6/30/2010
I'd like to start with some words from a band no one has heard of, "I thought that I should tell you, if it's not too late to say, I can put back all the pieces they just might not fit the same. Cuz' nothings worth losing, especially the chance to make it right. And I know that we're gonna be fine and the tattooed mistakes are gonna fade over time. As long as we live, time passes by, and we won’t get it back when we die." Our lives have been lessened today. Made smaller by the loss of one we called friend, and family. But I am also sorry to say that other clouds hang over this day. The cloud of feuding and the cloud of distrust. Our lives are made less by our loss, but hopefully we can gain what was lost long ago. The loss of Judy comes with it a warning and a lesson. Now is the time to mend what was broken, now is the time to connect what was separated, now is the time for us to come together, now is the time for us to forgive. We are not given a set time on this earth, we are not allowed an allowance of days to squander and fritter away. We have the shortest amount of time, and as long as we fight, as long as we feud, we lose that time. Now is the time to forgive past wrong doings. Now is the time for us to come together. I ask not for myself, and I can no longer make the plea for Judy, I ask you for yourselves. Remember the lessons of Judy's passing. Remember that friends and family are the most important things in our world. Remember our loss here, and make things better while you still can. Remember that, and Judy will not be gone from our world, Judy will be forever in our hearts.
6/29/2010
Imabitfrazzledtodayschoolsuckedandistillshouldbeathomewithmyfamilymysisterdecidedtorubsomedirtinthewoundsandremindmethatiwasnthomeifeeldrainedandexhaustedbeyondbeliefihaventsleptintwonightsandijustdontwanttobehererightnowisnappedatmykidsandifeelbadbutitwasalongtimeincomingpraytimespeedsupneedgohomeandbewithfamily.
6/27/2010
My Aunt Judy died sometime this weekend. I just heard about it today. Death always seems odd to me. Like all of a sudden I'm on screen and need to be acting in just the right way at just the right moment. The slightest things make me feel bad. Like when I wanted to go for a walk. I was listening to music and when a song came on that wasn't sad I started to feel angry at myself. I dont really know how else to describe it other then I dont know how to act when someone dies. I feel like I should be crying non-stop, but I just dont feel that. It stinks, but for some reason I think her death was more of a happy event than her life. She had no one, no parents, no kids, no significant other of any kind. My dad had last seen her at surgery on Monday, and she hadnt spoken to her other brother in years. She lived in a shack with two or three dogs. Alone, and barely able to make ends meat. For a while it seemed like she was going to have to move in with my parents and become a burden on them. That is such a horrible thing to think. I am such a bad person. I'm going to go to hell for all of eternity . . . The one I really feel bad for is my dad. I hope he is okay . . . I wish I could be home with them right now. I dont know what I could do to make it better, but at least I could be with him when i'm sure he needs me. My sister is okay, and he loves my mom, but him and I have a special bond. I can be his son and his friend. But I cant, I have five more days of summer school. This week is it. Then i'll get to go home just in time for the funeral. I think my mom said she was going to try to put it off for the week. The other funerals I've been to have all been within a couple of days of the passing, but I guess they need to look into hers because of the recent surgery she just had. I just hope this week goes fast. My Paul McCartney tickets should be here soon, and I have a book coming in the mail anytime this week. I guess the moral here is that we should all reach out and find people in our life that will make us happy and that we want to spend our lives with. I'm the most depressing, lonely guy in the world, and I just hope that my life will be filled with people who care about me and will remember me when I am gone. I think working at a school will be the start of that, but now I wish I had someone to share my life with. Judy was incredibly sad in her life, and I just wish her passing finds her in a better place. Maybe she's with her parents again and, I think, is living out all the best moments of her life. That's what I think Heaven is. And when you're ready you get to be reborn as whatever you like. I hope she's happy, and no matter what happened in her life, I know she was a good person and tried really hard. She loved her dogs and took care of them as best she could, so whatever great and powerful being their is please forgive her and give her the eternity she deserves.
Judy Daniels
1954-2010
Later all.
Judy Daniels
1954-2010
Later all.
6/17/2010
The Game that Is Worth 1,000 Worksheets
December 29, 2006
tags: Addition, Card games, Division, Fractions, Games, Integers, Math cards, Math club, Math facts, Multiplication, Negative numbers, Subtraction
by Denise
[Rescued from my old blog.]
Math concepts: greater-than/less-than, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, negative numbers, absolute value, and multi-step problem solving.
Have you and your children been struggling to learn the math facts? The game of Math Card War is worth more than a thousand math drill worksheets, letting you build your children’s calculating speed in a no-stress, no-test way.
You will need several decks of math cards. Don’t rush to look for these at your school supply store or try to order them through your favorite catalog. Math cards are normal, poker-style playing cards with the jack, queen, king, and jokers removed. Make one deck of math cards per player. A math deck contains 40 cards, so a single game of Addition War lets a child work 20 problems, and he hears his opponent work 20 more—and if your children are like mine, they will rarely want to stop at just once through the deck.
As my students learn their math facts, they need extra practice on the hard-to-remember ones like 6 × 8. With a normal deck of cards, however, I find they turn up far too many problems like 1 × 9 or 2 × 7. To give a greater challenge to older children, I make each player a double deck of math cards, but I remove the aces, deuces, and tens. This gives each player a 56-card deck full of the toughest problems to calculate.
How to Play
Basic War—Each player turns one card face up. The player with the greatest number wins the skirmish, placing his own and all captured cards into his prisoner pile. Whenever there is a tie for greatest card, all the players battle: each player lays three cards face down, then a new card face up. The greatest of these new cards will capture everything on the table. Because all players join in, someone who had a low card in the initial skirmish may ultimately win the battle. If there is no greatest card this time, repeat the 3-down-1-up battle pattern until someone breaks the tie. The player who wins the battle captures all the cards played in that turn.
[This is an old, classic children's game. I've often been amazed how such a simple thing can keep my kids occupied for hours. In our variations, because the math card decks are only 4/5 the size of a regular card deck, we give each player his own pack of cards. We don't shuffle the decks together at the beginning, although I suppose you could---that would be more like the traditional game, which (at least in our house) is usually played with a single deck shuffled and split between the players.]
Endgame
When the players have fought their way through the entire deck, count the prisoners. Whoever has captured the most cards wins the game. Or shuffle the prisoner piles and play on until someone collects such a huge pile of cards that the others concede.
Variations
For most variations, the basic 3-down-1-up battle pattern becomes 2-down-2-up. For advanced games, however, the battle pattern is different: in case of a tie, the cards are placed in a center pile. The next hand is played normally, with no cards turned down, and the winner of that skirmish takes the center pile as well.
Addition War—Players turn up two cards for each skirmish. The highest sum wins.
Advanced Addition War—Turn up three (or four) cards for each skirmish and add them together.
Subtraction War—Players turn up two cards and subtract the smaller number from the larger. This time, the greatest difference wins the skirmish.
Product War—Turn up two cards and multiply.
Advanced Product War—Turn up three (or four) cards and multiply.
Fraction War—Players turn up two cards and make a fraction, using the smaller card as the numerator. Greatest fraction wins the skirmish.
Improper Fraction War—Turn up two cards and make a fraction, using the larger card as the numerator. Greatest fraction wins.
Integer Addition War—Black cards are positive numbers; red cards are negative. The greatest sum wins. Remember that -2 is greater than -7.
Integer Product War—Black cards are positive numbers; red cards are negative. The greatest product wins. Remember that two negative numbers make a positive product.
Wild War—Players turn up three cards and may do whatever math manipulation they wish with the numbers. The greatest answer wins the skirmish.
Advanced Wild War—Black cards are positive numbers; red cards are negative numbers. Players turn up four cards (or five) and may do whatever math manipulation they wish with the numbers. The greatest answer wins the skirmish.
Reverse Wild War—Players turn up three cards (or four, or five) and may do whatever math manipulation they wish with the numbers. The answer with the lowest absolute value (closest to zero) wins the skirmish.
December 29, 2006
tags: Addition, Card games, Division, Fractions, Games, Integers, Math cards, Math club, Math facts, Multiplication, Negative numbers, Subtraction
by Denise
[Rescued from my old blog.]
Math concepts: greater-than/less-than, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, negative numbers, absolute value, and multi-step problem solving.
Have you and your children been struggling to learn the math facts? The game of Math Card War is worth more than a thousand math drill worksheets, letting you build your children’s calculating speed in a no-stress, no-test way.
You will need several decks of math cards. Don’t rush to look for these at your school supply store or try to order them through your favorite catalog. Math cards are normal, poker-style playing cards with the jack, queen, king, and jokers removed. Make one deck of math cards per player. A math deck contains 40 cards, so a single game of Addition War lets a child work 20 problems, and he hears his opponent work 20 more—and if your children are like mine, they will rarely want to stop at just once through the deck.
As my students learn their math facts, they need extra practice on the hard-to-remember ones like 6 × 8. With a normal deck of cards, however, I find they turn up far too many problems like 1 × 9 or 2 × 7. To give a greater challenge to older children, I make each player a double deck of math cards, but I remove the aces, deuces, and tens. This gives each player a 56-card deck full of the toughest problems to calculate.
How to Play
Basic War—Each player turns one card face up. The player with the greatest number wins the skirmish, placing his own and all captured cards into his prisoner pile. Whenever there is a tie for greatest card, all the players battle: each player lays three cards face down, then a new card face up. The greatest of these new cards will capture everything on the table. Because all players join in, someone who had a low card in the initial skirmish may ultimately win the battle. If there is no greatest card this time, repeat the 3-down-1-up battle pattern until someone breaks the tie. The player who wins the battle captures all the cards played in that turn.
[This is an old, classic children's game. I've often been amazed how such a simple thing can keep my kids occupied for hours. In our variations, because the math card decks are only 4/5 the size of a regular card deck, we give each player his own pack of cards. We don't shuffle the decks together at the beginning, although I suppose you could---that would be more like the traditional game, which (at least in our house) is usually played with a single deck shuffled and split between the players.]
Endgame
When the players have fought their way through the entire deck, count the prisoners. Whoever has captured the most cards wins the game. Or shuffle the prisoner piles and play on until someone collects such a huge pile of cards that the others concede.
Variations
For most variations, the basic 3-down-1-up battle pattern becomes 2-down-2-up. For advanced games, however, the battle pattern is different: in case of a tie, the cards are placed in a center pile. The next hand is played normally, with no cards turned down, and the winner of that skirmish takes the center pile as well.
Addition War—Players turn up two cards for each skirmish. The highest sum wins.
Advanced Addition War—Turn up three (or four) cards for each skirmish and add them together.
Subtraction War—Players turn up two cards and subtract the smaller number from the larger. This time, the greatest difference wins the skirmish.
Product War—Turn up two cards and multiply.
Advanced Product War—Turn up three (or four) cards and multiply.
Fraction War—Players turn up two cards and make a fraction, using the smaller card as the numerator. Greatest fraction wins the skirmish.
Improper Fraction War—Turn up two cards and make a fraction, using the larger card as the numerator. Greatest fraction wins.
Integer Addition War—Black cards are positive numbers; red cards are negative. The greatest sum wins. Remember that -2 is greater than -7.
Integer Product War—Black cards are positive numbers; red cards are negative. The greatest product wins. Remember that two negative numbers make a positive product.
Wild War—Players turn up three cards and may do whatever math manipulation they wish with the numbers. The greatest answer wins the skirmish.
Advanced Wild War—Black cards are positive numbers; red cards are negative numbers. Players turn up four cards (or five) and may do whatever math manipulation they wish with the numbers. The greatest answer wins the skirmish.
Reverse Wild War—Players turn up three cards (or four, or five) and may do whatever math manipulation they wish with the numbers. The answer with the lowest absolute value (closest to zero) wins the skirmish.
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