A Mathematician's Lament Against School Math

I thought I'd share this very interesting article on mathematics. Written by Paul Lockhart, a mathematician, it challenges our culture's perception of what mathematics really is and how schools in no way teach real math. It focuses on K-12 education and how mathematics is more of a beautiful art form than a jumble of utilitarian formulas and practices.

It's 25 pages long (pdf), but well worth the time. I found this opinion piece illuminating and inspiring.

A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart.

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Happy Spring Equinox!

More sunlight! We've reached the day time = night time equilibrium and will continue to be increasingly illuminated. I love this time of year and I can't wait for Spring proper! In the meantime, I'll bask in the increased day light hours.

It's a great time of year to plant the seeds of new tasks. And it's the time of year we pull out our spring themed books! Here's a few of ours we found on our shelves today... they're getting a bit out of my son's age range, but he read them eagerly all the same. The Hopper books being classic favourites!

ScienceCasts: Super Moon

Narnia the Exhibition at TELUS World of Science - Edmonton

Project Summaries and The Chronicles of Narnia

I can't claim that we do unit studies around here, but I love the concept. And I love lists. So, I tend to group similar topics together and make lists under "Project Summaries" when I'm collating our learning activities (which I do informally).

For example, I'm a keener for learning about Canada. I don't drill Canadian trivia into my son, however, I do have an on going section in my file for all things Canada. When we read a Canadian author, it goes into that list. When we visit a historical site, it goes into that list. When we watch CG Kids, it goes into that list. My son has several books on Canada that he loves, and those go into that list. Canadian music, stories, articles, dvds, experiences, field trips, etc.

Some "Project Summaries" are shorter than others while some are really in depth. My son's current Project Summary for Star Wars is quite an extensive resource list, lol!

 And some, like this Narnia one, are short and on going.

First off, my son and I listened to the audiobook The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
[I typically only read one chapter book out loud and that one is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the moment.]

My son read the very colourful Step Into Narnia: A Journey Through "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" by E.J. Kirk 

Of course, we had to watch The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the new movie! We're borrowing the older version from the library and will compare the two very soon.

And the inspiration for doing all this right now: the Narnia exhibit at our Telus World of Science. Apparently, photos are not allowed within the exhibit, sorry :(

However, follow this link to the promo video on the official website.
This exhibit ends May 1, 2011! It's the last few weeks, but plenty off time to enjoy it.

We printed out the educational guide pdf from the Narnia Exhibit website. It looked good and my son wants to do most of the activities.

We will listen to the rest of the Narnia books and keep our eyes out for complimentary  books, like the above Step into Narnia book. Plus watch the old and new movies.

Normally I'd be inspired to take out more library resources on England and London, but we've previously delved into London, England before our visit there-- plus our actual visit and all the photos! My son did not ask to learn more and we have several other countries he's interested in learning about right now.

Geography: Usborne Sticker Atlas Books

My son's affinity for geography was fostered by Usborne Sticker Atlas books. We have wall maps and play with SmartGlobe and even exchange random postcards at Postcrossing, but it was the initial interest in these sticker books that engaged him so much. And boy did he learn from them! I swear his ability to locate countries on the map far surpasses my own and it all started with these sticker atlases. Not only did he figure out where different countries were located, he accumulated knowledge of what animals/flags/dinosaurs/history occur there.

As time passes, these collections often resurface and get flipped through. Definitely money well spent!

Flanimals?!

What do you get when Ricky Gervais focuses his twisted humour and sites on children's books? You get a bizarre series depicting the evolution of Flanimals.

What are flanimals? I'm sure I could not explain. However, a chance meeting with Flanimals of the Deep at our local library has unexpectedly plunged our house into this wacky world. My son loves this book and is excited to learn it isn't the first or last of its kind. New holds have been established on the library card and the anticipation is rising.

I haven't told my son yet, but I think I just read that there is a CGI-type movie in the works! Maybe a TV series? For the books and this movie/TV info: click here.

Chapter 2: The Diversity of Life; Chapter 3: The Flanisaurs; Chapter 4: The Mulons

An Independent Project...Unschooling?

"Let Kids Rule the School" is an article written by Susan Engel, March 15, 2011 for the New York Times.

Check it out and see what you think.

Sigh. I love Natural Learning... unschooling!

New Star Wars Books

My son is totally engrossed in all things Star Wars. From the movies to all the encyclopedic books and everything in between, my son is obsessed ;-)

The New Acquisitions

... passionate?!

He reads Star Wars, he watches Star Wars, he plays Star Wars, he draws Star Wars, and he probably dreams Star Wars. Oh, hey, and he counts his money to pay for Star Wars and does the calculations to ensure he has enough to pay for his purchases (that is, when we are not using the library as a free resource).

Returned, Read, To the Library

His newest additions to his repertoire include a fun little book on light sabers and the Star Wars "A Long Time Ago" Omnibus which is a collection of the first 23 Star Wars comics ever written-- complete with all their mistakes (like not knowing that Luke and Leah were siblings or that Darth Vader was the Father or where the rebel base was relocated). Sigh, and it is only volume one, lol! This was a great find though because my son was willing to pay 8$ or even $15 for the original individual comics. But he has no interest in collecting and saving, he just wants the pleasure of reading the original stories, thank goodness for these omnibus collections!

Not Very Many Out From the Library At the Moment

Home Collection

More Books, Plus All Kinds of Lego Sets

And Even Action Figures!

Canadian Geographic Kids! aka CG Kids

Winter is still lingering here even as the light is returning and days getting longer. More light, but still cold with a little hope on the horizon: looks like this week should be considerably warmer.

Even so, we optimistically borrowed Lost in a Forest-- BC's Rainforest Vancouver, Haliburton's Boreal Ontario, by CG Kids, from the library. My son gave it 5 stars out of 5! And we are now craving forest exploration. Yes, yes, winter forest exploration has it's own benefits, but we're very ready for spring now. Besides, my son is looking forward to finding insects and bugs!

Typically we enjoy CG Kids around here. Short (25 minute episodes) and targeted to youth 8-14 years old (but great for all ages), the CG Kids adventures take us across Canada engaging in all kinds of discoveries. One of the features I like best is when they show quick experiments to do. For example, the Lost in a Forest episode explained why leaves turned colour in the Autumn. The experiment was to tape a leaf to a piece of paper, cover half of it with tin foil, and leave it out in the sun. The results should have the leaf half green where the sunlight was absorbed and the autumn colour for that leaf where the sunlight was prohibited.  We can't wait to tests this out ourselves! There was also an easy chromatography experiment demonstrated that would be very easy to duplicate.

There is even a show on Edmonton-- Edmonton to the Extreme!

This wonderful resource is going on it's sixth season. Over at the Canadian Geographic website, you can explore all current and past episodes here. It is a TV series and I suppose available that way. We usually take the dvds out from the library, but it looks like our library is way behind with only 35 episodes ;-)

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