Back at It

Especially for our readers in Canada: The docked space shuttle Discovery and the Canadian-built Dextre, also known as the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator, are featured in this photograph taken by the STS-133 crew aboard the station. The blackness of space and Earth's horizon provide the backdrop for the scene. Image Credit: NASA

SPACEWALKERS: Once again today, the actions of the astronauts flashed on our television all day. While we certainly weren't sitting on the couch watching their every move, it did have our attention at certain times - one being when astronaut Steve Bowen became stranded for a bit when a robotic system shutdown left him stuck with a 5-by-4-foot, 800-pound pump in his hands for nearly a half-hour (bet he was glad for the weightlessness in space at the time). Bowen was perched on a tiny platform at the end of the 58-foot robotic arm which is used to carry spacewalking astronauts around. The problem started when the work station controlling the robot arm shut down. The astronauts on the ISS were able to get the arm moving again by using another workstation - and a whole bunch of manuals, notes and other computers.

DIVIDED HOUSE: Our math books finally introduced some division today - hooray! The kids were getting super tired of all the x 2, x 3 stuff. When I saw the first division problems, I grabbed the white board and told the kids I was going to show them what has to be the most obvious/used example in the book. I drew a circle and they both declared, "A pizza!"

And so we spent a few minutes dividing the pizza into slices. For the most part, the division went swimmingly. Annabelle missed just one problem out of 20. She quickly corrected it when I pointed out the mistake. CJ missed three.
"Well Mom, I'm not the smartest person in the world," he offered up as an excuse.

I assured him that he wouldn't have to the smartest person in the world to find the correct solution.

"I'm not going to fix them," he insisted. A couple of times. At that point it became clear that he was having a case of Monday Mind Melt.

At that, I told him I hoped he had enjoyed his time with his computer, because those days were over. Within seconds, he fixed the problems. :)

INTERPRETRESS: After lunch, we worked on the Lewis & Clark packets from EdHelper.com. Today's topic: "Sacagawea." The kids took turns reading the article aloud about Sacagawea's childhood, how she was kidnapped from her Shoshone tribe (in Idaho) at 12 and taken to Hidatsa land (east of the Rockies), and how she was somehow transferred to a French Canadian fur trader Toussaint Charbonneau just a couple of years later. Charbonneau and a pregnant Sacagawea joined the Corps of Discovery when she was 15. By all accounts, she seems to have been vital to their success reaching the Pacific Ocean.

There were some comprehension questions afterward, which - despite the fact we've read and watched a substantial amount about the topic now - stymied CJ, whose brain was still in weekend mode. It was like he'd never heard of Sacagawea before. :/

So, we watched another video about her, "The Journey of Sacagawea." I accessed it through Seattle Public Library's Web site, but later discovered people without an SPL card can view it via the Idaho Public Broadcasting System's site. (Idaho PBS produced the documentary.)

The show was well done, with and insightful experts' commentary. (From the 'it's a small world' file, I actually recognized one of them - Barbara Kubik. She and I were both Skyview High School band parents back in the early '00s.)

From the video, we learned more statues, rivers and lakes bear her name than any other North American woman. Strong and intelligent, she is an inspiration not just for women, but also for teenagers. She accomplished her amazing Corps of Discovery feats while just 15-16 years old!

I was going to pepper the kids with questions after the video, to make sure they were paying attention, but occurred to me that I should have them ask each other questions - that way they could demonstrate some knowledge about the topic in the formulation of the question, too.

They were all over that idea and turned it into a face off of sorts. I think they were both winners. :)WEEKEND REWIND: We made another trip down Interstate 5 this weekend for some family fun. Nonnie and Bops were in town for a bridge tournament at the Hilton and invited us to stay there Saturday night, too. It was great to see them, and the kids really enjoyed the novelty of staying in a hotel. (Annabelle was fascinated by the two land line phones in the room. She lives in a cell phone only family.) They loved riding the elevator and, of course, the swimming pool! The motel has nice views of the historic (translation - needs to be replaced) Interstate Bridge, the Columbia River and Esther Short Park. This clocktower in the park features bells and a glockenspiel that play several times a day. Around its lower section there is a three scene diorama depicting a Chinook tribal legend.

Saturday evening, the kids got to see a couple of their cousins in Portland, and Sunday morning we all got together for breakfast at Grandma & Grandpa's home in Vancouver. Good times!

On the way home Sunday, CJ noticed brown and white Lewis & Clark signs along Interstate 5 between Salmon Creek and Kelso. We explained that was because the explorers had traveled the waterway to our immediate west on their way to the Pacific. There are dozens if not hundreds of similar signs marking the Lewis & Clark byway.