Math for Breakfast

Ten sausage links divided four ways is 2 and a half each. Chas got it right away and thoughtfully explained to the others how he figured it out. As they were dividing up the links and breaking them in half, somehow Simon was left with a few pieces and was near meltdown. Mia stepped up to explain 'Simon, you don't have two and a half, you have 1, and 3 halves!' He was so delighted by her show of advanced math that he happily took his serving and ate it up!

The kids do math like this everyday. I'll whisper to them, wide-eyed, that they are doing math.

'Awwww mom! You tricked us!'

Now they catch themselves doing it and it's become a family joke. In this manner, we have even found that Mia has an understanding of multiplication and division. Once, I took a week to watch the kids from a distance and wrote a journal of all the things they were doing that involved learning something (I know, a busy week for me!) and translated it into 'curriculum speak' just for fun. It may be time to do that again. I have to pick just the right week to do it, because sometimes their play is simple and sometimes more obviously academic.

Other Lewis news, in no particular order...


We have a new kitty named Snips. He is very young, apparently abandoned at around 3 weeks old. He is probably about 6 weeks old now and is very active and playful. We are having to socialize and discipline him in the absence of his mother and littermates. The kids are having a little trouble waiting out this kitty toddlerhood. He is playful sometimes, snuggly sometimes, and very tenacious - he has actually turned and attacked the spray bottle we were using to train him off the foot-attacks.

And our neighborhood candy store had to close a few months ago, but this week it reopened as an organic vegetable market. It's small, but close by, a block and half, in fact close enough for the kids to go by themselves on their bikes - no busy roads to cross! They were closed yesterday when I went by for our first visit, I'll try again today - if we get a break in the rain and thunderstorms.

Next week we start swimming lessons, every day for two weeks, at 5pm for the boys, and at 6:15 pm for Mia. The following two-week session, I was able to get them all at 5pm. It is going to be intense, and I'll have to call on my best organizational skills to get through it.

We are still bowling every Monday night, and doing the Family Night thing at the club on base. Tim's shop moved to a closer base which provides for at least 5 hours more family per week that he isn't commuting! It's a huge blessing for our family.