Homeschool Bloggers

I was surfing around the homeschool blogosphere, and found Elk Hollow Academy. Aside from the happy fact that she had some kind words to say about the Math Mojo Chronicles, the author made some pretty good points about math and math education.

She made a good point about the economy, credit cards, etc.

“When people don’t understand basic math, they become vulnerable to things like, oh, signing a sub-prime mortgage that they don’t understand they can’t afford because they didn’t (or couldn’t) work the math out for themselves. They just trusted the person loaning them the money when that person said they could afford it. Duh.”

Many people don’t even realize that if they haven’t gotten their basic arithmetic chops down that they are at the mercy of predators when they sign a loan, mortgage, sign up for an internet or phone provider, or even buy a phone card.

There are even people who think that the lottery is a good way to make money. It’s a good way to lose it. Mathematicians define the lottery as a “tax on mathematically ignorant people.”

The worst thing about not understanding basic math is not just the practical side; it’s missing out on the real joy and adventure of investigating your reality with this most-democratic-of-all tool.

If you are interested in breaking the “fear/hatred of math” barrier, but don’t really know where to turn, then try The Realm of Numbers, by Isaac Asimov. I have talked about this book repeatedly here at the Chronicles, and I’m sure I’ll do so again. There is also another book, written for children, by the same author of Mathematics for the Million, it’s The Wonderful Story of Mathematics.

The Wonderful Story of Mathematics is not in print, and fairly hard to come by in bookstores, and very expensive online, but I have found it in many libraries, and you should be able to get it on inter-library loan if it’s not in your local or school library. Of course, it should be, and if it isn’t, you should request that the library obtain a permanent copy. Same goes for Real of Numbers.

These books were written by men with a passion, a mission, and immense talent and compassion for their readers. In this cynical age, it’s very hard to find anything remotely as well-written and soulful. It really is a pleasure to introduce people to these authors.

I’d like to end this post with a word about many of the homeschool blogs I’ve been reading. I don’t have children of my own, and I am not directly involved with homeschoolers. But I do like visiting some of the blogs of homeschool families. Ones like Elk Hollow Academy are very well-written, and they are a pleasure to visit.

Congratulations to any of you who are trying your best to give your children a liberal education, and introduce them to things like literature, art, music, science and math, or anything else that they might not naturally be attracted to, or not be able to get a good introduction to in a public school. All of those things are part of a good education, and I know it’s not easy for homeschooling moms and dads to be able to cover all the bases by themselves.

On the other hand, you can give your children something that no other kind of teacher can. And for the things you can’t provide yourselves, there are other homeschool bloggers who can help fill in lots of the blanks. And then there are authors like Hogben and Asimov.