Archive for the ‘Mathematics’ Category
What We Need To Do In A Day
My eleven-year-old son and I think about the minutes and hours that swing into days, months, and years. Adding time on paper. Whispered groans from him followed by sinking sighs from me. The protest continues. This lesson is for both of us.
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)
We look up the meaning of wisdom in Webster’s 1828 and summarize it: getting and using knowledge for good.
“How do we gain wisdom?,” I ask. Bug is thoughtful, quiet for a moment, “Wisdom comes from God, so we should pray.”
Yes, first and foremost, ask, pray. Conversation continues while we do the work of a scribe. Bug watches astonished while my hand scrawls out calligraphy learned decades ago.
I dig, “How does numbering our days help us gain wisdom?” He reasons, “It helps us know how to spend our time.”
He begins to copy. Blue letters take shape. Our efforts to create beauty reward with a daily reminder. This is our math lesson. Adding. Counting. Considering.
“What do we really need to do in a day?”
A question of purpose. A question of goals. A question I’ve been trying to answer in my journal for months. My pursuit for focus and balance finally compiled in a declaration, a family motto of sorts, and a daily to do list.
Love Deeply, Learn Always, Live Joyfully, Honor God
Day by Day
Commune: pray, listen
Reflect: wonder, create
Grow: study, practice
Bless: love, serve
Bug has his own conclusions. They sound like the heart of my own: love and learn, work and play. Balanced and simple. I should have asked him weeks ago.
Homeschoolers, Make Math Facts Fun!
I’m pleased to introduce this post by Colleen at Homeschooling Coach.
Learning math facts can be boring and tedious. Here are a few ways that you can make learning them more interesting in your home school. Trying these ideas might motivate your children to memorize those facts instead of counting!
- Photo by apesara
- Teach fact family trees. For example, one fact family tree is 2,3,5. 2+3=5, 3+2=5, 5-3=2, 5-2=3. It also works for multiplication and division - 2,3,6. 2×3=6, 3×2=6, 6÷2=3, 6÷3=2. Remembering three numbers is an easy way to memorize the basic facts. Also have your child write the equations on trees with the three numbers written on top.
- Practice addition facts by playing dice games. Create a game board and game pieces. Roll the dice and add the two numbers together. Move that many spaces forward on the board. Another way to practice addition facts is to play. It is played just like “Go Fish” except you add two numbers whose sum is 10.
- Practice multiplication facts by playing “Circles and Stars”. Roll a die. Draw that many circles. Roll the die again. Draw that many stars in each circle. Write the equation that your picture represents.
Have fun learning basic math facts by making a few simple changes in your homeschool curriculum.
Colleen Felz is the Homeschooling Coach. Visit her blog, Homeschooling Coach, to read about the joys & trials of home education as well as find tips, recommendations, & curriculum ideas. Also visit her mommy blog, Living as a mom, to read about the life of a Christian mom living the life.
Revelation- Why Study Math Reason 4
In past weeks, we discussed a few reasons to study math. If you remember, Reason, Dominion, and Justice are a few of the principles we can use to inspire our children. My hope is that by shining meaning and purpose on the subject the weighty work will be transformed into joy. This quote from Alfred Whitehead found in Mathematics, Is God Silent resonates;
There is a widely-spread sense of boredom with the very idea of learning. I attribute this to the fact that they [the students] have been taught too many things merely in the air…The whole apparatus of learning appears to them as nonsense.
Moonbeams by Jessie Wilcox Smith
Telling children they have to learn something to get a college degree, or a good job may motivate some, but the abstract noose of the future strips away meaning and leaves a dead shell. The study of mathematics is meant to be so much more. It is the study of life. It is the language of nature. Most importantly, it reveals the glory of the Creator.
Music. Shape. Form. Sequence. All the beauty of nature is written with mathematics from the symmetrical petals on the tiniest flower to the spiral galaxies in an unfathomable universe. The laws of nature are the fingerprints of a wise, faithful, infinite Creator who teaches us that 2 plus 2 always equals 4. The fundamentals of math do not change. They exist in the nature of an unchanging God.
True motivation and inspiration for mathematics lies in the observance of God’s created order…There is a treasure to be found in the mathematical structure of God’s creation. We only need to learn how to find it…Keep your eyes open for mathematical insights in newspapers and magazines. Get out into God’s creation and investigate. Take pictures and collect flowers, pine cones, shells… ibid. p. 109
I am ready to find the treasures. Will you join me?
For more insight into mathematical principles, consider these helpful books listed in my perceived order of importance:
- The Guide to American Christian Education by James Rose
- Mathematics, Is God Silent by James Nickel
- Encyclopedia of Bible Truths: Science/Mathematics by Ruth Haycock
- The Noah Plan Mathematics Curriculum Guide by By Arthur Paul Ricciardi
Or visit these websites of moms who have done the research, too:
- Biblical Principles of Mathematics- Principled Mom
- Principled Math- Lifestyle Education through Discipleship
- How I’m Teaching Math- Loving Him 4 Ever
Justice- Why Study Math Reason 3
Without common and honest measures individuals can easily defraud one another. Leviticus 19:35-36 outlines God’s intention for trade relationships.
You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume. You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin.
No one wants to buy from a dishonest dealer, but how can you detect a swindler unless you understand the numbers? I think that is why Scripture admonishes repeatedly “not [to] pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge.” The vulnerable in society need protection. It is criminal to cheat anyone, and seems especially heinous to steal from the weak.
More years ago than I want to mention, I sold ice cream. After making a milkshake for a mother and her young son, I asked the owner the price. He told me an amount I later realized was higher than listed. The lady spoke little English and the man purposely cheated her out of a few dollars. No amount of money is worth debauching your soul. Being a part of that transaction still grieves me. The lady was not valued for her individuality, her humanity; only for her money. This scenario is too common.
My children will face similar situations. Will they know if they are being cheated? Will they safeguard the defenseless through their honesty? Justice cries out for individuals who can be trusted. Every relationship depends on it. Math illuminates corruption, and my hope is to heed its warnings. In order to love wisely, my children must understand arithmetic.
Dominion- Why Study Math Reason 2
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines arithmetic:
The science of numbers, or the art of computation. The various operations of arithmetic are performed by addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
These operations are necessary to care for property. Every week, I gather payments from various labor, add them up, and write a bank deposit. Then I get the privilege of dividing the money between the bills. By the grace of God, I don’t usually deal with negative numbers, and because my husband and I have done the math, we know our limits and set our goals.
It is easy to see that finances deal with numbers, but math is important for more than balancing the checkbook. In A Guide to American Christian Education, James Kilkenny writes,
None of the vast varieties of the work of the world, either in planning, doing, or evaluating, could be done without arithmetic. It is an essential tool of dominion.
The very stuff of existence requires a knowledge of math. We need food, shelter, and clothing to survive. How can we get and keep those things without adding or subtracting, planning or evaluating? Our goals and dreams hinge upon the hard work of doing. Even the hours and minutes of life are counted “that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Psalm 90:12
Teaching our children arithmetic is imperative for without it they will be dependent upon someone to care for them and their property. However, equipping children with the “tool of dominion” grows good stewards prepared to live in freedom caring for the many blessings God bestows.
