We have no real use for our old graphic calculator, so we gave it to Peter. There are currently better calculus tools in your pocket. We have no idea what kids will need in high school.

Don’t you love that focus?

peter intently focusing on the calculator

He and Heidi can do a lot on it. They can write a few words, do math problems, insert symbols, draw, erase, make circles and lines, and we have taught them what things like y=2x means. Peter will tell you, it means multiply every number by two. He likes to go to the table, where it lists all the values of x and y. He watches the calculator count by whatever he set up in y=. I love to see it.

If you want to know about our sharing policy, here it is. We didn’t give the calculator to Peter. We opened it for use by children; all toys in our family belong to the family. You “own” it if you are playing with it. You can play with it until you are done. You do not have to share with anyone. (Because that’s how property rights work in the real world. No one makes you share your stuff with anyone, no matter their desperate need.)

If you want something someone else has, you can ask to share, offer a Tempting Toy, or wait until they are done.

If you take something from someone, your hands tell me you want to live in a house where we take things, so I take it away and give it to the person who had it first. If I can’t ascertain who had it first I distract the people involved or mediate a sharing arrangement.

This doesn’t apply to loveys; Heidi has her monkey she doesn’t have to share, Peter has his monkey blanket, and Austin has his blue blanket and bear.