The last day of the month of February - otherwise known as my son Ryan's birthday. I have some photos of him I want to post, only I'm finding that challenging from my cell phone. So soon I'll update this post. Ry's all grown up now, a data analyst in Boston, using his math skills to make a living. He's on a plane headed to Seattle right now, he travels everywhere.... but I still recall that first plane I put him on, flying him off to Space Camp in Florida . February vacation, he was just about to turn 11.... :-)
Here's my March 2014 update on Ryan. Ry recently came to the opening of my art exhibit at the Brockton Public Library. Here he is standing in front of displayed pages from Astro: The Stellar Sea Lion. I included Ryan as one of the characters on the Super Fish releasing Astro. Take a close look, the worker on the left wearing the red shirt in the illustration is Ryan.
I show this because this is how Ryan looks today. Here's how Ryan looked when he was 8 years old - The Museum of Science in Boston used a photo of him on the cover of their course catalog. He has the wristwatch on. Watch out Bill Nye!
But my all-time favorite photo of Ryan was taken when he was 12 studying Discrete Mathematics one summer at Johns Hopkins CTY in Baltimore. This photo was used in their catalog, and even on one of their official party invitations, but best of all - was blown up and hung in the foyer of their main Baltimore office. Yo Mathman Ryan! Here's Ryan as an older teenager in front of the photo. Ryan is the boy with the glasses and hat on.
Ryan was one of those perfect SAT score Gifted kids who skipped first grade, and was taking AP AB Calculus his freshman year at Boston College High School. Which led him to take his math classes at neighboring UMass Boston while still in high school. I could list ten even higher accolades about Ryan, but only his mom and grandpa are into all the details. I mention all this because often kids will ask their parents, "Why do I have to do this math homework? What good is learning Algebra, Trig, Calc anyway??" Well, for one thing, it might land you a great job as a Data Analyst when you grow up. Just like Ryan!
Learning math concepts can be made fun for small children. Check out these pages from The Shape Family Babies It's a terrific book for young kids to learn basic geometry:
Illustrations from The Shape Family Babies, written by Kristin Hass, Arbordale Publishing 2014. All art copyright Shennen Bersani 2014.