Strengthen Math concepts using playing cards.

Playing cards are a great way to spend time and have fun. My daughter loves to play cards. She was introduced to card playing by my father in law, who used to play a simple matching game with her when she was about 3.

It was like this:

·        The cards were equally divided among the players and kept in stacks with their face down.

·        The players took turns in drawing a card at the top of their own stack and placed it at the centre.

·        You keep drawing cards in turns and piling them at the centre till a matching card comes up.

·        If your card matches the one at the top of the central pile; you can keep the entire pile.

·        E.g. If you put a diamond on a diamond that is already at the top of the pile; the pile is yours.

One day, she told me that she was bored of this game and wanted to play something new. So I tried to invent an age-appropriate game for her.

While racking my brains, I discovered that many mathematical concepts can be introduced and strengthened using playing cards.

These are some of the games we played together and which have helped her understand some concepts thoroughly after they were introduced at school.  

1.    Sequencing:

     Oh, this is just simply solitaire.

·        Place all the aces in a line.  

·        Shuffle the rest of the cards well and stack them.

·        Keep drawing cards one at a time till you get the next number in the sequence.

My daughter soon understood that number 3 follows number 2 and so on.

2.    Before and after:

This is actually a traditional game called “Badam Satti”. It is a slightly complicated version of the sequencing game. Of course I had initially kept it simple.

It’s like this:

·        You place all the sevens in a line.

·        Then, distribute the cards equally among the players and start sequencing on both sides of 7 i.e. before and after.

3.    Greater than/less than:

·        Keep the pile of cards at the centre.

·        Both the players draw one card each.

·        The person who draws a card with a bigger number is allowed to keep both the cards.

4.    Addition:

·        Draw one card each.

·        The person who draws the bigger number gets a turn to add numbers on both the cards.

5.    Subtraction:

·        This is similar to the addition game above with a slight difference.

·        The person with the smaller card subtracts his number from the other bigger card.

6.    Odd/even (level 1):

·        Draw a card and tell whether it’s odd or even.

7.    Odd/even (level 2):

·        Draw one card each.

·        Add them up and tell whether the sum is odd or even.

You can add your own fun elements to the games and even invent your own games.

Happy playing J

Time Please!

“Summer vacations! Yay! What fun!!”

I kept repeating this to myself while going through my “things to do” list.

It’s so important to keep the children busy in the holidays to keep boredom at bay. In addition, they should have enriching experiences that develop their personalities and help them in the future.

As a parent I consider it my duty to engage my children in fruitful activities in the vacations.

Summer activity camp in the morning, swimming lessons in the afternoon, robotics classes twice a week in the evening for the older one and drawing classes for the younger one.

Plus, weekend outings for the whole month…….A visit to the zoo, one to the science center, one to the museum, one or two movies and finally a day of fun at the amusement park. Not only that, we also had our annual outstation trip booked.

I had also invested time in convincing some of their friends to join us on those day trips and summer camps.

 I am really pleased with myself.

“You are doing a good job, super mom.” I tell myself, already exhausted with all the planning.

I went to my children’s room and called for their attention. “We are going to have a really exciting summer vacation” I said enthusiastically.

They stopped their pillow fight and eyed me with suspicion.

Ignoring their looks I read out my list to them.

As soon as I had finished my son unexpectedly said, “I wish we had school in summer. At least I have some time free to play and do what I want.”

I was stunned!....As if I had been smacked right in the face.

And then I realized that he was right. I was really going overboard with my planning.

They actually had no free time!!

True, there was no school for more than a month. But I was trying to rob them of their VACATION....A period of time devoted to pleasure, rest, or relaxation.

In my enthusiasm, I had forgotten what vacations are meant for. After a whole year of following structure and routine, that’s the period when children are supposed to let their hair down and unwind.

How could I forget, that it was I who was complaining all year round that there is so much work during school days that I hardly have time to sit and chat with my kids. I rarely get time for fun and nonsense.

How many conversations do I have with them without having things like “growth and development” at the back of my mind?

I decided that I had to reform myself.

I had to cut down on a few activities. How about going for just 2 day trips instead of four? We could save the other 2 for the next vacation. After all there are many more vacations to come.

No. I will not go to the other extreme of doing away with all the activities. That would be disastrous! Having the kids in my hair all day long for a whole month would make me go berserk.

I also have my sanity to think of.

But right now I am determined to take it a bit easy….Spend some time with the kids without glancing at the clock to see whether it’s time for the next activity.

Somehow I am feeling a little lighter...more relaxed and definitely a little more happier as I take this decision.

 I hope I manage to strike a balance. I step out of the room with these new thoughts of reform when suddenly I am attacked from behind with a pillow.

I turn around again.

 “Heeeyaaa!!!”

 I let out a shrill war cry and tumble on the bed to join the kids in their pillow fight :)

Dip, dip, dip, my blue ship....

I can swim!

Not kidding! I swear I can!
In fact, I can even say at the cost of sounding immodest that I was a really good swimmer when I was younger.
I had often been complimented for my graceful diving and powerful swimming.

And how I love water sports!
I was overflowing with this love for water and all kinds of water sports on my visit to Bali (Indonesia). I wanted to do everything that they had to offer.
But on popular demand (kids') I settled for jet skiing.
I had done that before on one of my trips to Goa and had enjoyed it. So I did not particularly mind, though I would have liked to do something a shade more adventurous.

So, Jet-skiing it was!
We divided ourselves into two teams to balance the weight.
You see, the sum of my weight and my son's weight at that time was almost equal to the sum of my husband's weight and my daughter's weight.
Let me put it in a mathematical form. Its easier to understand.

(Me + son) = (Husband+ daughter)

Getting it?
(It's very important to understand everything; though in this case I can't really explain how it matters.)

We put on our life jackets. Even me! In spite of being the good swimmer that I am!
They said it was necessary.
Bah!
What rubbish!
Swimmers like me don't need life jackets to save themselves. We swim with strong, powerful strokes and stay gracefully afloat.

But the owners of the jet ski would not listen and I had to comply. But I made my displeasure known in no uncertain terms.

There were going to be three of us on the jet ski.
 A gawky 18 year old, Paul, was going to take us for a spin in the ocean. Well, I was definitely grateful for that. For I had discovered ages ago that anything that runs on a motor does not obey my commands.

But I was in for a surprise when my twelve year old son declared that he wanted to drive that contraption. I was a bit apprehensive and asked Paul whether it was safe for children to drive. He said breezily, "No problem! It's easy." And then he went ahead to show my son which buttons to press in order to start, accelerate and stop. 
Looked simple enough. So I allowed my son to take charge.

We sat on the ski. My son in front, me at the back and that kid, Paul,  in between. He had the ignition key tied to his wrist with some kind of nylon wire that looked somewhat like a telephone wire but was much thinner. 
He started the ignition. And before I knew it the ski had started! 
I was not holding on to anything and I can still remember that electrifying moment of enlightenment when I got  true insight of Newton's first law of motion! 
I wanted to jump up shouting, "Eureka!"

But unfortunately I could not because I was still at rest while the ski was set into motion. And all I knew was that I had to save my skin from getting soaked. So in a split second I hugged the boy tight almost pulling him off the ski along with me.
Thankfully he had a good presence of mind and quick reflexes and he immediately grabbed the handle bars of the ski.

Meanwhile my son had picked up a good speed and we were happily bouncing off the crests of the waves.
For all I knew of this sport, jet skis were not supposed to behave in this particular fashion.
I panicked and started screaming. But the boys seemed to be enjoying every bit of it.

And then!.....My little man decided that he wanted to turn!
He did a sharp left turn. 
And all I can remember after that was that I was flying in the air one moment and gulping in salt water the next.
But in a few seconds I surfaced, and to my relief I saw my son swimming towards me with the other kid just behind him. But the ski was nowhere in sight!
I looked around and saw that it was more than a kilometre away! (Of course I am exaggerating.)

But yes, it was a good distance away from us and we were going to have to swim towards it. 
We set off....... and to my horror I realised that I was not able to move ahead! 
I called upon all my strength and skills but to no avail. The boys had almost reached while I was still at the same spot.

To hell with grace and technique, I thought and clumsily doggy-paddled towards the jet ski. Down went all my grace......sinking right to the bottom of the sea :(

Meanwhile the boys had managed to straighten the ski as I continued my slow progress in that direction. My son had already boarded it by the time I reached, and Paul was waiting in the water to help me get on board.

I got another shock when I could not pull myself out of water!
The young kid made an attempt to help by trying to push me on the ski!

Ridiculous!

"Get on that thing and pull me up, you idiot!" I snapped at him.
 And there ..........deep down......I could see my manners sinking and lying right next to my grace.

Eventually I too boarded the ski, soaked to the bone and shocked to the core of my existence.

You will not imagine how blessed I felt when we touched the shore.....
I wanted to kiss the sand!
Believe me, the beach had never looked more beautiful!

After a long time.....

Good lord!

Where have I been all these months?

I have not written since July!

Nothing to write about ......nothing to report ......nothing to smile at!
All this inspite of the fact that a lot has been really happening.

Too much in fact!

Not in the physical world, in case you start imagining that I have been doing 'xyz' and 'abc' and 'lmn' all at once. But on the mental plane. Everyday has been a constant struggle. Fighting uncertainties and fears and taking hard decisions which destiny with one flick of her fingers can easily change.

Adversity suits some writers. They become more eloquent. I have realized that I am a writer of good times. I can see comic situations in regular day to day events. I cannot write when I am mentally not at peace.
Well, I guess, that explains my long silence.

The reason behind it, I suppose, is my continual denial of the unpleasant. Things have to be pleasant or else they do not exist. Often I try to wish unpleasant things away instead of facing them boldly.
I am a coward, aren't I?
But I have never made any tall claims of being brave.
Yes, I look at the world through rose-tinted glasses and I want my bed to be made up
of roses. If there are thorns, I try to wish them away.
Not very wise, I agree. But effective most of the times.

But there are times when certain things can't be just wished away. I have been going through those times. I need to do something about it. But I don't know what to do.
It only adds to the burden of appearing fine in front of the world.

No!
I don't need advice and I am not even asking for it. Not because I think that I can handle everything on my own. I am far from that. But it's because, no one can see my perspective from where they are standing. You have to stand in my shoes first to see my point of view. And it's not only that!
You also have to feel the way I do! What is important to me might be quite trivial to you.
It's just a question of perception.

Aah! Perception!
It comes to my rescue every time.

Why do I have to see 10 questions where others can see only two?
And why do I have to feel everything so deeply when I can easily shrug my shoulders indifferently and say..."whatever"?

Thinking on paper is much better than thinking in the mind :)
Writing does give structure to thought.
So, now I have a list of structured questions in place a bunch of unstructured thoughts.
I hope that helps.

All I can try to do now is perceive things differently.
Who knows, they might not be as difficult as they seem right now.