we are back to school here after an eventful vacation with wonderful family and friends visiting. i am picking up the r twice a week. and dad is doing once a week. tuesday was the first back after several weeks and some developmental growth has clearly occurred.
r and i were both excited to get in the car on the way home and talk. our conversations always meander and cover many topics. tuesday was no exception; we talked about what is a citizen, life expectancy, the myth of santa claus, friendship, and gender. my favorite part of the conversation was when we were discussing life expectancy. he brought up the fact that we had seen a cross-section of a tree that indicated that the tree was over 500 years old. we talked about human life expectancy. i told him what the average life expectancy is for humans and that women generally live longer. his immediate response was that he wanted to be a woman. i have been teaching the kids that people can choose their gender, that we assign gender in society based on genitals but gender does not have to be determined by these things. his understanding is that there are conventions but ultimately it is his choice. he was quite incensed that we chose for him to be a boy when girls live longer and wondered why anyone would choose to be a man. i continued and explained the difference between gender and sex and how life expectancy was tied to gender, more than sex. we also talked about genital reassignment surgery (as well as other forms of plastic surgery) and why people might manipulate their bodies. it was quite a conversation.
we also discussed the myth of santa claus. that's right. he has informed us that there is no santa claus (based on his observations about the size of the world, number of houses, and possible rate of toy delivery), but that parents play santa claus. he wanted to know why parents did it and we discussed the pleasure of giving. he made a distinction then between santa claus as a person and the spirit of santa claus. he understood that the santa claus is a fictional figure, but decided that the kindness and generosity that are embodied by santa claus are real. not bad for a six year old.
on wednesday, r and i invented a new form of math -- star wars algebra. since i can't always tell what happens in math or school more generally, i like to play math games with the kids and figure out fun ways to play, hence star wars algebra.
it goes something like this:
JEDI + JEDI +3 =13. JEDI = 5.
2x DARTH VADER = 18. DARTH VADER = 9.
LUKE x LUKE = 25. LUKE =5.
We did equations like this for about 30 minutes as we drove home from school. it was delightful. of course, i ended up with questions like DEATH STAR x DEATH STAR = 1 billion. not an easy square root to do you in your head.
so there are good days.
on thursday and friday, k was home. she requested lots of science time. so thursday morning, we played some games and then worked on floating, weights, and density. density and floating are really tough concepts. heavy things sink, right? no not necessarily. huge boats float all the time. it is about density (and surface space). so we tried to think about it. we mixed oil and water. floated various objects. she made good observations, but density is definitely a tough concept for a 4 year old. we also did some connect the dots and reading. she and i had an excellent day interacting. kelly came over to do an obstacle course with her while i had a phone appt and ran an errand. k and i ran to the market and played with a buddy at the indoor playground. we brought home falafel and made dinner. everything went well and by the end of the day when the boys came home, we were all snug and tired. dad and i went to a talk at r's school. it was quite disappointing. while i appreciate the ideas presented, it was just not helpful. i think we are not like the other parents and it surprises me. i don't think of as exceptional but it seemed that everybody else found the talk illuminating, brilliant, and helpful. neither of us found new insight in the talk. and found it sometimes rather difficult to take. perhaps i will return to this again another day.
on friday dad and k did science -- more floating, while i did drop off and attended a meeting. then it was my time with k who had a playdate. she was quite cranky and not so friendly with the other child. it was disappointing that she could not be more generous. our friend was quite gracious, and we all did generally have fun while the kids played with the science color kit, did more obstacle courses, and ate lunch. afterwards, k visited her masee and made cookies while i worked out for the second time in a week! k had a good time making chocolate cookies, playing with the cat, reading books, and visiting the "lipstick" (elliptical machine) in the basement. let me tell you that the word elliptical is far more common than the word lipstick in this house. funny that she could not say elliptical.
a quiet evening at home meant an early bed time for k and some wii for r. hopefully the weekend will bring rest, play, and some house cleaning.
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