book bonanza – the king’s chessboard

We read The King’s Chessboard at my Math Alive! class this week. The children all loved it and I hope it taught them the power of knowing math, the foolishness of pride, and the immensity of the doubling principle.

This book tells the story of a proud and foolish king who wants to reward one of his subjects. The man does not want to be rewarded, but the king insists. The man then allows the king to give him one grain of rice on the first day, two grains of rice the second day, four grains the third day, eight grains the fourth day, sixteen the fifth day, and so on, for the course of 64 days. One day for every square on a chessboard. Well, if you do the math, you end up with a VERY large number by the 64th day. Go ahead…figure it out and post back here with your answer! Bonus points for anyone who also figures out the total amount of grains of rice that would be given over the full 64 days.

My children love this book and now my math students love it as well. Check it out at your library or buy it for your own home library and I guarantee you will love it! Make sure you add in a proud and loud voice for the king and you are assured read-aloud success!

i’m in print

Years and years ago…like when I only had two children and they were very small…I wrote an article for a friend’s book. She published it and then it was submitted to the Latter-Day Saint Home Education Association. They published it in their newsletter, The Sentinel.

Now they have reissued it to their new subscribers. You can read it here.

It is somewhat funny to read it now because I am so not the same mother I was then. I thought I knew so much about motherhood. I was striving fiercely to create a wonderful family unit.

Now? Some of those things are not getting done. Maybe I need to get back in the habit of a Saturday Night Devotional. Maybe I need to assess where we are and what we need to improve upon. Maybe some of the things in the article can be let go – I don’t know. I just know reading it this morning was like a trip down memory lane – back to a time of much less chaos, commitments, and laundry. Back to a time of two little girls who loved nothing more than to snuggle up and listen to me read to them for hours and hours every day. Who loved to go on walks looking for rocks and bugs and injured animals to save. Who loved to act out scripture stories and thought it was the greatest fun possible. Back to a time of good employment and plenty of time with dad. Back to a time of knowing what my children needed and not needing to feel like an amateur psychologist just to get through breakfast.

Go check it out, maybe there will be some priceless thoughts for you…and maybe not…

joy pillow give-away

Dear readers,

My children are participating in the First Annual Idaho Homeschool Read-A-Thon and are reading to earn money to buy Usborne books for themselves and for F.A.I.T.H. – Families in Transitional Housing. They have been reading non-stop for the last 10 days and have been trying to find sponsors for themselves. I hatched up an idea to do a give-away to help them raise funds.

I made a pillow…yes, me the sewing impaired mama made a very cute pillow to give to some lucky soul!

Isn’t that cute!

If you post about this on your blog and link back to this post and then leave me a comment with your website’s post, you will get one entry for this adorable 8 1/2″ square pillow. For every dollar that you paypal to the read-a-thon, you will earn two entries. All entries must be in by Saturday night at midnight and the winner will be announced Monday morning. Let’s spread this far and wide! Just think, if 1000 people donated $1, they would reach their goal of $1000. Let’s help them do it!

To paypal, my account is mom2bmw@aol.com.

If you prefer to mail a check, email me and I will send you our home address.

Thanks much! My little ones are having great time reading and earning books and are so excited to give books to the children at F.A.I.T.H. – Families in Transitional Housing.

blessing number 5 million and one

Do you have any idea how wonderful home schooling is?

Today we read all about Newton, learned a little about Korea and found it on the map, learned about shrews, read a chapter in Alice, and then Fisher and Annesley played with plastic bugs, the marble run, and Fisher taught Annesley her colors. Keziah went off to read the life of Pocahontas, and Blythe and I snuggled up with her legs on my lap and my feet underneath her to get warmed up and read Animal Farm. Imagine, a teenager and a mom reading Animal Farm together, discussing governmental forms, laughing at the silliness in the book, and enjoying each others company.

Novel idea in this day and age of teen angst, families not seeing each other much and many not even eating together. Novel in this time of over-scheduled lives, teen apathy, and people not knowing the difference between their unalienable rights and the whims of their lives.

Home schooling is hard…but it is worth every minute I put into it as well. Today was one of the reward days. One of the days when I look around at my children loving to learn, putting in the time it takes to get an education, and helping each other to do so.

I wouldn’t change these days with my children for anything. Learning together is a wonderful process, full of ups and downs and all-arounds, full of triumphs and trials, full of joys and heartaches – and it is worth it!

Absolutely worth it to hear my daughter teach the rest of her siblings about communism, agency, God’s plan for freedom, and how it is our duty to fight for freedom.

Off to Shakespeare…

nanowrimo

Blythe has just finished NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month. She found out about it from her friend, Katherine, and then started writing back on November 2nd. Each person sets a word count goal and then writes all month long to reach that goal. Every participant that reaches their personal goal wins and receives a certificate.

I was impressed with several things. NaNoWriMo kept her attention all month long and she worked hard on her writing. She incorporated the lessons she learned from Kate’s writing class she took this fall, which was a fabulous class that I hope will be repeated. She also learned that writing a novel takes a lot of time and that if she wants to write well she is going to have to be serious about it and not just throw out ideas and hope they somehow end up in a magical, enticing story.

She was proud of herself. I was proud of her…and then I was hit by a magical idea…

When I woke up this morning and checked my email box, there was another one of Amazon’s marketing emails, which I almost always promptly delete. For some reason, I clicked on this one to see the latest boxed sets of “teen” books. My screen was filled with vampires, dragons, prostitute-looking girls – all of which is disgusting and despicable to me. Then I saw a boxed set of Shannon Hale’s. Blythe and I read The Princess Academy a few years ago, so I thought, “hmmm, I wonder what else she has written.” A few clicks later and I was reading all about The Goose Girl, The Forest Born, and all sorts of other gems. I found an interview of Shannon and it was utterly delightful. She shared why she writes books and what messages she tries to communicate. I hurriedly ran down to wake up Blythe (who is THE HARDEST person in the world to wake up) and squealed “Blythe, Blythe, come with me right now! I have found a book you will love and you must come and find out all about it this very minute. Come, come come!” She quickly jumped (yes, actually jumped!) out of bed and ran upstairs with me. We were like two little school girls who had just found a secret room full of jewels. I played the interview with her, read her all the descriptions of the books, showed her all sorts of stuff about Shannon Hale, and told her I thought we should go on a book hunting mission this afternoon in honor of her finishing her first book. She was thrilled! So, today, after Shakespeare and her weekly temple trip, we will be searching the aisles of the used book store to see if we can snag the whole set. If not, we will go to Barnes and Noble and buy the first book. (We tried the library first, but we are 6th in line, which means it will be at least 18 weeks before we get it! Much too long to wait when a child is on fire about something!)

How fun to finally be at this place with her!

(okay, I just tried to reserve Forest Born at the library and we are 22nd in line! This will never do, I am going to have to find them at the used book store!)

g is for googol

I found another math book I love and have to share it with you! G is For Googol by David Schwartz is an alphabet book with each letter standing for a mathematical concept. The concepts are all explained thoroughly and hilariously. It is sure to draw in math lovers and math haters. Blythe started it last night and was giggling on every page.

An example of its humor:

“I am sure you are wondering how to write 2 billion with exponents. If you aren’t wondering, start wondering now!”

We are going to have a delightful time going through this book together and separately.

Enjoy!

a symphony of whales

At end of our family devotional each day, we read a picture book. I recently checked out A Symphony of Whales by Steve Schuch and illustrated by Peter Sylvada and today we read it. What a treasure! Blythe is fascinated by whales and I thought this would keep her interest, while also being of interest to the little ones. It is quite a trick having such diverse group of ages, interests, and abilities, but this book kept them all engaged.

This book is based on a true story of 3,000 beluga whales being trapped in the ice flows during the winter of 1984. A group of villagers and a Russion Icebreaker worked for seven weeks to clear a channel for the whales to escape to the open ocean before the winter cold completely froze the ice over and killed them all. Through the perseverance of the villagers, the tenacity of a little girl to follow inspiration received through dreams, and the beauty of classical music, they succeed in freeing the whales.

This wonderful story brings in arctic life, fulfilling your mission, listening to promptings, trusting our children, working hard, believing in miracles, the wisdom of the old, ocean life, ships, geography, and music. It is a gem! You can find it at your local library or on amazon right here.

read any math lately?

I have a rather large collection of books that teach math principles as part of the story. I thought everyone did. I thought everyone would know about these books and have an obsession with collecting them and strewing them throughout their homes so that children grow up reading books that teach mathematical concepts and it is just part of their daily life.

I was wrong. Time after time I have had people tell me they have never heard of these types of books. Well, I am here to spread the message far and wide and to share with you our favorites!

I don’t want you to think I am saying working out problems is bad. It is great and we love the Right Start Math Program. However, it is NOT sufficient. I am living proof that a person can get all the answers right and have no clue what it means. I was always in the highest math classes. I took Trig and AP Calculus. I had no clue what I was doing, but I could follow the formula and churn out the right answer and get an A on the test. I want my children to understand numbers and their relationships with each other. I want them to see math in everything. I want them to think like a mathematician. One of my approaches to doing this is to read math with them. To read about inventors and thinkers and creative people throughout time. I want them to know there is a long history of people wondering about numbers and working hard to come up with answers. I want them to have examples to look to if they decide to be a mathematician. I want them to see patterns and possibilities in all the world around them. These books are my early attempts to do just that.

We have not moved up to the next level of books yet, but we are getting there and when we do, I will have a whole ‘nother post on books that are great for incorporating algebra, trig, physics, and calculus in them.

First of all, there are two websites that will change your life and the way you look at math.

livingmath.net

letsplaymath.wordpress.com

They are both fabulous resources for changing your math paradigm and for finding out about wonderful books and ideas to teach math. I have learned about a lot of these books at Living Math or on the yahoo list sponsored by Living Math.

So, here are our favorite books, in no particular order, just off the top of my head as I sit here typing. Some of these are overtly teach math principles, some of them are teaching patterns, time, histories, inventions as a sidelight to the story. Some of them are MUST-HAVES in my mind, some of them are great to check-out from the library. All of them have been beneficial.

Books We Own and Have Enjoyed (okay, I guess I am going to include a few that we don’t own and have checked out from the library)

Spaghetti and Meatballs for All by Marilyn Burns (anything by Marilyn Burns is fabulous! She is the guru of learning and teaching math in creative ways.)

Amanda Bean’s Amazing Dream by Cindy Neuschwander

Sea Squares by Joy Hulme

Sir Cumference series by Cindy Neuschwander

My Full Moon is Square by Elinor J. Pinczes

Inchworm and a Half by Elinor J. Pinczes

Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar by Masaichiro & Mitsumasa Anno

Anno’s Math Games by Masaichiro & Mitsumasa Anno

Anno’s Magic Seeds by Masaichiro & Mitsumasa Anno

Anno’s Hat Tricks by Masaichiro & Mitsumasa Anno

The Warlord’s Puzzle by Virginia Walton Pilegard

The Warlord’s Alarm by Virginia Walton Pilegard

The Warlord’s Messenger by Virginia Walton Pilegard

The Warlord’s Beads by Virginia Walton Pilegard

The Warlord’s Fish by Virginia Walton Pilegard

The Warlord’s Kites by Virginia Walton Pilegard

The Warlord’s Puppeteer by Virginia Walton Pilegard

Mathematicians are People, Too Stories from the Lives of Great
Mathematicians by Luetta Reimer & Wilbert Reimer (both volumes are fabulous!)

Arctic Fives Arrive by Elinor J. Pinczes

One Hundred Hungry Ants by Elinor J. Pinczes

A Remainder of One by Elinor J. Pinczes

Senefer: A Young Genius in Old Egypt by Beatrice Lumpkin

The King’s Commissioners by Aileen Friedman

Ten Sly Piranhas by William Wise

The King’s Chessboard by David Birch

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

The I Hate Mathematics! Book by Marilyn Burns (currently Blythe’s favorite)

Actual Size by Steve Jenkins

Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest by Steve Jenkins

Biggest, Strongest, Fastest by Steve Jenkins

Roman Numerals I to MM by Arthur Geisart

What’s Faster Than a Speeding Cheetah? by Robert E. Wells

What’s Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew? by Robert E. Wells

How Do You Lift a Lion? by Robert E. Wells

Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing Ever? by Robert Wells

What’s Older Than A Giant Turtle? by Robert E. Wells

How Do You Tell What Time It Is? by Robert E. Wells

How Tall, How Short, How Faraway by David Adler

Math for Smarty Pants by Marilyn Burns

Multiplying Menace: The Revenge Of Rumpelstiltskin (A Math Adventure)

Murderous Maths by Kjartan Poskitt

How Much Is A Million? by David A. Schwartz

One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale by Demi

The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns

The Quiltmaker’s Gift Jeff Brumbeau

Flatland : A Romance of Many Dimensions Edwin A. Abbott

The Librarian Who Measured the Earth (story of Erastothenes) by Kevin Hawkes

String, Straightedge and Shadow: The Story of Geometry by Julia E. Diggins

The Go-Around Dollar by Barbara Johnston Adams

Tight Times by Barbara Shook Hazen

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? A Fast, Clear, and Fun
Explanation of the Economics by Richard J. Maybury (an Uncle Eric book)

The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics by Norton Juster

Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin by Lloyd Moss

Can You Count Ten Toes? by Denis Roche

From Zero to Ten: The Story of Numbers by Vivian French

Mummy Math : An Adventure in Geometry by Cindy Neuschwander

What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras? A Math Adventure by Julie Ellis

Archimedes and the Door of Science by Jeanne Bendick

Along Came Galileo by Jeanne Bendik

Mathematics Illustrated Dictionary: Facts, Figures and People

Telling Time by Stephen Cartwright (Usborne Books)

Radio Boy by Sharon Phillips Denslow

Julia Morgan Built a Castle by Celeste Davidson Mannis

Too Many Cooks by Andrea Buckless

Striking it Rich: The Story of the California Gold Rush by Stephen Krensky

What’s Up With That Cup? by Sheila Keenan

The Hundred Penny Box by Sharon Bell Mathis

Pizza Counting by Christina Dobson

A Dozen Eggs by Harriet Ziefert

Marvelous Math: A Book of Poems by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Splitting the Herd: A Corral of Odds and Evens by Trudy Harris

The Great Bridge-Building Contest by Bo Zaunders

How High is the Sky? by Anna Milbourne (Usborne Book)

How Big Is A Million? by Anna Milbourne (Usborne Book

My Place by Nadia Wheatley

Starry Messenger by Peter Sis

A Million Dots by Andrew Clements

Great Books for Older Children and Adults

A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe: Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science by Michael Schneider

The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet by Michael L. Munk

I know I have more…this is just what I pulled off our shelves this week…so I may need to add more books to this post later.

These are books we haven’t read, but I think sound fabulous and I want to get them.

The Joy of Mathematics by Theoni Pappas, Math in nature/science/art/music/history/literature – classic

The Number Devil by Enzensberger, Multi-concepts, cute illustrations. Fun classic, very wide appeal, can be read aloud to even very young kids

The Story of 1 (PBS Home Video) One hour well presented video on the history of the number 1. Available at Blockbuster, Netflix and many libraries.

Better Than a Lemonade Stand: Small Business Ideas for Kids

The Man Who Counted: A Collection of Mathematical Adventures, by

Malba Tahan, Chapter book, loosely based on the story of Khayyam

The Ten Things All Future Mathematicians and Scientists Must Know But Are Rarely Taught (great resource book)

The Book of Think by Marilyn Burns

The Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat by Theoni Pappas (just checked out today at the library…will have a review soon!)

Hopefully this will get you started on your own math journey! If you have any questions about specific books, I will do my best to answer them.

epiphany

This week I have been overcome with feelings that I am finding hard to put words to. These are such strong experiences though, I feel I must share.

I was asked months ago to mentor a discussion on The Lord of the Rings for a group of homeschooled youth and this week we finally met. I have been excited to share and learn together with these youth, but I had no idea what I would feel as I was there. First, we picked up another girl to ride with us to the discussion and as she and Blythe chatted on the drive the thought came to my mind, “you are so blessed to be able to spend your days involved with youth who are happy, excited about learning, and are discussing REAL ideas, instead of what movie is playing or the latest gossip of the world.”

Then, at the discussion, the youth had such great comments on leadership, friendship, journeys, fighting evil, how to prepare for our own missions, comparisons between The Lord of the Rings and Pilgrim’s Progress (really, how many youth are reading Pilgrim’s Progress today?) and a conviction that anyone, anyone at all, even themselves can change the world. We discussed so many wonderful ideas and they shared themselves with me in a way that touched me deeply. They had important ideas about their reading of this book and they let them out and shared them. Part of it felt very normal because I experience this often, but part of it felt very surreal because I think it is fairly uncommon in this busy, technological, adult-teenager-angst world.

That night I came home to a dinner made by my husband for our anniversary. He had come home early from work and made dinner while I was gone to the discussion – complete surprise to me! We still had one of the youth from the discussion with us and she and her father ended up sharing our meal. It was lovely to share our anniversary dinner (which we always do as a family because it is the day our family was created, not just the day we were married) with friends who are on this same path of learning together as families.

Once again, I thought how blessed I am to have such a simple, wonderful life.

Then…and this is the kicker…I taught gymnastics on Friday. Each week I teach 70 homeschooled students to do donkey kicks, monkey jumps, cartwheels, and back handsprings. That day, I received at least 20 giant bear hugs, some kisses, a lot of smiles, and tons of great energy. One particular girl was working on vaulting. I knew she could do a tuck-on all the way up onto the horse, but she didn’t think she could. I had her try again and again and again. Each time she landed on her knees. By her fourth or fifth try, all the parents and lots of the children were watching her, all encouraging her and hoping she would get it. She DID and the whole gym cheered for her. Most importantly, she gave me a huge smile and I could tell she had conquered her fear and was proud of herself. She had learned she could do hard things. As I went through each class, several more events like this happened and a powerful feeling washed over me…it was something like this…

“You are changing lives. You are helping these children to know who they are and what they can be. You are an instrument in My hands to love, to build, and to know these children. Give them your heart and it will provide them with strength and courage in the days to come. You are not just their gym teacher, you are their friend. Do not take their love lightly, as it is precious and life-giving.”

These words do not completely capture the feeling, but they give you a sense of it.

What a blessing to know these children and to be able to share their lives with them. I will do better to remember this and the effect I can have.

Looking back, I can remember people in my childhood that greatly influenced me…until this week I never truly realized I could be that person for someone else’s children.

the composer is dead

We read (well, really listened) a delightful book last night that was recommended to us by our favorite librarian, Sarah. It is called The Composer is Dead and is written by Lemony Snicket. Now, you must know, I am so not a fan of Lemony Snicket and his books A Series of Unfortunate Events. I completely disagree with those books, but I decided to put aside my harsh judgments of this author, trust Sarah, and give this book a try. I am glad I did. (I did, however, skim the book quickly at the library before checking it out, so I knew what the book was about.)

It is so funny! The story is about the investigation of a dead composer’s murder. The inspector interviews everyone in the orchestra and along the way the reader learns all about the different sections of the orchestra, the types of sounds they make, and the stereotypical attitudes of the various musicians. For instance, the violas are forgotten by the inspector, to which they reply “Everyone forgets about us. We play the notes in the chords that nobody cares about. We play crucial countermelodies nobody hears.” The flutes say all they ever do is imitate birds. The cellos and basses say they were providing accompaniment, which is “boring, but steady work.” The percussionists say “We drummed. We percussed. We employed xylophoniness and cymbalism. We heard the beat and beat the herd. We struck up and got down. We conquered the concert, battered the band, agitated the audience, and rattled the roof. By then we were beat – too exhausted to commit murder.” Each instrument section has a great alibi and the inspector is stumped. Why is the composer dead?

If you are a musician, you will love it. If you are not, I think you will still love it. Richard and I were almost rolling on the floor from laughing so hard, and it would be a stretch to call us musicians…if anything we are struggling to learn to be musicians…and we found it hilarious. Blythe and Keziah loved it as well. Fisher was quite concerned about the dead composer and wanted to find out who had “done it.” He couldn’t really understand the humor in it. But at the end, he said, “Beethoven is dead? When did he die? I don’t really know a lot about Beethoven. Bach is dead too? Ohhhh, I yike (like) Bach.”

We have enough interaction with real musicians to find all the undercurrents of humor spot on. I can’t wait till my symphony friends read this book – I just know they will laugh there heads off and have to run out and buy it that very instant.

We checked it out at the library and you can probably find it at your library as well. If not, or you want to purchase it, click on my amazon link at the top of the page and buy it! I don’t know if all editions come with the audio CD, but make sure the one you get does. The music is played by the different instruments all throughout the book and so you get to experience all the different sounds of the orchestra. The reader has a great voice and the sound effects are awesome.

If you read it with your family, let me know what you think!