“You must unlearn what you have learned.” – Yoda, Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
Back in the day I was a homeschooling mom, at least that’s what my tagline says. Ok, I’m still a homeschooling mom - or eclectic, non-radical unschooling mom if you prefer that label – but it feels like I’ve let the move take over my life these past couple of months. And it has, to an extent, but not exclusively. I am learning, slowly, to step away from The Schedule and let the learning happen in a more relaxed manner.
In our day to day lives, well maybe week to week lives depending on where we’re living at the moment, Padawan Learner is continuing to explore the world of geometry (which he MUCH prefers to algebra). It’s concrete and tangible and he can readily see it being used in the world around him. And for whatever reason, he loves the fact that all angles in triangle add up to 180 degrees. Simple pleasures.
PL is also nearly through reading Joy Hakim’s A History of US
. He’s been going through it in fits and starts this year, but since we’ve borrowed the series he’s making work of getting it read before we leave town. She did a nice job covering the history of our land and the people who have inhabited it. And she did it in a way that doesn’t complete turn most late elementary and middle school kids off. That’s nothing to sniff at. When I read the books, it’s almost like a favored aunt is talking – conversational, informed, slightly gossipy and a bit opinionated at times. We also found overviews that were contradictory in tone and interpretation to make sure that we saw other sides to our nation’s history.
Star Wars ancillary fiction and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series
have taken pride of place in PL’s recreational reading these past few months. It would appear that the doings of Moist von Lipwig (and his none too benevolent over-seer, Lord Vetinari) are just too entertaining to put down. I spotted a new visual dictionary, LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary
, the other day at the bookstore, but didn’t have time to check it out. It might not be something PL would be interested in anymore (although the fun factor might be too high to pass up), but it’s probably perfect for the younger Fanboy and Fangirl set.
Out of time for now. Just wanted to remember out-loud that there’s more to live than moving. See, I’m learning.
Wow, when did you move into my life?!? We’ve been in the same spot with our mover earlier this year, my son discovered he really likes geometry when he was working on it in Singapore this year and asked for more, and my kids started really getting into Disc World. We did Joy Hakim’s books prior to this, but are revisiting them with the televison series.
If you haven’t discovered it already, you might want to check out The Geometer’s Sketchpad. It’s dynamic geometry software. Version 5 is new this year, but if you can get a used copy of version 4 it will be fine – most of the books that are out are based on version 4. There’s a student version that’s even cheaper. The only difference is that you have to have the disc to use it. I scored an additional copy for free at the end of a curriculum sale! I picked up a copy of Discovering Geometry: An Investigative Approach because it does a lot of construction work using compass and ruler, GS and patty paper construction. We’re about to dig into it. Geometer’s Sketchpad can be used to model other maths as well, from beginning arithmetic to early calculus.
I don’t know about PL, but *I* want to check out that Lego book! Proving once again that you’re never too old to be geeky
I’m glad that life is moving on.
I much preferred geometry myself. I loved proofs. Ah geometry.