Decision Making and A Decision Made

A few weeks ago, I think (I can't keep track these days!), I found out about a job opening that I wasn't looking for.  A few months back I found out that the job existed, but someone had it.  Daphne has had this position for somewhere around 14 years.  But I love the sound of her job and told Scott it might be something I could do someday.  And then Daphne called me while I was shopping at Target and asked me if I knew she was retiring.  I did know that, but I have a few unpaid jobs already and hadn't considered applying for her job. 

But she called me.  She wanted me to know that my degree and personality would be ideal for this position, her position.  I told her I'd think about it, seriously, and went back to shopping.

This and That

It's Wednesday.  I like Wednesday.  Just thought you should know that.  I hope your Wednesday has been a great one.  Ours has been pretty darn good, even though Jace will tell you it was a boring day.  After all, the highlight of his day was the pizza and Pepsi he got to have at Costco.  Everything else is unworthy of "good day" status in his eyes. 

Homeschooling The Amazing Race

It's been a while since my last report on Gebel Family Homeschool.  So, I figured today would be a good day to update everyone on what we've been up to.

During those few very busy weeks, with visitors and life happening, our homeschooling continued but not necessarily five days a week.  At least not formally.  I'm becoming more and more of a believer in the unschooling principle that learning will take place regardless of how you teach. 

Mrs. Mama

I don't know if multitasking and combining roles or jobs is all that new, really.  Just think about parents - they've been around for a while and I don't know anyone who is "just a parent."  So I think we just keep changing the name for things and adjusting what we're multitasking as times and situations change around us.

A Note From My Mom

Dear Annie's blog readers,

Please excuse Annie's long absence from posting silly, enlightening, thought provoking blog posts.  She has been very busy with life.  Things never got so bad that a doctor's visit was necessary, although, a visit with a friend was in order and Annie complied with her recommendations to drink wine and eat dessert.  (The friend technically is a doctor, so if you'd like the doctor's excuse too, I'm sure we can arrange that.)  Annie is really no less busy now, but feeling more organized.  She's hoping to get back to blogging more regularly now. 

Thank you,

Annie's mom

What Makes Me Awesome

So, there I was innocently minding my own business on facebook.  When suddenly Smrt Mama posted all sorts of things that I found interesting and possibly even important.  In the midst of all the things she shared was something she put on her blog back in November.  It was an exercise in realizing how incredible you are.  I didn't do it then.  I was busy, tired, had all sorts of excuses.  But today I decided I'd take a crack at it.  What about you?  Are you ready to see how awesome you are?

Stories

Last week our homeschooling was very relaxed.  Jace has started learning cursive, which he's excited about until he actually has to practice, and I was just beat.  So, we talked about stories. 

We sent out questions to our families back when we did our family unit study.  We went over those, talked about the things Grandmas and Grandpas and Aunts and Uncles shared with us.  The kids enjoyed the connection to the family they don't see much.  Thankfully they're getting some visitors over the next few months and can't wait to see everyone who will be stopping by.

We also learned about the origins of Valentine's Day.  I don't remember ever hearing the story and I think it's quite appropriate that St. Valentine have a holiday all about love named after him.  Apparently, before he died and it was decided that he would be a saint, he was a priest.  He lived during a time of war and the ruler of his country declared that young men were not allowed to marry.  Young married men didn't make the best soldiers and he wanted them focused on fighting not on family left behind.  Valentine secretly kept performing marriages for those that wanted to unite with their loves.  When this was discovered, he was sent to prison.  The jailer's daughter visited him often and they fell in love.  He wrote her letters and, as the story goes, he signed them, "With love, from your Valentine."  Fast forward to today - smother your loves with cards, chocolate and flowers! 

We created several stories too, using Mad Libs and just on our own.  We spent time at the mall, drinking chai and people watching.  Then we told stories about the lives of the people we saw.  This was an interesting activity for me to watch the kids do.  Gracie was very excited and had lots of ideas about what people might be doing at the mall, what they might do when they're not at the mall, who they could be on the phone with.  Jace was not as excited and answered my prompts with very realistic sound bites.  "Shopping."  "Work."  "His wife."  Granted he was probably right, but Gracie's answers were much more dramatic!  "Maybe he's going shopping to find a present for his girl friend because it was just Valentine's Day and now everything is on sale and he's looking for a really cute dress to buy her and he's on the phone with her best friend to find out what style she wants.  Because, Mama, there are lots of dresses that are cute.  She could like sparkly or pink or ruffles or all three - like me!"  Such different children!

We played lots of new made-up games too.  Like the noun game that Jace made up, that turned into the adjective game.  He thought of coming up with as many nouns as we could related to a subject (like vehicles or horses) and we decided that it would be easier to come up with adjectives...so we did.  We also read and recited nursery rhymes and told about our favorite cartoons, books, or songs. 

Jace also suggested, at dinner one night, that we go around the table and say a reason why we liked each person.  When it was Jace's turn to say something he liked about me he stumbled a little.  "Hmmm.  Let me think about this one."  Then after he hemmed and hawed for a little he said, "Well, I can't come up with anything else so I guess I'll use this: I like you because I wouldn't be here without you."  He's such a pip squeak!  I'm glad he understands my role in his existence, but it would be nice if there were one or two other little things he liked about me! 

So, our week was pretty relaxed as far as school goes, but very busy otherwise!  All in all, it was a good week.  I hope you can all say the same.

Foods Around the World

A couple weeks ago we took part in a Foods Around the World lunch with some other homeschooling families.  Not only was it a lot of tasty fun to eat food from different places (at least for me - the kids weren't impressed) but we also made little poster displays to show off what we learned.  I know...fun, right?

But before you get to see those...let me tell you about the adventure of choosing our places and making our foods. 

Valentine's Day

Is it a Hallmark holiday?  Is it a day of great romance?  Is it really about love or about getting things? 

I dare say it's all of that and more, depending on who you ask and when.  Valentine's Day brings a number of things to mind for me.  One of my absolute favorite memories of Valentine's is the cards I used to get from Grandma Kral.  They looked kind of like these:





Picture from Wholesale Accessory Market



Homeschool Spirit Week

A few weeks ago we had spirit week!  It wasn't as big or crazy as the spirit weeks I remember from my youth, but we still had a good time!  Here's what we did:

Monday - Inside, Outside, Upside Down Day
     We wore our clothes inside out and/or upside down.  We went to Zero Gravity, where the kids take gymnastics, and played during their open gym time. 

Tuesday - 100th day of school!
     We had friends over and had a create-your-own-craft party.  Some of the things were pretty creative, others were just plain crazy!  But we had fun.  We had lunch and ice cream sundaes too!

Submarine Study

So, it's been a while since we've completed a study, right?  Well, there are all sorts of excuses...holidays, life, blah, blah.  Don't fret, though, I don't think kids know how to not learn, so even when we didn't officially have a unit focus we were still reading and experiencing...and climbing trees!  Very important skill.



That's Jace's head sticking out the top of the tree.

But, over the last few weeks we've been working on getting back into the swing of our routine.  The kids were very interested in learning more about submarines, with Dada being on one and all.  When we were in Georgia we visited the submarine museum there and the kids really enjoyed it.  They even remembered some of what we saw and learned.  Love when that happens!  We intended to go to the sub museum here in Washington as part of our study but never made it.  There are excuses for that too...blah, blah, blah!  We'll get there in the next few weeks...sometime.

So, what did we do?  As always we read a lot.  Our three favorite library books were:

Submarines: Underwater Stealth, by Michael Teitelbaum

Nuclear Submariners, by Antony Loveless

Submarines, by Kevin Doyle

They had great pictures and lots of information.  And the information was broken up into short segments not long, boring paragraphs.  We also spend possibly too much time at Barnes and Noble.  Tyler loves the train table and there are lots of books to read and look through!  They had a great one there, Submarines UP Close, by Andra Serlin Abramson, with even more pictures...some at actual size! 

We also made some drawings, went and looked at the submarine monument on base (again, we looked at it during our monument study too), and made a flip book.  Here are some pictures of the kids working of our submarine fact book...

After writing this is doesn't seem like our (what turned into a) three week unit was all that meaty.  But the kids really did get a lot out of it. The reasons it took more than the original one week planed were two fold...there was a snow day and I could see how much they really wanted to read more and more.  We read each of our library books more than once and they loved it.  Jace read them on his own too.  I'm sure it helped them feel closer to Dada.  But they also learned a lot about how submarines work, the different types of submarines, what the submariners do out to sea and during off crew.  It was a great study!

(If you'd like to read about our other units...check here for a list.)

To Teach or Not To Teach?

A few months ago I attended a conference about unschooling.  I thought I wrote about it on here, but I've poured over my posts and can't seem to find anything about it!  Hmm...wonder why that is.  It might be because I was a little scared by the concept after I heard from the radical unschoolers on the panel. 

I went to the conference because I was intrigued by the idea of letting learning take place when and where it takes place.  Come to find out, there's a spectrum of ideas under the umbrella of unschooling, and my thoughts about it barely dipped my toes in the water.  The men and women on the panel allow their kids to choose what they eat and when they eat it, when they go to bed, or not.  In radical unschooling, "no" isn't heard very often.  I knew that that sort of thing wasn't my style and wouldn't work in our homeschool.  But I still liked the idea of letting the children's interests lead us.

I've said from the beginning that our style was interest led unit studies, so I guess the conference didn't change me too much, but it did make me aware of different styles out there and possibly more aware of all the things my kids pick up even without my trying. 

This past week the kids have shown how well they learn when they're interested.  Jace loves all things military these days...and the last several months, possibly years.  Anyway, he gets at least one book from the library every time we go on tanks, submarines, special forces, etc.  At a pancake breakfast a week ago he got all the kids together to form the KF, Kid Forces.  That way they could take us adults down if we got out of hand.  He's totally into it! 

So, this past week we've been learning about submarines.  Dada is out to sea and Gracie wanted to know more about his boat and I didn't figure Jace would mind.  We read about many different kinds of subs, some that carry SEALs, who then get out and swim to their destinations.  There was a little blurb about the SEALs.  I started to read it and then I asked Jace before I read it when the SEALs were started.  "1962," he said, without having to think very hard.  Then he went on to tell me that SEALs stands for SEa, Air, and Land.  Did you know that? 

And Gracie, may not have known that yet, although she probably does now, but she is picking things up too.  Her reading is improving by leaps and bounds.  In fact that seems to be how she makes her progress.  She seems really interested in reading sometimes and then looses interest for a while.  I haven't pushed it when she's been less interested.  This morning, out of the blue, she asked if she could read me a book, instead of her normal request for me to read to her.  I said, "Sure." 

She grabbed a library book.  It was one that I'd seen her with, but I hadn't read to her yet.  She sat on my lap and read me the book!  I was so proud. 

I think it just goes to show...schooling, homeschooling, unschooling...following a curriculum, preparing unit studies, or setting them free...teaching or not teaching...they'll learn.  I love it!  They're learning!

I get so excited every time I realize it over again!  They're really learning.  Probably not everything their counterparts are in Kindergarten and second grade.  Maybe not more, maybe not less.  I don't really know.  But they're definitely learning.  I'm giving their teacher a gold star.

Rhyming

Today we're playing with rhyming.  Seemed like something fun to do!  So, this morning during breakfast we thought of rhyming words and then made them into little poems!  Here's a few of my favorites before I forget them...

There was a very lazy cat.

All he did was nap on his mat.

Until one day he got a new hat

And ran off...pat, pat, pat.

*****

We went to get our Christmas tree.

It was my husband, my children, and me.

While we were in the field, Jace decided to pee.

Such a boy!  He just acted like he.

*****

If I were a boy,

And I had the right toy...

I could go riding on the Hatfield-McCoy.

Wouldn't that be a joy?

I think everyone should rhyme over breakfast!  It's a great start to the day!



Today's Revelations

This month I intended to continue with homeschooling, but in a much less formal way and with a lot more focus on activities, crafts, seasonal joys.  Last week I started to wonder if we were taking off more time than we were homeschooling.  But today I've decided that we're definitely schooling.  These kids (and perhaps others) are great! 

See, we were going to play with money today.  I had plans to count it, pretend to pay for things with it, separate the coins, and count it some more!  Instead, just as I asked the kids to get their piggy banks, the phone rang.  I thought about not answering.  I could see the caller ID and it was a friend whom I hadn't talked with in a while that I really wanted to talk with.  I've been missing her a lot lately, so I decided to answer and let the kids count on their own. 

Not only did they count the money, but Jace got his microscope out and studied it!  I never would have thought of that.  And, honestly, if he'd mentioned it I most likely would have brushed it off.  What's there to study?  It's money!  But while talking to my friend and watching him I discovered that there's a lot to look at.  He compared dollar bills - which was faded more, what letters were on them, how they were similar.  He loved it!  And I loved the sparkle in his eyes!  And Gracie counted lots of ways.  She found that she has 240 cents in dimes.  Jace told her that 100 cents equals a dollar and she knew immediately that she had $2.40.  Wonderful.

Wonderful! 

I don't know why I get so excited when they learn something or enjoy learning or something clicks for them or whatever...but I do.  It's just marvelous to see!

So, there's that.  And while we were talking, my friend pointed out that I probably wasn't that far off base focusing on the holidays rather than curriculum.  After all, the public schools tend to do that too!  She's always so great about putting things in perspective.  And she's right!  I got tons of crafts and went to holiday pageants and parties in the years Jace and Gracie were in public school. 

So, the kids are still learning.  And that means, in my eyes, that we are still homeschooling, just in a less formal way.  It's working!  Woo hoo!!!

And I had a great chat with my dear friend.  A great day, indeed. 

Family Unit Review

Family.  What a fun thing to study this time of year! 

The Gebel family exists in it's own corner of the world, away from aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins.  So, in Gebel Family Homeschool we studied family last month.  We talked about how family is defined in different cultures, holiday traditions with family, and ancestry.  We found a lot of good books at the library, all of which I've taken back so I can't tell you what they were.  If you're interested, though, in doing your own study about family check out your local libraries for some great options. 

I remember one book we used was a Fancy Nancy book!  It was one of Gracie's books and when I read about Nancy asking her grandfather questions about another family member we both thought how cool it was that it fit right in with what we were studying!  I love when things work out so nicely.

The big project we did with this study was to make family trees.  However, the kids wanted to do something other than a tree...so they did!

This is Gracie's Family Bouquet.    It's kind of hard to see, but each side of the family has a different color flower.  The last name is in the middle with each family member on a petal.  Our immediate family is the flower with all the different colors in it.  The kids are red and Scott and I are each our original families' colors.  Pretty awesome, huh?

Jace chose a winter scape for his family tree.  Again, it's hard to make out, but there are thirteen little snow hills drawn in.  That's all I did.  He then created sleds for each family and pasted pictures of the people we had pictures for and drew in those we didn't.  Each sled had to be pulled by a dog.  After all, "We are in the North Pole Mama.  How do you expect the sleds to go?"  Uncle Jared and Aunt Kate actually have Pickle, their actual pet, pulling them around!  Our family sled has treads rather than tracks and is electric.  For fun he tossed Santa in at the top and declared us all elves! 

I love their creativity and imagination and all that other stuff!  They really do amaze and I'm still so honored to have this chance to be a part of their lives in this very intimate way.  Love them!

But before I get all emotional, let's finish our unit review, shall we?  The last thing we did was to create a list of questions for our extended family members.  Yes, that means all of you reading this will also be receiving a list of very difficult questions to answer and return.  OK, not all that difficult, but please do answer and return!  I'd like to use those questions to facilitate another study of families in the Spring.  In that unit I'm planning on covering a little more about the make up of family and what it really means (family that's actually related and "family" that's not).  We'll also use your answers as jumping off points for a few studies in social studies and history.  Yes, if you're a grandparent - your childhood counts as history for your grandchildrens' schooling.  

So, that's our latest unit.  December is a busy month for everyone and we're doing things a little differently with school this month.  I'll write a little more about that in a week or two!  Until then, happy learning! 

A Few Changes

So, I've been playing with my blog design.  You may have noticed.  Maybe not.  Either way, let me tell you about the changes I've made.  Basically I removed some of the links from the side bar and added them in my new pages at the top.  Directly under the blog's title you see four little tabs that say will bring you to different places here at Live it.  Love it (or not).  Write about it.

"Home" will bring you to the most current posts.

"Our Navy Life" gives a little blurb about our lives as a Navy family.  I haven't put any links on there yet.  I'm still deciding what ones I want to add.

"Homeschooling" provides you with a short story about how and why we homeschool.  Those of you who know me are likely surprised that it's such a short story!  I figured I was writing pages and pages on here, so readers could always find out more if they wanted.  Or they could ask!  It also includes links to other blogs about homeschooling and to the unit reviews I've posted on here.

"Living Healthy" tells you a little about primal living and lists several other sites that can help you live primally, mind, body, and spirit. 

I hope you enjoy the little differences.  To some it may not seem like much.  I'm obviously not an expert in the world of technology.  I am excited, though, to have made a few little improvements.  Let me know what you think.

Money Unit Review

This week we talked about money in homeschool.  The kids really enjoyed it.  It was an interesting unit, actually. 

We got a book from the library, The History of Money (Barbara A. Somervill), that was great for kids.  There were a lot of pictures and it didn't go too far into anything, but gave a very nice overview from bartering to the Euro. 

We also spent a good deal of time on a website that Mary (my little sister and member of our Gebel Family Homeschool Directors Board) suggested to me.  Planet Orange was succinct, informational, and fun!  We learned about budgeting, saving, and investing. 

Between the book and the web site we learned several new words to add to our growing dictionary (like mint, inflation, and interest).  We also talked about the ways we get, spend, save, and give money.  Our week also included a few activities.  We brainstormed names for money or words having to do with it.  I think moolah is their new favorite!  And Jace kept track of how much we were spending at the grocery store this week.  He was only $17 off at the end.  I didn't think that was bad, but he wants to do it again next week and see if he can do even better! 

All in all, it was a great week.  We changed out schedule because Scott's schedule was different, but I think they did really well with it.  I'm not sure if that's a result of it being something new, being on their best behavior so that Dada could sleep, or if they work better in the afternoon than the morning.  But we're going to keep working with it and see what happens!

How was your homeschooling this week?

Halloween (and more) Unit Review

Yesterday was Halloween!  We took a break before the end of our Simple Machines Unit to have some fun with and learn about Halloween.  And, as it turns out, there are a few other holidays that fall right around now that are part of other cultures that we're not.  We talked about them too! 

That's our homemade scarecrow.  Scott says he's not all that scary.  Probably true, but he was a lot of work.  We didn't use straw or corn stalks.  He's stuffed with weeds from the back yard.  When I brought them into the basement there might have been some spiders that came along for the ride.  That meant screaming and jumping.  Craziness!  But we succeeded in working together to make a fun decoration.  That's what it's all about in the end.

(Just a note about the pictures: You'll notice that Jace is in his pajamas and Gracie's in a dress.  This is typical.  Gracie likes to "look cute all the time" and Jace will stay in his PJ's until he has to change into clothes!  They keep me smiling!)

We read a book called Ghost Wings, by Barbara M. Joosse, that talked about Day of the Dead, or El Dia de Los Muertos, from the library.   In our culture talking about those that have gone before us can be taboo.  I know I've gotten a little flack for taking our kids to funerals, even though Scott and I felt it appropriate.  Day of the Dead is a holiday that celebrates the people who have died.  Family and friends remember them, talk about them, eat their favorite foods, play music they enjoyed, and they may even do all of this at their grave.  I got a special kick out of that twist!  When I was younger my mother mowed the church cemetery and at times i had to go along with her.  I used to play among the stones and practice my flute there.  It's a peaceful and pleasant memory for me, although it raises some eyebrows when I share it.  Perhaps if I were in Mexico people wouldn't think twice! 

A friend loaned me a book, Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions, by Joyce and River Higginbotham.  It talked a little about Samhain.  This festival celebrates the end of summer and the change into winter along with honoring the dead.  I'm sure there's more to it, but that's as far as we went into it.  We talked a lot, with both of these holidays, about the concept of remembering people who have died before us.  Fortunately, the kids haven't lost anyone they've been close to.  They remember bits and pieces about great grandparents that have died, but mostly we ended up talking about pets.  That works too.  Right?

We also covered All Saint's Day, from what I remembered.  Sadly, I'm sure they didn't take as much from that discussion.  Although, Gracie did ask if I was a saint because "making something for dinner that everyone likes is like a miracle, right?"  I smiled and truly appreciated that she recognized that!  I told her we'd have to wait until I died to find out, but that I probably wouldn't be a saint in anyone's eyes but hers.  Love her!

And, of course, Halloween.  We read several fun books from the library.  I've already taken them back, sorry!  But I know there was an alphabet one, one of poems (Hallowilloween, Calef Brown), and a few others.  We also read about the history of trick or treating, jack-o-lanterns, and dressing up on a few websites.  (History of Halloween and Halloween History)

We had a fun time with all this, at least I did!

Simple Machines Unit Review

We started talking about simple machines a few weeks ago.  I expected it to be a two week unit.  However, life got in the way and we're just finishing it this week.  Most of last week we studied Halloween and connected holidays (more about that in the next review).  Back to simple machines...

We got the following books from the library:

Ancient Machines: From Wedges to Waterwheels, Michael Woods and Mary B. Woods
First Science Experiments: Mighty Machines, Shar Levine and Leslie Johnstone
Experiments With Simple Machines, Salvatore Tocci
Starting With Science: Simple Machines, Deborah Hodge

The last three books covered a lot of the same material and had similar experiments in them.  There were several we didn't do, but we did have some fun with levers, pulleys, inclined planes, and wedges. 

Sorry, I didn't take many pictures this go 'round.  Aside from experiments and reading we also added several words to our growing dictionary.  Aunt Mary suggested that we build a Rube Goldberg machine, but we didn't.  Jace would have loved it, but I'm not ready for that yet.  Perhaps in a year or two.  We did talk about them, though, and look at some of them here.  I was going to have Jace fill out this around the house worksheet, but he naturally did it on his own, without me supplying him with blanks to fill in.  I still think it's a great tool, though.  Maybe you can use it! 

And, that's about it, folks.  We really enjoyed this unit, especially learning about the difference periods of history all over the world.  I, for one, had no idea that the Stone Age was at different times for different cultures...I guess you learn something new every day, especially when you're a teacher.

Noticing the Differences

In case this is your first visit here to my little blog home...we have three mostly wonderful kids. 



Halloween 2008


Jace
Our first born is definitely our most serious.  He loves learning, reading, watching TV, and being outside.  This summer he and Scott have done a lot of hiking.  Jace has a great sense of humor.  I feel like it's pretty sophisticated, but it might just be that my sense of humor isn't! 

Jace's current interests are karate, inventions, and learning cursive.  We just started cursive writing today, although he's been asking for weeks.  You've never seen a kid more excited!  He practiced the letters of his name, separately and together, for almost half an hour! 

Gracie

A bundle of unbridled energy!  She just has to jump, skip, laugh loudly, and (whenever possible) have her feet above her head!  She loves gymnastics, fashion, hair, jewelry, and all things girly!  She likes practicing writing and works hard to color in the lines...with every color she can find!

Every chance we get, Gracie likes to go places with me, without her brothers.  It doesn't matter where we go or what we do...she likes our "girl time!"  Gracie is reading more and more and enjoys homeschooling a great deal.  

Tyler

Our little guy is quite the monkey.  He's missing the tail and not covered in fur, but otherwise...totally monkey!  He likes to climb over anything.  Scott and I think it's more about the most direct route than climbing, but over the couch he goes!  He's mischievous like any little brother should be.  As a mother I probably shouldn't laugh, but it's quite funny when he goes up to Gracie and says, "Ha! Ha!" just to get her going!  

Tyler likes include vehicles.  That's pretty much it!  He likes trains, planes, cars, trucks, 4-wheelers, garbage trucks, firetrucks, police cars, motorcycles, construction vehicles...I'm sure I missed something, there are so many ways to get from here to there.  He also enjoys helping in the kitchen and cuddling with Mama! 

That's it...the kids in a nutshell.  It fascinates me to watch them grow and see where their interests are taking them.  There are certainly some things I don't enjoy...the apparent need to pick at each other, yelling or crying when someone touches someone else's toys, general obnoxiousness!  Mostly, though, they're quite fun. 

Staying home with them, and now teaching them, there are so many subtle things I've noticed about how they're unique.  It's a special gift, I think. 

The observation that prompted this whole post happened during math today.  Last week Jace was doing a review lesson that involved coloring half of an object.  He quickly shaded in half of everything with the side of his pencil.  Gracie's lesson today included the same task.  She got out her box of crayons and picked the colors she wanted for each item.  On the donut she colored the cake, frosting, and sprinkle halves each a different color.  She colored half the watermelon complete with red stripes on green background.  It hit me how different she and Jace are sometimes!  I can't wait to see how Tyler colors his lessons when he's learning fractions in a few years.