The Harmony Learning Community Blog

News, Updates, Program Recaps, and Homeschooling Information

Global Studies: Calculating Our Position

Posted by Meryl Hyatt 
· Wednesday, September 25th, 2013 

Calculating Our Position September  19, 2013 Global Studies began last week with an introduction to the idea of Location. Where we are, where we are from, and where do we want to go? We looked at maps to answer the question of how we know where we are, and how we get where we want to go. During week two…

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Math Circle Blog: Aliens, Number Systems, and Contemplative Mathematics

Posted by Rodi Steinig 
· Tuesday, December 11th, 2012 

Aliens, Number Systems, and Contemplative Mathematics “Some alien spies have been helping our captain.  It turns out that you were right: there are enemies hiding on the field behind the house.  The captain wants to know how many.  The alien photographer comes down and takes a picture of them, gives it to her captain, who writes it down and gives…

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Math Circle Blog: Plato, Codes, and Exploding Dots

Posted by Rodi Steinig 
· Monday, November 19th, 2012 

Plato, Codes, and Exploding Dots “I must add how charming the science of arithmetic is and in how many ways it is a subtle and useful tool to achieve our purposes, if pursued in the spirit of a philosopher, and not of a shopkeeper!’” This was the last line of a dialogue my assistant R and I read at the…

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Math Circle Blog: The Popcorn Problem

Posted by Rodi Steinig 
· Monday, October 1st, 2012 

Geometry, arithmetic, optimization, logic, and question asking. SEPTEMBER 18, 2012: “What would it take to fill this room with popcorn?” “a big popcorn machine” “the machine running a long time” “a lot of patience” “corn, heat, oil” “a small factory” “a lot of people” At this point in this term’s first math circle, participants began to debate whether these things…

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Rubiyat, Storytelling, and the Baobob Tree

Posted by Rodi Steinig 
· Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012 

Mathematics does not simply mean arithmetic.   Everyone noticed the drawing of the birthday cake on the board as they entered today.  As kids were arriving, we played “Mathematician Concentration” to focus our attention, but attention was split between the game and the birthday. “Whose birthday is it?” said the kids, looking around the room. “One of these mathematicians,” I…

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