Maths in Everyday Life

...is one of the things I am always saying to the children.

Today I spent the morning at my knitting group, working on my crochet hexagon blanket, drinking tea, chatting and eating really, really fantastic carrot cake. Later, whilst Betsy was at Tag Rugby and Al was playing with the drawing tool on my iPad, my Maths in everyday Life came out as I worked out how many hexagons I will need (121), how many colour combinations there are (20), how many sets I will need (6 +1) and how many more balls of wool I will need (7). The scales came in as I was working out how much additional yarn I would need by weight. If I ever finish the thing, it will have an uneven edge which I will have to work out how to square off somehow. I'm a crochet beginner so this may take some time and I expect I'll be blipping this blanket on a number of occasions!

I nearly had a fit today as Betsy was walking home alone from Tag Rugby (she's been doing this for some time, as well as going to and from school alone or with her friends), and she texts me when the club has finished, so I know to expect her in 10 minutes or so. Well, Rugby finishes at 4.30, and though she had warned me that it might go on later today for some reason or another, when she hadn't texted me by 5.15 I was starting to feel slightly sick. I ended up driving to the school, and bumped into her in the playground, having just collected her phone from the office, at 5.25, the club having run over by 50 minutes. I don't know who this is worse for, the parents at home having kittens, or the poor parents of the younger children, waiting on the touchline. Anyway, she's safe and sound, that's the main thing. Her and Chris and Al are all playing chess now. Chris often plays them simultaneously, and sometimes, the children play each other at the same time, so there are three games on the go at once. They have to get the travel set out for that.