Tricotomania and more

Attention all you math-phobics. You might want to read this book. (I’ve used the US link because it has the “search inside” feature. It is also on the .ca site.) It is written by a “word-guy” with technical advice from a “math-guy” to explain algebra to folks who are (or were) lost and confused by math teachers and math textbooks. It is designed as a companion to these so you don’t have to actually do any math to read the book. And it is funny. Though if you sing tenor, you might find some of the jokes a bit offensive.

I got this out of my local library to review as a possibility for “things to have around the house” when we are finished with Challenge Math. It was on one of the Living Math lists. I can’t believe it didn’t refer to it in my other math post. Tigger had her book club so I sat in the library intending to read the introduction and skim the rest. I read the introduction and just kept on reading. I didn’t look at my watch for 45 minutes. I read another big chunk that evening sitting on the couch. Mat was doing his drawing homework and I was reading funny bits out to him. (He sings tenor. He wondered what the guy had against tenors. There is an explanatory footnote partway through.) I am not joking. I was reading an algebra book and sharing the funny bits.

Now, I am not the kind of person who ever had a problem with math. I loved math in school. I did those contests sometimes. I took 1st and 2nd year calculus in university. I also enjoyed physics. (How I became a sociologist is a whole other story.) But one thing I liked about math was the conceptual stuff. I always got that. And I never understood people who thought it was about memorizing formulas and trying to remember when you used which one. This book is for the people who didn’t get that stuff right off and need a bit of help. And it is well written. As in, written for “word guys”. He also makes jokes about math teachers and “people who spend too much time with their calculators”.

One of the things I find fascinating about parenting, and homeschooling, is working out how I do the things I know how to do so that I can explain them to my daughter. I had to work out how to skate, for example, so I could show her and explain it to her in a way that she could use. Prior to teaching her to skate, I never gave much thought to where my weight was or whether I kept my knees bent or which way I pushed which foot. I worked it out so I could teach her.

This book is like that for Algebra. It doesn’t just show you what to do it explains what is going on in the background. All the sections are short. Though I have been enjoying reading it straight through, it would make a great reference book to have alongside for a fuller explanation of something in your “Real Algebra Book” (as the author calls it). And for math-phobic parents that are worried about how to teach this stuff, it might be the thing that all of a sudden makes you “get” math.

My conclusion: This book definitely deserves a place on the shelf.

I noticed that the same author has a book on calculus: Calculus for Cats. I might have to check that out, too.

Isn’t that crazy? It got down to -24C in the city. The night before was almost as cold and yesterday morning I took this photo of one of my kitchen windows.

Can you see the ice along the bottom? That is on the inside? Those are double-glazed windows, too.

My kitchen is on the north side of the house though that particular window faces east. All of the windows (north, east and west) in my kitchen had ice on them yesterday and today.

Of course apart from the cold, it is beautiful out there. Sunny. Clear blue sky. Snow on the ground. Dry roads. (Yes, Mat has cycled to work both days though he wouldn’t win a fashion contest for what he wears.) The cat is most upset. He wants to be out there but the cold is not his idea of a good thing, particularly when it is windy. (He goes out anyway.)

Apparently it is going to start to cloud over this afternoon and then snow tomorrow. And then next week it will be really yucky. That’s what the weather guy said. I figure March is not going to be pretty. It never is.

The sweater is finished. I even bought ribbon and sewed it on before I went away last weekend so I could wear it. It is very cozy. On the weekend I put a pin at the bottom of the V to keep me decent. It looks fine that way but I could also buy some nice camisoles to wear under it.

The pattern is Otis from Knitty. Modifications included lengthening the sleeves and adding about a 2″ band of seed/moss stitch at the cuff (I knit them top down and just tried it on to judge length. The sweater relaxed a bit with washing so they are a bit longer than I thought. It looks good with the cuff turned up as well.) and lengthening the body below the waist. I knit that downwards, too, and wished I had started with a provisional cast on. I increased outwards from the waist a bit, too. I did all of that in seed/moss stitch and I think it might have worked better longer. I failed to account for the ribbon bringing it in a bit. It was knit in Jo Sharpe Silk Road Aran Tweed.

I’ve got a new button over there in the sidebar. For all you Canadians that read here you might want to click through. It takes you to a Green Party site, but the purpose is to petition the national media to include them in any leaders’ debates whenever we get into an election. (For non-Canadians, we do not have fixed terms. We also have a minority government right now. So an election could come any time. There has been lots of talk.) If you do sign the petition, there is a tick box at the bottom about whether you want to receive other material from the Green Party. Make sure you pay attention to that so you don’t inadvertently do something you don’t want to do on that front.

But whatever party you support, I would think that debate would be enhanced by having the Greens in there.

I was installing a new French corrector software today (Antidote RX, it is really good; comes from Druide Informatique) and as it was installing I noticed some stuff in my applications folder that I didn’t even know was there. Must have come installed on this machine (an iMac) when I bought it a year or so ago.

So one thing is Comic Life. Software for making comics. Will let you drag images in from iPhoto and add captions and whatnot. Has various designs for your page… I did a very quick little photo-story. (click the pictue to embiggen)

I know that the topic of comics has come up on the homeschoolingcreatively yahoo group and I suspect some of the folks who read here might be interested, too. So if you have a Mac, you might want to roam around in your applications folder and see what you find. I know the other thing we talked about once was the graphing software which their kids thought was great for learning algebra.

Have fun!

I know that some of the knitters who read here are also librarians and know other librarians. Maybe they know about this already but if so, they haven’t told the rest of us. I heard from Stephanie (of Throwing Marshmallows, since I have at least 4 Stephanies in my feed list). There is a cool comic out there on the web called Unshelved. Should be interesting for any of us who spend a lot of time in libraries

Now if only I can get the RSS feed on Alison Bechdel’s site to work, maybe I could get caught up on DTWOF. (I did. I’m not sure how, though. It just came up when I went to find the URL for that link.) And it looks like there are books to buy… How do I get so out of the loop on stuff I really like?

Note: I’ve been editing this after it was posted. Mostly adding stuff at the bottom.

We’ve been enjoying Challenge Math but it’s got me thinking that I need to start thinking about other resources that we can use to keep this interest in math going in a challenging and interesting way. I’ve been surfing around a bit and found some things I want to keep a note of for future consideration.

Exploring Ancient Number Systems looks like an interesting book that would develop some of the topics we started exploring after our trip to the Arithmeum. If anyone has seen or used this, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. Edited to add: I managed to preview this book here. While it is a bit to “schooly” for my liking, it does seem to have the kind of information about different bases and whatnot that I wanted back in October. As such it is the first book for elementary kids that I’ve seen that really shows them what a number system is and lets them explore the concepts of counting and computation in different systems so they understand what is going on. Compared to our usual method of arithmetic education, which takes the base 10 system for granted and teaches techniques for counting and computation, often with an emphasis on memorization and speed over understanding the underlying concepts.

I’ve also be trying (in vain, it seems) to find a book I know I saw last summer that was really a college level text so I didn’t think I needed it yet. But now I want to look at it again. It was a creative way to teach algebra and geometry and though a college level text also said it would be good for elementary enrichment. I’m sure I recommended it to someone but have searched all my sent folders and can’t find it anywhere. So I’ve been trying some google searches. In the process I found a page on similar topics. We As Architects seems to do some of this creative mathematics instruction. It looks like material that I want to read to inspire myself, in any case.

Of course in my travels, I come across a few things I really should have seen before. Mathematics: A Human Endeavor (that link has a side bar with links to things like the table of contents) turns up here and on Living Math. Some reviews: here, and here. That second one is directed to homeschoolers and has an explicit comparison to Saxon (for those of you who would find that useful).

The books Elementary Algebra and Geometry: Seeing, Doing, Understanding by the same author (Harold Jacobs) look rather promising. Reviews of Elementary Algebra here. These books might be the sort of thing to have on the shelves to pull out at some future point. Or even to work through myself.

But then the Key To… series also pops up. I remember having some discussions about this series with Andrea a long time ago. Her kids really like it. And given that Tigger likes workbooks as long as they are a certain type, it might be the sort of thing to have around to use. I hadn’t purchased them before because they were clearly beyond where she was at the time but now she might be ready. And they might last for a few years. I like that in a resource.

I’m an addict. I’ve been checking out the “those who bought this also bought” links on Amazon and found this: The Heart of Mathematics. It looks fabulous. And not just because it has a chapter on clock arithmetic (something my brother-out-law suggested Tigger might find interesting). Of course it is fabulous for me. To get a real sense of what mathematics is about so I am in a better position to figure out what we might want to do together. Reviews here and here.

I keep meaning to mention some movies we’ve watched and songs we’ve listened to that others might want to check out. Entertaining with an educational edge.

First up, Wordplay. I know, it’s been out for ages. But I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who has missed a lot of movies. Also, it looks geeky and you might really wonder why your kids would watch it but it is fascinating. Tigger liked it. And it does give you some insight into how other people’s minds work. For example, while most people think that crossword puzzle afficionados (the kind that can do a New York Times Saturday puzzle in 5 minutes) might be people who work with words in their everyday lives, they are actually mostly mathematicians, scientists, musicians, and others who work with patterns. Makes sense when you think of it. And geeks can have fun too. Got Tigger doing the Guardian quick crossword again.

Next up, Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns. I should really be more in the loop on things like this because I really like They Might Be Giants * and this has been out for years. But I only found out about it recently when someone on one of my lists recommended it. Great movie. It is about an indie rock band so there is a bit of swearing and at least one mention (only a mention) of pot smoking but I’m betting Tigger didn’t even notice the latter. They are mostly really talented, geeky, musicians who have known each other since junior high and have managed to make a living making the kind of music they want to make. Unschooling creative learners might find it particularly uplifting but any of us who wonder whether nurturing our kids particular talents is going to do them any good will also be reassured.

Which leads me to the songs, because I do have the greatest hits album that these guys put out a few years ago and there are great songs on there for kids. I notice you can listen to clips of the songs on that Amazon link (click through to “see all 26 songs”). Try “Mammal” about mammals, their characteristics, etc. “Why Does the Sun Shine” is a great explanation of solar fusion. “James K. Polk” would make a great addition to your study of American presidents (for those of you who do that). “Meet James Ensor” is about “Belgium’s famous painter”. Actually, I like a lot of their stuff but it isn’t all educational. “No!” might be a good listen if you are having a particularly difficult time with you kids at the moment. The movie suggests that they wrote a bunch of songs for an educational TV series (maybe where the Sun song came from?) so maybe if we look around we’ll find more. I also see that 2 of the CDs listed on the Amazon site are categorized as children’s music. I haven’t heard either (though I do have a book they wrote for children a few years ago, so it doesn’t surprise me) but I suspect they would be worth a look.

* finding all the links for those paragraphs made me realize that they are doing LOTS of kids stuff. I’m going to check out the educational resources on that link to the band name because I’m betting they are worthwhile.

While we are on the topic of creative folks and what kinds of careers they might have that don’t require them to follow rules and work work 9-5, I might as well plug a movie we watched a while ago. Sketches of Frank Gehry is actually quite an interesting film about the architect. Although rated PG, there is really not a lot of swearing in it and all of it pretty minor and in passing. If you want to see what a right-brained creative learner looks like when he gets beyond childhood, this is a good way to do it. I was fascinated by how Gehry works and how he works with others to compensate for areas that he is not skilled in so that he can build better buildings. Even if you don’t like his buildings this insight into his creative process is probably worthwhile.

After Tigger’s book club the other week, I got chatting to the children’s librarian. I happened to mention that I had been upstairs knitting while the kids had their club and she, rather enthusiastically, mentioned a couple of books she had read recently. She doesn’t knit but had really enjoyed them, recommended them, and then requested them for me on the spot. I’ve now read them. While they were both worth reading, one was definitely better than the other.

The Knitting Circle, by Ann Hood, is an amazing story of grief. I cried a lot while reading this book, but in a good way. The story was powerfully told. I did find the idea of a knitting circle composed solely of people who had suffered some major trauma to be somewhat of a stretch but one can grant the author a bit of poetic license. And I suppose some people do collect “broken” people, so it isn’t completely improbable. Once you get beyond that stretch, though, the various stories are interwoven really well. And the difficulty for someone suffering a major loss to empathise with others (at least during one stage of the grieving process) is related well in this set up. Whether you knit or not, this is an excellent book if you like emotional, character based novels. I intend to check out what else Hood has written.

The Friday Night Knitting Club was less interesting. I note in the author bio that this is a first novel and perhaps that accounts for some of my dissatisfaction. The strands of the story did not hold together as well. I generally like books that skip back and forth in time and from one character to another, but somehow the various parts didn’t connect well enough. The story revolves around a knitting shop owner and her friends/co-workers. I think there is maybe too much emphasis put on the knitting and not enough on the actual story. Lots of interesting relationships stories here about mother-daughter relationships, friendships, family, and love relationships, but bitty. It is worth a read. But if I had to choose between the two, I’d pick Hood over this one.

Remember how I said that any book Becky recommends is probably worth it? Well she recommended a book blog the other day. Interesting Non-fiction for Kids (I.N.K.). Given my view that a well written book is as good a reason to study a topic as any, I figured this would be a good idea.

Well, this blog is now testing my resolve regarding going out and buying new books every time I see a good review. Todays post has some very good selections. There is the book about Alice Roosevelt that Becky already reviewed. But also a very interesting book about Ida B. Wells and lynching.

We are doing the Boomerang with Bravewriter and this month’s book is Crispin Cross of Lead. The first discussion question was about being declared a “wolfs head” and what that meant. The book is set in 14th century England but it seems that lynching would tie in with that discussion a bit — popular justice, not being considered human, etc. Not the kind of discussion everyone wants to have with their kids, but something that might make sense for us.