Photos from MoS

A couple of pictures in front of a concave mirror. The reflections were awesome and I am surprised at how good the pictures came out. I love Aseem's BIG hair!

Museum of Science Trip

Marianne had organized a field-trip of the homeschooling group to MoS. Naturally we decided to join in. It turned out to be a long playdate for Aseem and Supriya. The kids spent a lot of time at the new virtual fish-tank exhibit, which is designed to explore decentralized group behavior (such as flocking). It was clearly beyond what the kids could understand, but that did not deter them and they spent probably an hour and a half there. Supriya also saw the electricity show with her friend Emily.

All three of us had tickets to the Dinosaur Live! show at the Omni theater, but only Supriya ended up watching the show. Aseem got really scared right the beginning (as we had suspected) and he and I came out. We went and played in the exploration area and he got to make a cool helicopter that actually worked. We spent a lot of time throwing it up and watching it come down twirling, as we waited for Supriya.

On the way out we made the mandatory stop at the Museum Store. Supriya bought a pocket encyclopedia of dinosaurs, and Aseem bought a Rocket kit that uses vinegar and baking soda to shoot rockets (upto 50 feet, according to the box!) - and I bought a MoS tote to carry the stuff!

An excellent time was had by all...

Aseem Cracks the Code!

Aseem and I are lying in bed just talking. He says, "I ate cereal while you were asleep: A - Slee - Puh." [For the last many days Aseem has been saying ,"I have two words for you: N O!" (copying his big sister who apparently was going around threatening her cousin Aamod, "I have three words for you: You Will Pay!"] Manisha and I had been thinking about his reading progress in connection with something else, so I ask him on a whim, "Do you know what letter makes the "puh" sound?" "P" he says! "And Slee?" "S!" "How about LLLLLL?" "L!" At this point Assem has realized for himself that he was onto something great and he has this huge grin on face!

Then I go through "Time", "Door" and of course that most favorite word, "Butt". At this stage I am interested only in the beginning and ending consonant sounds. He gets them all.

Now he is on a roll and wants to read a book. By now the whole family is gathered in the bedroom to celebrate this milestone. Supriya recommends "Hop on Pop" because it has only a few words on each page. Aseem has his own idea and picks up "Put Me in the Zoo". Supriya and I read the book to him, slowly and word by word. Aseem knows the book practically by heart and follows along. It is tiring work and he is done by the end of the book. It's a lovely start to the weekend.

Cut the Knot

Manisha sent me the link to Cut-the-knot.org today and Supriya and I spent some time there. Lots of cool stuff. We worked on three problems of strategy, something Supriya is good at and generally enjoys:

• Toads and frogs: Supriya got stuck a couple of times and then cracked it. I increased the number of frogs and toads to 5 each (the max) and she got that also. We ended up generalizing the solution (get the frogs and toads to alternate, simply put).
• Towers of Hanoi: I had written about this when we visited the Museum of Science just about a year ago. Supriya went to work on it as if she knew the answer - and she did! I was amazed at her recall ability. She first zoomed through the 4 ring default problem. Then I increased the number to 10 (the max). She went all the way to transferring 5 rings and then stopped, complaining about her fingers hurting from all the mouse-clicking!
• Goat, cabbage and wolf: This is an interesting problem and Supriya was stuck until I gave her the hint. The solution was trivial after that!

One Laptop Per Child

We landed back in the US a couple of days ago. Our held mail was waiting for us in the side porch. The big box was the big attraction. Aseem and Supriya had been waiting for it. "It's our laptops!" (We had bought 2 by donating to the Give One, Get One campaign run by One Laptop Per Child last year.) They could not wait for me to open the box. I was afraid it was going to take a long time to charge the battery and get the laptops working, but luckily it just plugged into the wall socket and started working.

I am very impressed with the XO, as it's called. It is very well-designed and quite intuitive. Supriya has spent a lot of time in the last 4 days and learned to use many of its many preloaded programs. Yesterday morning she was at my bedside at 5 o'clock, showing me a little animation she had made! We have already created our own little mesh network, connecting the two XOs wirelessly. We have been able to chat with each other and measure the distance between the two by using its Accoustic Measurement program (with a cute little dolphin icon).

I am as impressed with Supriya's fearless exploration of the XO as I am by the machine. It reinforces my belief that the whole idea behind OLPC is brilliant and is going to revolutionize education across the globe. (Here is a related story.)