From Triangles to Tattoos?!?

Each week, I have the privilege of gathering with a group of 16 and 17 year olds where we learn math and more about the God behind the language of math!

This week, we were once again learning even more about triangles. Let me just say, I love triangles! Triangles are so important in measuring and relating to God’s creation that there is a whole course called Trigonometry devoted to them! And guess what, my God is a triune God.  Interesting that He would choose the triangle as a corner piece in understanding so many aspects of His creation. Very interesting, isn’t it?!?

So this week, we were contemplating triangles. Formulas for triangles, similar triangles, right-triangles, congruent triangles, … and I stopped!

“Students. What do the words congruent triangles mean?”

A student replies reading the bold text from a lesson, “Congruent triangles are similar triangles with a scale factor of one.”

“Good!” I replied. “So you could say congruent triangles are the same. They have the same side lengths and same angles.”

Frustrated and forlorn, one student states, “Well then! Why don’t we just say that then! Why do we have to use strange words!”

YES!! The moment had come! You see, I have been waiting, waiting for this fated pivotal moment. The moment when the stars aligned, and I could share a secret I learned seven years ago - a learning secret.

“Every subject has a language that we have to learn! This is called the grammar. Do you feel stupid when someone keeps using a word as if you should know what it means? I sure do! Does anyone here know what a direct object is? A few nodded, others whispered “No.” I said, “If you knew Latin or sentence patterns and structures you would.”

So it is so important to go back and ASK, what do you mean by _______? Or hustle back through a lesson and find the definition of that unfamiliar word.  In order to learn anything, we have to understand the words people use and how they are using them – this is called the grammar!” If we don’t understand the words, or know the grammar, we tend to shutdown and tune out, because it really is “all Greek to me!”

I didn’t stop there. Oh no! The door had been swung open and I have been invited in! I went on … to the dialectic stage. Learning how to think and make connections; perceive relationships between subjects, between concepts and between their personal faith and their personal choices.

On and on, I went! Until finally, as I was moving into the third learning skill, rhetoric, I stopped and I asked. “Does anyone here have a tattoo?”

Attention riveted, as they each craned their necks to be sure they had heard my question correctly. Everyone shook their head, but I could tell I had struck an already contemplated cord. A tempting knock on the debate door was heard loud and clear. I allowed for a temporary trek down tattoo lane… but only to serve my greater purpose.

“Why would someone want a tattoo?” I fished.

Immediately, the answer from one student was - “To tell a story, to share a message that is important to the bearer.”

Ahhhh HAAA! Here is where I rounded out the robust and riveting discussion, by dropping my premise into place. The idea that words – speaking and writing words – are superior to images in many ways. What’s my authority? God’s illustrations and metaphors in His word. Specifically, referencing our God in speaking creation into existence and Jesus being the word of God, just to name a few. Words carry great power!

I challenged the students – work on using words well!

I concluded by saying… whether you or your friend has a tattoo or piercing or whatever… people will ask questions about it and you will eventually need words to tell the real, whole story … and that is the heart of rhetorical skills – mastering the right usage of words!

We bantered a bit more, even laughed as we shared thoughts and ideas. One student asked me, “What do you think, Ms. Shirley?” Good! They are interested in what I think. Like any good teacher would do, I let the question linger, leaving them to ponder what I might think and why. “That discussion is for another time.” Though I am disappointed that no one asked me if I had a tattoo, but I think I inadvertently let that cat out of the bag when I said, “It is by the grace of God that I don’t have a tattoo. Before the age of twenty, I was an atheist, but that’s yet another colorful story for another time!”

So I leave the rest of this discussion to your family’s dynamics, history and walk with the Lord. You can thank me (or curse me) later! :)

Either way, your family still needs to answer the question…

What is MY communication strategy?

Christianity - Science's Cultivator or Crippler?

Where and when did scientific thinking rise on the canvas of God's landscape of history? What was the scenery like? What was to soil composed of?

For hundreds of years, civilizations rose and fell without the benefit or discovery of scientific philosophy.  Historians divide history into three stages:

• The ancient world - regarded as brilliant though limited in its scientific understanding
• The medieval world - dismissed as a time of intellectual and cultural desolation (the dark ages)
• The modern world - heralded as a time when reason and enlightenment arose to dispel the myths of medieval superstition.

History is not a pond, it is a stream, and in recent years this simple outline has been challenged, particularly the negative characterization of the medieval period and its role in providing the fertile soil for modern science. Following the stream of history, we find modern scientific thought sprung forth in western, christianized Europe.

People in pagan cultures who see nature as alive and moved by mysterious forces are not likely to develop the conviction that all natural occurrences are lawful and intelligible. (Soul of Science p26)

The world does not have its own inherent rationality, but it is intelligible because it reflects God's rationality. (Soul of Science p 33)

God's creation, set in the proper context of a biblical world view,  is reality and revelation.

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)

Creation could be studied and in that study men could be pointed back to the Creator and Sustainer of the creation. In that "pointing back", man could observe and learn more about God's power and nature.

 

However, man's limited view and tendency to trust his own understanding to the neglect of God's sober warnings, has led to deification of creation in many realms of scientific and philosophical thought.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²²Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. (Romans 1:21)

Creation was good, but it was not god. Creation reveals to us His power, not our power. Creation unveils aspects of God's nature, not nature as god.

Therefore, only within the framework provided by Christianity could scientific thought be born. Christianity provided:

• Proper presuppositions - God's created order
• Proper sanctions - Man's commanded dominion and stewardship of creation
• Proper motives - Show how creation proclaims the wisdom of the Divine Creator

While many modern scientists have come to view Christianity as the great "crippler" of science, they neglect the very roots from which modern scientific thought sprung. Christianity was indeed the great cultivator of modern scientific thought.

Summer Book-Camp | The Soul of Science (Part 1)

As a homeschool parent, every summer becomes a "boot-camp" or should I say "book-camp" of sorts for me! I compile books to be read - digested - and ideas to be apprehended.

This summer The Soul of Science subtitled Christian Faith and Natural Philosophy by Nancy Pearcy and Charles Thaxton is now in my portable book bag with tattered pages and highlighted in a multitude of colors.

So let's begin - "Why?" is this book on my "book-camp" list? Because it reviews the history of people, culture and ideas that shaped the modern science we have today. In Christian circles, modern science tends to be viewed as pagan or an enemy to our faith. In fact, "modern" science indeed has many presuppositions that are anti-Christian or anti-God. So, as a Christian, how do I teach "true" science, which reveals God's created order and beauty? As Romans 1:20 says:

²⁰For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Good question!

This will be the my the topic of my posts over the next few weeks - Stay tuned!

Purchase Soul of Science.

Algebra and the Classical Model ?!?

Here we are! In the middle school and early high school years, where algebra is now an everyday reality!

I love teaching my children to conquer new challenges while utilizing the tools of learning - classical model.  Employing grammar and utilizing dialectic skills brings me great joy but it brings me the greatest joy when my children "get it".

Now algebra is all about equations, equations, equations.  Representing problems in an abstract equation and then finding solutions through the use of operations and laws.

Check out my Algebra 1 - Classically under my download folders to the right.  You may find these notes, clearly marked grammar elements and problem-solving dialog helpful in your own algebra journey!

Edu-tainment vs. Stick and Sand

In our generation, there has been a turning tide, a tide that has been eroding true education. In a desire to be brief, let me cut right to the chase. In short, I call it "edu-tainment." What do I mean by edu-tainment? Let me expound...

Edu-tainment replaces modeling, dialoguing and thinking with flashy tools or games, thus leaving the student in a passive state of receiving stimuli, but not really processing and owning the material or skills needed for a successful learning journey. Classical educators have referred to this approach as filling a bucket, pouring information into or around a student (the bucket) until they can't take any more. The student is viewed as a passive receiver - a bucket. Long term this edu-tainment or filling-focused approach is very unsatisfying for the student, leaving the spirit of the student disengaged, which eventually leads to disinterest in life's great learning adventure.

Classical Conversations programs, tutors, and parents strive to light the fire, to engage the student in learning process. This is primarily through modeling, working alongside the student with extensive dialogue and encouragement, and finally the student working through their studies more independently and confidently because they have had a sound model and encouraging mentors.

Now is there anything inherently wrong with tools? Of course not, but they should never replace discussions and engaging the student's brain in the thinking process. As a parent-teacher, it is easy to be fooled into thinking we are "teaching" when in fact we are simply gratified by the impressed excitement around our tool (or perhaps the quantity of worksheets we have completed), while leaving the student unchanged and relatively untaught. Beyond the immediate albeit exciting experience (or sense of accomplishment), no skill or true knowledge was effectively transferred. Teaching tools have their place, but are secondary to the hands, minds and hearts of the teacher and student.

True education employs powerful modeling and teaching, and does not merely reveal how much the teacher knows or the fancy tools they can create that reveal the teacher's creativeness... but rather true teaching and education draws thinking and connections out of the student, engaging the student in learning. Let's keep it simple. Note I did not say simplistic. Modeling, dialoguing and encouraging our students in their learning journey is hard work, and in many ways more difficult than creating a presentation or game. Let's be diligent to recover and restore true education.

Here's a simple test Leigh Bortins, Founder of Classical Conversations, uses when approaching teaching her program class and her own boys... If I only had a stick and sand, could I engage and effectively dialogue with my students about the concept I want to teach them? This helps us to rely more on modeling, dialogue and relationship then on the false sense of accomplishment a flashy presentation can leave. Minutes of effective modeling and dialogue are exponentially more effective than hours spent on presentation.

Let's be careful not to get swept up in the undercurrent of edu-tainment or should I say let's not ride the edu-tainment wave, but rather ask yourself, If all I had were a stick and sand, how would I engage and dialogue with the students concerning this skill or subject?

More on the classical model

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Lucrative Literature

Do you love reading? As C.S. Lewis wrote, can you not “get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit” your reading pleasure? Many would exclaim, “Yes!” But there are those students for whom reading is a task, a chore — should they persevere in their pursuit of the classics? Again, the answer is yes! Good literature engages, enlightens and instructs the lifetime learner.

First, a good book engages us. Beloved characters, whether real or fiction, take us beyond ourselves to places where we are bound by neither culture nor time. History’s places, people and plights come alive. Imaginations ignite. Learning takes place, while a heart of love and mind of wonder for all of God’s creation develops.

Second, literature exposes us to ideas that we can compare and contrast against the light of Scripture. In pondering good books, our students get practice analyzing and discerning what is good and noble and true in the world verses what is evil, vain, and deceptive. The more we analyze and discuss ideas, the better able we are to see through ideas to their presuppositions, their assumptions and ultimately their worldview — biblically-based or otherwise.

Finally, classic works instruct us in the arts of writing, speaking and living the Christian life. In Luke 6:45, the Bible tells us, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good.” In other words, students who make a habit of reading books that are written eloquently and from a strong moral foundation will mature into thoughtful adults who speak knowledgeably, write eloquently, and live in a manner that works for their good and God’s glory.

So grab that cup of tea, find a quiet corner, and cozy up with a classic read today!

“Those of us who have been true readers all our life seldom fully realize the enormous extension of our being which we owe to authors.
We realize it best when we talk with an unliterary friend. He may be full of goodness and good sense but he inhabits a tiny world. In it, we should be suffocated. The man who is contented to be only himself, is in a prison. My own eyes are not enough for me. I will see through those of others.” ~ C.S. Lewis

excerpt from CC Conversations newsletter