Especially in this day and age where one of the places seeing some of the most budget cuts are libraries. But then, they should have computers in the libraries to provide the research. I am cheap, hear me roar.

Sing it, sister. I certainly didn't expect to be buying the kids computers at this point, but at the same time, I'm grateful we can. And at home, we enact some pretty strict restrictions in terms of use. What's interesting too, about our district is that our corner of the county is the more privileged, but the rest of St. Johns is far less wealthy. So while we're paying some righteous property taxes, it gets spread across a very large area and even so, the county had to enact some district-wide budget cuts, including cutting the number of computers in school libraries.

Also, a pet peeve of mine, students shouldn't be using advanced technology in school until they have mastered the basics. Which, sorry, a fifth grader has not. I got really pissed off when my daughter's sixth grade math class insisted on everyone having a calculator for class. BS. If a student doesn't know how to do the math without using a calculator you're not doing them any favors.

I kind of disagree with that, but then, that's part of my general distaste for how math is taught. I think the emphisis on arithmetic winds up turning a lot of people off (especially ones like me who have a hard time retaining the stuff) of math before they get to the actual useful and fun parts!

Signed, tends to side on the Reformed Side of the Math Wars.

...

I can't believe I have an opinion about this. It's just, well, when I got to the parts where I was allowed to use a calculator, I realized math was AWESOME. At least potentially. 'rithmetic? Still a chore.

Plei is me on the calculator issue.

arithmetic winds up turning a lot of people off (especially ones like me who have a hard time retaining the stuff) of math before they get to the actual useful and fun parts

Reminds me of that article someone linked to about the way English lit is taught and how it turns students off.

Still, I'm a bit of a...what's the word I want...someone who believes that if electricity/electronics disappeared overnight, we damn well better be prepared to live without it. If you only know how to build a bridge with a computer model and a calculator, you're screwed when your grocery store is across the river and you don't have a boat. Better to learn how to do all that without the crutches first, so you remember how to do it that way when they get taken away.

I sucked at math with and without a calculator. Equal opportunity math hater. Oddly enough, I teach it well.

Nate is his father with math, in that he can get the right answer, he just sees no use in showing how he got to the right answer and gets incredibly frustrated having to show his work. Abby is completely analytical and math comes super naturally to her, especially the whacked out abstract stuff. Coupled with her love or art and her ability to see things with depth and perception makes me think if she's at all interested, she could do well in architecture.

I hate to interrupt this discussion, but I'm being egotistical and in the likes-carrots mode: God DAMN we're pretty.

t edit Yeah, I know I need a haircut.

You can ALWAYS interrupt for that kind of gawjus!

I fully admit there was Photoshopping. My face was all sweaty, and so I airbrushed it away. I darkened and blurred the background, but The Boy is fully un-Photoshopped. (Yes, those are his real eyes, no color contacts, no Photoshopping.)

Bwah, the expressions in that shot are priceless.

Aren't they? I giggled like a loon when I uploaded the pic.

(Yes, those are his real eyes, no color contacts, no Photoshopping.)

Oh, I totally remember his eyes just absolutely leaping out even in the dark ambiance of Porkopolis.