Our Waning Summer

LAST GASPS: Summer 2016 is going out in glorious fashion. We had bright sunshine and blue skies from sunrise to sunset tonight.

We knocked out a long list of chores this morning and early afternoon, and then mid-afternoon we went on a drive to south of Seattle. Specifically, Des Moines (and we're not sure how that's pronounced locally).

They have a lovely waterfront park. We walked out the l-o-n-g pier and the kids saw hundreds of small fish as they peered into the water.  This was the view from the pier, looking back toward the waterfront community.

Summer of 2016 went too fast, so we're going to try to enjoy every remaining moment while we can.

CJ APPLESEED: Judging by the number of apples on neighbors' trees this season, this is a banner year for Seattle apples. 

This evening, we ventured out to "CJ's Tree" on our lot to harvest some fruit. We'd been viewing them from afar all summer, marveling at the number and size of the apples on the not huge tree.

However, when it came pickin' time, as we approached the tree, we saw that all of its apples were super bumpy. There and then, I predicted to CJ that many, many worms had been enjoying his tree all summer long.

And then sure 'nuff, when he cut into them, well, let's just say they're not Grade A in appearance.

 In fact, we found many a tunnel from many a hungry critter.

Disappointing, but that's nature. We talked about ways to combat that in the future, and saved some seeds from the apples for future trees!

MATHS: At the end of last week, after a (too long) hiatus, we returned to the official math book someone CJ and Annabelle's ages should be using if you're doing things by the book.

The problem was, the problems. They were so poorly written. So convoluted. And the answer book was abysmal. It had the numerical answers - with ZERO explanation of how or why the answers were correct. In fact, they didn't even label the answers in units at all, which made them automatically incorrect in many instances, at least in my book.

I want the kids to a) understand and b) enjoy math, so I think we're done with that curriculum.

Until we find a better and different path forward, we'll be relying on Khan Academy to get us through.

Today we learned a bit about the origins of algebra. Part of the presentation referenced "A
Compendious on Calculation by Completion and Balancing," by Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and geographer who lived from 780 to 850. 

Al-Khwārizmī's text presented the first systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations in Arabic. He's considered the father of algebra. In fact, the word "Algebra" is derived from al-jabr, one of the two operations he used to solve quadratic equations.

https://youtu.be/_LDR1_Prveo

SUNSHINE: The kids started a new weekly guitar lesson last Friday. It's a group lesson. Right now, CeeJ and Bee make up half the group, so it's not too unwieldy. :)

The first song they started playing together was "Sunshine of my Love." Not a bad start!
https://youtu.be/zt51rITH3EA