Friday, July 15, 2016

Logic Puzzle - Fun With Isosceles Triangles and some Good Books to Boot


Summer has completely gotten away from me, between the younger girls' continual cycle of church camps and Vacation Bible Schools (this week has been a church-based basketball camp, that they've really enjoyed), and my search for the perfect "text" books for the fall - a fun but completely distracting pursuit for any bibliophile/homeschool mom, and one of the hazards of homeschooling high school students, when the texts become absorbing to teacher as well as (or hopefully for) the students.

This week I've found myself lost in geometry (Head First),


physics (...of Superheroes),


and Die Tribute Von Panem 1. Tödliche Spiele (The Hunger Games in German - for me...not so much for the children, but what a kick).


Anyway, while I haven't had a great amount of time left over to post about our summer fun, this year, I have tried to keep up with fun for the children - mainly by proving an endless supply of cookies, scattering games around the house, and keeping fresh puzzles on our board.

I'm especially happy with this week's puzzle - found (with the solution included in the comments - pictured at top of page) at smart-kit.com.  It's a perfect follow up to Dragon Box Elements - more puzzle than math, needing some basic algebra and geometry skills (I provided some hints for my own children - worded with them, rather than proper math rules, in mind), but more thought than anything else.


I worked through the problem first - just to be sure it wasn't too hard.  And, to be honest (truth in blogging, you know) had to offer up a milkshake to anyone willing to take on the puzzle...


...before I had takers.


But, since it is summer, and I like milkshakes too - I figured it wasn't a bad trade off for getting to see my teens wrestle through this one. 

7 comments:

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

This is great. Tricky, but doable :)

Phyllis said...

Fun! Great puzzle! Love you reading choices and am impressed that your German skills are so advanced.

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Phyllis - My German is very rusty. It helps that I'm familiar with the story in English. It's so much fun to find yourself carried away by the narrative in another language - something I'm hoping to help the kids discover this year.

Blessings! said...

My beloved husband is an engineer and was excited to see this puzzle and is sitting down to salve it this morning as well. *smile* Have a great weekend! Sincerely, Mommy of two growing blessings & so much more!

Ticia said...

That's the type of puzzle that I like in theory, but in practice is frustrating.

claireshomeeducation said...

So...did they manage to solve it?
Thank you for the physics of superheros book suggestion. I know my son will thoroughly enjoy it. He loved your last recommendation :)

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Yes, D and A solved it in return for milkshakes :)