For several days, JediBoy’s mind has kept returning to the ideas of even and odd numbers. He’ll ask - Is eleven odd? Is twenty even? - and last Friday we had a very long discussion about why one is considered an odd number. Somewhere during the discussion, something clicked for him and now he will often restart the conversation by saying: I really get why one is odd. If there are two people, one person gets it and the other one doesn’t. And I understand why three is odd. If there are two people, one gets one, one gets another, and UH-OH! Who gets the last one?
It’s so much fun to watch his mind turn like this. I had been attributing his interest to Right Start Math, which we pick up and put down from time to time, but haven’t picked up again in the past month. One of the last things we talked about was even and odd numbers.
But that puts too much weight into my linear thinking. During one even-odd discussion today, JediBoy made reference to another of his More 5 Minute Mysteries (the same tape that has him discussing Queen Victoria). One of the mysteries involves two army prisoners who dig their way out of the cell, digging 4 feet during the day and having 2 feet collapse during the night. The distance they have to dig is 13 feet. They started digging on June 28. What the captain needs to know is which guard was on duty when the prisoners escaped? Private Rondo stands guard until midnight on even days of the month, and Private Allegro stands guard until midnight on odd days of the month. It is this mystery, not my carefully strewn math curriculum, which has provoked my son to think constantly about odd and even.
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