Disneyland Redux 2

Mikey has on-and-off been interested in our car GPS units. I have a Garmin device - I think a C650 - and it is small and will operate on battery power. Hubby's GPS is really old; it's a larger model and not terribly portable. Recently, Mikey has been staring intently at street names - or something - while we drive.

Last Saturday, as we got ready to go back to Mama's house, Mikey asked, "May I have GPS, please?" so I got mine out of my truck and let him hold it on the way home.

He did push buttons; we could hear them - they beep. Then the GPS unit said, "Turn right on Heather Street."

Now, the GPS gives directions only when a destination has been programmed, of course. And we needed to turn left. It took a moment to realize that Mikey must have pushed the "Go Home" button. So I told him, "Mikey, 'Home' on the GPS is Grandma's house."

I took the GPS from him and programmed it to go to HIS house. I also told him we would not be following the instructions exactly. As we approached intersections where I knew the GPS would give different directions, or if it did give different directions, I would reassure Mikey by saying something like, "We are going straight here" or something equivalent to explain our variance from the proscribed path.

We soon got close enough to "Mama's house" that the directions were accurate. However, as we approached one particular street, the GPS said, "Turn right on B---- street."

Hubby asked, "Why is it asking us to do that?"

I responded that it sometimes directs us around and in from the other side. He said, "Yes, but we would need to turn LEFT to do that."

We were stopped at a light, so hubby took the GPS and looked at the instructions - Mikey had managed to find a set of directions to Disneyland!! and executed them. We guess he thought if he programmed the GPS, the car would go there ...

Feb. 7

It has been raining for a couple of days, and the yard was really soaked. The boys came over, as usual, of course. We had tomato soup and toasted cheese sandwiches, and the boys got goldfish in their soup. [The crackers; not real fish ;0]

Disneyland Redux

We were surprised last week that Mikey did not ask to go back to Disneyland. No worries - or maybe many worries - this past week, he said, "May I have Disneyland, please??"

We told him, "No," of course; even if we were to get him a "Southern California" pass, weekends are blacked out for most of the year. Also, I don't think we could take both boys at the same time; they like totally different things.

David, who, for a long time, said he did not want to go to Disneyland (an assortment of fears), has now decided that he wants to go as well. So I'll pick out a time for him. I can take him on my own and we won't get a "Guest Assistance" pass.

Aquarium

We are also members of the Aquarium of the Pacific, which is in Long Beach. The boys have loved going there. Our favorite times are "Member Nights" which *used* to occur the first Tuesday of every month. On those nights, the Aquarium would open at 6 pm for 3 hours for "members only."

Before I retired, I worked practically next door to the Aquarium. Mom would bring the boys around 5 pm and we'd go to Tequila Jack's for their Tuesday special: $1 tacos and half-priced margaritas. (Only Mom and I had margaritas.)

Then we'd go to the Aquarium and have it pretty much to ourselves. The boys were better able to concentrate on the exhibits without the distraction of the crowds.

Mikey was always pretty much touch-and-go, or just go, for the longest time. Lately, however, he has picked up a "fish finder" (the Aquarium's brochure that lists the items in the exhibits), and has actually spent time looking at the fish etc.

David / Math / Follow Up

At our last session, David said he was going to send me homework. He did!


answer these questions

1. how many bricks are on the great wall of china?

2. what is the ingredient found in Cheese Whiz and Krazy Glue? :-\

3. solve this equation

A. Y = Y(3)
B. 2 (Y /+ /2YX - 9) = 4


4. what accordian player parodied popular rock songs since 1979?


5. were ANY episodes of /THE SIMPSONS /ever rated TV-14-DLSV?

David's Head is Exploding

Since I retired, math tutoring got moved to Tuesday mornings. We still do some reinforcement on weekends if needed, but Tuesday is our Math Day. As I've mentioned in some earlier blogs, the more abstract the concepts get, the more creative the tutor has to get ;-).

Today, we worked on solving linear equations (2x + 7 = 13) and followed it with slightly more complex linear equations [ 2(x+3) = 4x + 10 ]. The first set, he seemed to understand or at least understand how to process. Well, actually, he seems able to get to the answers - they normally come out even - in his head and he can't explain how he got there. When we get to the more complex equations, doing it in his head doesn't work quite so well.

So Grandma breaks down the steps. However, doing steps is not fast. Anything not fast is frustrating.

So today, in the middle of all this, David declared, "My head is exploding!" as he held his head in both hands. No doubt he was in serious angst; as nearly as I could tell, nothing actually fell out of his head.

I do the standard thing - get quieter and calmer - when David gets like this, but press him to continue. The most gratifying this is that, every once in a while, when I force him to take the time to do the steps, he will grasp the concept. I know when it happens, and not just from the look on his face. David will look me square in the eye and say, "Thank you," when he gets something that has taken a while to sink in.

Oops

Once in a while, I make a mistake when we're working together. (It happens, OK??) When we figure out it's wrong, David will accuse me, "You're trying to mess me up!!"

When the lesson is over, I send homework sheets to Mom, with a key, so she can check his answers. This morning, before I went over, I talked to Mom and she said, "David did really well on his homework this time. Oh, and he found an error YOU made." Apparently, I posed a problem in yards and instead of labelling the answer as "square yards" I labelled it as "square feet." Smart kid, huh?

Today, during one of the "frustrated" periods, David added something new: "I'm going to send YOU homework, Grandma!!"

All in all, a good day, I'd say!