Everyday Educator - Practicalities of Practicum, Part 2
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Welcome friends to this episode
00:00:06.760 | of the "Everyday Educator" podcast.
00:00:09.480 | I'm your host, Lisa Bailey,
00:00:11.140 | and I'm excited to spend some time with you today
00:00:14.400 | as we encourage one another, learn together,
00:00:18.160 | and ponder the delights and challenges
00:00:21.480 | that make homeschooling the adventure of a lifetime.
00:00:24.960 | Whether you're just considering
00:00:27.560 | this homeschooling possibility or deep
00:00:30.840 | into the daily delight of family learning,
00:00:33.880 | I believe you'll enjoy thinking along with us.
00:00:37.440 | But don't forget, although this online community is awesome,
00:00:42.440 | you'll find even closer support in a local CC community.
00:00:47.760 | So go to classicalconversations.com
00:00:51.960 | and find a community near you today.
00:00:56.560 | Well, listeners, I'm so glad that you came back
00:00:59.320 | for part two of the practicalities of practicum.
00:01:03.680 | As you know, from last week,
00:01:05.000 | Jill and I had so much to share
00:01:06.960 | and so much to love about practicum
00:01:09.720 | and so many things that we wanted to tell you guys
00:01:12.840 | about this year's practicum
00:01:15.320 | that we couldn't fit it all in one episode.
00:01:17.720 | So we're back.
00:01:18.620 | I've got Jill Philbrick back with me again.
00:01:21.080 | Hey, Jill.
00:01:22.420 | - Hi, it's nice to be here.
00:01:24.400 | - And I am really excited about the specifics
00:01:29.400 | that we're gonna talk about today.
00:01:32.840 | But let's go back.
00:01:33.840 | Let's kind of set the stage.
00:01:35.920 | If any of you missed part one,
00:01:38.320 | you can go back and listen to part one later,
00:01:40.760 | but we're glad you're here for part two.
00:01:43.760 | What we kind of talked about at practicum last,
00:01:48.220 | on the podcast last week about practicum
00:01:50.680 | is basically how much Jill and I love practicum.
00:01:54.260 | We love the fellowship of practicum,
00:01:56.680 | how we get together with our buddies from community
00:02:01.360 | and new friends who may be joining community.
00:02:04.040 | And even those people who are just kind of checking us out,
00:02:06.680 | we love the fellowship.
00:02:08.160 | We really enjoy being inspired.
00:02:12.080 | We get inspired from hearing other people's stories
00:02:16.520 | of their joys and triumphs and their struggles.
00:02:19.960 | We get inspired by looking at new material
00:02:24.580 | and sometimes old material in new ways.
00:02:27.580 | We get inspired to become better lead learners in our homes
00:02:32.580 | as we learn more and more about the classical tools
00:02:36.180 | of learning and how to wield them well.
00:02:39.860 | And we're equipped.
00:02:41.340 | We get equipped to use those tools
00:02:45.660 | because practicum really is practical.
00:02:50.600 | We actually practice the things that we talk about
00:02:55.280 | so that we can go home with a little bit of confidence
00:02:58.980 | that we could reproduce some of these great activities
00:03:03.080 | at home with our kids.
00:03:05.020 | Now, I know Jill, I want to out you a little bit
00:03:09.000 | mostly because I've heard you out yourself like this
00:03:12.880 | for years.
00:03:14.120 | I know that you have said in years past,
00:03:18.440 | and I've heard you say this at practicum,
00:03:22.200 | I always believed I was not a math person
00:03:26.880 | or I have never been an art person, okay?
00:03:31.880 | And I've heard other people say that
00:03:34.840 | and I myself have said this.
00:03:37.680 | Why, Jill, do you not say those things anymore?
00:03:43.680 | - Well, it is a wonderful thing
00:03:46.240 | not to say those things anymore.
00:03:48.000 | - It is, it is.
00:03:49.280 | - I will say that when I said those things,
00:03:52.320 | I always felt just a little convicted in my heart,
00:03:54.980 | you know, to limit ourself and to already decide
00:04:01.080 | that God can't reach us in this area,
00:04:04.100 | which is totally wrong.
00:04:06.240 | - I know, I know.
00:04:09.440 | What were you mostly saying
00:04:11.020 | when you said I'm not a math person
00:04:12.940 | or I'm not an art person?
00:04:14.320 | What did you really mean by that?
00:04:16.280 | - That I didn't feel equipped or maybe sometimes worthy,
00:04:21.280 | you know, or that I felt that I didn't have the background
00:04:26.640 | and I wouldn't have known that it was that
00:04:28.800 | I didn't have the background or the vocabulary.
00:04:30.640 | I thought I just didn't enjoy it and didn't understand it.
00:04:33.760 | - Okay, 'cause I was gonna say,
00:04:35.960 | wow, girl, you are way more noble than me.
00:04:38.320 | When I said stuff like I'm not a math person
00:04:41.180 | or I'm not an art person,
00:04:43.860 | what I meant is I don't like that stuff.
00:04:45.860 | I do not like that stuff.
00:04:47.500 | Do not bring that stuff over here to me.
00:04:50.740 | I only teach it in my homeschool because I have to.
00:04:54.620 | I am not a math person.
00:04:56.100 | And what I meant was, I don't like that.
00:04:58.540 | I was never good at that.
00:04:59.900 | I never understood it, okay?
00:05:02.180 | So you're better than me, you're better than me.
00:05:04.740 | - No, I start, I don't.
00:05:06.220 | Now I have the vocabulary to be noble.
00:05:09.060 | But no, at the time, I was sitting in the mire.
00:05:12.740 | - Okay, 'cause I want listeners,
00:05:14.260 | if you were sitting out there thinking,
00:05:15.740 | yeah, when I say I'm not a math person,
00:05:17.580 | I mean, I don't like it, I don't want to like it,
00:05:20.020 | I don't want you to help me like it, all that stuff, okay?
00:05:23.460 | So we are you.
00:05:25.860 | We have all walked that path.
00:05:28.180 | But I think you really hit on something true, Jill.
00:05:32.620 | When we look at why we're not an art person
00:05:37.180 | or why we're not a math person,
00:05:40.020 | it's because we feel ill-equipped
00:05:43.440 | to deal with those subjects ourselves.
00:05:47.300 | And if we feel ill-equipped to enjoy them
00:05:50.740 | and explore them for ourselves,
00:05:53.180 | we really feel ill-equipped to lead our children
00:05:57.020 | to have any kind of different relationship
00:05:59.420 | with those subjects than we have.
00:06:01.560 | - Right, because--
00:06:02.780 | - So we redeemed it.
00:06:04.540 | - Exactly, we think, well, it was miserable for me,
00:06:07.300 | and so sorry to go, it's gonna be miserable for you too.
00:06:10.700 | Here you go.
00:06:11.900 | - Right, hate to burst your bubble,
00:06:14.220 | this is what it's like, okay?
00:06:16.540 | And I knew that I didn't want to pass that on,
00:06:20.620 | but before I started going to CC Practicums,
00:06:23.860 | I really didn't see any other options.
00:06:25.780 | I didn't know, I did not know
00:06:27.820 | how to redeem these subjects for myself.
00:06:30.820 | - So what helped you?
00:06:32.040 | How did you become a reformed--
00:06:35.420 | - Yes.
00:06:36.260 | - Knot person?
00:06:38.940 | - Right, that is a great thing.
00:06:40.900 | I'm no longer a knot.
00:06:42.820 | - Yes, yes.
00:06:43.660 | - So I would say that as I came to Practicums
00:06:49.660 | and learned more things,
00:06:51.220 | I definitely learned to love learning as an adult much more,
00:06:57.340 | but honestly, it was those five core habits.
00:07:01.000 | - Huh, okay.
00:07:02.560 | - Yes, it really was.
00:07:04.020 | The year we came out with the five core habits,
00:07:06.720 | I remember there was a slide on the Practicum
00:07:09.820 | that had a piece of art, a work, a painting,
00:07:13.540 | and there was, if I'm remembering correctly,
00:07:17.380 | there was maybe some people either about to fight
00:07:20.740 | or had just fought,
00:07:21.740 | and there were women over there on the stairs,
00:07:24.660 | and there were different colors,
00:07:26.420 | and there were some columns that looked ancient,
00:07:30.100 | but I remember looking at that piece of art and thinking,
00:07:33.540 | all I know is whether I like it or don't like it,
00:07:36.100 | and I'm ready to click to the next slide,
00:07:37.900 | and here we're gonna actually talk about it
00:07:39.860 | for a few minutes.
00:07:41.220 | And so just name the things you can see,
00:07:43.460 | and I think, well, I can do that.
00:07:45.240 | That's a man, that's a woman, that's a sword,
00:07:48.100 | that's a wall, that's a tapestry.
00:07:50.940 | Okay, name the colors you see.
00:07:52.380 | Okay, great, I know my colors.
00:07:54.340 | That's red, well, maybe I don't know my colors
00:07:56.380 | 'cause it's that one over there.
00:07:57.620 | What color would you call that, you know?
00:07:59.460 | - Right, right.
00:08:01.560 | - And so then looking closer,
00:08:04.260 | and well, do you see any shadows?
00:08:06.060 | Oh my, yes, I do.
00:08:07.460 | There's someone in the shadow over there.
00:08:09.760 | So that ending and looking closer,
00:08:12.660 | and then does it remind you of anything?
00:08:14.380 | Well, yes, it can remind me of ancient stories
00:08:17.760 | where there were sword fights
00:08:18.900 | or women who were either cheering or moaning
00:08:21.980 | because the fight was about to happen.
00:08:24.540 | Or maybe it was the lightsaber thing
00:08:28.260 | my kids did in the backyard last week.
00:08:30.260 | - Yes, yes.
00:08:31.100 | - It doesn't have to only be ancient stories.
00:08:34.580 | It could be from fiction, from nonfiction,
00:08:37.420 | from biblical, from our own experience.
00:08:40.000 | And then what story might we tell?
00:08:42.540 | Well, I did consider myself a language person.
00:08:46.100 | So my dad told us stories growing up.
00:08:50.100 | And so for me to think,
00:08:53.180 | oh, well, could I make up a story for this?
00:08:55.180 | Well, yes, and I could make it a silly story.
00:08:58.220 | I don't even have to make it a good story,
00:09:00.380 | you know, publishable story.
00:09:01.900 | It could just be one my children and I would enjoy.
00:09:05.100 | Or can I read about it and learn the story behind it?
00:09:08.460 | And then how else might I express it?
00:09:10.500 | Well, for me, day one might be stick figures.
00:09:13.300 | Or we could pose, you know, pose,
00:09:17.060 | or we could write a poem about it.
00:09:19.020 | So just that gave me enough to think,
00:09:22.460 | all right, I can now look at any piece of art
00:09:27.100 | and I at least know where to start.
00:09:29.740 | I think I didn't know where to start.
00:09:31.580 | Yeah, so that was huge.
00:09:36.700 | And then not long after that,
00:09:38.580 | we actually took a week to go to DC as a family.
00:09:43.580 | And some friends of ours also went the same week
00:09:48.660 | and she was an art major.
00:09:50.740 | And so just to follow up from what I'd learned about art,
00:09:54.740 | she said, "Okay, look at some of these pieces of art
00:09:57.300 | "because there's too much to see in one week.
00:09:59.900 | "Just see which ones you like the best
00:10:01.660 | "and then spend your time in that hall."
00:10:04.220 | And so that--
00:10:05.060 | - That's a great suggestion.
00:10:06.580 | - It really was, 'cause there was just no way to do all--
00:10:09.180 | - You get overwhelmed.
00:10:10.340 | You are easily overwhelmed.
00:10:12.460 | - Oh, yes, well, and some of us naturally, easily.
00:10:15.180 | (all laughing)
00:10:17.780 | And I, and it just so happened,
00:10:21.300 | and I know it feels that I'm just the same
00:10:23.140 | as everybody else, but I really do love Van Gogh.
00:10:26.380 | And so that he, his exhibits were there
00:10:31.380 | the week we were there.
00:10:34.380 | His was the year that his was coming through
00:10:37.220 | and it happened to be there.
00:10:38.460 | And there were probably 20 or 30
00:10:40.460 | of his original works there.
00:10:43.300 | And I knew where to start.
00:10:45.020 | So I could go-- - Oh, yes.
00:10:47.460 | - And my family gave me space to not be rushed.
00:10:50.180 | It was really the only, I just said,
00:10:53.980 | "I just have this one, like an hour or two here."
00:10:57.540 | And they were, "Absolutely, take your hour or two."
00:10:59.940 | And they wandered and did other things,
00:11:02.380 | but I could ponder and look.
00:11:05.340 | And it was so life-giving to have learned how to start
00:11:12.820 | and what to think and what questions to ask myself.
00:11:16.620 | And it changed everything for me about art
00:11:21.620 | and about how I see myself.
00:11:23.740 | I no longer thought that I do not belong
00:11:27.380 | in an art conversation.
00:11:28.860 | - That is huge.
00:11:34.980 | That is huge.
00:11:35.820 | I absolutely love that.
00:11:37.540 | You belong in the conversation.
00:11:41.500 | And listeners, parents, whoever you are,
00:11:45.540 | if you're listening,
00:11:47.060 | isn't that what we want most?
00:11:50.300 | To be able to be part of the conversation.
00:11:54.020 | And when we say, "I'm not an art person,
00:11:56.580 | "I'm not a math person,"
00:11:58.220 | what we usually mean is,
00:12:00.820 | "I don't think I can talk to you about this
00:12:02.900 | "because I don't know where to start.
00:12:05.860 | "I don't know what to say.
00:12:07.900 | "I don't know how to respond.
00:12:10.380 | "I feel lost."
00:12:12.700 | And so for you to be able to say,
00:12:15.300 | "You know what?
00:12:16.660 | "I belong in this conversation
00:12:18.660 | "and here's where I started
00:12:20.420 | "and here's where I'm going.
00:12:22.300 | "Let me talk to you about that."
00:12:24.140 | And be able to appreciate not only the art,
00:12:28.300 | but to appreciate your part in the conversation is huge.
00:12:33.300 | - Exactly.
00:12:34.740 | And then knowing those five core habits
00:12:36.660 | equipped me to do the same thing with math.
00:12:39.900 | - Yes!
00:12:41.220 | Yes, because math is art.
00:12:43.620 | - Oh, wow.
00:12:44.460 | - There's shapes.
00:12:45.620 | - We're gonna have to sit with that one for a minute.
00:12:47.660 | - Right.
00:12:48.500 | Think about those symbols.
00:12:50.380 | I mean, it's all symbols.
00:12:52.740 | Numbers.
00:12:53.580 | Think about why would we even have different fonts
00:12:55.540 | on our keyboard if it didn't matter
00:13:00.540 | what your four looks like?
00:13:01.940 | Why would you choose your wedding invitation
00:13:04.900 | to have at whatever o'clock
00:13:07.820 | written with this certain font
00:13:09.420 | if that didn't speak beauty to you?
00:13:11.620 | Why would you want your child
00:13:14.460 | not to have a big piece of messy blobs of ink
00:13:18.180 | if it didn't look nice when those numbers were ordered?
00:13:22.020 | There is such satisfaction in numbers and letters
00:13:28.340 | and they're all combined in math, which is super exciting.
00:13:32.740 | So, I mean, in a good way.
00:13:35.260 | To know the code, to look at what those things mean
00:13:40.260 | and how you can write them.
00:13:42.180 | And then, we all have different handwriting.
00:13:44.660 | So, my symbol for division
00:13:47.060 | is going to look a little different
00:13:48.620 | than my child's symbol for division,
00:13:50.180 | but we know what they mean.
00:13:51.540 | - Wow.
00:13:54.420 | - And then sometimes, you know,
00:13:55.260 | I learned in the Math Mat Workshops to,
00:13:57.260 | now I cross my sevens.
00:13:59.660 | And it has-
00:14:00.500 | - Oh, so they don't look like ones.
00:14:02.460 | - Right, because I had a lot of that happening
00:14:05.620 | and all my life.
00:14:06.820 | And even with my own children's,
00:14:09.020 | sometimes you can misread your own work
00:14:10.900 | and then you start multiplying the wrong thing
00:14:12.700 | and you don't know how you got the answer.
00:14:14.380 | - And you can pull the breadcrumbs back
00:14:17.020 | because you turned one of them into a piece of cake.
00:14:19.620 | - Exactly.
00:14:20.540 | And now you're not talking about the right thing anymore.
00:14:23.260 | So, you have equivocated.
00:14:26.860 | - Yes, yes.
00:14:29.300 | So, the idea not only is math art,
00:14:34.300 | but it is a story.
00:14:36.740 | I loved when I could see a math principle
00:14:40.820 | and find God in it,
00:14:42.780 | but I still didn't feel like a math person
00:14:44.780 | because I wasn't strong in calculations.
00:14:47.100 | So, I saw myself as a person
00:14:49.100 | who enjoyed seeing God in things,
00:14:52.340 | like maybe the distributive law.
00:14:53.820 | And I could say, oh, you know,
00:14:55.660 | we're all in this parentheses,
00:14:57.460 | but God on the outside is this number
00:15:01.380 | that is being multiplied by everything in the parentheses.
00:15:05.340 | And it takes a long time to say all that
00:15:07.300 | if you don't have the right vocabulary.
00:15:10.100 | It takes a long time to say math things
00:15:13.420 | when you don't know the names of the parts.
00:15:16.220 | And so, looking at math from a grammar point of view,
00:15:20.300 | using the five core habits
00:15:23.260 | helps us learn the right names for the right parts.
00:15:27.500 | And so, our children can learn the difference
00:15:29.700 | in parentheses, brackets, and braces,
00:15:32.700 | braces, not braces,
00:15:34.420 | when I didn't really know.
00:15:37.020 | I didn't, I would have to review.
00:15:39.300 | And it was so simple,
00:15:40.580 | but to teach our youngest students the difference in that,
00:15:44.580 | just like we would teach our youngest children at home,
00:15:48.180 | the difference in maybe different kinds of tools
00:15:51.580 | in the garage.
00:15:52.420 | What's the difference between a metric and a standard wrench
00:15:56.340 | or what's the difference in the kitchen
00:15:58.500 | between a teaspoon and a tablespoon
00:16:02.260 | or all these things that they learn the vocabulary for.
00:16:07.260 | And so, knowing to be able to name the parts
00:16:11.060 | of any expression or equation is a great place to start,
00:16:16.060 | even if I can't calculate everything.
00:16:19.380 | And so, I can appreciate what I do know.
00:16:24.060 | And I'm again, invited to this table
00:16:26.940 | and I am again, invited to a conversation
00:16:29.900 | where I do know something.
00:16:32.380 | - That is really cool.
00:16:33.900 | - Something.
00:16:34.740 | - Yes, and I love that.
00:16:35.980 | I love that jump that you made from the art,
00:16:39.500 | feeling like I can't be part of the conversation
00:16:41.900 | to the math,
00:16:42.740 | because a lot of us feel that way about math too.
00:16:46.500 | And I know a lot of listeners who have heard
00:16:50.780 | that this year it's the MathMap practicum
00:16:54.340 | have already decided, okay, A, it's math
00:16:58.380 | and I'm not a math person.
00:16:59.980 | And B, it's the MathMap and nobody in my house
00:17:04.940 | is gonna be using the MathMap this year.
00:17:07.620 | And so, maybe I'll just save my practicum time
00:17:11.380 | and do something else that day.
00:17:13.620 | So, we are here to say, don't do that.
00:17:16.620 | You've now heard that just those classical skills,
00:17:22.980 | that the five core habits of grammar
00:17:26.460 | are such an eye-opening way
00:17:31.460 | to come into the conversation about math.
00:17:34.900 | Even if you feel like you're not a math person,
00:17:37.300 | you may discover that you can join the conversation
00:17:41.660 | when you do the things like Jill was just describing.
00:17:45.260 | Learn to name what you see,
00:17:48.620 | a number and a numeral and different shapes
00:17:52.860 | and different symbols.
00:17:54.340 | If you can begin to name what you see,
00:17:59.340 | then you can enter into the conversation.
00:18:02.700 | You're talking, you're using the right language
00:18:06.380 | and you know what those words mean.
00:18:08.780 | And so, you are able to participate
00:18:12.060 | and become a math person.
00:18:13.660 | But Jill, the kinds of things
00:18:15.900 | that you were talking about with art,
00:18:18.580 | like giving yourself time to look at things
00:18:23.580 | and to notice differences and to just do,
00:18:28.380 | like you're not getting ready to paint the great,
00:18:31.300 | the next thing that they're gonna put in the Louvre.
00:18:36.020 | You're not thinking that.
00:18:37.180 | You are saying, how is this painting
00:18:40.500 | like the one beside of it?
00:18:42.580 | - Yes.
00:18:43.420 | - And what colors have been used
00:18:45.420 | and are there any brush strokes
00:18:47.860 | and are there shadow?
00:18:50.500 | You're just comparing and you are naming things.
00:18:54.220 | It gives me hope that people
00:18:57.820 | who would still to this moment say, I'm not a math person,
00:19:01.780 | could enter into the conversation
00:19:03.820 | by just looking at a page in the Math Map
00:19:08.820 | and just saying, what looks familiar to you
00:19:14.300 | and what doesn't look familiar to you?
00:19:16.340 | Is that the kind of thing we're gonna be doing
00:19:19.460 | at the Math Map Practicum this year?
00:19:22.220 | - Yes, we will definitely be doing some of those things.
00:19:25.580 | We will be slowing down from the stress
00:19:31.100 | of calculate all this correctly now without a calculator
00:19:35.700 | and you need to get it right or you're not a math person
00:19:38.860 | into look at these colors, look how they overlap,
00:19:42.620 | what might that say about the different kinds of numbers
00:19:46.380 | we're working with?
00:19:47.620 | Or that's in the, at the very beginning,
00:19:49.900 | they're gonna talk about what you'll hear.
00:19:51.740 | You'll hear about the domains,
00:19:53.620 | which are the kinds of numbers that we use.
00:19:56.340 | And if you think about domain, like you might say,
00:19:59.220 | well, my domain is the yard.
00:20:01.380 | I'm in charge of everything.
00:20:03.020 | I do the landscaping, I do the mowing,
00:20:06.100 | one person in your family might be their domain.
00:20:08.780 | Another's domain might be the kitchen.
00:20:11.340 | Another's domain might be all the IT.
00:20:14.100 | Another's domain, the things that they're in charge of.
00:20:17.180 | - Right, okay.
00:20:18.700 | - And so if we say the domain of natural numbers
00:20:21.940 | or the domain of fractions,
00:20:24.500 | the domain of, well, complex numbers,
00:20:29.500 | lots of different domains,
00:20:30.620 | but the simple, the ones we might be most familiar
00:20:33.140 | with hearing would be natural or integer or fraction,
00:20:35.940 | and it can expand from there.
00:20:37.380 | But they're all kinds of numbers.
00:20:40.820 | So if you were doing this giant stair-step layering,
00:20:45.580 | you'd have a big category of numbers
00:20:47.620 | and then you'd have subcategories and they narrow.
00:20:51.300 | So those domains we'll be looking at,
00:20:53.420 | they have different colors that correspond.
00:20:55.100 | You'll see that at practicum.
00:20:56.700 | So we'll just be looking, look at this,
00:20:58.740 | look at these colors, look at where they overlap,
00:21:01.140 | look at the categories there are.
00:21:03.140 | And even that, it might feel like you're not doing math,
00:21:07.740 | but we are, we are learning how to categorize numbers
00:21:12.540 | and how to think about numbers in groups.
00:21:15.260 | - So we'll actually get to look at the math map
00:21:19.300 | and see how it's constructed and how it's put together.
00:21:22.740 | And we'll begin to bend our minds around this new system
00:21:27.740 | of learning math as a family.
00:21:30.060 | So we're gonna see it.
00:21:31.660 | Okay, so guys, listen, that is one reason to go.
00:21:35.460 | Even if nobody in your house is gonna be using it
00:21:38.060 | in the fall, what a wonderful thing
00:21:40.380 | to get in on the ground floor,
00:21:43.380 | 'cause how can you join the conversation
00:21:45.660 | if you don't even know anything
00:21:47.220 | about what you're talking about?
00:21:49.220 | And so being able, so at practicum this year,
00:21:52.220 | you're gonna be able to see the math map
00:21:55.460 | and how it's laid out and get a feel
00:21:59.660 | for the way we're gonna study math together as a family.
00:22:04.580 | - Yes, I think the big shifts that will occur,
00:22:09.580 | but it might take some, it'll take some laying down
00:22:13.980 | of something and some picking up of other things.
00:22:17.660 | So for instance, if we want to, I think,
00:22:22.660 | enjoy math the way, more organically,
00:22:28.420 | and I don't mean without assessment.
00:22:30.940 | When I say organic, I mean, we still need
00:22:34.500 | to be marking what we have learned.
00:22:39.500 | But I think pulling the calculations
00:22:43.020 | into its own category and understanding
00:22:45.100 | that is one part of math.
00:22:48.740 | But grammar is a valuable part of math.
00:22:53.660 | And comparison of two kinds of equations
00:22:57.420 | is a valuable part of math.
00:22:59.700 | And having a conversation about where we see God
00:23:03.060 | in math is a valuable part of math.
00:23:05.460 | And understanding the equation we're looking at
00:23:08.180 | and what dimension that is possible
00:23:12.620 | is a valuable part of math.
00:23:14.500 | And if we only, I think we shortchange ourself.
00:23:18.460 | When we focus only on calculations
00:23:21.420 | and we skip or brush past,
00:23:25.260 | because there's a test waiting,
00:23:27.220 | there's standardized tests waiting.
00:23:29.300 | And so we think I need to know these calculations.
00:23:32.020 | And the most we branch away from that is for a word problem.
00:23:37.020 | But not to really think through the pondering of math,
00:23:43.540 | the joy of math, the discovery of math.
00:23:48.540 | And I think it's gonna take a little bit of willingness
00:23:53.500 | to de-stress.
00:23:56.340 | - Okay, I'm hearing things like that.
00:23:58.980 | All right, y'all who are listening with me,
00:24:02.820 | I am hearing a lot of things that make me believe
00:24:06.620 | I might have some stuff to unlearn.
00:24:10.580 | And to shed, and I think it's gonna make me lighter.
00:24:15.580 | I'm gonna be able to travel along the math map better
00:24:20.340 | without some of that stuff hanging onto me.
00:24:23.620 | But I hear what you're saying.
00:24:24.820 | It's gonna take us a while to get comfortable
00:24:29.260 | learning math in this old way.
00:24:32.180 | But I absolutely loved what you said.
00:24:35.700 | We're gonna be introduced to the grammar of math
00:24:40.700 | that is deeper and before calculations
00:24:45.100 | ever need to become part of our equation.
00:24:48.300 | If you'll pardon all those puns.
00:24:50.140 | And we're gonna be introduced to the grammar of math
00:24:52.260 | and encouraged to both see
00:24:55.900 | and be part of the bigger conversation.
00:24:59.340 | And that's gonna require us to slow down
00:25:03.620 | and stop seeing math as an end in itself.
00:25:08.620 | - Yes.
00:25:10.460 | - That is part of a greater conversation
00:25:13.500 | that God is trying to draw us into.
00:25:15.940 | - Yes, because it's fun.
00:25:19.020 | It's fun to learn new things without,
00:25:22.020 | I think sometimes maybe we only think
00:25:24.540 | that the value of learning math
00:25:25.900 | is to pass a test or to use it.
00:25:28.260 | But nobody feels that way, or maybe some do.
00:25:30.620 | We often don't feel that way about reading.
00:25:34.060 | We don't think, well, if I'm not going to read Homer,
00:25:37.580 | I guess I don't need to learn how to say these words.
00:25:40.540 | No, we still want to know how to read words.
00:25:44.140 | Or maybe now that I have learned
00:25:47.220 | that I do belong in the art conversation,
00:25:49.300 | I don't feel that I shouldn't enjoy art and play with art
00:25:54.300 | if I'm not going to be an artist.
00:25:57.020 | - An artist, oh wow.
00:25:58.340 | - And maybe I am an artist.
00:25:59.900 | Maybe just putting stuff on the plate a little neater
00:26:04.820 | makes me an artist.
00:26:06.020 | Maybe lining up my math letters and numbers
00:26:09.620 | a little differently makes me an artist.
00:26:12.100 | Maybe arranging how I set up my workspace
00:26:16.780 | makes me an artist.
00:26:17.980 | Maybe I'm a mathematician because I have two lungs
00:26:22.980 | and I have one heart and I have arms and legs
00:26:28.020 | and parts that I can count and pathways
00:26:30.580 | that I can follow in my veins.
00:26:32.660 | And I can look at the trees and I can see
00:26:36.500 | where things intersect and I can follow the power lines
00:26:40.100 | and see that they're parallel, but they're curved.
00:26:43.100 | And all those things are so rich.
00:26:47.580 | And I don't think God wants us to miss noticing.
00:26:51.420 | So we can take, it's not only to pass the test,
00:26:55.940 | but it's also just to enrich us as people.
00:26:59.220 | - I will tell you, here's the truth.
00:27:02.420 | I have been, in the spirit of full disclosure,
00:27:05.060 | I have been attending these MathMap book clubs
00:27:09.260 | over the last several months.
00:27:11.340 | And I will tell you that I had reformed.
00:27:16.020 | I was no longer saying things out loud
00:27:18.340 | like I am not a math person.
00:27:20.180 | I had stopped saying that stuff.
00:27:22.900 | But until, and it was several weeks in to the book club
00:27:27.780 | before I really thought, you know,
00:27:30.380 | math could actually potentially possibly be fun, okay?
00:27:35.380 | And it took me, okay, me, classical educator,
00:27:38.860 | it took me several, it took me, oh my gosh,
00:27:42.700 | more than a handful of attendances before I thought,
00:27:47.020 | before I kind of relaxed my shoulder muscles
00:27:50.820 | and stopped looking for,
00:27:52.980 | but do I already understand all about this?
00:27:55.860 | And I relaxed and thought, oh my word, this could be fun.
00:28:00.860 | And the last several ones, even when we got into deep stuff,
00:28:04.980 | like, you know, imaginary numbers and derivatives.
00:28:09.700 | And like, I thought when she,
00:28:14.140 | when we started talking about that on the book club,
00:28:16.300 | I thought, yeah, I have stopped having fun now.
00:28:18.780 | But then when I listened and I thought, oh, wait,
00:28:22.700 | I think, I think I see something I never saw before.
00:28:26.900 | That is so interesting.
00:28:28.700 | And I remember thinking, if I had had the math map,
00:28:33.700 | I might potentially have enjoyed calculus.
00:28:37.340 | I have never had that thought in my life before last week,
00:28:42.060 | okay, but the math map, y'all, is different.
00:28:45.540 | If you will give yourself to the process and listen,
00:28:50.540 | all those of you who think,
00:28:54.980 | I don't want to see this math map thing.
00:28:57.140 | I don't want to know a new way of doing math.
00:28:59.740 | I can barely do the old way of doing math.
00:29:03.020 | You just need to let go and take a deep breath and fall.
00:29:06.780 | You need to go to practicum so that you can see
00:29:12.140 | what math education can be.
00:29:16.460 | And I don't mean educating your children.
00:29:19.140 | I mean, educating yourself,
00:29:22.060 | because once you start playing with numbers,
00:29:26.100 | the way we have taught ourselves to play with words
00:29:29.220 | and you start having fun with it,
00:29:32.300 | and you start asking different kinds of questions,
00:29:35.740 | your kids are going to want in on this.
00:29:38.900 | - Yes.
00:29:39.740 | - It looks way more fun.
00:29:41.740 | - That happened to us.
00:29:43.820 | I was in the pilot. - Really?
00:29:45.700 | - Yes, I was in the pilot with my youngest son,
00:29:49.980 | who is now in challenge two,
00:29:52.300 | and he was in the challenge A pilot.
00:29:54.180 | And my older son, who was in challenge one or two
00:29:59.180 | at the time, saw us doing math together and said,
00:30:04.340 | "Hey, can I do this with you?"
00:30:07.780 | And if we had a question, we'd be working through things
00:30:10.460 | and he'd sit down.
00:30:11.500 | And so I pulled him off of Saxon
00:30:14.780 | and he did the math math with us at home,
00:30:19.700 | even though he was not a challenge A student.
00:30:22.380 | - Right.
00:30:23.340 | - He loved it, loved it.
00:30:25.940 | In fact, he kept doing mostly complex.
00:30:30.260 | He's done for his high school career,
00:30:32.700 | he has done the complex several times,
00:30:36.780 | and he did the "Understanding Mathematics" book one year
00:30:40.620 | because I thought, well, you know,
00:30:42.980 | you're still doing this same level of math
00:30:45.660 | and let's just see.
00:30:47.460 | He did that whole book one year for his math curriculum.
00:30:50.500 | We dabbled in a little bit of Saxon just to see,
00:30:53.820 | but he had what he needed.
00:30:55.420 | And now he works for an engineering firm
00:30:57.740 | and he did not go to college.
00:31:02.220 | It's open to him if he wants to,
00:31:04.380 | but he worked with my husband in an engineering firm
00:31:07.500 | and he has the math he needs and more.
00:31:11.740 | He grew, we grew, I grew.
00:31:15.180 | And I've heard so many times
00:31:17.700 | from being a part of this math pilot,
00:31:20.060 | so many tutors who were in the pilot said
00:31:23.340 | that if they were looking at the complex,
00:31:26.900 | which is the level for challenge A
00:31:28.300 | that's rolling out this year nationwide,
00:31:30.460 | that's the level that was piloted for multiple years now.
00:31:34.340 | If they would look at that and they thought,
00:31:36.060 | oh, I don't think I quite get it.
00:31:39.220 | They would go to the naturals, which is online free.
00:31:43.220 | - Yes, yes.
00:31:44.980 | - Look at those pages and after just tracing,
00:31:48.820 | and I don't mean just as in minimizing it.
00:31:51.700 | I mean, the more simple approach of decluttering
00:31:56.700 | and tracing and naming that you find in the naturals,
00:32:02.580 | they would have an aha moment and they'd say,
00:32:05.660 | oh, now I know exactly what to do in the complex pages.
00:32:10.660 | And so just, and again, not just in a minimizing way,
00:32:14.780 | but in a more simple approach,
00:32:17.260 | but taking the time to look at a narrower domain
00:32:21.100 | of the natural numbers, looking at those pages,
00:32:24.460 | tracing, copying, and making comparisons,
00:32:28.500 | looking to see what connections and patterns they saw,
00:32:32.100 | they could then go to the complex pages.
00:32:34.500 | So that is why no matter what level you choose to do,
00:32:39.100 | even if you have a child who's not in challenge A,
00:32:42.500 | then do the complex.
00:32:44.180 | Even if you have a child going into challenge A,
00:32:46.340 | do the naturals, do them.
00:32:50.460 | And they're rolling out more than one online free this year.
00:32:55.460 | You can download them, you can use them.
00:32:57.980 | They won't have all the resources that you're paying for
00:33:02.000 | when you buy the complex level,
00:33:04.940 | but there is enough to trace, copy, watch the book clubs,
00:33:09.940 | learn about it.
00:33:11.300 | I mean, you can look up a definition online too,
00:33:14.020 | if you don't have everything.
00:33:16.160 | The CDC has never said we are the only authority
00:33:19.460 | and you cannot walk out of this.
00:33:21.180 | So you can do that, but there's even a glossary online.
00:33:27.560 | There's an audio glossary online.
00:33:29.420 | If you don't know how to read the equation.
00:33:32.440 | So there's so much equipping there.
00:33:35.120 | I did the naturals and it's so valuable.
00:33:39.000 | It's incredibly valuable.
00:33:40.500 | - That's so good, Jill.
00:33:41.340 | It's so good.
00:33:42.460 | What I want people to hear, two things,
00:33:46.540 | your absolute enthusiasm for the MathMap
00:33:51.020 | and our invitation to meet the MathMap
00:33:56.020 | at practicum this year.
00:33:58.680 | We really want you all to commit
00:34:02.460 | to coming to practicum this year.
00:34:05.700 | Whether or not you think you're a math person,
00:34:09.500 | whether or not your family is going to be
00:34:14.100 | using the MathMap in challenge A
00:34:17.420 | or piloting another level
00:34:19.660 | or using the free other levels that you have online,
00:34:24.460 | even if you don't have any intention
00:34:27.000 | of experiencing the MathMap in community
00:34:31.340 | or at home this year,
00:34:33.480 | practicum is a great time for you to meet the MathMap.
00:34:38.480 | And here's the thing.
00:34:41.400 | I think it's really important for us to play with numbers
00:34:48.360 | and to immerse ourselves in the MathMap when we're together.
00:34:54.420 | Why is it so important to do this in community, Jill?
00:34:59.420 | - Well, there's a conversation that takes place in community
00:35:05.480 | and we draw on each other's strengths.
00:35:08.400 | I'm a challenge A tutor this year
00:35:10.400 | and my class will often say,
00:35:12.440 | why is it so easy in community?
00:35:15.200 | - Oh.
00:35:16.680 | - You know, whether it's the Latin,
00:35:18.480 | whether it's the math, whatever it is.
00:35:22.800 | And I say, well, are you talking about it at home
00:35:26.460 | or are you just sitting there doing it?
00:35:28.560 | Because if we expect our children and ourselves
00:35:33.560 | to sit there in a little,
00:35:35.740 | I mean, when I went to private school in high school,
00:35:38.940 | the first year was just these little cubbies with dividers.
00:35:42.220 | That was not even a zero amount of fun.
00:35:44.740 | We were on the negative end of the number line
00:35:48.460 | for the amount of fun I was having.
00:35:52.140 | We needed snacks to bring me up to zero, you know?
00:35:55.920 | - Yes.
00:35:58.120 | - Right?
00:35:59.120 | And so we didn't, if you don't have a conversation,
00:36:04.000 | you're just by yourself.
00:36:05.700 | And how are you going to draw on another strength?
00:36:08.280 | You only come with what you've got.
00:36:10.720 | And so when another person can go,
00:36:12.800 | oh, well, what about, or have you seen,
00:36:15.880 | or oh, look at this, it sparks more things.
00:36:19.880 | And for adults to do that, when we do it,
00:36:24.380 | we can maybe understand a little more
00:36:26.220 | why our children need it.
00:36:27.560 | If we don't do it, we put expectations on our children
00:36:33.700 | that we don't put on ourselves sometimes.
00:36:37.620 | And we want to be on a team to accomplish something,
00:36:41.100 | but then we might think our child needs to just work alone.
00:36:45.160 | Well, some of us work well alone and some of us don't,
00:36:49.460 | but we just, we need to experience a little
00:36:53.220 | of what they might be doing.
00:36:54.300 | For instance, I did Memory Master one year,
00:36:57.260 | actually several years.
00:36:58.100 | - Oh, good for you.
00:36:58.940 | - I did with my youngest son, he wanted to do it.
00:37:02.160 | So he and I did it together three years in a row.
00:37:04.960 | And I will tell you that doing Memory Master
00:37:09.720 | with actual expectation that I need to prove this
00:37:13.540 | and get it right was very different
00:37:15.020 | than me preparing my child for Memory Master.
00:37:17.340 | - Yes, good for you.
00:37:18.740 | That's a great, that's a great injunction
00:37:21.580 | for us to go to practicum.
00:37:23.100 | We're actually doing what it is we're gonna be encouraging
00:37:26.660 | our children to do.
00:37:28.660 | - If we don't know what it feels like for them to look at it
00:37:32.260 | and to compare or to remember to be asked questions,
00:37:37.140 | then we can sometimes think, oh, you can do this,
00:37:40.060 | just do it, it's not that hard.
00:37:41.380 | - Right, we don't realize how hard it is.
00:37:43.580 | You're right, you are exactly right about that.
00:37:46.980 | The other reason, the other thing I think
00:37:48.740 | that we will absolutely learn from doing the math map
00:37:53.340 | at practicum together is it's gonna take some time
00:37:57.500 | for us to break our bad math habits.
00:38:00.580 | The habit that says, I look at that
00:38:03.520 | and I don't know the full backstory,
00:38:05.220 | so there's absolutely no value in me practicing this
00:38:08.380 | or tracing this or observing it or attending to it
00:38:11.660 | 'cause I don't know what it means.
00:38:13.140 | That's a bad habit that we need to break.
00:38:15.540 | And we can break it together at practicum.
00:38:19.100 | We can simply trace or simply observe
00:38:24.100 | or simply attend to differences or simply compare
00:38:28.780 | and recognize after we do that that, you know,
00:38:32.700 | we actually have gleaned something valuable for that,
00:38:35.980 | from that, even though we did not solve a problem
00:38:40.500 | and get an answer for every page of math we did.
00:38:44.460 | Right, we've learned to break that habit with history,
00:38:48.740 | with science, with English and Latin grammar in foundations.
00:38:53.580 | We don't expect our child to be able to tell us
00:38:56.020 | the causes of a war.
00:38:57.860 | We just teach them the song that has the dates in it
00:39:00.500 | and who the leaders were.
00:39:02.020 | And we're totally fine with that,
00:39:03.780 | knowing that later they're gonna read about it.
00:39:07.220 | So maybe we can do the same thing with math.
00:39:09.620 | Maybe we can say, okay, let's count two dots
00:39:14.620 | and two flowers and maybe two pi
00:39:18.820 | with theme coming off the top
00:39:20.900 | and then maybe two symbols of pi.
00:39:23.980 | - This is, it's really amazing.
00:39:26.100 | I really, listeners, I really am,
00:39:28.700 | I want to encourage you to go to the Math Map
00:39:31.340 | because it is so fundamentally changed
00:39:33.580 | the way I think about math education.
00:39:36.980 | And man, I'm a hard sell.
00:39:38.820 | And I am planning, I am planning as a grownup,
00:39:42.260 | as a grandma, to go back and redeem my math education
00:39:47.260 | even more than a classical education with my children
00:39:51.340 | has redeemed it so that I am ready to fully love
00:39:56.340 | and explore math with my grandkids.
00:40:01.020 | And that's why I want you to come to practicum.
00:40:05.100 | Jill, why do you want people to come
00:40:07.260 | to the Math Map practicum this year?
00:40:09.980 | - Well, aside from the incredible joy
00:40:13.140 | that math is waiting to give all of us,
00:40:16.700 | well, God is, through math,
00:40:18.700 | it really is another chance for us to practice
00:40:22.260 | those classical skills, which we do in any topic.
00:40:25.700 | Whether it was history, literature, Latin, math,
00:40:30.420 | it's a great refresher for what the actual tools
00:40:34.060 | that we have are and how to use them.
00:40:38.100 | And when we practice it in one area,
00:40:40.740 | it can refresh us in every area.
00:40:43.140 | So the classical side is obviously a great time to come
00:40:48.140 | and practice those skills, even if maybe the topic
00:40:51.340 | isn't one that appeals to you right off the bat,
00:40:54.340 | but it can open new doors.
00:40:56.420 | You might, it's like trying a new restaurant
00:40:58.460 | that maybe you didn't think you wanted to try.
00:41:00.220 | And I'm famous for that because I love to repeat
00:41:02.900 | what I love and I don't like trying new things.
00:41:05.460 | - Yes.
00:41:06.300 | - And all my friends know that.
00:41:08.100 | (laughing)
00:41:09.500 | They have to drag me to new places.
00:41:11.940 | And then I buy the most familiar thing I can find
00:41:14.300 | on the menu instead of branching out.
00:41:17.940 | (laughing)
00:41:19.100 | - So you're encouraging us to branch out.
00:41:21.700 | That's great.
00:41:22.940 | - Come to a new restaurant, try a new thing.
00:41:24.980 | But the good news is we actually want you to look
00:41:27.420 | for what's familiar.
00:41:28.460 | We're not asking anyone-- - Oh, that's so good.
00:41:31.140 | - To totally try the most absurd thing,
00:41:34.380 | but we're saying what's familiar to you
00:41:37.020 | and let's start from there.
00:41:38.780 | - That is awesome.
00:41:40.060 | That is awesome.
00:41:40.900 | So you guys come to the MathMap Practicum this year.
00:41:44.420 | You will discover how to meet God in math.
00:41:48.620 | You will discover how to redeem your math education.
00:41:53.340 | You will discover how to introduce your kids
00:41:57.140 | to the skills of learning and how to employ them on math
00:42:02.140 | in a way you probably never thought of before.
00:42:05.740 | You will discover how to enter the math conversation
00:42:10.540 | and maybe realize that you in fact might be a math person.
00:42:15.540 | I hope we'll see you there.
00:42:19.500 | Jill, thank you so much for sharing your enthusiasm
00:42:24.500 | for becoming a math person with all of us.
00:42:26.860 | I appreciate that.
00:42:28.380 | - I'm glad to do it.
00:42:29.900 | - Guys, I hope that you will enjoy the rest
00:42:32.220 | of this gorgeous spring day.
00:42:34.100 | I have a book recommendation for you.
00:42:36.300 | It just seems like the perfect thing
00:42:37.980 | as I look out into my backyard where everything is blooming
00:42:41.860 | and the woods seem so inviting to me.
00:42:45.060 | Have you guys ever read "The Secret Garden"?
00:42:47.140 | It was made for a day like this,
00:42:50.220 | but I mostly want to let you know
00:42:51.980 | that one of our newest Copper Lodge Library editions
00:42:56.260 | is "The Secret Garden."
00:42:58.300 | It is a beloved classic novel
00:43:00.940 | and the Copper Lodge Library edition has footnotes
00:43:05.940 | that will define some unfamiliar words for you,
00:43:09.140 | will give your kids pronunciations of words
00:43:12.500 | that maybe they've seen before, but never known how to say.
00:43:16.060 | It will give you historical context.
00:43:19.620 | There's all kinds of helps
00:43:21.540 | in the Copper Lodge Library edition of "The Secret Garden"
00:43:25.100 | that will make your family's reading of it
00:43:28.260 | richer than ever before.
00:43:30.860 | There's some great illustrations in there,
00:43:33.020 | there are wide margins so you can jot down notes,
00:43:36.620 | just like you're really talking to the author.
00:43:40.100 | "The Secret Garden" is a great book for the springtime,
00:43:42.700 | but it's a great book for families
00:43:44.940 | who are looking for Christian themes to talk about,
00:43:48.500 | themes like love and redemption
00:43:50.580 | and the importance of community.
00:43:53.500 | So if you're looking for a great read aloud
00:43:56.460 | after you get through playing with numbers
00:43:59.100 | this spring and summer,
00:44:00.940 | check out the Copper Lodge Library edition
00:44:04.780 | of "The Secret Garden."
00:44:06.300 | And if you want more information
00:44:08.580 | about the Copper Lodge Library
00:44:10.660 | and to see what other titles we offer,
00:44:13.500 | go to copperlodgelibrary.com.
00:44:17.140 | All right, listeners, go and learn something new
00:44:20.740 | with your family today.
00:44:22.500 | See you next time.
00:44:23.860 | [BLANK_AUDIO]