Moral Work
How do we get our kids to develop a good work ethic when we don’t live on a farm? This is a question have repeatedly asked myself for years. Honestly I bring it up a lot in the hopes that my dream for a small farm will get pushed into reality, but I digress. I
Mathematical Reasoning with Life again
If I’m focused on justifying what I’m learning by the necessity of my need to use it, then I’ll naturally seek to learn the things that I need in order to do the things that I want. We may argue that we do not seek to only teach our children that which they seem to
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Mathematical Reasoning with Life
When I first started teaching mathematics, the elephant in the room was always the mantra, ‘when am I ever going to use this in life?’ Now that we’ve been exploring the language of mathematics together for years, I don’t hear this question very much at all. However, the worldview or hidden assumption behind this question
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Lust of the Eyes
I get buyer’s remorse, but in reverse. I pat myself on the back for a job well done of leaving a store without buying any unnecessary items, and then halfway home, I get that familiar pang of regret that I have left something behind that, seemingly, would have fulfilled me. This month, it was black
Common Topics : Authority
Authority: When we are stuck we look beyond ourselves. Authority is the common topic that forces us to see our limitations and seek help from those who have come before. “The greater intellect one has, the more originality one finds in men. Ordinary persons find no difference between men.” Blaise Pascal. When faced with a
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Common Topics : Relationship
Relationship : Look to the future! At least that is how I imagine this particular common topic. We learn in writing class that relationship is asking questions like “what comes before” and “what comes after”, which at first glance does not seem to be about relationship at all. A relationship etymologically speaking is a connection.
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Common Topics: Circumstance
Circumstance : Learning to look around us and contemplate and understand our surroundings is something that comes with maturity. While a toddler may be completely nonchalant by the road traffic, it isn’t because he’s brave, but because he is unaware. Naivete is not bravery. As our toddler starts to pay attention to the world outside
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Common Topics : Comparison
Comparison: Comparison sometimes comes before definition, but we are exploring it second. While I admit that we tend to compare things before we truly understand what they are, I also acknowledge that the only way to compare things thoroughly is to first define them. We compare things instinctively, which is why you won’t be shocked to
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Common Topics : Definition
In the Lost Tools of Writing we learn about the five common topics. These topics are 5 categorical questions that we ask in order to invent something. Asking questions is essential for thinking. I tell my children that there is a world of difference between the man who enters a room saying, “this is nice”
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Gathering Wool
We were stacking some of our wood yesterday in the not-quite cool of mid-morning. It was a last-minute decision to let the dishes go by the wayside. Not because dishes don’t matter, they do. If I were a list-maker (and I am), I could see the never-ending road of tasks, paved before me, leading me