It's Offical, My 12 yo is smarter than me!
@MommaOfAllTrades (969)
Canada
October 29, 2007 9:11pm CST
On our way home from the library today, my daughter started talking about what they are studying in science and it was WAY OVER MY HEAD. When I asked her to explain, my hubby interupted and had a great long conversation about it with her. Talk about feeling S.T.U.P.I.D.! So what was it? Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness - Yeah!
So what did I learn? That there's a scale from 1 to 10, a penny aka copper is a 3.5, glass is a 6 and diamond is a 10. So if you take a mineral and it scratches glass, you know it's higher than a 6. If it scratches copper and not glass, then it's between 3.5 and 6. My daughter knows all about it and I don't remember learning about this... ever!
So does this mean the higher on the scale a mineral is, the more expensive it is? lol
The whole logic of diamonds cutting glass has sense to it now however how do you know it's a diamond and not something on the 7, 8, or 9 scale?
I have to study this one so I can be smart like my kid! (or maybe stop taking them to the library with me so I can catch up on all this knowledge! lol)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohs_scale_of_mineral_hardness
2 people like this
11 responses
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
30 Oct 07
They are exposed to more and they learn more...that does not make them smarter...later on in life, if they know how to apply what they learned or the place to find it to review and/or learn more..then they are smart.
2 people like this
@heavenschild (4777)
• Canada
30 Oct 07
How true!
Life is a continuous learning experience...If we can apply it!
1 person likes this
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
30 Oct 07
Now, I agree, she is taking control of her education. That is impressive. Make sure you let her know that you are proud of her for doing this and for doing it with respect to the teacher.
She sounds like a great kid! Congratulations!
1 person likes this
@MommaOfAllTrades (969)
• Canada
30 Oct 07
I see what you're saying and I'll agree that life is a continuous learning experience... absolutely 100%. However I don't like playing trivia games with my 12 year old, cuz she knows more answers than I do LOL That little head of hers is soooo full of information and I blame it all on reading! :) I do admit she does know her resources and I still claim she is extremely smart. Last night during this scale discussion, she explained she didn't like the scale the teacher distributed so she was going to research the internet for a better one to paste in her binder! She likes to prove this teacher wrong and honestly, it's not that hard to do!
@shooting_star (384)
• Philippines
30 Oct 07
I remember having studied the Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness way back in elementary school and again in high school, but I don't remember all the details about it! There's just so much that we study in school that later on in life, when we're not studying for exams, we don't remember them anymore. I guess it's just too much information to handle all at the same time. I mean, I don't always remember the lessons I took the semester before. Lol.
I guess kids now may be smarter because they have access to all of these information and they ARE still in school and required to study everyday. Us older people, on the other hand, don't have to study and review our lessons anymore so we tend to forget. But in a lot of other aspects, we are smarter than kids too. And it's great that even if the adults mostly teach children, adults can also learn something from the kids too. The world is constantly evolving and it's nice to have the younger generations update us on what's new (or refresh us on those old things that we forgot already).
@MommaOfAllTrades (969)
• Canada
31 Oct 07
If you don't apply what you are learning, then your brain will file it away to make more room for the info that you do need so it's no wonder that many things we learn in school are very vague! I'm always so impressed when I hear of people memorizing a tons of stuff... it's pretty cool.
@shooting_star (384)
• Philippines
31 Oct 07
That's so true... that if we don't use what we learn, we tend to not retain it. And I definitely do not use everything I've learned in school. That's just too much, lol. I don't even remember stuff I've learned in college, let alone elementary school.
2 people like this
@Modestah (11177)
• United States
13 Jan 08
woooo that is so interesting! I knew diamonds rated a ten on the hardness scale, but I did not know anything about the hardness scale and where other items placed on it. I just figured ten was the hardest...lol.
thanks for sharing. those kids can be something, my son surpassed me years ago on many things. and he was home schooled! hehe. how does that work out? well, one of the first things I taught him was how to learn.
1 person likes this
@MommaOfAllTrades (969)
• Canada
13 Jan 08
That is soooo important. I also homeschooled my kids for a few years and that's the first thing I taught them as well, learn to learn, and learn to love to learn and read! There are no limits to their questions now!
@bellaofchaos (11538)
• United States
13 Jan 08
They learn so much more than we did when we were little... but I do now upon explination remember this being mentioned in school but I would still have to brush up on it since its not knowledge we use often we might have learned it and forgot about it. Plus now they are starting school where I live at the age of 4-5. The go to K4 then Kindergarten, then go up to seniors in highschool. I remember when you could either go to kindergarted or not... ofcourse my mom like her free time and I was in a pre-k school and then a kindergarten which at the time was half day. Now K-4 and Kindergarten are full days where I live. So I think that they are actually getting started younger and there for getting knowledge earlier and earlier.
1 person likes this
@bellaofchaos (11538)
• United States
15 Jan 08
I think I was pointed in the general direction of the encylopedias and the next time we go to the library remember that question. LOL!!!
@MommaOfAllTrades (969)
• Canada
13 Jan 08
Technology also plays a role in how much they knowl. More information is available at our fingertips. When my kids have a question about something, it takes two minutes to look up the answer. When I was a kid, I'd get a Don't Know answer and that was it! LOL
@xXxMikesWifeyxXx (3072)
• United States
13 Jan 08
Oh man, i am dreading this day...but i know it will come. schooling and the education is so advamced even from 5 years ago when i was in school. so i know in another 5 or 10 years im ganna be doing like u all up at the library lmao...
how do they expect us to help our kids with their homework if we cant even do te stuff ourselves because we were never taught in school ...frustrates me!:(
goodluck with all the mineral 3.5 and 6 and so on:P.
xoxo britt
@MommaOfAllTrades (969)
• Canada
13 Jan 08
Thanks for the pic girl!!
Never thought of the fact that I won't be able to help them with their homework... I guess that's the beauty of the internet huh? Instant knowledge!
@mrsjbelle (1640)
• United States
12 Jan 08
She may not be smarter the info is just "fresher" in her head.
1 person likes this
@lovespecialangel (3632)
• United States
11 Jan 08
Don't feel S.T.U.P.I.D., I know nothing about that either! But it does sound interesting.
1 person likes this
@MommaOfAllTrades (969)
• Canada
11 Jan 08
It was interesting! I don't know why I was so surprised hubby knew what it was, he's taken geology in school last year! So it's still fresh in his mind! LOL
@marymarj2002 (1769)
• Philippines
31 Oct 07
I think kids this days are advanced and has more learning materials that will help them in their learnings. You can search everything on the internet without the hassle of getting a lot of hard bound books. The television has more educational materials. So there is no wonder that they learn more than we do on our time. But we also should go with the flow, we can still learn.
1 person likes this
@heavenschild (4777)
• Canada
30 Oct 07
LOL!!!!
I don't remember learning this either....
Children seem to be so much smarter these days! :D
1 person likes this
@MommaOfAllTrades (969)
• Canada
30 Oct 07
There is so much more information available at our fingertips nowadays, it's easy to study on any topic and become *smart* lol
I did ask my husband if the higher on the scale a mineral was, the more expensive it would be. He laughed at me, tried to explain what the hardness really means, paused, and then said You know, You could be right! WAHOOOOOO! I applied some logic and I 'could' be right! lol Now I want to know for sure! Off to study this new wonder!
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
30 Oct 07
I know how you feel. I remember studying for my GED and my daughter helping me with my math. (math being my worse subject, I felt very stupid too)
And yes, I do believe they are teaching children more today. My daughter said that when her son went into kindergarten a couple of years ago, she was told that they do 1st grade work in kindergarten.
I think they do this for those kids who went to preschool, which I guess is now the majority, so they teach work that a few years ago, they didn't learn until later.
1 person likes this
@MommaOfAllTrades (969)
• Canada
30 Oct 07
Hi again! lol Yes I agree that what they taught at a later grade years ago is now at a younger level and again I believe it is because of the amount of information that is available to us 24/7. If we did not continually grow in our knowledge, our technology would surely not be where it is today! 2-3 year olds can manage computer and video games better than I could during my teenage years!
1 person likes this
@theprogamer (10532)
• United States
12 Dec 07
I REMEMBER Mohs scale of mineral and substance hardness! Ah, that takes me back! As for your question, sometimes try getting a substance that could cut anything but diamond and see if your "diamond" is actually what it is. A few times zircon/zirconia is mistaken for diamond as are a couple other lesser gems (either natural or altered).
If you want to study to keep up with your child, why not try reading her textbook or reading ahead in the textbook so you could be a step up! You also have various resources in the library, on the web, and even here on mylot!
1 person likes this
@MommaOfAllTrades (969)
• Canada
12 Dec 07
Very interesting and so true! Finding a true diamond can be tricky!
I am constantly learning and reading with the children. I am just impressed when she comes up with something I haven't heard of yet!
