Thinking like Owen

When learning how to carry numbers for subtraction, I used money to change dimes for dollars and pennies for dimes for Dana and Bryce. Anything to do with money was right up their alley. When Joey needed to learn about science it had to apply to geography in order to make sense and seem useful to him.

Today, Owen was trying to figure out how to remember what 'vertical' and 'horizontal' mean. For the third time in two weeks I was trying to explain to him how the horizon is horizontal. I drew a picture of a boat on the ocean, showing the horizon where the sea meets the sky. I wrote the word 'horizon', then I added 'tal'. I wrote the word 'verti' and added 'cal'. I asked him, "Are you looking at the horizon or the verti? Thinking of a picture with a horizon will help you remember horizontal."

Suddenly Owen cried out, "Wait, I know how I can remember it! When you ask someone what their vertical jump is it means how high up they can jump. So I can remember that vertical goes up and down!"

I forgot that Owen's trigger somehow must relate to sports.