Math Appreciation

Can you draw really well?  Well, none of us can.  We just don't have any gift or talent for it whatsoever.  So if I said to my kids that we were going to study art, and at the end of  6 weeks they would have to create a masterpiece painting on canvas.....   they would scream and run the other way.  It would be too intimidating, right?  Any of you non-artists can relate!  Yet they very much love learning about art and looking at it.  Well, we have a bunch of children in our family who dislike (ok, loathe) math, and think they're terrible at it (they aren't, they just expect perfection and immediate mastery).  So, my saying to them, "Let's do these math lessons, then we'll do some worksheets, and after a few weeks we'll do a test (aka masterpiece), well..... they scream, and run the other way.  It's too intimidating for people who have an inborn fear of math.


Of course, I want my children to love math and understand it.  I find it fascinating, though at times a bit frustrating and challenging.  The wonderful thing about homeschooling is how much there is available in the way of choice when approaching learning.    We've tried several different math curriculums  which I was very pleased with (Math U See with it's great DVDs and manipulatives and Life of Fred with it's quirkiness and humor), but the kids still aren't big fans.  


A homeschool coop project I'm helping with inspired me to do some math appreciation with my kids for now, rather than expect the masterpiece.  The coop math class only lasts five weeks, but  it's so great to see my kids do things with math they wouldn't at home by themselves.

They are more willing to make new rules to old games, experiment, and have fun when working with other kids.  They've collaborated really well in sharing ideas and solutions (which would be called cheating in school, but is actually  great  preparation for real life, don't you think?)


So,   I started searching and  found some wonderful resources that I hope will change my children's feelings about math along the way as we learn about math from a different angle for a while.

We really enjoy Joy Hakim's "A History of US". (I am aware we're talking about math....  stick with me.)  I'm reading it to the second set of children and I love it and so do they!  She has such a wonderful way of weaving history into the amazing STORY that it is, rather than a bunch of facts on a timeline.  She also does a remarkable job of integrating many topics into that story; economics, religion, ethics, science, art, poetry, etc.  So I was really ecstatic when a friend told me she has also started writing "The Story of Science".  YES!! ( My kids also think they don't like science much.  Silly kids.)  

Hakim  beautifully weaves a fascinating story  and integrates so many subjects, including math!  I've been trying to tell my kids that math is simply a language;  a foreign language to some of us, but one that the universe is based on.  In chapter 2 she quotes Galileo, 


"The universe cannot be read until we have learned the language and become familiar with the characters in which it is written.  It is written in mathematical language." 


Just what I've been trying to explain!   Did you know that Einstein gave a lecture at Moscow University in 1955 where he wrote something on a blackboard that has NEVER been erased?  


 "Physical laws should have mathematical beauty."


When in school did you ever learn about "mathematical beauty"?  Einstein seems to have thought  it exists.  I'm not going to argue with him, we're just going to try a little harder to find it.  ALL knowledge is one great whole.  I'm learning this on my own educational journey because my experience is from  public school which is all very compartmentalized.  I  found a group of books on Amazon and I ordered one to start with.  In "Mathematics  Appreciation" by Theoni Pappas he says he, "Introduces you to the fascinating interrelationship between mathematics and other subject areas, the evolution of mathematical thought, and the beauty of mathematics."  Right on.  He has many many books about math written for all ages.   I have a feeling we'll be getting more of them!  

I'm determined to help my children appreciate mathematics.  They may never be brilliant at it, or truly love computations and that's ok, but I want them to lose their fear of it and understand the beauty of it in our every day lives.