Fun with Math & Science

MATH IN A FLASH: Right out of the gate this morning I decided that we needed to make sure to do some math and science today (our week has been arts and language arts heavy).

I found a box of addition flashcards in a closet and we headed upstairs. I asked the kids to each get 20 cards and to stand a few paces apart and take turns quizzing each other. We don't do that very often, so it's novel and fun for them when we do.

They each did really well (it was mostly 2-digit numbers plus 1-digit numbers). Their only real frustration came with the fact that they weren't able to stump each other.

We did catch CJ cheating once, early into the exercise. ... The backs of the cards have the answers on them and once for 9+6, he immediately gave an answer of 51. Hmph. Where do you suppose THAT came from?

Next, I found some worksheets with a mixture of addition and subtraction (mostly 2-digit numbers). When the kids needed a little more room to compute than their worksheet allowed, they used the white board.There were also a few story problems. ("If you have 15 apples and take some away and then there are 9 left, how many were taken away?" - that kind of thing.) I showed the kids how to write a solve for "x" equation, plugging in the factors you know and working with the info you're given to figure out the missing number.

CONSUMER INQUIRY: Last night after lights out, CJ called out from his bedroom, "Is the Nintendo phone number open now?"

We asked him why he wanted to know and he said that he wanted to find out if and when they were going to release a Super Mario Galaxy 3.

I told him we'd try to contact them in the morning to find out.

This a.m., though his first inclination was to call Nintendo, I couldn't readily find an 800 customer service number, but we did find a spot on their Web site where you could send a written message regarding general Nintendo-related questions. Naturally, I made CJ fill out the form.

Imagine his delight when we heard back within 2 hours. The Nintendo rep wrote:

Hi, thank you for contacting us.

At this time, Super Mario Galaxy 3 has not been announced. If or when we do make an official announcement about this title, we will share all the exciting details on our website (www.nintendo.com). In the meantime, keep checking the "What's New" section on our website for all announcements and postings on new games.

Sincerely,

Barbara Soules
Nintendo of America Inc.

Granted, it wasn't the answer he wanted, but it was gratifying to get a response back, and it definitely helped reinforce the concept that "it doesn't hurt to ask."

STARRY, STARRY NIGHT: Though we live less than 10 minutes away and have been members for two years now, until today we'd yet to go to a show in the Pacific Science Center planetarium. I checked the schedule and saw that there was a 2 p.m. session for "Sky Tonight" which is a tour of the night sky over Seattle.
I was surprised when we walked into the planetarium - it was much smaller than I imagined it would be (about the size of a big living room), and a circle of couches lined the walls. Parked in the middle of the room was a computer/control board and a bunch of expensive looking projecting equipment. There were maybe 30 of us in the room.

The first shot overhead was of a pinkish greyish sky filling the rotunda/ceiling, and the Seattle skyline was a 360-degree band around its bottom. I think I could see two stars. It was disappointing. Which, of course, was the point - that light pollution from the city knocks out most of the starlight.

Eventually we were transported to the hinterlands, and about 1600 stars became visible (that's the number the projection unit pictured above has the capacity to show). The narrator explained how to orient ourselves to north, south, east and west, and then she began identifying constellations. One of the first things she told us is the Big Dipper is not a constellation. You can imagine the gasps/shrieks of horror at that.

We were shown Ursa Major and Minor (a mother and son) and the narrator shared the Greek mythology regarding how they came to live in the sky. We found the North Star (Polaris), Orion, and a few other constellations.

The show was 40 minutes long. I could have done with half as much talk and twice as much tech. (Not until the last like 2 minutes did the narrator show that she could rotate the projector and show us what it looks like in the other hemisphere, or what stars we could see overhead during the day if the sun wasn't blazing up the sky.)

That, and you know, when you buy ticket, it says not recommended for children under 6. But what it MEANS is that it's for kids who know how to sit still, who know when not to interrupt/interject/blather, and kids who can go 40 minutes without playing with an electronic device. There were probably a dozen kids in the theater (Annabelle and CJ were the youngest) and I'd say eight of them were a nuisance.

That said, I should note that really I fault their parents (who were with them). For chrissake, people, can't you get your kids to sit and be polite for 40 minutes? If you can't, don't come into the planetarium.

The narrator was quite obviously annoyed. A couple of times she just quit talking, waiting for a kid to be quiet, and once she actually had to tell a kid to put his phone or whatever away, because the parent didn't/wouldn't. Sigh.

SPIROGRAPH ON STEROIDS: Today the Pacific Science Center was a ghost town. The crush of summer tourists has gone, and it's too early in the school year for the flood of field trip students. CJ, Annabelle and I practically had the place to ourselves. This allowed us to do something Annabelle has been wanting do do for months, but the line has always been too long. Today we would finally use the Harmonograph station to create a work of art.

The geniuses at Wikipedia tell me that a harmonograph is "a mechanical apparatus that employs pendulums to create a geometric image."

Annabelle paid $2 at the information desk for a big sheet of poster cardstock. We were given four markers to use. The station is like a tabletop suspended by four chains. You clamp your posterboard down to the plateau, and then swing the tabletop in the direction(s) of your liking, and drop a pen down in the fixed pen holder in the middle of the contraption.

By doing so, the kids, via the harmonograph, produced ovals of varying shapes and sizes. They were very proud of their final product.
STORM ON THE HORIZON: This morning, a flag was hoisted atop the Space Needle. Annabelle noticed it as we were walking up to the Pacific Science Center. It was the flag for the Seattle Storm - the Women's National Basketball Association team. They are playing in the WNBA finals starting this Sunday. I've been sporadically monitoring their record all season and post season, and the night I found out they won a spot in the finals, I said to Christian that I thought we should buy tickets. We go to lots and lots of sporting events and we're always watching men play. I think it would be good for the kids, especially, to see that there are women professional athletes.

So Tuesday night we'll be at Key Arena watching the Storm take on the Atlanta Dream. I'm really looking forward to it!

FUNNY NUMBERS: A joke, from Annabelle

Q: What did Zero say to Eight?
A: Nice belt!

SPRING FEVER: While we were enjoying dinner @ our favorite dive, Hattie's Hat, at one point Rick said to CJ, "You sound like the spring." Naturally, we had to ask what he was talking about. Rick explained that it was a spring character in one of the short educational films featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) several years ago. Rick, Kennedy and I used to watch MST3K all the time and I remembered the short right away.

So, when we got home, the kids got a lesson in all the things springs are used in like pocket watches and rotary telephones and, oh wait, those things mean nothing to them. Well, there are still springs in car seats and furniture and there's still spring action in golf clubs, so that they got.

The educational film was awful and annoying and unwatchable as is, which is why the folks with MST3K took it and made it their own. If you are just bored or curious enough that you choose to watch this, I warn you, it's 8 minutes (or so) of your life you'll never get back.

Company's Coming

SOCIAL HOUR: This morning much of MPA's activity was about getting things in order for a visit for a friend's visit. The kids' yoga buddy and her mother were coming for a visit. It's the first time they've been to the MPA campus.

We cleaned (some of us more than others). Case in point: I told the kids to pick up the train tracks and they wound up having a protracted play session with them. Oh well. ... Meanwhile, I was so frantically cleaning that I broke my Swiffer sweeper. Drat!

We baked a big batch of sugar cookies so we could do some cookie painting. We made big leaves since fall is coming, and a herd of tiny horses, as ponies are a favorite of their friend.

While the kids visited and had some pizza for lunch, I whipped up a big batch of paint (powdered sugar, meringue powder and water). I let the kids mix colors (red, orange, pink, brown, yellow, green) and we left some white. I demonstrated how you could blob colors on and then use a fork, spoon and toothpick to swirl the colors about, but told them there are really no rule and there's certainly not just one right way to do it.

Annabelle and her friend sat and painted cookies for about an hour, I'd guess. They were meticulous and adventurous in their confectionery creations. The friend did a neat series of marbled looking horses (left).

CJ came and sat at the counter and was polite and engaging, but really not to into painting cookies. I gave him a horse and a leaf to do, and when I looked over a couple seconds later, he was eating the horse, not even bothering to ice it. :0 We had a good laugh over that.

He did rally and paint a leaf or two.

After the cookie , we walked up to Bayview Park and the three kids played together for about a half hour.

SCIENCE GONE WRONG: This morning, we read one of the library books we checked out yesterday: "Oh No (Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World)."
Before we even cracked the cover, I asked the kids to speculate what was going to happen based on what they could see on the book's front. They both noticed the reflection in the girl's glasses of what appeared to be a giant frog or toad and a large robot with a read laser beam eye. Both spelled trouble in the kids' minds.

Sure enough, once we opened the book, we learned the girl on the cover was being awarded a first place ribbon for her robotic science project when all hell broke loose. The robot went on a rampage. At that, the girl realized she'd made a few terrible mistakes (giving it a laser eye, powerful claw hand and the power to control dogs' minds), yet not giving the ability to hear or read (which means her verbal and written commands to cease and desist went unheeded) or feel pain (smacking it around didn't help either).

Creating a counteractive giant attack toad solved the robot problem, but ...

Well you figure out the rest.

The book was short on words but big on action. It was a quick, fun read. And published by Disney, I can't help but wonder if someone, somewhere has a movie in mind.

HISTORY LESSON: Today in our mailbox we found a packaged shipped by a faraway Goodwill store. Inside was a piece of gaming history that CJ has been wanting to acquire for a few weeks now. It was the game "ToeJam & Earl." It debuted in 1991 (12 years before CJ was born) for the Sega system. The title characters are alien rappers from the planet Funkatron who have crash-landed on Earth.

I remember when it came out it was quite a revolution due to its originality, funky soundtrack, sense of humor and the unique two-player cooperative mode. Also, as the aliens search Earth for pieces of their wrecked spacecraft, the game uses the random generation of levels and items to keep things interesting.

No doubt now you all understand why CJ HAD to add it to his collection.

ROLLIN', ROLLIN', ROLLIN': Naturally, we're still following news from NASA and right now, and much of it is about gearing up for the next shuttle launch. An update about the space shuttle Discovery making its way from its processing hangar to the enormous Vehicle Assembly Building was in this morning's news.

Today's photo from NASA of Discovery's rollout caught my eye because of the 22° halo around the sun - something we learned about last week.
Image Credit: Jen Scheer/NASA

IF YOU ARE SO INCLINED: There's an interesting story in the New York Times about effective study styles. It's titled, "Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits."
An excerpt:

(I)nstead of sticking to one study location, simply alternating the room where a person studies improves retention. So does studying distinct but related skills or concepts in one sitting, rather than focusing intensely on a single thing.

“We have known these principles for some time, and it’s intriguing that schools don’t pick them up, or that people don’t learn them by trial and error,” said Robert A. Bjork, a psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Instead, we walk around with all sorts of unexamined beliefs about what works that are mistaken.”

There's more here.


TWICE IS NICE: Our school day wound down with some more P.E. We ran/rode the boulevard along the southwest portion of Queen Anne Hill. It's always gorgeous along that route and our turnaround point is Kerry Park, which has a playground the kids love.


CJ's favorite feature there is a curvy, upright pipe that spins. Apparently it reminds CJ of the building blocks of life because he yelled, "Watch me spin DNA!" and then started twirling it with a vengeance.


As we were leaving I told the kids, "A two park day is a good day."

Not Back to School Day

RELOCATION: First thing this morning Annabelle was jonesing to get to Photoshopping. She was going to just mess around with painting and cloning, but I suggested she expand her repertoire today. I instructed CJ and Annabelle to fetch a toy of their choice from their room. Bee chose her new bumble bee Pillow Pet. CJ chose fireball Mario.

I had the kids take a picture of their toys, and then showed them how to download a photo from the camera and save it on the computer. Then we opened them in Photoshop. The kids used the magic wand and the eraser to knock the background out, isolating each of their toys.

Then, I asked them to use their imaginations and think about a background they'd like to put their toy into. Annabelle immediately said something about flowers, so we went to Morguefile (where I park a lot of my photos for sharing). After looking at a few dozen possibilities, she chose the one above. She dragged the bee onto the flower photo, did a little bit of touching up and was thrilled with the outcome. It really brought her toy to life!

CJ struggled with the idea of having his Mario toy be somewhere he shouldn't be (for lack of a better way to describe it). He kept coming up with ideas of things we could take straight up no-Photoshop-needed photos of. To help him along, I suggested that perhaps he could think of some place here in Seattle he could "place" Mario. That really didn't help much, so I urged him to think of places in Seattle he's visited. No surprise the Seattle Pinball Museum popped into his head - we were just there yesterday. So I showed him all of the photos we had from yesterday and, interestingly, he chose one of the candy machine instead of a vintage pinball machine. And so we took a 4-inch Mario plus and blew him up, so to speak. CJ parked him in front of the machine (where Annabelle was standing in the original picture) and then he noticed that he needed to make Annabelle's leg disappear. And so he did.

BOFFO BOOK: Mungo and the Spiders from Space. It's a story within a story. It starts out with a mother reading a book they bought at a garage sale to her young son Mungo. The book "Galacticus and Gizmo Save the Universe!" was a page turner - until they got to the cliffhanger and found the used book was missing its last page. The horror!

The mother suggested that her disappointed son try to think up his own ending, and that's just what Mungo did.

The imaginative boy became a pivotal character in saving the universe from the evil Dr. Frankenstinker.

The illustrations were colorful and the layout comic book inspired. The kids both loved the book and so did I. Six thumbs up from us!

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER POEM: Yesterday we explored shape poems; today I thought it would make sense to try our hands at another kind of poem. We again turned to a ReadWriteThink interactive to accomplish this.

Today's topic was Diamante poems. A diamante poem is a poem with words in the shape of a diamond. It doesn't have to rhyme, but each line has specific parameters. For instance, it starts with the topic alone on the first line, the second line is two adjectives, the third line is three -ing words, the fourth line is four nouns, the fifth line is three -ing words, the sixth line is two more adjectives and the last line is the topic. The poem can all be about the same thing (a synonym diamante poem) or about two different things (an antonym diamante poem). Today, the kids both did a synonym version.

About Video Games by CJ
Video Games
8-bit, 16-bit
Gaming, jumping, controlling
Technology, NES, Sega Genesis, SNES
Playing, programming, timing
32-bit, 64-bit
Video games

My Family by Bee Bee Kisky
Family
Lucky, happy
Playing, loving, gathering
Mom, Dad, CJ, Me
Blogging, working, walking
Playful, nice
Family

TRIBOLOGY: For today's science lesson, we viewed "Friction" a title in The Science of Disney Imagineering series. One of Disney's "Imagineers" talked about and demonstrated how different types of friction (static, kinetic and rolling) come into play designing theme park rides and attractions (think rollercoaster wheels, cruise ship shapes, and so on). We learned lots, including that the study of friciton is called tribology.

The video looked up-to-the minute and it was well produced (would you expect anything less from Disney?). And yes, of course, parts of it looked like an ad for Disney's theme parks or cruise line, but it wasn't too awful in that regard. (Plus, it was kind of fun for the kids to spot places in Walt Disney World that they were familiar with having visited there in May.)

The DVD's bonus features included a couple of friction experiments (that required materials we didn't have, unfortunately), and a 15-question quiz (the kids got 13 right - not bad considering the video is labeled for kids in grades 5-8!).

By sticking the DVD in my computer, I was able to read a 5-page Educator Resource guide, and see some links to further learning options on the Internet. One was to a "Fear of "Physics" Web site, which was a great find. They have a page about friction where the kids were able to plug in different data points regarding a vehicle, speed, road conditions and braking point to create different scenarios.

Naturally, the kids were all about going fast and causing crashes. For instance, we learned a scooter going 100 mph on an icy road that brakes 100 feet ahead of traffic jam is still going 97.5 MPH when it hits that traffic. (The same scooter on a dry road at that speed and braking point still crashes, but at least they're "only" going 24.75 MPH at the time.)

We played around with lots of different data. I think only once were we able to stop in time. (To me, the biggest lesson learned was you need a LOT more stopping room than you think.)

The DVD also recommended another great resource - The Thinking Fountain by the Science Museum of Minnesota. They have a page on friction that we hope to check out in depth soon.

BACK TO THE STACKS: Finally, Seattle Public Libraries are back open after a cost cutting days-long closure. We made up for lost time by bringing home a huge stack from the lovely Queen Anne branch, where we found three more Disney Imagineering videos (hooray!), a bunch of other DVDs, and even a few books. The Queen Anne library has so much beautiful old wood paneling and leaded glass all around. Here's just a small part of the children's section.

BACK ON TRACK: During some free play time today, the kids did something they rarely do any more - they played with their wooden trains and tracks (CJ's favorite toys when he was about 2). It was fun to listen to their banter.

Games Galore

A.M. ART: Recently on the Seattle Homeschool Group email list, there has been a discussion about curriculum for art instruction. I've been following it, as I'm always looking for positive reviews from other people regarding resources.

This morning, one SHGer posted a link to a blog "ART with Mrs. Smith." Mrs. Smith graciously shares art projects she does with her class with the whole world. Often, her lessons are based on ideas she's culled elsewhere - in other words, she's hunting down the leads and trying them out, saving me all that time. I love that. :)

From Mrs. Smith's blog, I found out about "The Art of Silliness." It's billed as an online class, featuring 25 "activity sheets for adults." However, it looks like people of all ages could do it - and you know how CJ loves silly! Accord to the class creator, "Each day I will create an Activity Sheet just for you. Worksheets may include one (or more) of the following: drawing exercises (can’t draw? YES YOU CAN!), journaling prompts, a poem to illustrate, writing exercises, spelling words, drawing games, collage prompts, puzzles… (just to name a few). FUN!"

I'm tempted to sign up. Of course it costs money (I was laying in bed this morning trying to total up the cost of our a la carte approach to education and the monthly cost of music, yoga, ballet, museum memberships and so on and was a bit paled by the total). This worksheet class is "only" $25, and maybe after we did one session, I could generate some similar worksheets/ideas to do with the kids. Maybe.

I also found a BUNCH of other online art resources - including KinderArt. There are so many ideas, it's positively overwhelming.

For today's artwork, we ended up borrowing Mrs. Smith's "stacked shapes" lesson. The kids were to pick two shapes and then draw this in an A-B pattern in a stack (the stack didn't have to be straight up, and the shaped didn't have to be all the same size). CJ chose circles and triangles; Bee chose hearts and stars. They drew those in pencil, and then drew a small circle in the middle of each shape. Then they traced their pencil with black ballpoint pen, and added shading on half of the middle circle and the opposite half of the stacked shapes. They colored the shapes and then added some art to the background. CJ added colored Ms and Ls (for Mario and Luigi of Nintendo fame). Annabelle decided on something a bit more complicated - multiple unicorns. I think she was regretting her choice by the time she started her third unicorn. "I'm not a professional at unicorns," she sighed.

FILL 'ER UP: The kids got their fill of fresh air today by helping us fill the 100 foot trench in our yard (hey, at least we didn't make them help DIG the trench). Bee raked dirt back into place and CJ paced along the trench, compacting it.
We joked that if he sank far enough, he'd be in China or thereabouts - maybe Mongolia instead of Magnolia. He got a kick out of that, although he voiced concern that he doesn't speak Chinese. (Tonight, I learned that the official language of Mongolia is Khalkha Mongolian. CJ doesn't speak that, either.)

MY KIND OF MUSEUM: Oh so tired of digging and filling ditches for the past 4.75 days, late this afternoon I told Christian it was time for us to go do something fun. The "something" I had in mind was visiting the just days old Seattle Pinball Museum (SPM).
I'd read about the museum in the Seattle Times. The exhibit is the pet project of Charlie and Cindy Martin of Federal Way, and it was made possible by Storefronts Seattle, which is a community-driven initiative to revitalize empty retail spaces in the International District and Pioneer Square. Under the program SPM has three months of rent free residency. I heard one of the proprietors telling a guest today they hope there's enough interest in the enterprise to let them stick around beyond that time frame.

Admission to the museum is $5, and that buys you unlimited play on any of the machines. As of today, SPM has 16 vintage pinball machines on display, as well as three pachinko machines. We played them all!

The oldest pinball machine there "Bumper," a rare, wooden machine with art deco styling giving a clue as to its age (1936). There are no flippers - to play you have to shake the table to move the ball and try to get it to bump off coils. The game's so old, it takes a nickel, rather than a quarter, to play.

Next up were a couple of machines from the 1960s, including Rack a Ball with its bowling theme. The '70s machines were great. CJ loved playing Time Zone by Bally (1973).

I just loved looking at the Harlem Globetrotters' machine! Oh-so-70s!

And of course the Flash Gordon machine based on the wonderfully awful movie from the early 1980s was absolutely captivating - though the game itself was just as merciless as Ming.
Other nice touches at SPM - they had a vintage (70s era) jukebox, an old Coke machine and this candy vending machine that is SUCH a throwback to my childhood.

After getting our fill of flippers, we headed over to Uwajimaya, an enormous Asian market, just a couple of blocks away. Wandering aisle after aisle of things labeled in symbols that meant nothing to me, it was like being transported to a different place. I'd like to do a full on field trip there some day.

MUSIC MAJOR: This afternoon, out of nowhere, CJ asked me, "What's a G major?"

The quick and easy answer was, "It's a music chord." And so I told him that - but I didn't want to leave it at that. I wanted to explain what a chord is (combining individual notes and playing them together), and show him how you make a G major. Bless the Internet - it was easy to do so when I found a Web site, Hobby Hour, that shows how guitar chords are formed, and you can even 'strum' the individual notes in the chord and then the chord in its entirety. So, so awesome. After playing a few versions of G major, I told the kids about G minor and told them that often minor chords sound "Halloweeny." CJ dug the minor chords.

PC POETS: Thanks to a Facebook post informing that tomorrow is International Literacy Day, I was reminded about the ReadWriteThink Web site. There's a gold mine there for educators and learners. I settled on an interactive Shape Poem activity for the kids. The exercise explained that a shape poem is a poem that describes an object and is written in the shape of that object.

First, the kids each got to choose a category of poem to write about (school, sports, nature or celebrations). Then they had to choose a shape within that category. Annabelle chose sports and a soccer ball. CJ chose celebrations and a balloon. Then they each had to generate 8 words or phrases that remind them of that shape, and finally they were ready to construct their poems.

Soccer by Bee Bee Kisky

I like soccer

I use my foot

I play on a field

oh soccer

Ballons by CJ

I love balloons

They are so colorful

They remind me of cake

They remind me of parties

CJ CHIMES IN: This morning, CJ insisted I come in his bedroom and take a look at the computer. Upon doing so, I saw on the screen a picture of a game within a game. Specifically, CJ was watching a YouTube video which showed that in one part of a Super NES game called "Super Mario World" there is a Gameboy sitting on a small plateau.

CJ thought that this news was something blog readers would most certainly be interested in and asked me to post it. So I did. :)

Laborious Weekend

Photo from City of Seattle; Hammering Man was designed by American artist Jonathan Borofsk

WORK, WORK, WORK: Right after breakfast I informed the kids it was Labor Day. I asked them if they'd heard of it before. They both answered in the affirmative, so I asked them what "Labor Day" means.

"You have to work hard?" CJ ventured a guess.

"That's why you're working on the yard. It's LABOR day. Get it? Get it? It's a joke!" Annabelle declared, cracking herself up. (ed. note - more on that yard work later)

Here in Seattle, you can't think about Labor Day without thinking about Hammering Man. Since 1992, he has "lived" on First Avenue at University Street, at the entrance to the Seattle Art Museum, and we pass him every so often. The 48-foot, hollow-fabricated steel man hammers from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, with one exception. That's right, he gets Labor Day off. A holiday well earned, I'd say.

Learning about Labor Day's history seemed an obvious choice. We turned to the History Channel's Web site. There we found a video about the History of Labor Day.

We talked a bit about what a union is and why they can be effective (strength in numbers). We also talked a bit about strikes and Annabelle summed it what they are up by saying, "A strike is a huge group of people marching, declaring, 'We want better rules' and they give their reasons why.' " Not a bad definition of a strike for a 5 year old, I figure.

I thought showing the kids a History Channel video about child labor laws would be an eye opener, and it was. We learned that not too terribly long ago in this country, children were "hired" (forced into work, really) because there were no laws protecting them and they could be paid less than adults. The kids were aghast at that. "I would NOT want to work in a factory," CJ said wide eyed. Unions were instrumental in getting legislation passed to end child labor in our country. I told the kids children in some other countries are not as fortunate.

Next, we hopped over to BrainPop, which featured a video about Mexican American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez. The kids watched that and took a quiz afterward. We also read a library book "Cesar E. Chavez," part of an "Equal Rights Leaders" series.

In order to get some writing in, I asked the kids to write (and finish) "I might like to work as ... because ..."

Annabelle wrote, "I might like to work as a ballet teacher because I am good at ballet." CJ wrote, "I might like to work as a game maker because I like programming."

WATER WOES: While Labor Day means a long, lazy weekend for some, on the MPA campus it meant a terrible, awful no good time digging over 100 feet of 2-foot deep trench in order to install a new main water line. It sprung a leak last winter and while that patch has held, we knew we were on borrowed time. Another winter's a comin' and we wanted to get the new line in before the rains came.

When CJ came up and saw the trench on Sunday morning, he said, "Oh my God! It looks like an earthquake!" (I'm guessing he was thinking it looked like a fault line.) This line-in-trench photo shows just a portion of it. The line stretched another 60 plus feet beyond, down the hill (you can see it in the photo of Annabelle, over her shoulder).

So the kids spent a large part of their Saturday, Sunday and Monday outside playing alongside their parents,who were in the throes of plumbing woes. Hopefully they're learning something about home improvement by osmosis. ... The good news is, as of 8:22 p.m. tonight, the line is in, and it appears to be watertight. Tomorrow, we cover trenches.

EYES ON THE SKIES: Late this afternoon I had to pick Rick up at the airport. He left Chicago at 3:29 p.m. and winged his way toward Seattle.

Using the Alaska Air Web site, we were able to track his travels across the northern U.S.

We saw that he crossed Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana and Idaho before arriving over the Evergreen State. It was a good mini geography lesson for the kids.

When Rick was over central Montana, just a little after 4 p.m., he was at 37,000 feet- wow! I asked the kids if they thought Rick could see us if we waved at him. They both said, "No way!"

We continued to watch his flight westward. Soon enough he was in Idaho. And then at the Washington-Idaho border, and then in Eastern Washington and then over the Cascade Mountains and before you know it, we watched his flight's altitude go lower, which let us know the plane was descending.When we saw his plane's nose heading down toward Seattle, we knew it was time for me to leave for the airport. Once there, I waited in the cell lot and exchanged text messages with Rick regarding his exact whereabouts outside the terminal for pickup.

Honestly, all this led me to wonder, how did people ever retrieve someone from the airport before there was the Internet (to monitor the flight status), "everyone" had cell phones, and text messaging?! ;)

SHE LOVES TO 'SHOP: This morning Annabelle asked if she could do some more Photoshopping. The answer was, of course, "Of course!"

She said she wanted to alter a scene from a game called Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga. Interesting choice. ... So we found an image online, and then Annabelle got to work.

She recalled full well how to do color sampling, use the paintbrush, use liquify, the magnetic lasso and clone stamp, how to save her work and how to go backward a few steps.

Today, I taught her how to zoom in and out of a picture (so she could be more fine with her work), how to change the size of a brush and a stamp, how to make a custom color, how to change the opacity of a color or stamp, and how to use the history function to go back to various states of the creation. Together we discovered how to use the pattern maker tool. Neat-o!

In the end, she came up with this ...

I'm sure you will agree it is a fine piece of art. :)

Annabelle would like to draw your attention to the fact that she used three different shades of green on Luigi's hat, and the five different elements that went in to each of the orbs the monster is throwing at the Mario Bros.

CLASSIC LITERATURE: A story briefly on the front page of Yahoo! today caught my eye. "Motion Controllers (for video games) that Didn't Work." I knew CJ would be interested. When I read the headline, he came running. :)

We read the article together and discussed the pros and cons of each of the examples given. I asked the kids what they took away from the story.

Annabelle said, "Sometimes you can make things that suck and don't work."

Well said.

CJ's take away was, "There were controllers that didn't work, there were two gloves one for the Nintendo Entertainment System and the other was for Playstation." Despite the fact that both got such horrible reviews, "I'm going to have both of those gloves," declared CJ, the classic game aficionado.