Tuesday, April 22, 2014

The Goat Judge With The Carpeted Barn

The eighth-grader and I both have a silly sense of humor. I click fantastically with these types.

The word problem showed a diagram of the floor plan of a house, divided into several rooms with specified length x width dimensions. Some of the floor would be carpeted. How much was needed?

Right off the bat she pointed out how crazy the name of the family was. The "Besos." What kind of a name is Besos? No one has a name like that. This isn't a very realistic problem.

Yeah, I said. Maybe they're not from around here. Maybe they're goats.

(Squeals of laughter that cause library patrons to whip their heads about)

Goats living in a barn, she asked? Trying to carpet their barn? Maybe the goat dad has a rich job like a judge or something so that he can afford the carpet?

Not a very smart judge, I pointed out, if he's spending money to carpet a barn full of goats.

(Squeals)

Not to mention that his floor plan doesn't seem to have a bathroom. Those floors are going to get a little messy.

(Squeals)

I guess there are two unnamed rooms. But one's off the guest bedroom. Not a very polite place to have your guests' noses trying to get some sleep.

We got some math done, too. I like to think that the humor keeps the mind loose for learning.

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