Cheaper by the Dozen Part 2

Cheaper by the Dozen~Frank B, Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
I read from page 22 to page 52

This week they told about how their dad taught them to do the touch system for typing and how to multiply really fast in their head.  Ernestine was the fastest at typing and their dad wanted to take her to a typing competition, but their mom wouldn't let him.  He taught them by giving all of the children a typing chart with the fingers on.  They then put colored chalk on their fingers and the paper keyboard to represent which finger went on which keys.  Then, once they learned the order of the keys and things they would be able to type of the brand new typewriter that dad had just bought.  The person who could type the fastest at the end of the two weeks that they had to learn the fingerings and things, would get the typewriter.  Martha was the fastest at multiplying in her head and dad wanted to take her to a competition and their mom let him. He taught them to multiply two digit numbers in their head at the dinner table one night.  They had to memorize the squares of all of the numbers up to twenty.  It took a couple of months, but eventually they got the hang of it and so did the littlest child.  Their three year old son was able to multiply in his head pretty fast as well.

Question:  I wonder how they all took turns using the typewriter because there were so many of them that were trying to practice their typing, and only one typewriter.

Prediction:  I predict from the title of the next chapter that some of the kids got to skip grades because they were so smart.  The title of the next chapter is "Skipping Through School."

Connection:  I am going to connect to the part in the book about learning to type.  We use a system in our school called Ultra Key.  On the key board on the screen they have all of the keys color coated by what finger goes on them.  We used that system in third, fourth, and fifth grade to learn to type fairly fast and accurately.  That is sort of similar to what they used to type on the typewriter.

Key Question:  There is no Key Question this week!!!  :} :} :} :} :} :}

Cheaper by the Dozen Part 1

Cheaper by the Dozen~Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
I read from page 1 to page 22

In the beginning, they described the family and how it ran.  They described that the dad would try and figure out how they could get things done with less motions.  For example, he buttons his shirt bottom up because it saves him four seconds from if he went from the top to the bottom.  He also did that for businesses.  He would try to figure out how he would be able to make their production rate go much faster.  They explained how he would call the family assembly call to give out gifts, or introduce them to someone, or make an announcement, or he would use it if there was an emergency like a fire or something because the children could evacuate the house VERY quickly.  They explained how he showed them their new house.  He told them that it wasn't the best, and then he drove to a neighborhood with a rundown house.  They all got out thinking that this was their house and they didn't know how to respond. Then their dad looked at the address and said that he had gotten it wrong.  When they got to their actual house, they didn't know if he was joking or not.  It ended up that he wasn't joking.  They explained how everybody had a job in the car. They certainly got a lot of attention when they were driving down a street and the dad would just talk right along with the people.  They told about a joke that one of the kids played on the dad.  If you want to find out more detail, you should go pick up the book and read it for yourself.

Question:  I wonder how their family ever gets along.  Think about the TV.  Who would get the remote?

Prediction:  I predict that in the next chapter, I will figure out who Mrs. Murphy is because her name is in the title of the chapter.

Connection:  I am going to connect this week to the movie Home Alone.  In that movie, a little boy gets in trouble and is told to go up the attic or something like that.  The family has cousins, aunts, and uncles over because they are leaving for Paris (I think.)  Well, the next morning they take a head count, but a neighbor boy gets counted and they think that they have enough kids.  It wasn't until they were on the airplane that they realized that they had left him home alone and forgotten about him.  That is sort of like what I am telling you about in my Key Question.  When one of the kids gets left at a restaurant and they don't notice until they are almost home.

Key Question:  For our Key Question this week, we had a choice whether we wanted to write a paragraph comparing two of our characters from our book, a paragraph on a problem that occurred and they had many different solutions for it, or if there was something that happened to the characters that had a lot of effects on them.  The last one that we were allowed to do was persuasion.  We have to do one that we haven't done yet.  The only one that I haven't done yet is problem and solution.
             There are problems that occur in this family considering problems occur when there are only five people in a family, imagine the problems with a 14 person family.  A problem that occurred in this family is people would get left behind in places and really, you wouldn't get noticed because there were so many other kids.  To solve this, they always take a role call before they leave. They had it once where they left someone at a restaurant and they didn't notice until the trip was about done that they were missing him.  So, now they always take role call before they leave for somewhere or from somewhere. That is how they solved that problem.

Cheaper By The Dozen

I chose to read Cheaper By The Dozen

This is about the only picture that I could find of this exact book cover.

Alone

Mary Ingalls On Her Own~Elizabeth Kimmel Willard
I read from page 152 to page 180 (the end of the book)

This week, Mattie was asked to leave the college like I said last week.  That meant that Ben was going to go home as well because he was only there to try to help Mattie.  Mary was sad that Mattie was gone once she found out her whole story.  She was engaged, but when she began to become blind, the man quit the engagement.  She was sad and I think that that is part of why she was so mad and sharp to everyone else.  Mary was also sad because she wanted to apologize to Mattie for what she had done. After a little while, Mary left the infirmary and a few weeks later told Hannah and Blanche about what really happened that night that she and Mattie were in the rain.  Then Hannah and Blanch told their stories about how they had become blind.  Hannah's parents didn't tell her that she was going blind, and she had to figure it our all by herself.  Blanche had gone to the doctor and the doctor told her that she was in the first stage of blindness.  For her, she had relatives that were either blind, or partially sighted.  Over Christmas break, Mary volunteered to tutor two younger girls who were staying at the college over the holidays.  Mary knew how they felt.  Right at the end of the book, on Christmas Eve, Miss Mattice came in her room with a package and two letters from home.  One letter was from Ma, and the other one was from Laura.  Mary decided to wait to open them until Christmas morning or day.  She then went downstairs to meet the girls that she was going to tutor.
I next hope to read either Cheaper By The Dozen, or Storm Warning.  Stay tuned to next weeks post to find out what one I picked.

Question:  I wonder how old the two girls are that Mary is tutoring?  It never says how old they are, it just says that they are young.  Their names are Tessie and Lucia.  Both are pretty names.

Prediction:  I predict that Mary will have a fun time tutoring the two younger girls and that she will have a good time at the college over Christmas break. She will have fun in the activities that they have planned the the students who are staying at the college over Christmas because their houses are two far away, or their families can't afford to have them home for Christmas.

Connection:  I am going to connect to the part of the book where Mary is not home for Christmas.  I am going to connect that with another family that I know. Their name is the VanderBeeks.  They were in Costa Rica over Christmas (they still are in Costa Rica.)  She posted on their blog that it was hard knowing that everybody was gathering together on that day and they weren't going to be there with everybody.  They knew what their family members were doing on that day.  The is kind of like Mary because she thought about what her family would be doing at that time, and she missed them and wished that she could be back home with them.

Key Question:  For our Key Question this week, we had a choice whether we wanted to write a paragraph comparing two of our characters from our book, a paragraph on a problem that occurred and they had many different solutions for it, or if there was something that happened to the characters that had a lot of effects on them.  This week, we are also allowed to do persuasion. We just have to do a different one than we did last week.  I am going to do the one on Persuasion.

          Miss Mattice sort of persuaded Mary that Christmas at the college is not that bad.  She said that they had a few treats in store for the next few days for the students that are staying over at the college. Plus, Mary is tutoring two students, and that will make the time fly by.  Miss Mattice understood that it is not like home, but I think that she persuaded Mary that it won't be so bad.  I also think that Mary figured some of that out on her own.