Labor Day is often considered the end of summer, but due to global warming, the hot days just keep on coming. Forecasts have us in the 90s next week. This used to be my favorite time of the year weather-wise -- when it's t-shirt and jeans during the day and a light jacket at night -- but that period inches back a little bit more with each passing year, and it lasts a little bit longer. In a few years, we are going to be trick-or-treating in tank tops. My boys will go as cavemen every year, because it will be too hot to wear anything other than a loincloth. It's depressing when good weather makes you feel so bad.
We had a nice holiday weekend, at least. On Saturday, S and Lil' S1 went to the National Book Fair, which they thoroughly enjoyed, and I took Lil' S2 on a "hike" to Rock Creek with a friend and his five-year-old twins. It's probably good to hang out with them once in while without Lil' S1 there, as he tends to just dominate the activities. This way they can do more of the "little kid things" that they probably want to do, but don't do, because Lil' S1 has them doing something else. For instance, after we went to the creek, we went to a playground, and everybody spent almost the entire time on the swings. That likely wouldn't have happened with Lil' S1 there, because he gets bored on the swings, and he would have convinced everybody to do want he wants.
After we got back, we watched The Goonies, which was not my choice. It's a nostalgia-inducing cult classic for people my age, but it's a pretty terrible movie, and it has some problematic parts for little kids. For example, there's a relatively graphic scene in which Chunk is trapped in a freezer with the corpse of a murder victim, and the gag is that the body keeps falling on him. And how do you even explain Sloth to a little kid? Oh, he's just a severely disfigured, intellectually disabled guy who gets imprisoned and tortured by his family because he's different. That's all. Interestingly, however, that wasn't what Lil' S1 was bothered by -- he didn't like how the other kids treated Chunk. At one point he asked me, "Are they mean to Chunk the entire movie?" And I replied, "Yeah, actually, they kinda are." But, he liked the movie, and I learned about Lupe Ontiveros, so overall it was a success, I guess.
The next day, Lil' S2 went to a friend's house and then S took him out to run some errands, so I switched things up and spent most the day alone with Lil' S1. I promised S that I wouldn't just play video games with him the entire time, so we played a long game of Monopoly instead. I like Monopoly, but it's so long, and it's not much fun with two players, especially when one of them doesn't yet understand how to evaluate the properties on the game correctly. He gets excited when you land on his single property for $15, even if it means you skipped his corner with a bunch of houses and hotels. But at least he gets to practice his arithmetic and think strategically and whatnot. It probably is more intellectually stimulating then playing video games, and it's definitely better than watching iPad. (Also, we did play the Nintendo Switch a bit, because a new game came -- Super Smash Bros. It's a more ornate, more cartoonish Street Fighter II. It's pretty fun.)
When it comes to Lil' S2's learning I've gotten pretty into the technique espoused in the book Range, which is basically that it's almost always better in the long-run for the student to suffer through a task or problem on their own, even if they do it "wrong" and get the wrong answer, than it is for them to be guided by a teacher to do things the "right way" and get the right answer. There's way more value in exploration than there is in learning the "proper technique." This so rings true to me based on my own experience. I got really good at math in college by sitting in a quiet room by myself and staring at a bunch of seemingly incomprehensible symbols until they made sense to me. And I inadvertently built the foundation for thinking this way at a younger age by not being tethered to the "right way" of doing things. I had an absent computer science teacher in high school*, and I wonder if that actually helped me, because it forced me to do everything on my own. So, I'm trying to take a hands-off approach with my kids. S isn't as zealous about this idea as I am, but she seems to be mostly on board, so we shall see.
*He was in some sort of course to be an administrator so he frequently missed class and his substitute literally didn't know how to code.
Anyway, we capped of Labor Day weekend with a terrific day at this water park owned by the city of Gaithersburg, MD. I had no idea this place even existed, but we went for the birthday party of our friends' kid, and it was so nice. It wasn't crowded at all, and the water slides were actually pretty fun. Lil' S1 is finally tall enough for thing like this, and he must have gone down those slides 15 times. You could basically just go down and go right back up without waiting in line. I went down a few times, but I'm mostly too old for that shit. (Later in the day, I actually felt kinda seasick from it -- pathetic but true.) Lil' S1 is pretty good in the water in general. He still doggy paddles a lot, and he looks like he's struggling, but then he will submerge himself and swim underwater when he needs a big burst. It can be nerve-wracking to watch, but it's somehow effective.
Lil' S2 is making progress too, but he still has a long way to go. The thing about that kid, though, is that he's pretty much fearless, when it comes to things like that. He jumps in the water and tries to swim, but he just can't do it yet. He'll get the hang of it though. Very few kids learn before five and most (like his brother) don't learn until six or seven.
Alright, I gotta cut this post off kinda abruptly. The boys are at a friends' house, and I have to go pick them up.
Until next time...
We had a nice holiday weekend, at least. On Saturday, S and Lil' S1 went to the National Book Fair, which they thoroughly enjoyed, and I took Lil' S2 on a "hike" to Rock Creek with a friend and his five-year-old twins. It's probably good to hang out with them once in while without Lil' S1 there, as he tends to just dominate the activities. This way they can do more of the "little kid things" that they probably want to do, but don't do, because Lil' S1 has them doing something else. For instance, after we went to the creek, we went to a playground, and everybody spent almost the entire time on the swings. That likely wouldn't have happened with Lil' S1 there, because he gets bored on the swings, and he would have convinced everybody to do want he wants.
After we got back, we watched The Goonies, which was not my choice. It's a nostalgia-inducing cult classic for people my age, but it's a pretty terrible movie, and it has some problematic parts for little kids. For example, there's a relatively graphic scene in which Chunk is trapped in a freezer with the corpse of a murder victim, and the gag is that the body keeps falling on him. And how do you even explain Sloth to a little kid? Oh, he's just a severely disfigured, intellectually disabled guy who gets imprisoned and tortured by his family because he's different. That's all. Interestingly, however, that wasn't what Lil' S1 was bothered by -- he didn't like how the other kids treated Chunk. At one point he asked me, "Are they mean to Chunk the entire movie?" And I replied, "Yeah, actually, they kinda are." But, he liked the movie, and I learned about Lupe Ontiveros, so overall it was a success, I guess.
The next day, Lil' S2 went to a friend's house and then S took him out to run some errands, so I switched things up and spent most the day alone with Lil' S1. I promised S that I wouldn't just play video games with him the entire time, so we played a long game of Monopoly instead. I like Monopoly, but it's so long, and it's not much fun with two players, especially when one of them doesn't yet understand how to evaluate the properties on the game correctly. He gets excited when you land on his single property for $15, even if it means you skipped his corner with a bunch of houses and hotels. But at least he gets to practice his arithmetic and think strategically and whatnot. It probably is more intellectually stimulating then playing video games, and it's definitely better than watching iPad. (Also, we did play the Nintendo Switch a bit, because a new game came -- Super Smash Bros. It's a more ornate, more cartoonish Street Fighter II. It's pretty fun.)
When it comes to Lil' S2's learning I've gotten pretty into the technique espoused in the book Range, which is basically that it's almost always better in the long-run for the student to suffer through a task or problem on their own, even if they do it "wrong" and get the wrong answer, than it is for them to be guided by a teacher to do things the "right way" and get the right answer. There's way more value in exploration than there is in learning the "proper technique." This so rings true to me based on my own experience. I got really good at math in college by sitting in a quiet room by myself and staring at a bunch of seemingly incomprehensible symbols until they made sense to me. And I inadvertently built the foundation for thinking this way at a younger age by not being tethered to the "right way" of doing things. I had an absent computer science teacher in high school*, and I wonder if that actually helped me, because it forced me to do everything on my own. So, I'm trying to take a hands-off approach with my kids. S isn't as zealous about this idea as I am, but she seems to be mostly on board, so we shall see.
*He was in some sort of course to be an administrator so he frequently missed class and his substitute literally didn't know how to code.
Anyway, we capped of Labor Day weekend with a terrific day at this water park owned by the city of Gaithersburg, MD. I had no idea this place even existed, but we went for the birthday party of our friends' kid, and it was so nice. It wasn't crowded at all, and the water slides were actually pretty fun. Lil' S1 is finally tall enough for thing like this, and he must have gone down those slides 15 times. You could basically just go down and go right back up without waiting in line. I went down a few times, but I'm mostly too old for that shit. (Later in the day, I actually felt kinda seasick from it -- pathetic but true.) Lil' S1 is pretty good in the water in general. He still doggy paddles a lot, and he looks like he's struggling, but then he will submerge himself and swim underwater when he needs a big burst. It can be nerve-wracking to watch, but it's somehow effective.
Lil' S2 is making progress too, but he still has a long way to go. The thing about that kid, though, is that he's pretty much fearless, when it comes to things like that. He jumps in the water and tries to swim, but he just can't do it yet. He'll get the hang of it though. Very few kids learn before five and most (like his brother) don't learn until six or seven.
Alright, I gotta cut this post off kinda abruptly. The boys are at a friends' house, and I have to go pick them up.
Until next time...
[Lil' S1 took his book outside this morning to try to "sell it." (I think he wanted S to buy him something online.) But he didn't find any takers, so he just sat down and started reading it instead, and his brother decided to join him.]
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