Thursday 25 April 2013

When You Give a Boy a Tin Geometry Set...


The other day I bought a geometry set for less than £3 at a stationary sale, and left it on the table.  Guess what happened?  Tiger saw it and became really excited when he realised that it belongs to him.

The following was what I saw:


What was he doing?  Drawing circles, apparently.



Tiger became more adventurous in the following days, still pouring over his tools:


His designs also got bolder as a result.




All this while, Tiger didn't ask me anything so I just let him get on with it.  It was only when he showed me his work that I realised that he was teaching himself the measurement of angles in relation to a circle.  I have mentioned angles in passing so it isn't totally unknown to him, but I like how he has shaded the different parts of the circles to highlight their corresponding angles (90 degrees, 180 degrees, 360 degrees).


Tiger was tickled when we walked past a sculpture of Issac Newton and saw him doing exactly the same thing:



This post is linked up to:
1) Look What We Did!
2) Homeschool Mother's Journal: April 26, 2013
3) Hobbies and Handicrafts - April 26
4) Collage Friday - Reading, Selling , and Recommending Books
5) Homeschool Review
6) Weekly Wrap-Up: The One Where We're Counting Down the Weeks
7) Math Monday Blog Hop #97
8) Hip Homeschool Hop - 4/30/13


11 comments:

  1. This is wonderful! He is such a wonderful student and you are a wonderful teacher. Strewing things with a student like this is such a joy!

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  2. Thank you for your kind words, Phyllis! It is indeed a joy to see when children begin to start teaching themselves. I am fortunate that my son is very often enthusiastic about learning. :-)

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  3. Enthusiasm is half the battle. In fact in my experience there is no battle when a student wants to learn, even if he finds something hard. I love the fact he plays - you see learning; he plays some more - you see him teaching himself. Many parents would have missed that!

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  4. So true, Claire! I suspect most children make discoveries by themselves all the time through activities that many adults perceive as "play". My guess is that the most effective and meaningful type of learning happens when someone is fully engaged in a relaxed frame of mind to support inquiry.

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  5. I love the statue. My daughter has been following a book doing Math Art designs and really enjoys it.
    http://highhillhomeschool.blogspot.com/2013/01/math-art-geometry.html

    I think my son would learn better on his own like Tiger. He's nine and I haven't really given him drawing tools yet. Maybe I will soon. Thanks for the idea.

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  6. I just went to your page and admired your daughter's beautiful and intricate designs. Thank you very much for recommending the book. It sure looks like a good addition. I'm going to check it out now. :-)

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  7. Fabulous strewing! I loved seeing what Tiger did with his set. What a great way to learn about angles.

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  8. Thank you for stopping by, melismama and Lucinda! It is indeed encouraging to see children pick up something and discover for themselves what it can do. We'll still have more formal geometry lessons at some point, but by then the topic and the tools will not be totally new to Tiger. :-)

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  9. I just bought a similar set for my son. I never thought about setting him free with it to see what he comes up with. I might just give it to him tomorrow. What a great idea!

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  10. Hi from HHH!

    Totally love this geometry set and that you gave Tiger the freedom to explore and learn. The statue is a cherry on top of all the wondrous learning!

    jeannine: waddleeahchaa.ocm

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