School Math

Got the below here.

The Standard School Mathematics Curriculum

LOWER SCHOOL MATH. The indoctrination begins. Students learn that mathematics is not something you do, but something that is done to you. Emphasis is placed on sitting still, filling out worksheets, and following directions. Children are expected to master a complex set of algorithms for manipulating Hindi symbols, unrelated to any real desire or curiosity on their part, and regarded only a few centuries ago as too difficult for the average adult. Multiplication tables are stressed, as are parents, teachers, and the kids themselves.

MIDDLE SCHOOL MATH. Students are taught to view mathematics as a set of procedures, akin to religious rites, which are eternal and set in stone. The holy tablets, or “Math Books,” are handed out, and the students learn to address the church elders as “they” (as in “What do they want here? Do they want me to divide?”) Contrived and artificial “word problems” will be introduced in order to make the mindless drudgery of arithmetic seem enjoyable by comparison. Students will be tested on a wide array of unnecessary technical terms, such as ‘whole number’ and ‘proper fraction,’ without the slightest rationale for making such distinctions. Excellent preparation for Algebra I.

ALGEBRA I. So as not to waste valuable time thinking about numbers and their patterns, this course instead focuses on symbols and rules for their manipulation. The smooth narrative thread that leads from ancient Mesopotamian tablet problems to the high art of the Renaissance algebraists is discarded in favor of a disturbingly fractured, post-modern retelling with no characters, plot, or theme. The insistence that all numbers and expressions be put into various standard forms will provide additional confusion as to the meaning of identity and equality. Students must also memorize the quadratic formula for some reason.

GEOMETRY. Isolated from the rest of the curriculum, this course will raise the hopes of students who wish to engage in meaningful mathematical activity, and then dash them. Clumsy and distracting notation will be introduced, and no pains will be spared to make the simple seem complicated. This goal of this course is to eradicate any last remaining vestiges of natural mathematical intuition, in preparation for Algebra II.

ALGEBRA II. The subject of this course is the unmotivated and inappropriate use of coordinate geometry. Conic sections are introduced in a coordinate framework so as to avoid the aesthetic simplicity of cones and their sections. Students will learn to rewrite quadratic forms in a variety of standard formats for no reason whatsoever. Exponential and logarithmic functions are also introduced in Algebra II, despite not being algebraic objects, simply because they have to be stuck in somewhere, apparently. The name of the course is chosen to reinforce the ladder mythology. Why Geometry occurs in between Algebra I and its sequel remains a mystery.

TRIGONOMETRY. Two weeks of content are stretched to semester length by masturbatory definitional runarounds. Truly interesting and beautiful phenomena, such as the way the sides of a triangle depend on its angles, will be given the same emphasis as irrelevant abbreviations and obsolete notational conventions, in order to prevent students from forming any clear idea as to what the subject is about. Students will learn such mnemonic devices as “SohCahToa” and “All Students Take Calculus” in lieu of developing a natural intuitive feeling for orientation and symmetry. The measurement of triangles will be discussed without mention of the transcendental nature of the trigonometric functions, or the consequent linguistic and philosophical problems inherent in making such measurements. Calculator required, so as to further blur these issues.

PRE-CALCULUS. A senseless bouillabaisse of disconnected topics. Mostly a half-baked attempt to introduce late nineteenth-century analytic methods into settings where they are neither necessary nor helpful. Technical definitions of ‘limits’ and ‘continuity’ are presented in order to obscure the intuitively clear notion of smooth change. As the name suggests, this course prepares the student for Calculus, where the final phase in the systematic obfuscation of any natural ideas related to shape and motion will be completed.

CALCULUS. This course will explore the mathematics of motion, and the best ways to bury it under a mountain of unnecessary formalism. Despite being an introduction to both the differential and integral calculus, the simple and profound ideas of Newton and Leibniz will be discarded in favor of the more sophisticated function-based approach developed as a response to various analytic crises which do not really apply in this setting, and which will of course not be mentioned. To be taken again in college, verbatim.
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And there you have it. A complete prescription for permanently disabling young minds—a proven cure for curiosity. What have they done to mathematics! There is such breathtaking depth and heartbreaking beauty in this ancient art form. How ironic that people dismiss mathematics as the antithesis of creativity. They are missing out on an art form older than any book, more profound than any poem, and more abstract than any abstract.
And it is school that has done this! What a sad endless cycle of innocent teachers inflicting damage upon innocent students. We could all be having so much more fun.
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Phew! Glad my kids don't go to school. Time to go play with triangles in boxes...... (Read the article to find out what I mean!)

More Fall

This one is for Justine! I know you will be here in a week (!!), but the leaves might not make it, so I had to get it in a picture for ya!

Educate Yourself Before Getting the Shot

Better, yet, don't bother.
http://www.theflucase.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1356%3Acbs-reveals-that-swine-flu-cases-have-been-seriously-overestimated-reports-dr-mercola&catid=1%3Alatest-news&Itemid=64&lang=en

I Love Fall

View from the hammock at sunset

I just love Fall! Yes, the temperatures have dropped -we are expecting snow tonight!- but the colors of the trees and the quality of the light soooo make up for it. It is dangerous to drive with me this time of year, because I can't stop looking and exclaiming over the trees, especially the maples. I am so blessed to have a few beautiful specimens on my property to gaze at every day, until they drop their finery for the winter's chill.

Say Wha'?

The man who snubs the Dalai Lama receives the Nobel prize for Peace?
Huh. Up IS down!
I guess keeping the Chinese happy is a form of keeping the peace. Couldn't have anything to do with that 1 trillion dollars (plus interest) we owe them, could it? Hmmmm..... After all, we gotta be sure they keep buying our toxic bonds. Oops, I meant Treasury bonds.

Rocket Stove

Coolest 40 bucks (plus shipping) I ever spent! Got it here. After a nice walk in the woods, we were ready for lunch, so we got out our new rocket stove to give it a whirl. After getting the fire started, there was no smoke and it only took a small pile of sticks to heat a kettle of water for cocoa and then cook up some hot dogs. C was asking if I had anything else to cook! And all for free! I got this stove for emergency use, but it is so fun and such a great concept, we might use it regularly.

Photo Shoot

Today, A wanted to do up her eyes with makeup, and after a failed attempt, she had me do it. Then we went outside and took some pictures. I think I have a 16 year old!





Isn't she gorgeous!?

Isn't It Ironic?

Lucky you. Now that I have found the guts to post my thoughts in the form of my speech, I am freed from the burning desire to talk about all that heavy stuff. There, you heard it from me, now it is up to you to save yourself. Whew! Let's get back to love and life and unschooling and chronicling my amazing kids adventures and our wonderful life, shall we?

But first, a small rant. So, the other day, the girls had their first ballet class. It went well for them. I, however, was subjected to listening to a mom talk to her friend in the waiting area. She told about how her little girl tells her she wants a new mother. And how when the girl told her she wanted to live with her when she grows up and has lots of kids of her own, she laughed at her and told her she is out when she is 18. I was facing away from the mom, watching my girls dance in the class through the window. Good thing, too, because I wanted to cry for that little girl. This same girl was brought out early to her mother when she lost interest in the preschool dance class and was missing her mother. She had been crying and the mother told her in a sing song voice to dry her tears. No empathy. No understanding. Just the message to stuff it. Lovely.

Contrast this with my kids who tell me I am the best mother they could ever have. This got me thinking about why they would say that and what other people outside our relationship might think is the reason they think that. I can see someone saying my kids think I am the best because I give them whatever they want. Yes and no. Yes, I don't thwart my children's wishes, and actively help them to achieve them. But I am constantly monitoring the big picture and making suggestions for balance, helping them make decisions for themselves, talking about my choices. I do tell my children no. Sometimes it is a knee jerk reaction and I take it back if they push. Other times I have a really good reason ,and then they usually listen and comply. If they don't, I humbly allow for the possibility that I don't know what is best for my children, only they do. I prepare to help them deal with natural consequences, should I be right after all.

Sometimes I put my foot down, and piss them off. I'm not perfect. I think the trick is to build trust so that they will see my thoughts and wishes for them as valuable, rather than be a nag and cause them to shut me out. I don't like to be wrong. If I am not 100% sure of myself about something, I will not force my will on anyone, my kids included. If I only ever push them when I am 100% certain that my way is the best, they will come to see that my advice is sound and will come to me for help. If I only make a bunch of rules and enforce them strictly in the interest of making my life simple (whatever!), they will come to see my advice as arbitrary and often out of step with their reality. I want to partner with my children in life, not be a dictator.

And if they grow up and have a bunch of kids and want to live with me, all the better! I'll be one happy grandma! And I will have help around the farm. ;-) Sounds like a win-win to me. We would be a role model family for the re-strengthening of family and community so desperately needed in the world today. Really, we are going to need to expand our idea of family if we are to have good lives in a lower energy world. You can't do it alone, when you don't have that army of oil slaves at your side. The more families live and work together, the easier, and fuller, life will be.

I will consider myself a very good mother, if my children not only want to live with me, but fully choose the life they were raised living. This isn't about me being selfish and wanting to have my kids never leave me. It is about living in partnership with your kids so that they will consider taking up the family business as a valid option for their adult lives. So that they will want to raise their kids as you raised them, not because they don't know what else to do, but because they choose it fully. So that they are spared the need to rebel against everything you stand for, just because. I'm fully prepared for them to choose differently for their lives than I did for mine. They are not me. But, if they choose to do what I do, I will know I did not push them away, at the very least. I will consider myself blessed.