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Quote of the Day: Every exit is an entry somewhere else. -Tom Stoppard
We put a lot of emphasis in our homeschooling on math. I push it much more than I push language arts (probably because reading seems to come naturally to my third grader, so why push?) It turns out, math is far more beautiful and fascinating than I was giving it credit for. I spent most of my life hating math, probably because my education in that area in my formative years was abysmal. I remember being frustrated in the fifth grade because I couldn't visualize simple subtraction problems, with very small numbers. I had never used manipulatives, so I still didn't understand the purpose of what I was doing. I finally had to force myself to memorize the times tables in college! I want to avoid that with my own children. I want them to understand how fascinating, and relevant, math is!
I've been reading about fractals, a branch of geometry which mathematically describes the patterns found in dynamic/chaotic systems. It sounds complicated, and it is, but the underlying idea isn't. The point is, there is more to math problems than the puny human brain can visualize. The Mandelbrot set is a kind of ongoing math problem, and when it's points are plotted on the computer, it creates beautiful art. Here's a neat site:http://www.ginko.de/user/kremer/karsten/e/ap-gal.htm . When the pictures in the gallery load up, remember, what you are seeing is what a math problem really looks like, if we were able to visualize it ourselves. We have to do it on computer because these are long equations, and it takes millions of crunched numbers for the patterns to appear, but they are always there, even in the simplest problems, a beautiful mystery from God right there under the surface!
Here's a surprise: kids that have studied hard at math do better at it than kids who feel good about math! Apparently, stroking kid's self esteem matters less in their competence than teaching the material! Shocked? I'm sure no one here at HSB is! Of course, the point is that if these kids were kept home where they belong, instead of being thrown into an institutional system they may not be ready for, we might not need to worry about their "self esteem" at all! Here's the article with the hard numbers from the Contra-Costa Times: |
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