Spoils of Birthdays

Though I have been lax in my blogging, my son and have been hard at work in our homeschool, writing letters in salt, spelling words using our movable alphabet, studying the solar system and learning about tropical animals (like manatees) and seabirds (like gannets and turnstones). In addition to all this, before my very eyes, my son has transformed into Super Geometry Boy, fiendishly building two- and three-dimensional shapes out of the Magna-Tiles he received for his birthday. (Thank you, K, Dad, Dec and Keira!) My husband, a geometry nut himself (Super Geometry Dad?), has wholeheartedly encouraged our son's newest passion, teaching Parker about isosceles and equilateral triangles and even building whimsical structures out of the Magna-Tiles all by himself, late at night when Parker and I are both asleep. We've talked about how two isosceles triangles form a square, how six squares form a cube, how six equilateral triangles form a hexagon and how it's possible to build three-sided and four-sided pyramids. Parker is so jazzed about his ability to make squares out of triangles that he has literally spent hours building cubes out of isosceles triangles (first making six squares, then putting them together to form a cube). I like the Magna-Tiles because they present Parker with just the right amount of a challenge: they're not super easy to assemble, but they're also not frustratingly hard. He has to concentrate and use both his motor control skills and geometry knowledge to build his structures. It's super fun to see him so engrossed.

Of course, the structures that Parker builds using the Magna-Tiles almost always have to possess a final cause. He's built garages for his cars, houses, space shuttles, and space objects (in addition to other unrecognizable-by-me stuff). Here are some photos.

Dual-purpose structure: garage and helipad.

Mommy pyramid and baby pyramid.

Pyramid playpen? Pyramid in jail?

The tallest spaceship in the world.

OK, who's seen Wallace & Gromit's A Grand Day Out? Here is the robot skier exiting the space shuttle. (Parker built a hexagon to serve as the moon.)