Week 20: Jan 9-15, 2011 Deep Freeze

Everyone stayed inside and cozy.

When, by the middle of the week, we'd reached a high of 13F (and it felt good) we knew we'd had some frigid weather.  On the 11th it was -17F !  A good week for buckling down and getting some school work done.  We've reached a stage in Algebra that has become significantly more complicated so it was time to check out the "Mega Genius Store".  Through the efforts of Teri Orr and the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts, and inspired by Teri's participation in a TED event, the Mega Genius Store opened last year in order to facilitate all types of learning and learners.  It operates on volunteer power and welcomes all students for free tutoring.  When Grant and I walked in there were a bunch of kids standing at a counter working together on an art project.  Sitting at tables kids were being tutored in math and further back there was a child reading on a comfy couch.  We met Stan a retired college math professor/ part-time Park City resident who, along with his wife, volunteer at the Eccles and have a part time gig at Park City Mountain Resort to get ski passes.  Our timing was not great since Mega Genius will close next week in order to prepare for Sundance the following week--so, we made plans to see Stan on Feb 4th.
It was tough to get outside and get much exercise--poor Sobe.  But apparently I am a wimp because both Seth and Kate stayed busy teaching little kids how to ski at Deer Valley!  On the -17 morning I told Kate that if any parent dropped their kid off for lessons she should report them to family services.
We started our art lessons last week using Betty Edwards' book, "Drawing On the Right Side of the Brain".  Gregg, Grant and I have an art folder and we're going to work our way through the lessons.  I'll take some pictures of our work later on.  Also, our friend John recommended a great web site called Sheppardsoftware.com that Grant's been using to learn geography.

Thankfully the weather warmed up enough for skiing on Saturday.  Gregg's back was still bothering him from tweeking it after a day of skiing a few weeks ago so I dropped Grant off at PCMR for his AMP ski group and then continued on to Deer Valley to meet up with  my ski group.

This week was supposed to end with our attending a talk by Sir Ken Robinson (TED) but he canceled at the last minute due to health complications.  We'll catch him when he re-schedules--if we're around!