30 December 2014 at 8:14 am (Chronicles)
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,000 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 33 trips to carry that many people.
17 October 2014 at 1:46 pm (Questions)
Tags: books, college
The sheep are always more excellent on the other side of the green.
As it happens last night I was reading William Deresiewicz‘s Excellent Sheep about the pressure students feel to get good grades at the expense of learning, and how this extends right into the Ivy Leagues – because you don’t get into the Ivy Leagues without having accepted and mastered this technique. He quotes one of his students, “Yes, I am miserable, but were I not miserable, I wouldn’t be at Yale.”
Dear daughter asked me what I was reading so …
I tried to pose a question: suppose you were assigned to read a book, In scenario A you give the higher priority to finishing the book, even if there are interesting things you would like to explore along the way, you cut short your thinking about them so that you can finish the book. In scenario B you go ahead and explore them even though you might not finish the entire book. Read the rest of this entry »
8 August 2014 at 8:00 pm (Chronicles)
Tags: homeschool conference, mathematics
Zero is Beautiful: Teaching Mathematics as if People Mattered
I presented my paper “Zero is Beautiful” at the recent Homeschool+ Conference, which is part of a series of conferences under the umbrella called “The Learning Revolution.”
It was really wonderful to have Dr. Maria Droujkova attend the session.
Here are the recordings of all the sessions including mine. Read the rest of this entry »
25 March 2014 at 7:06 am (Observations)
Tags: mathematics
So … dh commented to me that dd told him that she did not know the 6 times table. Worried, he told me that while it is good that she explores freely and deeply etc , we have to ensure that she doesn’t miss basic things.
I told him, you know the funny thing is, she was telling me something about 6 x 8, which she found difficult because she knew neither the 6 table nor the 8 table. She said, “Well, 6 x 8 is so hard that I just memorized it.”
This was somewhat surprising to me because I thought, what other way is there? Don’t we memorize all of them? Read the rest of this entry »
19 February 2014 at 11:00 am (Chronicles, Essays)
Tags: art, mathematics
Forthcoming in Home Education Magazine, November-December 2014
Can you imagine the time before the discovery of zero? My husband and I got a glimpse of this when we witnessed the discovery of zero, not on the world-historical scale, but by our two-year-old daughter.
It was not an easy road. Counting had come uneventfully, but when numbers became numerals and the number 10 appeared on the page not with its own symbol, but with a 1 and 0, suddenly everything had changed. Till that moment, in her world it was still possible to have a system of enumeration like the one used by Ireneo Funes in Borges’ story, “Funes the Memorius.” Funes gives every number its own unique name. He has “an infinite vocabulary for the natural series of numbers” and no use for the concept of place value.
When our daughter saw that the numeral 10 comprised a 1 and a 0 she flung herself upon a chair and cried. Read the rest of this entry »
15 February 2014 at 10:16 am (Excerpts)
Tags: art, mathematics
Excerpts from the essays of Paul Lockhart
Paul Lockhart teaches mathematics at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn, New York.
MC Escher, 1948
From letter to Keith Devlin, Mathematical Association of America
On teaching mathematics to young children:
“I want them to understand that there is a playground in their minds and that that is where mathematics happens.”
From Lockhart’s Lament, Mathematical Association of America
Mathematics is an Art
… if the world had to be divided into the “poetic dreamers” and the “rational thinkers” most people would place mathematicians in the latter category.
Nevertheless, the fact is that there is nothing as dreamy and poetic, nothing as radical, subversive, and psychedelic, as mathematics. Read the rest of this entry »
8 February 2014 at 3:06 pm (Essays)
Tags: education, hygiene, rights, society
You thought I was kidding when I said that we do bathroom schooling. (Here and here.) I wasn’t. Well I was but then what would my non-kidding answer be? Kidding was better than splitting hairs over whether I was homeschooling or unschooling. Read the rest of this entry »
28 January 2014 at 2:09 pm (Recommendations)
Tags: baby, babywearing, breastfeeding, natural hygiene
How do we set the foundation for lifelong learning? In the early months and years of life, these five resources will help you practice continuum learning with your little ones. Follow-Up to Attachment Parenting and Continuum Learning. Scroll down for summary table of Resources and Skills Learned.
Painting: Abhishek Kumar.
1. Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding helps children learn a vital skill that they need all their lives: how to eat.
Children’s first introduction to the flavors and feelings of food comes through breastfeeding. As they gradually increase the variety and quantity of the food they eat, nursing serves as a safety net, allowing them freedom to try foods without any obligation to eat a given quantity by a given time. Breastfeeding babies have time to acquire taste for a healthy variety of foods, while assured nutrition through mother’s diet. Nursing also provides antibodies that help little ones as they explore the wider world and come into contact with more germs. A partially weaned, breastfeeding child will often turn into an exclusively-breastfeeding child (ebf) when ill, and may require little or no other medicine to fight the illness. Read the rest of this entry »
28 January 2014 at 2:00 pm (Recommendations)
Tags: babywearing, breastfeeding, natural hygiene
Read the full the post here:
|
Resource |
Requirements |
What Baby Learns |
How Family Benefits |
|
Breastfeeding |
Well nourished mother, togetherness of mother and baby. Can be met in part by expressed breastmilk during hours mother and baby are separate. |
The world is a safe place. How different foods taste How food makes me feel How I feel when hungry or full. When I fall down, fall ill, or am sad, afraid or unsure, I have a home base where I can restore myself. |
Mother believes in her body. Whole family eats happily without stress. |
|
Sling |
Sling. Caring person. |
This is how we go about the day, talk, listen, cook, wash, garden, catch the train, etc. I can observe and explore from a safe place. I can communicate my needs without shouting. I can get down and back up whenever I want. Each member of my family has a different voice, gait, way of doing things. |
Parent / carer is able to carry child hands-free. Family includes child in their activities. Variety of settings stimulate parent-child interaction. |
|
Nursing Kurta |
Nursing Kurta |
My mother takes me to interesting places. I am safe in the world. Breastfeeding is normal. I can meet my needs while my mother does various things. |
Mother can go anywhere assured that she can breastfeed anytime. [Can do with any dress, but some find it easier with kurta designed for discreet nursing.] |
|
Elimination Communication |
Potty, bowl or toilet area. Waterproof sheets to protect bed, furniture, etc in early stages. Simple cloth for baby’s bottom. |
My bottom is normally clean and dry. When I am wet or dirty, my adult will help me promptly. I can relieve myself in a clean place. My body works just right! |
Feels good to respond to hygiene needs promptly. See satisfaction when baby relieves himself or herself. Supports healthy body image. Enhances communication. |
|
Family Bed |
Mat on the floor or firm bed with space for family |
I learn to breathe in my sleep by sleeping near breathing adults. I am safe while sleeping. I need not shout to be heard. I can breastfeed while sleeping. I can express my hopes and dreams, concerns and fears. |
Comfort of child nearby. Can nurse at night without getting out of bed or fully waking. Chance to hear thoughts that may not come up in the rush of the day. |
31 December 2013 at 9:42 am (Reviews)
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,600 times in 2013. If it were a cable car, it would take about 27 trips to carry that many people.
 | Aravinda on The sheep are always more… |
 | Umang Kumar on The sheep are always more… |
 | mariadroujkova on Homeschool+ Conference |
| Aravinda on Homeschool+ Conference |
| mariadroujkova on Homeschool+ Conference |
