I wanted to share one of our math lessons that we had last week and how it ‘materialized’. 

This was supposed to be a lesson on patterns and the principle we were to reflect on at the conclusion of the lesson was that OBSERVING GOD’S PATTERNS IN MATH.  I had told my children that God has placed patterns in HIs math principles(patterns in numbers, shape, etc) and that we need to be able to see the patterns in life.  I decided to read the story about THALES in MATHEMATICIANS ARE PEOPLE TOO VOL 1 .   I DID NOT PRE-READ THE STORY SO I DID NOT KNOW WHAT IT WOULD BE ABOUT and providentially enough this particular biography was on how Thales observed patterns to help him sovle a problem.  What a great lesson that was, for me at least!!!!  I was thrilled!!!!!!!!!  I then gave my dc the assignment to look for any patterns they see as we go about our lives. 

Ok, that evening we took the dc to Burger King….God sure knows how and when and where to teach!!!….and in their Kid’s Meals the toy was a suffed animal, a bat.  We then went to the gas station.  I got out the car to pump gas and as I was getting back in the car my dc were talking so loud I told them to quiet down and my 6yo son said MOM WE FOUND A PATTERN!!!   and he shows me the underside to this stuffed animal, it was a bat and there were patterns in the bone structure that go thru the bat’s wings!!  I was thrilled and thanking God that He was the One who showed them this and that He was showing me that He was in this lesson all the way!!!!  Isn’t that just wonderful????  Isn’t HE just WONDERFUL??!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I congratulated them on their find and marveled at how God really presented that lesson..how He got involved in it Himself!!!!

We are studying the following ‘ideas’/principles/truths in math along with studying some of the mathematicians in math history while we try to incorporate teaching math from real life(when we are not using our Ray’s text

THE PRINCIPLES THAT GOVERN MATHEMATICS WERE MADE BY GOD -

We find our biblical support for this in Col 1:16-17 -For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Since we can’t SEE the principles of combining objects(addition) nor of separating objects from each other(subtraction) we can classify the principles of math as ‘invisible things’…we can see the effect of the principles of addition in action when we join 2 objects with 2 other objects we get 4 objects.

MATH IS A TOOL THAT HELPS US TO CLASSIFY AND CATEGORIZE WHAT GOD HAS CREATED - based on Gen 2:20

So here is where we learn and discuss that man has devised a way to ‘label’ God’s principles and the patterns man has found in numbers, shapes, and in the natural phenomenon of earth(gravity, equations for higher level math), and whatever else(science).  Man came up with labeling 2 objects with the number 2 and 1 and 10 and 39,000, etc. 

MATH NOTATION IS JUST A DESCRIPTION OF GOD’S PRINCIPLES OF MATHEMATICS - this one sort of relates to the previous one

OBSERVING THE PATTERNS OF MATH WILL HELP US TO SOLVE PROBLEMS - Here we read a short biography of Thales.  I did not pre-read the story before reading it to my children but providencially enough, this biography from MATHEMATICIANS ARE PEOPLE TOO VOL 1 was a story about how Thales used the patterns he observed in how the his shadow was cast on the ground and the position of the sun to figure how tall a certain pyramid was.

THE COMBINING/MANIPULATION OF NUMBERS WORK BECAUSE GOD IS HOLDING ALL THINGS TOETHER - based also on Col 1:16-17

Here I discussed with my children why is it that the sun stays in the sky?  What would happen if one day the moon was sitting in the ocean and the grass was floating in the air or if we were floating out in space?  Why doesn’t that happen?  (because God is holding these things together)  So it is with 3+5.  It will always equal 8 no matter what country u are in, no matter what day it is, if you are at grandma’s house.  What would happen if we wake up one day and 3+5=23,994.87 and the next minute it equals 3+5=0 and next year 3+5=2…would you know how to keep track of how many toys you have or how much money is in your piggy bank?  Well, everyday and everywhere we go 3+5=8 , why? (because God is holding all things together so that His principles are the same or consistent.  It blessed me to realize in this study how big God is and how much He cares for us.  We discussed that God could be holding His principles that require mathematical descriptions FOR US…so that we could make sense of this world and so that we could walk in the dominion that He wanted Adam to walk in, and so that we could KNOW HIM.

WE CAN SEE THE NATURE OF GOD IN MATHEMATICS

We just finished discussing last week what CONSISTENT and FAITHFUL means.  The lesson was based on the previous example of numbers not changing.  It took them some time to ‘discover’ or reason that if numbers are consistent then so is God…that if numerical principles come from God then there is an aspect of the numbers that must be like God.  Just like my son has my nose or my dd has my dh’s eyes…(after me asking many WHY questions) they reasoned that is because they come from me and their dad.  Well so do mathematical principles come from God.   When we did come to that conclusion I took them to Hebrews 13:8 to ‘confirm’.  Another idea we discussed is if God is FAITHFUL and so consistent in holding this universe together and is able to hold numbers and their patterns and principles together then surely He is able (and willing) to hold my little life together and work all things for my good as I give my life to Him !!!!!

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Just a note:  The study of math was for us a dead subject.  Even though I was teaching the concepts in math to my children, it was dead to me and boring.  I began to pray to God for how to bring the life into math.  Our other subjects were alive but math was not.  I really believe He led me to two resources that showed me how to teach math from BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES.  Of course if you want to bring the life into something you MUST bring God…but from all the study I had done thru the NP Math guide and even GACE I was still missing ’something’…there still was no ‘aha’ moment…or I should say I had ‘aha’ moments but they were not lasting. The NP math guide and GACE gave me the principles that govern math but did not go as far as I needed into seeing how God was in the mundaness of learning and drilling addition facts.   Now everytime we drill of number facts we can know and be reminded that these equations work because God is holding them together for them to work.  Even when u look at the fact that Jesus took 5 loaves and 2 fish which should have been enough food for several people those 7 pieces of food fed over 5,000 people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So God can make 2+2 equal anything He wants it to equal but for the most part He allows it to equal 4.  He allows it to be consistent because HE IS GOOD, HE IS FAITHFUL AND HE WANTS US TO USE IT AS A TOOL TO GOVERN OURSELVES IN HIS EARTH, AND FINALLY HE SOOOOOO WANTS TO BE KNOWN!!!!

Anyway, the resources are:

BEYOND NUMBERS: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO TEACHING MATH BIBLICALLY by Katherine Loop and

MATHEMATICS: IS GOD SILENT by James Nickel

deidra