Number, Please

Since he got his new graphing calculator last week, Alex has been carrying it with him around the house—from the family room to his bedroom to the kitchen to the bathroom. In addition, he has been filling notebooks with numbers he’s written. One morning, we discovered that he apparently had run out of paper in his bedroom, so he decided to write numbers on his bedroom wall. [A little household tip: thankfully, a cotton cosmetic square soaked with rubbing alcohol takes dry erase marker off painted walls.] Another evening, Ed noticed that Alex had written numbers on his legs and tummy. [Another tip: anti-bacterial soap, which contains alcohol, takes ballpoint ink off skin.] Not surprisingly, when I went to check his Internet searching history on his laptop the other day, he’s been researching numbers.

Here are a dozen number-related sites Alex has investigated online this week:

1. He Googled “big number random generator.”

2. He also checked out “math videos” on Google.

3. In addition, he typed, “count from 0 to 100 & beyond” into Google.

4. Similarly, he searched for “numbers 0-500” on Google.

5. Later, he expanded his Google search for “numbers tables 0-10,000.”

6. The last search I discovered on Google was “2091,” which may seem like a random big number. However, I’m sure he was thinking of it as a year because in 2091, he will turn 100 years old.

7. From Google, he went to You Tube, where he found a video called “Random Number Generator.”

8. You Tube also amused him with a musical video called “Numbers Song 1-1000.”

9. Another You Tube music video he watched was entitled, “The Big Numbers Song.”

10. His Google searches enabled him to find a site that had a prime numbers
table.

11. He also spent some time at homeschoolmath.net, where he looked at free rounding worksheets and free number charts.

12. Finally, combining his interest in math and foreign languages, he visited a
website that taught how to count from 0 to 100 in more than twenty different languages.

Since I never particularly liked math, I’ve never quite understood Alex’s love of everything about numbers. However, I’m pleased that he still possesses a curiosity about learning and has developed the skills needed to research topics he finds interesting, both of which ensure that he will continue to learn and develop his mind.

“And I will make a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting covenant. I will give them their land and increase their numbers, and I will put my Temple among them forever. “ Ezekiel 37:26