Even Mom Can't Read This Math Book

Awhile back someone asked me what the difference is between a Christian textbook and a secular textbook. "I mean how do you make Math Christian?"

Isn't the standard the same? Especially with Common Core, everyone should be learning the same thing, right?

People seem to recognize that Science would be different if provided by a Christian publisher since it would emphasize Creation and teach the Theory of Evolution, whereas a secular Science text would ignore or disregard Creation altogether and teach Evolution as fact. People generally seem to understand why we would purchase Christian Science materials and not be happy to use the same materials as the public school system.

But, with Math? Why does it matter if the publisher is Christian?

Well, the biggest difference that I've noticed is that Christian publishers tend to have problems such as this:
"The Matthews family gives a tithe of $200 every month to the church. They also give $50 to missionaries and $25 to help a young man go to a Christian college. What is the total amount of their gifts?"
(BJUP, Math 5)

Pretty straight forward question. It certainly includes a Christian bent, but it is also easy to read and understand.

This year we are using secular math materials with our older children (Grade 5 and up). I'm using Spectrum, which advertises right on the front of their workbooks "meets common core standards".

Last week, my fifth grader came to me with a math question he could not understand. Generally, this child is excellent at math, and works independently. So, when he didn't understand the question, I was concerned.

It started out like this, "Danielle, Tamequa, ..." He was stuck on this second word. It wasn't like any he'd ever seen before.
The sentence continued, "Danielle, Tamequa, Rashawn, and Joaquin are in Mrs. Thompson's fifth-grade class." By Joaquin, my boy was completely confused.

I tried to explain that these are children's names, even though we've never heard them before. Then, he asked me the question that knocked my argument out of the water.
"If these are names, how do you pronounce them?" Out of respect for the parents who choose these names, I didn't even try.

I understand being politically correct, and I understand wanting to include all sorts of people groups in the representation of story problems. What I don't understand how they expect the average fifth grader to read this.

Go ahead and use hard to pronounce and phonetically awkward but unique and interesting names in literature, but isn't the mixture of numbers, letters and symbols in Algebra confusing enough without giving the poor kid story problems he can't even read.

The House on Amber Road, Day One, 201 Questions

It's the first day of NaNoWriMO and I am pumped!

This year is the most exciting year yet as I venture to write a novel that I've actually planned.

The first year, I wrote by the seat of my pants, just sort of making things up as I went along. That method caused me to constantly back track into the story to make sure I wasn't saying something that contradicted something I'd said earlier or having characters do things that didn't make any sense based on their back story. It was very unorganized and sort of haphazard - HAH - Sort of how I write my blog.

The second year, I had a general plot line in my head, but not well planned out enough because it got totally derailed when I went into labor.

This year, I've been sketching ideas, taking notes, and drawing character sketches for awhile now. If you are wondering if that is cheating, it's not. These are all well within the NaNoWriMo Rules.

But, I sat down this evening to write and all I had to do was lay out my notes and look at the first item in my outline and then write out that portion of the story. Easy-peasy! Well, at least way easier than the last two years.

So, where are we at the end of day one?
Well, Agatha Briggs has been asked by her teenage daughter to answer 201 questions about herself. Events in Agatha's current life collide with the memories that are triggered by these questions. Agatha struggles to complete the task in time for her daughter's English assignment. Some of the questions are hard to answer, not because she can't remember, but because the memories are painful and she doesn't want to share this pain with her daughter. She must choose her words very carefully.

That's one Bad Kat

It is November 1st and NaNoWriMo has officially begun at our house. We didn't stay up and start at midnight, although I was tempted to. But, we went to chapel, completed our morning chores, finished our math and history, and then warmed up leftover lasagna for lunch and we are getting started on our family Novel Writing project.

I am using a text called Written & Illustrated by...

The first step is to create a publishing company. Now, this is easier than you might think because children are good at brainstorming.

However, it is also quite difficult for the following reasons:

1. Boys like to come up with names that are offensive. One suggestion for our publishing company was "Books of Poop" I used my ultimate authority to rule that one out even though it got a majority vote.

2. Many names that seem like a good idea, like "Johnson Publishing House" from our last name, are already taken. We did not want to misrepresent ourselves by using the name of an already existing publishing company.

3. Getting five kids to agree on a name unanimously is just plain challenging.

But, it's just past noon and we have done it... We have named our publishing company.
So, may I present.... (drumroll please) the publishing company created by the Johnson family for the sole purpose of publishing our own written and illustrated creations...

Bad Kat Publishing Co.