The HSBA Post

FIAR: Snowy Evening Math Photos

by Bon on January 26, 2012

This post is part of our monthly series highlighting books and activities from the Five In A Row (FIAR) curriculum.

Robert Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is a curious poem – challenging for grownups and particularly interesting for kids.

I’m keen on looking for math in our FIAR books, but this time I’m thinking about doing some math in a new way. There’s math in poetry – tons of patterns with the iambic pentameter and such. But this picture book took a short poem (it’s only 16 lines) and added illustrations to give it that extra touch.

Illustrations… hmm…

There’s a classroom teacher who created a math assignment around photography. What a cool project for homeschool families; you can make it as strict or as loose as you want.

He blogged all about the process, including the challenges and results,which makes modifying it for homeschool super easy and fun!

Snowy Evening Math Photos

If you have snow around, use the beautiful images in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening to inspire a photo field trip in the neighborhood. Use the assignment and rubric from the above links or just go with the flow. Encourage your children to look at the world with math eyes!

I live in Houston, where it snows once every nine years. So I had to depend on Flickr for these examples.

Abstract, curious, math-y!

There’s some fun math in the angle of the snow, and also in the shadow in this pictures. It makes me wonder if the camera is tilted or if the snow is on a hill. Click on the image to get some math thoughts from the photographer.

by windiepink | Flickr.com | CC BY

Mr. Rene’ Descartes would love this one!

Lots of snow, but also some coordinate plane stuff here:

by Jan Tik | Flickr.com | CC BY

Blocks and smiley faces!

These look like snow covered blocks – big ones! Fancy math term: rectangular parallelepiped. (Get your two year old to say that – it’s SO cute!)

by plizzba | Flickr.com | CC BY

Graphing animal tracks is fun!

You know how you put a bunch of dots on a grid and then connect them? That’s graphing in math. That’s what these animal tracks look like! Incidentally, this photo is from my favorite Flickr person who has a great collection of math photos!

by woodleywonderworks | Flickr.com | CC BY

What do your photos look like?

What kinds of math do your kids see in the snow or other weather you might have? Share the links and their thoughts in the comments!

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Come ‘n Get It!

by Gwen on January 25, 2012

With one persistent, metallic ringing of the dinner bell, fourteen feet run at top speed toward the house. In a large family, it only takes one missed meal before you learn to listen for the sound of the bell. Hunger is a fine instructor.

Since buying a few acres in the middle of the barren Texas countryside, I have been amazed at how quickly the children drop everything to “come ‘n get it”. Shovels, rope swings, tea parties and cats are all discarded while one child races to beat another. They’ve learned to listen and respond to a familiar sound.

This isn’t a tale of Pavlov’s dog. But it is a convicting reminder of my hearing problems.

I regularly hear the ring of the dinner bell, more commonly known as the Holy Spirit’s conviction.

“Is that a good use of your time?”
“Was that a kind tone of voice?”
“Were you fair and just in dealing with that disagreement?”

Unlike my children and the dinner bell, I find it far too easy to tune out His voice. My own selfish desires win more often than they should. I know it’s time to get off the computer or to speak gently to a naughty child or to listen patiently to both sides of the story. But I can easily muffle that clanging dinner bell and do things my way.

So what is the solution to improving my hearing? When I am faithfully and consistently in God’s Word, I hear the prodding of the Holy Spirit much more clearly. Not only do I hear Him, but I’m also led to obey.

The more time I spend in the Word, the more my ears are tuned in to His voice. It’s a simple equation.

How is your dinner bell working today?

Gwen clangs the dinner bell three times a day for her eight children and husband John. Remodeling, moving, babies, homeschooling – and Bible translation? The good and the bad is detailed on their blog -Tolivers To Texas.

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Nature Study for Children

January 24, 2012

Down here in Texas, we can see the ground for most of the winter. In fact, all of the winter – except on the one or two days every few years when we get a rare winter snow. That makes nature study a whole lot easier and comfortable during the cooler months. I classify winter [...]

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Lighting the Fire

January 22, 2012

“Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” ~William Yeats~ We sneaked away from the big city this weekend and left suburbia behind. We took our kids to the country, exchanging our lazy at-home weekend routine with actual work (and the sore muscles to prove it). We even let the toddler have his [...]

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Master Books: The World of Animals – a Review

January 20, 2012

I joined the Moms of Master Books review team before Christmas and their first book to send me for the “job” (which is no job at all – it’s pure fun for our household) was The World of Animals. I don’t know about you, but I get frustrated with all the malarkey in Science and [...]

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Have You Covered it All?

January 19, 2012

I’m sure that many parents – homeschooling or not – have concerns about whether or not their children are prepared for life when they near the end of high school. However, for homeschool parents, I believe there can be an even greater weight of responsibility, since they’ve been tasked with not only parenting their children, [...]

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The Olympics Changed Me!

January 18, 2012

Photo by KD DALE (on Flickr) I remember the first time I attended a homeschooling conference. It was in Houston by the Astrodome before the Reliant Stadium was even thought of and we still had the Houston Oilers. I didn’t even have kids – in fact, I was in high school. My Mom homeschooled my [...]

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Trick to Get Your Pots and Pans Clean Easily!

January 17, 2012

The product above is not one you would find in my laundry room. I don’t use softener sheets or softener. I might use vinegar in the wash if I remember, but I’ve never used a softener and I don’t know why. However this product can be found in my kitchen. I am a dishwasher [...]

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