Daley Ponderings

Or perhaps "salt" and two syllables.

Perfectly logical, yes. I would have said 15 cents was different because it's the only one you can't make with just one coin, but "odd" is absolutely right.

I'm still puzzling about "flour, pepper, sugar, salt, soda" one, though. Jonathan's answer makes more sense than most I can think of. I could say "pepper" because the others are ingredients one usually puts in pancakes, but that seems a little obscure to me.

Or perhaps "pepper" because is isn't white (which baking soda is, along with the others.)

"I decided to (mostly arbitrarily) call today the last day of Kindergarten. Tomorrow will be the first day of First Grade."

I love homeschooling! Labels are arbitrary and the learning never stops. :)

Soda being baking soda didn't even cross my mind - I was with Jonathan on that one. I struggled to find the "salt" alternative, but I think they were aiming for Dad-o's solution.

I was thinking the book meant "stuff to make a cake with" and pepper would be the odd man out. But that assumes the kid who's doing the book knows they mean "baking soda" instead of "carbonated beverage".

I pointed out to him the "can make with only one coin" solution after he wrote his, but told him that both answers were correct. He replied, "Oh, yeah! You have to use two coins to make 15 cents."

I'm amazed that they would expect a child to know the ingredients in a cake. Not many have Jonathan's cooking experience. And even he makes pancakes without all those ingredients. Still, I'm fairly certain they meant baking soda.

Dad's "white" criterion seems the most obvious to a child, but I wouldn't expect a child to know much about baking soda. And a child in a whole-wheat household wouldn't think of flour as white, come to think of it.

I don't suppose the book came with an answer key, did it?

So, what's the odd man out here:
1 Rappen, 5 Rappen, 15 Rappen, 25 Rappen, 10 Rappen

Dad-o is correct! I didn't think to look for an answer key. Pepper/white things is the official answer. Of course, it could easily be white pepper if they are leaving out key adjectives...

1 Rappen is not in circulation anymore, so there could not be anything that costs that amount singly. (I hope that's right, I only got it from wikipedia.)

That's the one I was looking for, though of course Jonathan's solution remains correct.

I love how Jonathan thinks, too! I had a blast talking to him about his inventions when we went camping.

My mom and I laugh about how non-violent you and Jon are and how Jonathan is still really interested in guns and blowing things up. Boys will be boys, I suppose!

heather - do you use critical thinking books for logic? i am looking for one for rowan and sawyer to start. do you have a recommendation?

The first logic book I used was Lollipop Logic by Prufrock Press. Jonathan went through the whole thing last year. Noah did some of the activities in it, some were too hard.

Now we are using Logic Countdown by Prufrock Press for Jonathan. It is labeled for grades 3-4 and it is challenging for him.

For Noah I got Critical Thinkin Co.'s Mind Benders Beginning Book 1. It is labeled for PreK-K. It was perfect at the beginning, but later problems use math and reading that he is not ready for yet. Also, he doesn't really get the concept of the logic grid (how you figure out where the x's and o's go.)

There was a book somewhere at CHAP that had logic without those grids that I wish I had gotten for him. Unfortunately, I can't remember at all what it was called or who made it. (I looked at so many logic books that weekend!)

The Mind Benders series has many different levels, so it was helpful to look through them at CHAP.

So I guess I'd recommend you start with Lollipop Logic. Then you'll see what kinds of puzzles your boys like and are good at and what needs work, and can go from there.

I just wanted to mention that you can always search for printable puzzles online. One site that I found that had nice looking puzzles and lots of different kinds was www.puzzles.com. Look for the puzzles that have a "download" option because they are the PDF pages.

One of the puzzles I thought was interesting was Strimko and they have a bunch of archived ones, some more complex than others.