Vn106.1 Tic Tac Toe and Nim 10/22/77 Relevance Miriam’s Tic Tac Toe play shows an opening game played only with Glenn before and some surprising rigidity. When we play a subtraction arithmetic form of Nim, Miriam adduces “going second” as the efficient cause of her winning game 2. This appears to be as a consequence …
Vn107.1 Self-Understanding 10/22/77 My cousin’s wedding has been a day of reconciliations, of growing closer to family from whom I had been long and much estranged. After a late breakfast, we attended the wedding. I felt proud of Robby later when he told me the nicest part of the wedding was a piano-organ duet (‘Jesu, …
Vn86.1 An Unexpected Test 9/8/77 Today, the children’s first day of school, was a tough one for me. The combination of a late arrival at Logo and logistics problems put our work under an unusual time pressure. Miriam was tired (and later said she wished she had taken a nap) and didn’t pursue with enthusiasm …
Vn110.1 Tic TacToe 10/30/77 & 11/12/77 10/30 When Robby and Miriam agreed to play tic-tac-toe together (intending to use Miriam’s ‘magic slate’ which would have left no record of their play), I suggested they play on the chalkboard in the reading alcove. Miriam was granted first move (letters). Game 1 | D | 2 3 …
Vn105.1 Hotel Magee; Two Microworlds; Decadal Computation 10/20 & 27/77 10/20 With Robby’s introduction of WUMPUS to Miriam yesterday, the mechanically recorded sessions at Logo cease. Vignettes continue to round out and close off at natural stops various themes of the project. The sense of closing off the mechanical recording is that the project has …
Vn103.1 Reprise 10/15/77 As we have attempted reducing Miriam’s cortisone dosage, she has again begun wheezing severely. Her problem was especially unfortunate today, for she had asked a friend to come visit. Lizzie is an energetic red-haired colleen of 6. At lunch she disclosed to Miriam and Robby all the problems they could expect with …
Vn102.1 The Last Day 10/8/77 Both children and I had planned to spend another Saturday afternoon at the movies. For the past three weeks, we have spent our Saturdays watching Marx brothers movies (cf. Vignette 93). These last two weeks we have seen A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races; Animal …
Vn101.1 The Death of Robin Hood 9/29/77 “Did Robin Hood really die in the charge of the Light Brigade?” This peculiar question of Miriam’s, rising from no external cue that I noticed, recurrently perplexes me. Its background is this. Months ago, Robby, Miriam, and I watched the movie “Robin Hood” wherein Errol Flynn performed at …
Vn100.1 Arithmetic Ripples 9/26/77-10/2&7/77 9/26 Miriam tells me today was her first day of doing math at school. “But we did it differently there from what we [she and I] did here.” She explained that school math was playing with cuisiniere rods. I told her I thought that was great, and asked what she did …
Vn99.1 Puns 9/26/77 At a recent visit to the library, Robby borrowed two books which both he andMiriam have read and re-read since then (cf. Vignettes 84 and 94). The first book is one of Knock-knock jokes, the second is one of riddles. I believe this second book broadened Miriam’s view of making jokes and …
Vn97.1 Retrospective: Logo Conference 10/1/77 The week of IJCAI, August 22-26, concluding as it did for some of us with attendance at the Logo conference, was an especially busy one for me. I can see now this was the point at which I lost control of processing the data of the project “on line” (keeping …
Vn95.1 Why the Project is Ending Now 9/18 & 27/77 9/18 Miriam has expressed her desire to do the same work as her class- mates, her preference for doing the whatever ‘math’ they will do at school to learning the kind of math we do together. I take this prefer- ence as a strong commitment …
Vn94.1 Miscellany 9/dd/17 At lunch today a variety of topics came up for discussion. Miriam said she would like to bring her friends over to visit Logo. I thought of previous visits. “You mean something like the earlier visits of Meg and Dara?” Miriam added, “I want Michelle and Laurie Ann and Elizabeth.” I asked …
Vn93.1 Marx Brothers 9/17/77 About a week or two ago, a radio program I sometimes listen to was displaced by a series of recordings played in memory of the then just dead Groucho Marx. I had to explain this to Robby and Miriam, explain that the funny little man they had seen on TV in …
Vn92.1 Company for Dinner 9/14/77 This has been a week for company at our house. Fernando Curado and José Valente first, then Bertrand Schwartz and Antoinette together with Laurie Miller, and this evening Seymour and the Minskys. My intention in asking Marvin and Gloria here at this time was to provide a sense of setting …
Vn91.1 Squirming and Thinking 9/14/77 Miriam had a very bad night last night; she had missed a dose of medicine and played with kittens. Miriam and I were up much of the night. Still wheezing badly this morning (she had reached the point where she could not hold down any orally-administered medicine), she went with …
Vn89.1 The Ten in Fourteen 9/7-10/77 9/7 After considerable confusion at the beginning of yesterday’s arith- metic work (Home Session 18, 9/6/77), in a reprise after games of Tic Tac Toe, I was able to explain ‘carrying’ to Miriam in a manner access- ible to her. I cited a recent comment of hers while doing …
Vn88.1 9/8/77 Over the past few weeks, Miriam has spoken, in the context of repressing her desire for things she can’t have, of having “an eraser mind.” When asked to explain what she meant, Miriam conveyed the image of ideas written on a tablet and subject to erasure. As supper drew to a close this …
Vn87.1 Turtle Tactics 9/7/77 This night is the last of summer, so defined by the children’s beginning school on the morrow. Over this summer they have gradually become accustomed to going to bed late, and now, in order to rise early, they should go to bed early. No one found this argument convincing. We negotiated …
Vn84.1 Go Cart Demon; Knock-Knock Jokes 9/5/77 The third-floor tenant in our landlord’s mansion was moving out today. Robby and Miriam went to help. One comment of Miriam’s came floating up from the court yard. When she chanced upon a collection of records brought down in a wooden case, Miriam said, “Hey, Robby, let’s ask …
apparently, this file needs to be recreated, from earlier sources. The tags attached to the source suggest it is important.
Vn82.1 Hanging Designs 9/3/77 After today’s session was complete, I asked Miriam why she had not pinned on the wall — as she had said she intended — those designs made in yesterday’s session (Logo 58, 9/2/77). She explained that she had started to do so earlier but needed help. I separated the designs from …
Vn81.1 Imitating Machines 9/3/77 Ever since their first encounter with the Votrax Voice Box back in May (Logo Session 5, 5/22/77), both children have thought it funny to imitate the peculiarly mechanical tone of that speech generator. I have suspected some correlation between my asking them questions they consider stupid and their adopting this mode …
Vn79.1 Sums Over a Hundred 8/29/77-9/1/77 8/29 While we sat at lunch today, Miriam introduced the topic of adding with this claim: “Daddy, if you live for another hundred years, I know how old you’ll be.” When I expressed surprise Miriam demonstrated: “A hundred 37.” Two complications derailed this discussion. Robby introduced my birth on …
Vn77.1 A Geometric Puzzle 8/29 & 31/77 8/29 Since Miriam’s completion of our work with picture puzzles (cf. Logo Session 40, 8/1/77), it has been my intention to examine her performance with geometric puzzles. In the past, she has played with a puzzle, the Pythagorean puzzle, which I had made from wood. The Pythagorean puzzle …
Vn76.1 Where Do Ideas Come From? 8/29/77 In this hot, humid weather, Gretchen and the children have been spending all day at Logo with me. This morning I found Sylvia Weir had taken a desk in the room where Robby had just laid claim to an empty desk. She seemed intent on reading, and knowing …
Vn75.1 Logo Seahorses 8/29/77 At the end of the day’s work (Logo Session 56), when the recording equipment was packed away for the trip home, I was preparing material for tomorrow’s session. Robby had been using procedures where DELTA named a variable increment applied to a linear distance and today was introduced to a use …
Vn74.1 The Light Brigade 8/27/77 Miriam, Robby, and I watched on TV this evening a movie about ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade.’ The movie was an important one for several reasons. Whenever the opportunity presents itself, I try to lead the children in extending their sense of connection to other places and other times. …
Vn73.1 Not Being Ready; Logo vs. School 8/26/77 For the past week Miriam has been mentioning that she doesn’t ‘feel ready for school.’ I’ve tried to find out what Miriam means by her feeling ‘not-ready.’ In one case, she explained to me that she didn’t know what they do there. In another incident, at the …
Vn72.1 Tic Tac Toe with Robby 8/25/77 Having seen Miriam play tic-tac-toe with me and feeling a little left out, Robby asked to play with me after Miriam went to bed. Game 1: Robby moves first (numbers) 2 | C | 4 5 | 1 | D A | 3 | B Robby originally made …
Vn70.1 8/22/77 Over the past few weeks, Robby has shown an interest in playing frisbee. Miriam has tried to play with us but has been so inept that the game always became a squabble. Robby usually argued that since the frisbee was his, he should choose the players for the game. It was an obvious …
Vn68.1 Continuous Quantity 8/18/77 As is the case with many who have a few fine things, we hardly ever use them. Our silver and china are in some dark corner, our Venetian glassware sits empty, hardly touched. At dinner our common wine goes into common wine glasses. Through accidents at table and sink, the usable …
Vn66.1 Pre-History 8/16/77 For some unknown reason (“I just wondered,” she says), Miriam asked me who was the first person to sail around the world. Remembering the Straits of Magellan and that it must have been the major obstacle to the western passage, I speculated that Magellan must have been the man. Gretchen, drawing on …