Last week the kids took a good portion of the week to prepare for a father’s day extravaganza. It struck me halfway through Sunday that in fact this father’s day was more celebration than any of the Hub’s birthdays have been to this point. Such is the gratitude of my children of late. It may just be a phase, but I hope not.
So last week I sat down with Doodle Bug Red to help her design a hat to fit her daddy’s head, based only on the circumference of his favorite hat that we measured late one night while he was sleeping. Doodle Bug Red knew exactly how tall the perfect “Wizard” hat should be, but was uncertain of how to make a sewing pattern so she would end up with the wizard hat cone shape she wanted. Well, an impromptu math lesson kicked into action and before she knew it, my child was getting a hands-on lesson on the geometry of cones. We started with my college copy of the CRC Standard Math Tables book, 28th edition, blue version (I realize that probably dates me into the ‘old goat’ category).
She found the right equation:
for a Right Circular Cone (or Wizard’s hat) with R=radius of the base, h=the height of the cone, and s=the slant height (that was the measurement we needed)
s² = R² + h² or s = √(R² + h²)
We had just talked about Pythagoras and his theorem, so she understood where that equation comes from.
The really magical part was after she drew out the pattern, translating the cone measurements to the flat surface of the paper, she exclaimed: “why that is one third of a circle!”
“Yes, exactly! Wait until we learn about volume and surface area for cones” I told her.
That moment of true understanding of conical shapes will forever be tied in her mind with the wizard hat she made for her daddy.
That is the magic and the beauty of homeschooling.
Measuring, cutting, sewing, and voila she did it! A Wizard Hat for her daddy to proudly wear on father’s day.
Along the way she realized that a cone is in some sense also 1/3 of a circle.
Positively Priceless.