Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Slice of Life

Did I mention that we officially have a teenager in the household now? Or that she received two fountain pens for her birthday?

Bad Dad wrote the top half.  Iris wrote the bottom half with a fountain pen.  I blurred out her BFF's name.

In other news, she attended her first Academic Decathalon scrimmage meet.  The results will help determine if she gets on one of her school's two teams (and which one).  Her school's "A" team usually advances to the state, but not the national championships.  Her teacher/coach says she wants the team to do well, but still have a childhood.

I've been helping coach the mathematics section as the teacher/coach is primarily an English teacher.  The math section is hard!  I can solve everything, but not in the 30 minutes allotted for a 35 question exam.  I must remember that the problems are all supposed to be solvable without calculus.  The kids are allowed to use graphing calculators that have a "solve" button.  Math contests sure have changed since I was in high school.

Do you remember logarithms?  Trigonometry?  Can you still whip out the law of cosines?

5 comments:

  1. I loved math in school and, NO, I cannot remember that stuff! I didn't use it, so I lost it.

    Happy birthday to Iris! And good luck to her!

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  2. I remember that math, but I haven't used it since college. I'd have to take a refresher course. Not much call for it in my work, sewing, cooking, or daily activities. My son enjoyed his decathalon experience. I hope Iris does too.

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  3. Anonymous06:19

    My older daughter is on the 4th and 5th grade math team at her grade school. Fortunately, I can still solve all the problems without resorting to looking stuff up. This will not last into middle school.

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    Replies
    1. You'll be ready by then. Mathcounts, the middle school competition, had easier questions. By HS, you'll be as warmed up and prepared as your kids.

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  4. Happy birthday to Iris!
    I do remember all the math stuff, but I have a huge advantage of teaching physics, so I actually use it :)
    The sad part is that so many of our (really bright!) students don't seem to remember this...

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