We are about 6 months into Finn’s kindergarten year, his first year of homeschooling, and he’s made some really great progress. I’ve been employing the constructivist math techniques that I gained from my Kamii class and which has been affirmed in by my study of classical christian education. Finn is now able to solve addition, subtraction, and simple multiplication word problems… sometimes in his head and other times by drawing pictures with a pencil and paper. He’s just beginning to “count on” when adding numbers occasionally, and he’s beginning to be able to think a little more abstractly with numbers in his head. This morning I asked him how many 6’s are in 18, and after thinking for a few seconds a big smile grew on his face and he said, “there’s three! Because there’s two nines in eighteen with one six in each of the nines and another in the middle from the two threes.” This made both he and I quite proud.
Every once in a while I write out an equation such as “7 + 9 = ?” so that he is reminded of how we write problems in math language, and he understand and can solve them. We practice counting forward and backward most days and sometimes we practice counting by 2s. Finn especially enjoys problems such as “how many 4s are in 16?” He’ll often use his counting chips to figure these problems out, though he’s beginning to remember many of them. He sometimes asks me such division problems at random times in the day, attempting to stump me with large numbers.
I’m more and more convinced that focusing primarily on word problems as long as possible is the way to go. I just need to find the curricula and books to keep me going!
- Laura
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Friday, July 19, 2019
My Vision for Cusco
I love the movie, Greatest Showman. The music, the dancing, the acrobatics, and the passion driving it all. Watching that movie makes me want to go into the performing arts. In another lifetime I could even see myself doing that. There are so many different forms of artistic expression that I could imagine throwing myself into and delighting in it—dancing, figure skating, acting, singing, composing, playing the violin, acrobatics, painting, writing… were I granted 10 different lifetimes I think I would dedicate one to each of them. On this earth we’re so hedged in by circumstances, time, resources, physical ability… but in my minds eye I see a day in which those limitations will all be thrown off and we will finally each be free to fully express the beauty and joy and delight of creative expression bestowed on us by a loving Father—to not only experience incredible passion but also to express it fully to the great pleasure of our creator. On that day I will do all of those things and excel at them! I will live up to all of my potential merely to show off the creative genius of He who made me, and it will be pure bliss.
On this earth I’m thankful for little tastes of the glory I was created for. When I see great passion in a fellow human I am drawn to their craft. When someone shares the zeal that drives them I find myself wanting to know more, to experience the vigor myself. The best teachers are not those who are most knowledgeable about their craft, but those who are most passionate about it—because passion is contagious, and once caught it fuels both learning and action.
I do look forward to the day when I will express the passion of my heavenly Father in perfect measure and innocence, but on this earth I choose to do that in a few feeble, sin-corrupted ways, because He assures us that “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will seek to take small steps of faith—to do the uncomfortable things that His word calls me to. I will seek to live as though “The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty [does] rule over all,”(Psalm 103:19).
Jesus tells us that ”the kingdom of heaven is at hand”(Matthew 4:17), yet when I think about the brokenness of the city He has called me to, it is difficult to recognize. God’s word also instructs us to “walk by faith, not by sight“(2 Corinthians 5:7), and Jesus Himself said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
So in faith I envision God’s kingdom settling on Cusco.
I envision faithful subjects being raised up in service of the King who, like Daniel of the Bible, have God-given learning and skill in all literature and wisdom (Daniel 1:17). Daniel and his friends found themselves in a godless society, yet we read that “in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom” (verse 20).
I envision Cusceñans who, like Timothy, “from childhood have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus…” and are “complete, equipped for every good work” (2Timothy 3:15-17).
I envision a school that not only equips their students in these ways, but also helps parents learn to “train up a child in the way he should go [so that] even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
This, I believe, is the God-given passion that I must steward for now in this lifetime. So as difficult and beyond me as this vision seems to be, I will choose to live by faith and not by sight, slowly taking baby steps and fixing my eyes on invisible kingdom that is coming.
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day… as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” -2 Corinthians 4:16 & 18
- Laura Dougherty
On this earth I’m thankful for little tastes of the glory I was created for. When I see great passion in a fellow human I am drawn to their craft. When someone shares the zeal that drives them I find myself wanting to know more, to experience the vigor myself. The best teachers are not those who are most knowledgeable about their craft, but those who are most passionate about it—because passion is contagious, and once caught it fuels both learning and action.
I do look forward to the day when I will express the passion of my heavenly Father in perfect measure and innocence, but on this earth I choose to do that in a few feeble, sin-corrupted ways, because He assures us that “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will seek to take small steps of faith—to do the uncomfortable things that His word calls me to. I will seek to live as though “The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty [does] rule over all,”(Psalm 103:19).
Jesus tells us that ”the kingdom of heaven is at hand”(Matthew 4:17), yet when I think about the brokenness of the city He has called me to, it is difficult to recognize. God’s word also instructs us to “walk by faith, not by sight“(2 Corinthians 5:7), and Jesus Himself said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
So in faith I envision God’s kingdom settling on Cusco.
I envision faithful subjects being raised up in service of the King who, like Daniel of the Bible, have God-given learning and skill in all literature and wisdom (Daniel 1:17). Daniel and his friends found themselves in a godless society, yet we read that “in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom” (verse 20).
I envision Cusceñans who, like Timothy, “from childhood have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus…” and are “complete, equipped for every good work” (2Timothy 3:15-17).
I envision a school that not only equips their students in these ways, but also helps parents learn to “train up a child in the way he should go [so that] even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
This, I believe, is the God-given passion that I must steward for now in this lifetime. So as difficult and beyond me as this vision seems to be, I will choose to live by faith and not by sight, slowly taking baby steps and fixing my eyes on invisible kingdom that is coming.
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day… as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” -2 Corinthians 4:16 & 18
- Laura Dougherty
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