Azure Jane Lunatic (Azz) 🌺 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
azurelunatic) wrote2003-08-19 04:13 pm
azurelunatic) wrote2003-08-19 04:13 pm
Science, Great Wall of China
Picked up LF from school. He'd forgotten his yellow folder today, unfortunately. He'd gotten either one or three time-outs; I can't recall which. It was still a good day, though.
I was bright-awake, and looked with some of the boys at what looked like a mass of worms spread out on the sidewalk. The kids were disagreeing: pinecones or worms? I picked one up, and pronounced it as a thing from a tree -- it spread pollen from these things, and then it blew off, landed on the roof up there, and came down the drainpipe when it rained.
I think I'm one of those science-minded kind of "mom"s. The kids were interested.
On the way back to DeVry, I asked Little Fayoumis what they'd done in school today. His teacher had evidently told the story of the Three Little Pigs, and had talked about piglets. We talked about other baby critters with different names, like baby cats were kittens, baby chickens were chicks, and baby eagles were chicks too -- baby birds were chicks!
And then we looked at the clouds in the sky and talked about those. Little Fayoumis wants to fly. (He also knows that airplane tickets cost money, and we don't have enough, but he has enough invisible money for anything, he has a million thousand bucks.)
Then he told me that he'd had dream about clouds, and snow, and bees in the snow. This led to a discussion of hotblooded vs. coldblooded, and the next time he has that nightmare, he can tell it that bees can't fly when it's cold enough to have snow.
Then we had class. Burns discussed the gasoline shortage, and then went on to databases. Little Fayoumis drew a picture of him and Sim (his robot friend/alter ego-thing), and practiced writing a little. I wrote out "Spiderman" for him to copy; he copied that, and then wrote "Spiderman Mountain Dew" (we were sharing a bottle of Livewire dew, and we digressed a bit about caffiene and how it would make his body hyper, and he said, "But not in your class!" which was a good plan...) He snickered about the Spiderman Mountain Dew concept. He asked me where I'd gotten the Mountain Dew; I whispered back. He couldn't hear me. I wrote my answer as a note to him. He couldn't read it at first, but I helped him with the harder words. Then I wrote, "[Name] is a smart kid." (Because that's what his teacher had told me today.)
Class ended; we went home. (Well, we stopped in the computer lab to dump his scribble-paper in the recycle bin.) He was first being a racecar driver with his wheeled backpack, and then after he put it on for crossing the parking lot, began talking more about flying, and then about visiting the Great Wall of China. So we began planning what we would do if we were taking a real trip to the Great Wall of China, and not just a pretend one. We would need money for the tickets, and a passport, and then we would need to talk to China's government to see if they would let us come and visit, and then find a translator or learn Chinese ourselves or both...
We got home, and I sent him off to wash hands, dump shoes, etc. Now he's watching some Sailor Moon. (We were getting sick sick sick of everything being either Pokemon or rabbits, so other stuff it is. At least Spiderman is a good role model.)
Later, I'll point out China on the map.
I was bright-awake, and looked with some of the boys at what looked like a mass of worms spread out on the sidewalk. The kids were disagreeing: pinecones or worms? I picked one up, and pronounced it as a thing from a tree -- it spread pollen from these things, and then it blew off, landed on the roof up there, and came down the drainpipe when it rained.
I think I'm one of those science-minded kind of "mom"s. The kids were interested.
On the way back to DeVry, I asked Little Fayoumis what they'd done in school today. His teacher had evidently told the story of the Three Little Pigs, and had talked about piglets. We talked about other baby critters with different names, like baby cats were kittens, baby chickens were chicks, and baby eagles were chicks too -- baby birds were chicks!
And then we looked at the clouds in the sky and talked about those. Little Fayoumis wants to fly. (He also knows that airplane tickets cost money, and we don't have enough, but he has enough invisible money for anything, he has a million thousand bucks.)
Then he told me that he'd had dream about clouds, and snow, and bees in the snow. This led to a discussion of hotblooded vs. coldblooded, and the next time he has that nightmare, he can tell it that bees can't fly when it's cold enough to have snow.
Then we had class. Burns discussed the gasoline shortage, and then went on to databases. Little Fayoumis drew a picture of him and Sim (his robot friend/alter ego-thing), and practiced writing a little. I wrote out "Spiderman" for him to copy; he copied that, and then wrote "Spiderman Mountain Dew" (we were sharing a bottle of Livewire dew, and we digressed a bit about caffiene and how it would make his body hyper, and he said, "But not in your class!" which was a good plan...) He snickered about the Spiderman Mountain Dew concept. He asked me where I'd gotten the Mountain Dew; I whispered back. He couldn't hear me. I wrote my answer as a note to him. He couldn't read it at first, but I helped him with the harder words. Then I wrote, "[Name] is a smart kid." (Because that's what his teacher had told me today.)
Class ended; we went home. (Well, we stopped in the computer lab to dump his scribble-paper in the recycle bin.) He was first being a racecar driver with his wheeled backpack, and then after he put it on for crossing the parking lot, began talking more about flying, and then about visiting the Great Wall of China. So we began planning what we would do if we were taking a real trip to the Great Wall of China, and not just a pretend one. We would need money for the tickets, and a passport, and then we would need to talk to China's government to see if they would let us come and visit, and then find a translator or learn Chinese ourselves or both...
We got home, and I sent him off to wash hands, dump shoes, etc. Now he's watching some Sailor Moon. (We were getting sick sick sick of everything being either Pokemon or rabbits, so other stuff it is. At least Spiderman is a good role model.)
Later, I'll point out China on the map.
no subject
no subject
when I was very small...
I grew up, and I grew away, and my grandpa and I aren't as close as we used to be. It's a little bit sad. Sitting with my grandpa and flying away in the easy chair, though, is one of my most cherished memories, and I will do it with my children someday.
Re: when I was very small...