Throwing Marshmallows

This article in Scientific American got my attention when I was  searching to see if Scientific American has a kids magazine (I can’t seem to find one…anyone know?)

Seems that they have done a study that shows that “young children can crudely add and subtract numbers before they have learned the rules of arithmetic”:

To find out, they gave several groups of children a laptop-based audiovisual test that asked whether one person had more or fewer candies or other objects than another person. The screen showed numbers to be added, such as 21 and 30, or subtracted, such as 64 and 13, followed by another number, such as 34, with which to compare the added or subtracted value.

The children answered correctly from 64 to 73 percent of the time, according to a report published online today by Nature.

Looks like kids without formal instruction in arithmetic can still have a basic understanding of it. My favorite quote from the article was from cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Spelke of Harvard University:

“We never dreamed that you could simply give children the symbols and they will succeed,” she says.

And my second favorite quote:

Teachers were skeptical of the experiment because arithmetic lessons easily frustrate children, but “the kids really loved these problems,” she says. “It looks to us like a big part of the logic of addition and subtraction is already available to them.”

Veeery interesting….I wonder if half the enjoyment was at being asked to try to figure it out for themselves rather then being told how to do it?

~Stephanie

I admit it. I love the BBC version of Robin Hood. I had seen the previews about this new (to America…also check out the BBC website) series and thought that the boys would find it fun (what boy does not enjoy Robin Hood with sword fighting and archery?) but I am enjoying it just as much as they are (if not more!) Season 1 just ended (we were lucky to catch it at the beginning and tivo’d it…although looking at the episode list it looks like we missed one!) but it is being released on DVD on June 5th and is available through Netflix.

The show is incredibly fun and updated and remarkably well done. There is a lot of humor, great sword fighting and Robin (played by Jonas Armstrong) is extremely easy on the eyes (not to mention the accent!) I especially love the chemistry between Robin and Marian (who is a spirited, take care of herself kind of gal) and the relationship between all the characters (from Robin Hood’s Gang to the Sheriff and Sir Guy). The Sheriff is a real character…mean and diabolical, yet also extremely deadpan and funny…with a very dry, evil sense of humor.

Both boys really enjoy it…they especially love the fight scenes which are impressively choreographed and really enjoyable to watch. There is obviously some killing and violence so if your kids are sensitive, you should be aware of that.

The show has led to some good conversations about the time period and Robin Hood in general (Jason had listend to it on tape, but the story is new to Kyle). I found what looks to be an interesting DVD (also available at Netfilx) by the History Channel called History’s Mysteries: The True Story of Robin Hood. Can’t wait to check it out.

I highly recommend this show…it is one of those very enjoyable, watchable shows and it is fun to be able to watch something with the boys that I enjoy as much as they do!

~Stephanie

Did you miss me?

All of homeschooljournal.net was down because the webhost decided to change the terms of service on Andrea and Ron and turned it off with no notice! Oh, and if that was not bad enough, it got turned off on the day that Andrea and Ron were moving! You can read more about it here.

Anyways…kudos to Andrea and Ron for getting us up and running again! Considering they maintain this wonderful community in their spare time (and don’t even charge us for it!) I have to say that I really appreciate their dedication and hard work (in the midst of moving no less!)

Thanks guys!

~Stephanie

I took this picture at Hain’s Point back in April. The statue is called The Awakening and I really loved this shot of Kyle.

But what makes this picture really cool is the fact that it originally looked like:

See those annoying kids in the yellow in the background? I took them out using Photoshop Elements! How cool is that? They really ruined the picture, so I decided to try my hand with the clone tool for the first time. Basically it lets you pick a portion of the photo to copy over another…so I copied the mulch and the background buildings and tree to cover up the annoying people.

This really saved the picture, because cropping the people out would have thrown the balance completely off.

Yes, I am easily thrilled. Especially when it comes to cool things that save my photographs…

~Stephanie

Yes, Jason has glasses! Turns out he is a bit farsighted and needs them for reading. Our eye doctor said that it was border line and our call as to whether to get the glasses. Jason’s eyes are compensating to where he can see 20-20, but he has to work a bit harder to get there. So we decided to give them a try.

He says that they make the print look a bit bigger and does make it easier for him to read. He picked them out and seems to like them so far (after one day!) I guess that only time will tell.

He is lucky actually, as it does not look like he got my eyes…I am extremely near sighted with some astigmatism (if my eyes get any worse, I will not be able to wear contacts because they do not make them strong enough) and have had glasses since kindergarten. Luckily I am very correctable and have been able to wear contacts since 8th grade.

Kyle’s eyes checked out fine…a small bit of nearsightedness which could correct itself. So both kids have me beat! Jeff did not get glasses (he is far sighted) until college, so I guess that helped.

~Stephanie

Anyone else notice the change that Trader Joes made with their paper bags? They are a couple of inches shorter then traditional paper bags. Which makes sense since you could never really pack a bag completely to the top without risking it breaking.

Seems like a neat way to save some trees (and money for TJs I am assuming too!) Of course cloth bags are the best way to go, but sometimes it is easy to forget!

For those not familiar with TJs, they are a specialty grocery store  that has good prices on good quality food (lots of organic options and healthy ingredients (no artificial colorings, etc)). I really like that you can buy healthier frozen meals and healthier versions of favorites. Lots of great stuff.

So kudos to TJs for thinking outside the box (or should that be bag?)

~Stephanie

When I took pictures last year at Kyle’s soccer games, they mostly turned out like this:

Hard to even see Kyle (he is in the green shorts).

Flash forward to this year and check these out:

Amazing what a good zoom will do. And the camera has a neat “action” setting that allows you to take multiple shots with one press of the button. I must have taken about 100 pictures of the game easily.

I do love my camera…

~Stephanie

I just had a chance to check in and see who was linking to Throwing Marshmallows lately and wound up finding a couple of really wonderful surprises. First to Kimmy over at shimmer.glimpse (how cool is that for a blog name!) who nominated me for a Thinking Bloggers Award. She wrote:

Connected to Life Without School is Stephanie Elms from whom I first heard the phrase ,”Learning can only happen when a child is interested. If she is not interested it is like throwing marshmallows at her head and calling it eating.” This was her signature at the end of every message she posted on a very active Homeschool list that I used to read but can no longer eek out the time to read. Her blog, Throwing Marshmallows also deserves a Thinking Blogger Award . I’ve recently been reading her blog and enjoy her quick wit and homeschooling “style.” She’s another HS’er I’d like to meet.

I have to say that I like the Thinking Bloggers Award much better then normal blog awards which wind up being more like a popularity contest, with folks getting all their friends to “vote for them” rather then really being about the blog content. Rather then being about “votes” it is about identifying which blogs bring something into your life and make you think. So thanks Kimmy for thinking of me!

And then I found out that Helen Hegner (publisher of Home Education Magazine) in her HEM Takes a Closer Look post on Homeschool Blogging listed Throwing Marshmallows as a General Interest blog to check out:

Throwing Marshmallows Homeschooling mom Stephanie Elms’ keen observations and insights.

And of course as fate would have it, at the same time I am getting these great links, I am also having trouble keeping up with my blogging! I do hope to eventually get back to almost daily posting…things are just really hectic right now…mostly having to do with my volunteer work with The Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers…between the Conference and Resource Fair (this July 20-21st at the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond) and ongoing website updates (I am the webmaster) and everything else that it takes to keep the organization running, time is a bit short around here. Not to mention that spring has finally sprung and we have been taking advantage of being out of doors more.

Hopefully things will calm down a bit soon (come on, stop laughing! I can hope, right?) and I will have more time to post…in the meantime, please bookmark me, sign up for my email updates through Feedburner (see link on my right sidebar) or add me to your feed reader (I just switched to Google Reader and have really liked it! Check it out.)

And thanks for coming!

~Stephanie