The Beauty of Mathematics in a Charlotte Mason Education
We are so made that truth, absolute and certain truth, is a perfect joy to us; and that is the joy that mathematics afford.
-CHARLOTTE MASON-
Originally written on March 1st, 2017 on Charlotte Mason Math Together. (Edited and formatted)Dear Mama,
I am grateful to be on this journey with you as we venture into what is arguably the toughest subject for many of us. Mountainous journeys are hard! But having friends with whom I can climb one concept after another, shoulder the challenging times, and rejoice in the weekly small victories, makes the view even more breathtaking! I appreciate you! And I hope the following things I have learned along the way can be an encouragement to you….
Please do take some time to prayerfully ask for new eyes, essentially a paradigm shift, from the Lord. This is not like previous times when we may have simply switched from one workbook math to another. It is also not simply transitioning from a mastery approach to a spiral approach. It is truly a NEW way of viewing mathematics as a whole. Especially if anxiety is filling your heart, please do STOP the old math, take a break and the time to ask the Holy Spirit for new eyes to see as you study the CM book and DVD. The book and DVD are tools to help us have our eyes opened to “see” mathematics anew – not to hold our hands with step by step instructions as other curricula have done with scripted lessons that cause us to be dependent on them.
During the month of December when I took the entire month off of math to study Miss Mason’s approach to math, I had an epiphany! Math is like all the other sciences in the sense that God created it so it is already there for us to discover and study (and to praise Him for!) But, it is also a language because man needed to create a common symbolic language with which the discoveries of God’s creation could be communicated with others. I think if we view math in this way it may be easier to step into our children’s shoes as scientists with a sense of wonder and curiosity of how God’s world works.
Hence, with each math concept I try to do 2 things:
(1) Inspire wonder and exploration
“…give the inspiring ideas, what Coleridge calls, the Captain ideas, which should quicken imagination.” (6/233)
This is where the fun oral problems are used and I may use supplemental books like Strayer Upton to provide ideas.
(2) Learn the language in order to be able to communicate our exploration and the discovery of God’s natural laws with others (i.e. learn the symbols).
We have challenging days like every family but I have made my choice to make mathematics one of the main subjects I will be 100% mom-on as I keep my eyes sensitively on my child before me while listening to the Holy Spirit. It was a hard decision of my will because I was used to math being somewhat an independent subject but I have put my hand to the plow and I am not turning back because… Well, I will let Miss Mason say it since she says it best…
“Never are the operations of Reason more delightful and more perfect than in mathematics. Here men do not begin to reason with a notion which causes them to lean to this side or to that. By degrees, absolute truth unfolds itself. We are so made that truth, absolute and certain truth, is a perfect joy to us; and that is the joy that mathematics afford.” (4/62,63)
“By degrees children get that knowledge of God which is the object of the final daily prayer in our beautiful liturgy – the prayer of St.Chrysostom – ‘Grant us in this world knowledge of Thy truth,’ and all other knowledge which they obtain gathers round and illuminates this.” (6/64)
Friend, let us want this revelation of the beauty of God’ s absolute truth and fixed laws of the universe for our children so much that we would do the hard work of praying, leaning into the Holy Spirit, carving out the time and space to study, research and prepare our lessons. *I* am learning so much! And I am thankful to be learning with all of you. Let us press on, for we are sure to reap a harvest in due time to the praise of His glory! – even in mathematics.
Update (March 2022)
Since I wrote the above in March 2017, Richele Baburina has begun to write a series of Mathematics books to use in conjunction with, and to aid in the application of, the Mathematics Book and DVD. The 6-book series is called the Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series. Thus far, I have had the honor of beta-testing the first three books in the series. My third child is currently on Book 2 and will tell you that Mathematics is her favorite subject.
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