Teachable moments

Tonight, my son was doing his typical Sunday night "oh yeah, I guess I do still have a little math homework" panic session... They had to make a chart of their schedule, and then calculate the percentage of time they spent on various things in a typical day. There was a whole set of problems around this topic. Some rather interesting, others boring.

Anyway, for one of the things he was doing, he had to make a large pie chart, and convert the percentages into degrees, and then draw proportionate slices in the pie. I suggested a protractor might help... ok, after about 20 minutes searching, none to be found (I know we have bought several, but, that's another issue...)

I thought, maybe I can give him another way, improvise, so I said: "Go grab your backpack from the garage". I think he believed for a split second that I was kicking him out because he lost all the protractors. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Ok, so I have him take out the baseplate compass that's in the backpack, and show him how to use it to measure the angles he needs. It was a miracle, he actually looked at me, and it was like a little light went on. He said something like, "yeah, like on the trail maps"

That is about as close as I get to any acknowledgement that he learns anything from me. After finishing his homework, he even mocked me by saying, in a voice meant to sound like some old wise man: "you know faaather, the compass is really a quite useful device"

Well, I felt like saying something, but, held back, just happy that he was showing signs of electrical energy bordering on brainpower inside that teenage head.

Any other interesting "teachable moment" stories out there?

"Yeah, it can show you the way back to your darn room, ya smart-a__." <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Good job showing your sense of improvisation!

Remember, the older he gets, the smarter you'll seem. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Kinda hard to do THAT with a GPS, huh???

yes, I had a number of "phrases" going through my head, but, kept them to myself... I had a flashback in my head to The Honeymooners... "One of these days...BOOM, straight to the moon!"

I believe it was Mark Twain who told the story of a 14 year old boy who couldn't believe how little his father knew. When that boy was 21, he couldn't believe how much his father had learned in just 7 years.

yup, no GPS is going to do that for you... wait until I find an opportunity to show him that he can measure distances with his compass. Better yet, I'll show him how to use a watch as a way to find South when he doesn't have his compass... make it fun and maybe they will listen?

He's been credited with that line, but there's been no proof to date he actually ever came up with it.

I believe it was after the second time my oldest daughter had survived a high speed rollover in one of her vehicles that she realized maybe my advice about not limiting your options and driving home under more controlled conditions was probably more appropriate than she first thought.

At least both kids learned early that it is usually better to just say okay and go do it than to question why dad thinks it has to be done now, by them, when the tv is on...they also learned a plastic spoon can be a multi-tasker as well.

I respectfully disagee, Norad. From the time they start walking & talking, Mom & Dad get dumber everyday. By the time they are teenagers, we have become so ignorant, it's all they can do to manage to live in the same house as us parents. When they get to be around 25, The become totally amazed at how much we have learned in the previous 10 years. Then we start in with senility and have to start depending on them.
Life is cruel!!!!

i don't get the plastic spoon part but as i am only 27 i am still amazed at how much my dad has learned in the last ten years LOL. Though i still try to argue with him just on principles.

Have you heard of the "flow" theory? It was developed by a guy named Mihaly Csikszentmihayli (chick-sent-me-high). In breif it says that we learn better when the motivation to take part in an activity comes from inside (inner-motivation) AND when the activity fulfills the following requirments:
1) clear and realistic goals
2) few distractions
3) feedback (not always verbal)
4) understandable rules
and the most important: a balance between the persons abilities and the activities demands, which is to say "is it possible for me, with some extra effort, to accomplish this project"
If you get the chance, read the book called "Flow" it was very inspiring.

I met her in college! <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Plastic spoon, applied as a posterior motivation device, usually by the wife when further discussion is pointless and a failure to communicate has commenced. Sometimes I still get motivated by her thus, though I find it more enjoyable I think than my kids did.

Ok I understand now.