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?