Quizzes

The kids' favorite thing to do is have me give them quizzes, especially in the car.  It's become a tradition that every morning when I drive them to school I give them quiz questions.  Usually I pick one topic, like ocean animals, and then pose easier questions to Arthur (what do dolphins eat?) and harder ones to Beatrice* (are sharks vertebrates?)

After doing this for a few months, Beatrice asked if she could give me quizzes.  She asks me questions that are simple, of course, but meaningful and with specific, objective answers.  For example,

B: Are whales fish or mammals?
Summer: Mammals.
B: That's right!

Of course Arthur wanted to get in on this, so he started asking me quiz questions, too, only his go something more like this:

Arthur: Dolphins or porpoises?
Summer: Porpoises.
Arthur (smugly): No, sorry, actually, it's dolphins.

And that's the trick - no matter what you answer, you are never, ever right.  I think he sets up the entire game just so he can shake his head and say, "No, actually..."

* I was very proud of Beatrice for getting the answer to this question: If you were to start swimming at the ocean's surface and then swim down, down, deep under the water, what three changes would you notice the deeper you go? The pressure increases, it gets darker, and it gets colder, she said.