Math when it isn't just numbers
[email protected]
I had a request on the side to expand on the statement that math isn't just
numbers. I figured rather than answer privately, I'd come here where many
more mathies dwell who could help me. New-to-homeschooling families
sometimes haven't thought of the range of definition of mathematics. School
presents it as a continuum of counting, money, arithmetical functions,
introductory algebra, plane geometry, algebra II, solid geometry, calculus,
trigonometry, as though they belonged in that order as surely as... the
alphabet, or the kings of England.
This morning too early (5:30) a cat woke Holly up. I was sleeping with her.
She wanted to go back to sleep. I asked if she wanted me to read something
boring so she could sleep. She did. I picked up the Hirsch 2nd Grade book
and flipped to something that looked boring, and I read it in a soft, slow,
monotonous way. I was reading about Arabic and Roman numerals. And then I
continued into measurement. I did inches and feet and was going to move on
to weights when Holly, NOT asleep, said "What does measuring have to do with
Roman numerals?"
DAMN. #1, she wasn't bored.
#2, it was making her think, and she was being analytical.
#3, I have studiously, consciously avoided "subject area" descriptors with my
kids. So I was not about to say "They're both considered to be mathematics."
I wasn't even going to say "They both have to do with numbers and counting."
I said, "Oh. I forgot to read the subject titles so you didn't know the
next section had started." It's not that my kids don't know what "history"
and "science" mean; they do. They could not, though, I think, recite a list
of the subjects which fall under those headings. To them, rocks are rocks,
light is light, and plants are plants. Rocks, light and plants are not all
"science," to be accepted happily as a group (along with how planes fly and
how soap works) if one "likes science" or rejected if one "hates science."
So back to math.
Holly loves math. It is her native thought-language. She loves music, and
sees the math in it--in the distances between notes (intervals) and in the
patterns on the piano keyboard, and in how written music works. She doesn't
read music, but she likes to follow along, or have me show her some of the
patterns. We got the score for Handel's Water Music Suite (from Dover books,
cheap) and I've played it and showed her how in a full score you can see the
pattern of the music flowing by. I didn't try to get her to listen to the
whole thing, just a couple of pages. She looked, she got it, she did other
things in the room while the rest played.
That was math.
Holly loves pattern blocks and puzzles involving shapes. That's math.
Holly likes Master Mind for Kids. That is methodical deductive reasoning and
patterns. That's the kind of math computer programmers use.
Holly likes Zoombinis and Third Grade Adventures. Logic games and patterns
without numbers.
Origami. Making a square piece of paper from an 8.5x11, for starters. Sure,
you can buy square Japanese paper, but most kids learn how to make a square
by tearing a piece off, and exactly how to determine which piece to tear off
by folding, not by using numbers or a ruler. Math.
Others help build this big picture, please. I'll write more later.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
numbers. I figured rather than answer privately, I'd come here where many
more mathies dwell who could help me. New-to-homeschooling families
sometimes haven't thought of the range of definition of mathematics. School
presents it as a continuum of counting, money, arithmetical functions,
introductory algebra, plane geometry, algebra II, solid geometry, calculus,
trigonometry, as though they belonged in that order as surely as... the
alphabet, or the kings of England.
This morning too early (5:30) a cat woke Holly up. I was sleeping with her.
She wanted to go back to sleep. I asked if she wanted me to read something
boring so she could sleep. She did. I picked up the Hirsch 2nd Grade book
and flipped to something that looked boring, and I read it in a soft, slow,
monotonous way. I was reading about Arabic and Roman numerals. And then I
continued into measurement. I did inches and feet and was going to move on
to weights when Holly, NOT asleep, said "What does measuring have to do with
Roman numerals?"
DAMN. #1, she wasn't bored.
#2, it was making her think, and she was being analytical.
#3, I have studiously, consciously avoided "subject area" descriptors with my
kids. So I was not about to say "They're both considered to be mathematics."
I wasn't even going to say "They both have to do with numbers and counting."
I said, "Oh. I forgot to read the subject titles so you didn't know the
next section had started." It's not that my kids don't know what "history"
and "science" mean; they do. They could not, though, I think, recite a list
of the subjects which fall under those headings. To them, rocks are rocks,
light is light, and plants are plants. Rocks, light and plants are not all
"science," to be accepted happily as a group (along with how planes fly and
how soap works) if one "likes science" or rejected if one "hates science."
So back to math.
Holly loves math. It is her native thought-language. She loves music, and
sees the math in it--in the distances between notes (intervals) and in the
patterns on the piano keyboard, and in how written music works. She doesn't
read music, but she likes to follow along, or have me show her some of the
patterns. We got the score for Handel's Water Music Suite (from Dover books,
cheap) and I've played it and showed her how in a full score you can see the
pattern of the music flowing by. I didn't try to get her to listen to the
whole thing, just a couple of pages. She looked, she got it, she did other
things in the room while the rest played.
That was math.
Holly loves pattern blocks and puzzles involving shapes. That's math.
Holly likes Master Mind for Kids. That is methodical deductive reasoning and
patterns. That's the kind of math computer programmers use.
Holly likes Zoombinis and Third Grade Adventures. Logic games and patterns
without numbers.
Origami. Making a square piece of paper from an 8.5x11, for starters. Sure,
you can buy square Japanese paper, but most kids learn how to make a square
by tearing a piece off, and exactly how to determine which piece to tear off
by folding, not by using numbers or a ruler. Math.
Others help build this big picture, please. I'll write more later.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
Math? Nah, just fun!
Set
http://www.setgame.com/set/puzzle_frame.htm
Battleship
Black Box
Those are the few that came immediately to my mind that I love.
:-) Diane
Set
http://www.setgame.com/set/puzzle_frame.htm
Battleship
Black Box
Those are the few that came immediately to my mind that I love.
:-) Diane
[email protected]
--- In Unschooling-dotcom@y..., SandraDodd@a... wrote:
up an apple for him to eat, and he asked me to "cut it like a magic
star" (cut it in half sideways so you can see the star that the seeds
make). We admired the star in the middle and he noticed it had 5
points. He went on to think of other things that have 5 points, like
the starfish we saw at the beach, the stars on the American flag,
etc. Then he noticed that all the points were the same size and
distance from the center. We just sat and talked and admired an
apple. Pattern, nature, distance, magic. "Math". Though I guess we
could also call it "science" or "biology" or whatever. It's so nice
just to appreciate things for what they are, without having to worry
about labeling or tracking them.
Blue Skies!
-Robin-
Mom to Mackenzie (8/28/96) "A bee is pollinating my eye"
and Asa (10/5/99) "Asa eat buggy"
http://www.geocities.com/the_clevengers Flying Clevenger Family
> Others help build this big picture, please. I'll write more later.Well, our "math" for yesterday was this - Mackenzie wanted me to cut
>
> Sandra
up an apple for him to eat, and he asked me to "cut it like a magic
star" (cut it in half sideways so you can see the star that the seeds
make). We admired the star in the middle and he noticed it had 5
points. He went on to think of other things that have 5 points, like
the starfish we saw at the beach, the stars on the American flag,
etc. Then he noticed that all the points were the same size and
distance from the center. We just sat and talked and admired an
apple. Pattern, nature, distance, magic. "Math". Though I guess we
could also call it "science" or "biology" or whatever. It's so nice
just to appreciate things for what they are, without having to worry
about labeling or tracking them.
Blue Skies!
-Robin-
Mom to Mackenzie (8/28/96) "A bee is pollinating my eye"
and Asa (10/5/99) "Asa eat buggy"
http://www.geocities.com/the_clevengers Flying Clevenger Family
[email protected]
I have to LOL at this one...
While I was in here reading the thread about "Math", Mackenzie is
doing a project in the kitchen. My mom bought us a whole box of math
flashcards. So I put the box in the kids' drawer, in case they wanted
to use them. So right now Mackenzie is really using the math
flashcards! He's using them to make "wings" for airplanes made out of
shoeboxes, that is :-)
Yes mom, Mackenzie loves those flashcards!
Blue Skies!
-Robin-
Mom to Mackenzie (8/28/96) "A bee is pollinating my eye"
and Asa (10/5/99) "Asa eat buggy"
http://www.geocities.com/the_clevengers Flying Clevenger Family
While I was in here reading the thread about "Math", Mackenzie is
doing a project in the kitchen. My mom bought us a whole box of math
flashcards. So I put the box in the kids' drawer, in case they wanted
to use them. So right now Mackenzie is really using the math
flashcards! He's using them to make "wings" for airplanes made out of
shoeboxes, that is :-)
Yes mom, Mackenzie loves those flashcards!
Blue Skies!
-Robin-
Mom to Mackenzie (8/28/96) "A bee is pollinating my eye"
and Asa (10/5/99) "Asa eat buggy"
http://www.geocities.com/the_clevengers Flying Clevenger Family
[email protected]
My favorite things to do in school were logic puzzles. I had one
teacher who would give them to us, and I loved setting up the grid
and figuring them out.
Just found a page with some good ones:
http://www.halcyon.com/clifford/puzzle/INDEX.HTM
Blue Skies!
-Robin-
Mom to Mackenzie (8/28/96) "A bee is pollinating my eye"
and Asa (10/5/99) "Asa eat buggy"
http://www.geocities.com/the_clevengers Flying Clevenger Family
teacher who would give them to us, and I loved setting up the grid
and figuring them out.
Just found a page with some good ones:
http://www.halcyon.com/clifford/puzzle/INDEX.HTM
Blue Skies!
-Robin-
Mom to Mackenzie (8/28/96) "A bee is pollinating my eye"
and Asa (10/5/99) "Asa eat buggy"
http://www.geocities.com/the_clevengers Flying Clevenger Family
Rachel Wolfe Ravenhart
Right now my son's math consists of figuring out how many more gems he
needs to get the next thing in his Spyro game. *G*
Rachel
needs to get the next thing in his Spyro game. *G*
Rachel
[email protected]
On Fri, 01 Jun 2001 16:09:12 -0000 diamondair@... writes:
She also has enjoyed figuring out some of the puzzles from books by
Smullyan and Gardner... the "knights and knaves" ones were big a few
weeks ago (knights always tell the truth, knaves always lie, and you try
to figure out which people are by what they say, and what people say
about them).
She also loves games, and sometimes keeps score, which I guess is the
obvious "math"... but the games we play tend to involve a lot of more
subtle math... we got Tikal at the Hearthsong clearance sale and we're
still working out the best strategies, and she is probably the Set
champion of the world... we do Dalmuti and Bohnanza when we can find
enough people (one of the drawbacks of being a family of 2), and 5 Crowns
and Midnight Party are also popular with her right now.
Daron
********************************************************************
"I don't want to be famous, I want to be legendary."
~ Cacie's life plan at age 8
********************************************************************
> My favorite things to do in school were logic puzzles. I had oneMy daughter likes these, in spurts anyway. I remember loving them, too.
> teacher who would give them to us, and I loved setting up the grid
> and figuring them out.
She also has enjoyed figuring out some of the puzzles from books by
Smullyan and Gardner... the "knights and knaves" ones were big a few
weeks ago (knights always tell the truth, knaves always lie, and you try
to figure out which people are by what they say, and what people say
about them).
She also loves games, and sometimes keeps score, which I guess is the
obvious "math"... but the games we play tend to involve a lot of more
subtle math... we got Tikal at the Hearthsong clearance sale and we're
still working out the best strategies, and she is probably the Set
champion of the world... we do Dalmuti and Bohnanza when we can find
enough people (one of the drawbacks of being a family of 2), and 5 Crowns
and Midnight Party are also popular with her right now.
Daron
********************************************************************
"I don't want to be famous, I want to be legendary."
~ Cacie's life plan at age 8
********************************************************************
mary krzyzanowski
hi,
there are two great traveling science center exhibits about math. they are
"Beyond Numbers" and "Fun,2,3,4".
Mary-NY
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
there are two great traveling science center exhibits about math. they are
"Beyond Numbers" and "Fun,2,3,4".
Mary-NY
>From: SandraDodd@..._________________________________________________________________
>Reply-To: [email protected]
>To: [email protected]
>Subject: [Unschooling-dotcom] Math when it isn't just numbers
>Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 00:40:49 EDT
>
>I had a request on the side to expand on the statement that math isn't just
>numbers. I figured rather than answer privately, I'd come here where many
>more mathies dwell who could help me. New-to-homeschooling families
>sometimes haven't thought of the range of definition of mathematics.
>School
>presents it as a continuum of counting, money, arithmetical functions,
>introductory algebra, plane geometry, algebra II, solid geometry, calculus,
>trigonometry, as though they belonged in that order as surely as... the
>alphabet, or the kings of England.
>
>This morning too early (5:30) a cat woke Holly up. I was sleeping with
>her.
>She wanted to go back to sleep. I asked if she wanted me to read something
>boring so she could sleep. She did. I picked up the Hirsch 2nd Grade book
>and flipped to something that looked boring, and I read it in a soft, slow,
>monotonous way. I was reading about Arabic and Roman numerals. And then I
>continued into measurement. I did inches and feet and was going to move on
>to weights when Holly, NOT asleep, said "What does measuring have to do
>with
>Roman numerals?"
>
>DAMN. #1, she wasn't bored.
>#2, it was making her think, and she was being analytical.
>#3, I have studiously, consciously avoided "subject area" descriptors with
>my
>kids. So I was not about to say "They're both considered to be
>mathematics."
> I wasn't even going to say "They both have to do with numbers and
>counting."
> I said, "Oh. I forgot to read the subject titles so you didn't know the
>next section had started." It's not that my kids don't know what "history"
>and "science" mean; they do. They could not, though, I think, recite a
>list
>of the subjects which fall under those headings. To them, rocks are rocks,
>light is light, and plants are plants. Rocks, light and plants are not all
>"science," to be accepted happily as a group (along with how planes fly and
>how soap works) if one "likes science" or rejected if one "hates science."
>
>So back to math.
>
>Holly loves math. It is her native thought-language. She loves music, and
>sees the math in it--in the distances between notes (intervals) and in the
>patterns on the piano keyboard, and in how written music works. She
>doesn't
>read music, but she likes to follow along, or have me show her some of the
>patterns. We got the score for Handel's Water Music Suite (from Dover
>books,
>cheap) and I've played it and showed her how in a full score you can see
>the
>pattern of the music flowing by. I didn't try to get her to listen to the
>whole thing, just a couple of pages. She looked, she got it, she did other
>things in the room while the rest played.
>
>That was math.
>
>Holly loves pattern blocks and puzzles involving shapes. That's math.
>
>Holly likes Master Mind for Kids. That is methodical deductive reasoning
>and
>patterns. That's the kind of math computer programmers use.
>
>Holly likes Zoombinis and Third Grade Adventures. Logic games and patterns
>without numbers.
>
>Origami. Making a square piece of paper from an 8.5x11, for starters.
>Sure,
>you can buy square Japanese paper, but most kids learn how to make a square
>by tearing a piece off, and exactly how to determine which piece to tear
>off
>by folding, not by using numbers or a ruler. Math.
>
>Others help build this big picture, please. I'll write more later.
>
>Sandra
>
>
>
>
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
scrunchy
This is priceless. :)
Norma
diamondair@... wrote:
Norma
diamondair@... wrote:
> I have to LOL at this one...[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
> While I was in here reading the thread about "Math", Mackenzie is
> doing a project in the kitchen. My mom bought us a whole box of math
> flashcards. So I put the box in the kids' drawer, in case they wanted
> to use them. So right now Mackenzie is really using the math
> flashcards! He's using them to make "wings" for airplanes made out of
> shoeboxes, that is :-)
>
> Yes mom, Mackenzie loves those flashcards!
>
> Blue Skies!
> -Robin-
> Mom to Mackenzie (8/28/96) "A bee is pollinating my eye"
> and Asa (10/5/99) "Asa eat buggy"
>