so hard on the cars.  I was so tired of hearing the drill as they used it to sand down the axels.

There were 31 boys competing.  We have four wards that meet together for cubs and we don't have a track.  The district has a nice one that has four lanes and is connected to a computer program that records the time for each car.  So in reality, you are not competing against the other cars.  You are racing one time in each of the four lanes. The computer adds up your four times, divides by 4 and then whoever has the fastest overall time wins first place.  It is a very fair way to do the pinewood derby.  I have seen it done many ways (having competed in 4 different wards) and this is definitely the most fair way to do it that I have seen.

That's all well and good until the computer has a glitch and every car that comes in fourth place automatically gets 15 seconds recorded for their time.  They tried for 45 minutes to fix the glitch and when that didn't work, they came up with an alternative system.  They had each boy race four times in a row, once in each lane.  If they won, they got 4 points.  The loser got 1 point.  The car that got the most points at the end would be the winner.  Well, there were 5 cars that got first place each time it raced.  Nathan and Zach were both in the top 5.  Those 5 cars would race each other to determine the winners.

On the very first race of the tiebreaker, Zach's car was accidentally dropped four feet from the track to the ground by a volunteer helping.  When Mario picked up the car, the wheel was bent.  What a disappointment!  They had spent HOURS getting those wheels perfect.

Needless to say, Zach's car was so longer able to compete properly with the other four cars.  Nate took first place and Zach took fifth.  Nathan will get to compete at the district level in April so he's really excited.  There were some tears and I feel bad because the unfortunate accident took a little away from the excitement of Nathan winning.  The thing that bothered Zach most was that the volunteer didn't even apologize for the accident.

If you remember from a past blog post, the whole purpose of putting so much time and effort into these cars was to beat the Webber boy (Bishop's son).  Turns out that the Bishop decided to teach Ethan a lesson in responsibility this year.   He kept asking Ethan if he wanted to work on his car.  Ethan kept declining until the last minute.  So the car was basically just thrown together this year.  So he was no competition at all.  Turns out the boy that came in 3rd place behind the Webber boys last year (they had two sons competing last year but one turned 11 so was no longer able to compete) worked really hard on his car this year to beat the Webbers also.  He came in 2nd to Nate.  So I guess, all that hard work paid off to beat him too.

It was time for a talk about how life isn't fair.  Zach was having a hard time getting over the loss.  When I sat down on his bed to comfort him and talk to him about how life isn't fair, he reminded me that I hadn't told him a story that I promised to tell him.  I wanted to wait until basketball season was over and so this was the perfect story and opportunity.

There was a little boy named Shane on the boys' basketball team.  His father was one of the assistant coaches.  One day, Shane's mother took Shane to practice instead because the dad needed to get some sleep for work the next day.  So it gave me an hour to talk to Shane's mom.  The story she told me broke my heart.  She told me that the assistant coach wasn't Shane's biological father.  Her first husband (Shane's father) had been killed in war.   I asked her how she was notified of his death.  That is where the story gets worse.  The military showed up at the hospital to notify her just a few hours after she had given birth to Shane.  Her husband, Shane's father, had been killed the same day she gave birth.  I started tearing up as she told me this story.

As I told Zach this story, I could tell that he was starting to realize an unfortunate pinewood derby accident was truly just a small thing.  I think he also learned another important lesson.  It is important that when you hurt someone else, intentionally or by mistake or accident, it is important to simply say you are sorry.  Those words would have done a lot to comfort him last night.

My New Favorite Blogs

I do find time for blogs that aren't about quilting.   I have recently come across these two new ones.  I can't get enough of them.  They are such inspirational women.  One was featured on Dateline because her husband was murdered after having an affair.  The other two blogs are from the woman known as the Tattooed Mormon.  I love how they are both so honest in all their thoughts.  Al Fox Carraway also has a Facebook page where she puts up inspirational messages.  It's hard to believe she has only been a member for a few short years.


http://www.themomentswestand.com/

http://alfoxshead.blogspot.com/

http://waysofthecarraways.blogspot.com/

Basketball Pictures

Our lives have revolved around basketball practices and games the last few months.  It was a lot of fun to go to all the kids' games. Unfortunately, I had to miss a few due to conflicting schedules.  But I attended most of them.

I am so proud of Erin for going out for her freshman team.  I know it took a lot of courage for her to play.  She hasn't played much basketball throughout her childhood, so she had a lot to learn.  But she did great.  She also played on the church basketball team where she was the best one on the team.  So she scored lot of points and the coach had to several times remind her to pass to her teammates because they would be killing the other team.  Erin didn't like passing much because more often than not, when she passed, they would miss the ball.   She liked school ball but she loved church ball.   She was number 15 on both teams.

Eric played church ball.  His team went undefeated so they got to play the Stake leaders for the tournament.  Unfortunately, those "old men" beat them in that game.  But he had a lot of fun playing.

Nate and Zach played in the community league.  I think they were the only 4th graders on their team while the rest were 3rd graders.  They won about half and lost half.  Zach was the team leader and scored a majority of their points.  Nathan got really good at free throws and by the end of the season, he gained enough confidence to dribble the ball down the court for layups.  He made 2 baskets in each of the last two games.  So he finished strong.

I am going to miss all those Saturday basketball games, but I will not miss all the weeknight practices, especially now with Mario leaving for a couple months.