I remember struggling through geometry in 9th grade. Pulling my toe nails out would have been an easier experience for me. That entire year, I could not figure out why and where I would ever use geometry in my life. I had witnessed my parents over the years and had not once witnessed them use geometry. I struggled through the geometry proofs as I constantly tried to understand their purpose. After all, it was clear to me that a triangle was a triangle, why did I have to prove it?

So, you can imagine my surprise when I got married and shortly thereafter, I witnessed my husband use geometry to figure out how many shingles we needed for our garage roof! My approach would have been to buy more than I thought I needed and return the extras. Instead in my 20s, I finally learned how geometry could be useful.

Our daughter has wanted an outdoor playhouse for awhile. This was going to be a Dad and Daughter project! After trying to decide between a kit or building the playhouse from the ground up, my daughter and husband decided to purchase a playhouse kit. My daughter invited me to assist them in the building and I happily obliged. Of course, my approach was to follow the directions and just go! My husband took a different approach that involved a measuring tape and calculator.

We carefully laid out the cinderblocks. Our daughter brought out the T-square and they measured each side down to the corners. Then they used a level to make sure the floor was even. As I stood waiting for the next assignment and our daughter to bring back another tool, my husband declared that he wanted to teach her some geometry. In what I could only describe as a flash from a horror flick, I was transported back to 9th grade.

Could it be that our daughter at the age of 8 was going to be learning about geometry? Could it be that I would witness the use of geometry twice in my adult life, when I had never seen it used as a child? I quickly corrected my thinking realizing that if I approached this with a negative attitude, it would affect our daughter’s willingness to learn. And, to be honest, if my husband could see a geometry learning opportunity in a playhouse she so desperately wanted, he was wise to seize the opportunity and her attention.

So, I watched quietly as they re-measured the foundation sides. Then I watched as he explained, as they looked at the playhouse foundation, the explanation of the Pythagorean Theorem. While he did not officially tell her the theorem’s name, she was introduced to the idea that in a right triangle the square root of the sum of the squares of the measures of the legs equals the hypotenuse. She was also introduced to the purpose of the square root button on the calculator.

Once they figured out that the hypotenuse was supposed to be 8’ 6”, they measured the foundation and confirmed that it was laid correctly. Interestingly, not only did I learn something but I watched as my daughter began her introduction to geometry with a positive attitude, excitement and ability to understand the basics of this topic.

I am sure that the playhouse foundation example will be used when that theorem is formally introduced, perhaps in her playhouse with her Dad scrunched up in there teaching more geometry!