DOING MATH FOR THE SAKE OF MATH......

My dh forwarded this very interesting article on Math written by Masha Gessen. I thought I should share it here.

Russia's Conquering Zeros
by Masha Gessen

The following is taken from the article and this reminds me so much about my dd and her thoughts about Math research as she envisions it.

In the mathematical counterculture, math "was almost a hobby," recalls Sergei Gelfand. "So you could spend your time doing things that would not be useful to anyone for the nearest decade." Mathematicians called it "math for math's sake." There was no material reward in this—no tenure, no money, no apartments, no foreign travel; all they stood to gain was the respect of their peers.

Math not only held out the promise of intellectual work without state interference (if also without its support) but also something found nowhere else in late-Soviet society: a knowable singular truth. "If I had been free to choose any profession, I would have become a literary critic," says Georgii Shabat, a well-known Moscow mathematician. "But I wanted to work, not spend my life fighting the censors." The search for that truth could take long years—but in the late Soviet Union, time seemed to stand still.

This article also touches upon the current trend related to math research as it exists today (and may continue to be so in the future). And taken from part of the discussion about American versus Soviet Math culture...

American math culture has intellectual rigor but also suffers from allegations of favoritism, small-time competitiveness, occasional plagiarism scandals, as well as the usual tenure battles, funding pressures and administrative chores that characterize American academic life. This culture offers the kinds of opportunities for professional communication that a Soviet mathematician could hardly have dreamed of, but it doesn't foster the sort of luxurious, timeless creative work that was typical of the Soviet math counterculture.

And the following paragraph talks about the Russian Mathematician Grigori Perelman, who solved the Poincaré conjecture that was posed in 1904, and was regarded as one of the most difficult open problems until it was solved.

A child of the Soviet math counterculture, he still held a singular truth to be self-evident: Math as it ought to be practiced, math as the ultimate flight of the imagination, is something money can't buy.

The entire article can be read here. Dd is so intrigued by this article that she is looking forward to finishing Masha Gessen's book, "Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century," a story of Grigory Perelman and the Poincaré Conjecture.

But this article is so relevant at so many other levels with respect to our family's current and future paths regarding our dd. Even though my dh found this article depressing (he is fully aware of how math research world works being a theoretical CS researcher) as he worries about dd's future as a successful mathematician in general, I could not help but feel good about letting my dd lead her own path. Just yesterday dh and I were chatting with a couple of other parents of very brilliant math kids on the purposes of doing math, math competitions and becoming a mathematician. This is something dh and I discuss a lot about; and this is also the topic that commonly comes up in our discussions with our close friends who have math competition oriented kids. And that is so different from what our dd wants to do in her life.

Dd wants to be a mathematician/ researcher and dreams about a place where she would just work on interesting and aesthetically pleasing problems while time would stand still. She wants to meet like minded mathematicians in such a place, where high level intellectual exchanges happen while they discover the beauty of math together. I am not sure if such a place exists in reality as she imagines it. But we have not stopped her from dreaming about it. Years ago when she exhausted all the K-12 offerings for math at age 7, we were advised to put her through math competitions as means of extending her math education and also to give her sometime to 'grow' to be ready for full time college.

Although math competitions work for many kids, dd thought differently. She chose to take college math courses and to work on math research problems simultaneously. She is a competitive kid who loves to win no doubt. She loves the 'rush' of doing something racing with the time and has proved to be good at it. Even in an every day activity of doing something, her competitive streak comes through while she races with her brother or someone else, whether it is in playing a board game or giving a quick correct answer in a college classroom. She did try out math competitions albeit very young with no prior training. She even amazed a couple of the mathematicians who train kids for math competitions with her unique thinking abilities and unusual solutions to some very difficult problems, which they felt some of the brilliant trained kids could not solve. She got opportunities to take advantage of some very esteemed math camps which we decided not to send her to because of her young age. Some such mathematicians have even come forward to work with her and train her for the competitions, which she did not want to pursue. We were told by many such mathematicians that if she chose to pursue that path of competition math she would be extremely good at it. But dd resisted doing such training for competitions and did not want to participate in such competitions. She strongly believed that it was a waste of time for her to go through such training as her heart was not in it. But she also recognized that it was the only means of meeting mathy, like minded kids. But their philosophies towards math were so different from that of hers. Instead of insisting on going through the training for competition route, we just let her be.

Having always been a child led learning family, we have hesitated to guide or lead dd (or ds for that matter) in any particular path. We wanted their natural inclination and interest to lead them where they wanted to go. We wanted dd to choose her path based on what she felt right about doing and told her to just follow her heart. May be my dh would have hoped that she may take to the competition route when time came, but I certainly did not bother much with it. So, when she decided math research was something she wanted to pursue and spend the time on even though she did not have much advance mathematical training in that area at that time, we let her do it.

She spent much of her time reading various high level math books, exploring math and attending plenty of math lectures at the Univs. She developed many contacts with famous mathematicians, wrote to them and solved problems that they sent her way. She was extremely happy pursuing this path. And every time the mathematicians who acted as her mentors upped the level of difficulty in the problems they sent her way each time she solved their previous ones. She had very interesting questions and conjectures that brought attention to her from wonderful mathematicians, who had similar philosophies towards math like her. She thrived in this environment. She works very hard on her math explorations and some of them are considered undergrad or even grad level problems.

Though she has wonderful mentors/profs with whom she gets to collaborate, and occasionally even gets to chat with her dad about her thoughts while she updates him about the new frontiers in advance math, she mostly spends time sitting alone for hours together in a peaceful state of 'flow' working on these interesting problems she chooses to work on, sometimes even forgetting to eat or shower. This phenomenon is common in our home, and it goes through its ups and downs. Unpredictable as to when and what and how she would want to do. She is not a kid who thrives on structure, but the lack of it.

She is a brilliant minded, sharp thinking kid and does best when let free with virtually no guidance or help with just time at her hands when it comes to her math problems she wants to do. They are not the most popular problems for a prize, but the most elegant ones that appeals to her aesthetic sense. She is choosy and has specific interests. When she is at such a state of flow, she hates interruptions and would much prefer to be left alone to her and in her world. It is not unusual for her to sit from 8am to 3 or 4 or even 5pm without moving from the spot..unless for nature calls or such induced breaks. I have experimented with this by not interrupting her and have been astonished at the level of long time focus she has shown on something. BUT I interrupt her thought process by giving forced breaks at times because it is not normal. Then at times, I would wonder what is really normal when it comes to this child?

And some days, I can see that she is just happier working at her stuff, and I let her be. I even let her eat her food at her table..often reminding her to take the next spoonful of food. When I interrupt her to let her run outside, there is no guarantee that she will be safe around the road. She has walked onto the middle of the street more than a few times without knowing that she was in the middle of the street. She was thinking oblivious to the world around her each of those times.

So, she could continue thinking even after the breaks we impose in her thought process. She he has told us that sometimes she can be thinking of something in her head while answering someone and doing entirely something different all at the same time! And no one comes to know of that thought process that keeps going in her head. At times, she rushes off to write something down regarding the problem she would be working on, right in the middle of conversation or talking...some break through, some new insight..I have had to explain to strangers and relatives that she does not mean disrespect when she does that, but just had to write something she suddenly thought of ...and it took a bit more getting used to her 'quirky' ways of working personally for me.

She has been successful with it so far, and it is her optimal zone of comfortable working and thinking. But this state of flow is something dh and I are very much familiar with and relate to. So does my ds. I see her extremely happy and excited to be able to spend the time in such long deep thinking. What we would think of 'hard work' is 'joyful' to her. And it amazes dh and I to see her enjoying it. Many of the problems she works hard on never leads her to proper proofs. The problems are very very very hard. Some of them are worked by very accomplished mathematicians and has been left unsolved. I never undermine her thoughts or efforts. She is not naive about the prospects of solving them either.

That is actually a key point I learned about her. She never thinks of solving, but thinks of the journey of solving it. So, she is extremely happy taking that journey and is excited about the unknown. She loves the journey. And she has this confidence in trying and working at it persistently that I admire and adore about her. There is one other thing I adore about her. I have witnessed her work hard at something for weeks and months only to see those proofs fall apart in the end. It has not stopped her from continuing to pursue it. It would even frustrate me. But It never crushes her down. She has the experience and sometimes laughs at it even; and at times chides herself for not listening to her gut feeling, showing very slight disappointment. But then she shrugs her shoulders and goes into it with even more vigor and excitement to find alternate paths or workable ways, without giving up. She is persistent, hard working, deeply focused and obsessed and totally in love with it. It is humbling to us parents to see her at work like this.

And personally, I learn so much from watching this innocent child at work on something she purely loves and celebrates for the sake of how she sees it. I wonder if this is what everyone of us alive today is after...and do not know how to get there ? She does not want to know the path to the answers to her problems.

She does not want help or short cuts to find it. She wants to find them. She wants to be in the 'math wilderness' and 'seek out answers' as means of taking the journey, while getting lost in the wilderness she says. She says she is bound to experience some amazing, beautiful things in that journey. And that is very exciting for her. She does not think of glory at the end of it, a ton of money or even a trophy at the end. It is sharing her joy of having created something beautiful that she takes her work to present as papers or share with fellow mathy kids. She says it is like sharing some treasure, an art, a beautiful music for the world to find out and admire together. This is the same kid who spent couple of hours explaining her math proofs to a Staples store copier guy who wanted to know what her proof was all about, as he noticed her making copies of her results to present in one of the presentations. She would spend time explaining to anyone who shows interest in finding about math that she finds beautiful.

She always wanted to work on open problems that are real hard, where she needs to create the tools in that journey to solve them. And she often says, 'Amma, I may only scratch the surface of this problem or sometimes only come to close to touch it or may even be awed at a distance with a total surrender and respect for it. But what an amazing feeling to go through such a process of trying to learn the depth of the problem and falling in love with it! Do you know what I mean? Does that makes sense to you? Do you think that is crazy?'

I am usually speechless listening to her. I am not a mathematician, but I know that feeling:). I tell her that it is wonderful she feels about it so. She sounds like a romantic, doesn't she? And also like the kind that would be considered a total misfit in this competitive tech marching fast paced world?

She says that competition math problem solving and training is not worthy of her time. She says she rather spend her time doing some math research explorations, and coining her own questions and solving them, no matter how long it takes. She considers math as means of solving 'God created' problems, as opposed to 'man created puzzles' and she tells her dad and me that math competitions are nothing but man-made math puzzles. Does that mean she has no respect for it? Actually no. She recognizes the fact that it is a wonderful opportunity for some kids, but she is not sure if any of it is helpful or even needed to become a great mathematician that she wants to be. And to her, it takes the time away from being on that path of becoming such a mathematician. Dh finds it hard to argue with that:)

Well, I must admit here that coming from a competitive Asian society and being proud of winning such competitions and hoarding trophies and gold medals, it was such a blow and an eye opener to hear our dd feel so strongly about it. She asks some interesting questions as to what happens to all the kids after winning the Olympiad competitions? How many stayed with math or did more for or in math research for the sake of math? How much of math is done by non-competition mathematicians? etc etc. These are deep, interesting and valid questions. I do not have all of the answers.

We know many wonderful mathematicians today did these competitions. Some turned totally away from it later in life. Some consider this as means of meeting mathy like minded friends. This post is more about sharing what my child feels about math and how she sees math, than about competition versus non-competition paths. And ofcourse, my dd also faces some questions from friends and family regarding her choice of wanting to do math. 'Why not become a doctor? Why do math which has no monetary benefits or even a high pay? There is no money in math!'

She feels very disappointed, disgusted and even angry at such questions. Poor relatives and friends! They do mean well and care for her and adore her very much. But they are ignorant at many levels. She tries to answer them politely. 'Because I love it very much! Don't you ever do something because you love something?'. Usually this does not stop their questions, but we have always diverted their attention to something else. And at times, we have tried explaining or letting dd explain it to them. Some get it. Some don't.

Though dd is only 11 and there is lifetime ahead of her to make her decisions and even change her mind, I feel strongly that she has the right attitude. It has served her well so far. And she is happy beyond words doing what she loves to do. I do not know where the future is going to take her, but we sure do enjoy watching her thrive in this life of doing something she loves. And I think we are going to enjoy her journey immensely as she discovers more and more about her path in finding something she always loves to do.

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FAMILY MOVIE NIGHTS

I am not sure if I already mentioned this here. We love watching movies in our family, either at home or in the cinema theater. We tend to watch movies in the movie theater pretty often during summer months as and when the new children movies get released. We also watch some of the action movies, foreign films and desi(Indian) movies that are tolerable by kids/families. We usually watch the Indian movies at home, and we select specifically quality ones for our children. We screen/ select movies based on our kids/our tastes and kids' maturity in handling the movies, and not necessarily by means of the ratings. Some are meant for pure entertainment purposes. And there is also a tradition we follow in our family. We take a bunch of my kids' friends for a late evening movie experience in the theater, and the kids just love it. They look forward to these outings. This is especially common during summer months, sometimes once every two weeks. It helps that the theater is just 5mins away from home. We also screen movies for the kids and their friends in our home theater system on Friday nights after they get tired of playing a board game or two. Or they would play some violin before watching the movie. Some days, the kids will have their friends over for sleep overs after late night movies. It is one of our favorite times to spend together as a family with my kids' friends. It is hard to believe now that there was a time when my oldest would bring a book to the theater with a book light to read! She hated movies! But now, she loves the experience of watching movies:)

I thought I should post some of our current choices and viewings. My kids have selected Miyazaki's movies for our 'at home family movie night viewings' this month. Though I had not watched any of the Miyazaki's movies before, I have come to appreciate his movies better after watching Ponyo this past summer. I was very excited about watching Miyazaki's other creations, so did not question my kids' choices of making it all his films for this month's family movie nights. My kids have watched a few of his movies before, and are quite familiar with his themes. They seem to love the message thrown in these movies, the subtle and beautiful imagination, cute stories, along with the wonderful animations. These movies are a bit slow moving for my dh's tastes though:). But movies like these have always led to some good deep discussions in our family, especially with respect to environment issues, war, issues with nature and human interference, enmity, role of women in the society both historically and in the present and future world, evil versus good, philosophy, about all living things chemically connected in some means, and the like. So one way, our kids' deep questions are leading us in a direction towards an attempt to understand the world and the meaning of the existence of life, although we recognize it is not easy to arrive at an answer:). We recognize it is a humbling journey.

With respect to the movies, I am not a big fan of My Neighbor Totoro (story of two girls and their interaction with forests spirits), even though it is an extremely cute movie, dealing with some emotional aspects of mom being away from home and sick in a hospital. Spirited Away (story of a girl, forced to survive in a bizarre spirit world, who works in a bathhouse for spirits after her parents are turned into pigs by the sorceress who owns it), Castle in the Sky (adventure of two orphans seeking a magical castle-island that floats in the sky) , Kiki's Delivery Service (story of a small-town girl who leaves home to begin life as a witch in a big city) are some of the movies liked very much by us. My kids also liked the Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, although I am yet to watch it. We are looking forward to watching the Princess Mononoke this weekend and then next week, we will watch the Howl's Moving Castle. There are more choices, and I am sure we will enjoy watching watching them too. Click here for more details about Miyazaki's movies. And to learn about his best movies and reviews, check here.

Of course, pls use discretion in choosing these movies for your own family and children.

Here is an article from Miyazaki.
Here is the main site on Miyazaki's book lists, sheet music etc.

Ponyo Movie Trailer










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SCIENCE MAGAZINES

I wanted to share the science magazine resources that my kids have enjoyed over the years. Much of their science learning happened through their voracious, free exploratory reading of general science books, research articles on current research, attending various lectures and following up on world science happenings through science magazines. Since we did not follow a curriculum, the discussions that sprung from reading these magazines led the kids to do quite a bit of further research by visiting the libraries, picking out journals from the universities, online search and in some cases, even writing to the scientists in-charge of the research for further clarifications. This approach helped my children not only in independent learning, but also doing their own research to test some of their own hypothesis.

We have followed up on some of the magazines below more diligently than the other younger kids magazines I have listed here. I must admit that we subscribe to a few of them, but the remaining we get from the libraries or dh's lab. Since dh is in a research lab, we have had an opportunity to enjoy some of the top science and research magazines at home. As always, not all magazines will be liked by all kids, and not all are meant for kids. We go with the topics and materials of interest offered by these magazines, and my kids have liked some of them purely for those specific topics of their quests. Some of the magazines are free, and/or have online subscriptions or subscriptions for printed copies. And some of these are more advanced and targeted for adults than kids, and will require some understanding of basic sciences to be able to enjoy them. Please use your own discretion in deciding as to what would work best for your family and kids.

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SYMPHONY OF SCIENCE

This is a music video called "We are all connected" from Symphony of Science, featuring Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye. Symphony of Science is a musical project by John Boswell. You can check out more about the project from the link above.
This video was shared in one of the pg(profoundly gifted) list I belong to. It was so gripping, beautiful and moving that I had to post it here. This is sure to move my ds beyond words. I can't wait to see his reaction (which will be sheer joy and surprise), when he finds out that his all-time favorite scientists are featured in this video, with a song that touches all his favorite subjects :)

Carl Sagan 'A Glorious Dawn'


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FRACTALS

Ds recently joined a group of fractal enthusiasts, to learn and create fractals together. He found some of the following online resources a while ago, but they failed to capture his interests as much as his Typography interests at that time. But he did enjoy playing with some of the fractal software, which are usually addictive even for adults. With his recent renewed interests in understanding and creating fractals and the math behind it, I pulled our old resource collection, and added a few more links and books to offer to my ds. I am just listing them here. Hope it is of some use to you as well.


On the web

Some Fractal books

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ASTRONOMY

Ds 9 has been taking an Astronomy course at a community college this Fall. This is actually the third week into the quarter, and our lives have become extremely busy. Though ds has read many books casually on general Astronomy, planets, black holes, galaxies and what not before this college course, he is finding new things to learn further and appreciate in this course. He is especially riveted by the magnificent professor who is teaching this course. He is loving his home works, labs, his classmates, and just cannot stop talking about all the fun things about Astronomy:).

This is not his first college course in a college campus; but this is the first college course that has made him totally oblivious to the whole world around him. When he took the other courses, he was seen as a cute boy in the class, whose feet did not yet reach the ground. People were curious, and wondered about him. He was not comfortable as much with all the attention he got from others. This time, people do notice, admire and are curious about him. He has shot a bit in height, but not so much to 'blend' in with the rest of the class. He is still seen as a cute boy in this class by his adult classmates, but he does not seem to notice or mind that at all. He has 3 hours of lecture and 1 1/2 hours of lab, back to back, (with just 15mins break during the lectures), and that too, twice a week classes, and he still wants more! He comes home after class, wanting to work more, claiming that his brain is awake with new thoughts! He has this sudden deep interest in knowing more about Astrophysics.

Sometimes I wonder if he will ever find just 'one' field fascinating enough to stick to in his adult life. He has so many interests, that it amazes me the way he juggles all of them, to keep learning about every one of them. I see him battle with his multiple interests and talents, and finds it hard to give up any of them. Lately, unable to give up his 'first love' computers and computer science, he says that he would find a way to club the fields of computer science, (Astro) physics and (Astro) biology to become the scientist he wants to be. And with all of this, he also plans to find a way to be a Typographer and Writer as well:). Well, I am just happy that this quarter is working very well for him.

Since Astronomy has become one of 'my' favorite sciences in the recent years because of my kids:), I have been dabbling with some wonderful online materials, as well as books from the library, for the past few years. Before doing any serious learning on Astronomy through books, we spent enormous time just watching the sky! Some of the fabulous times we have spent as a family are in Chabot Space and Science museum in Oakland. We used to visit the Chabot Space center every Saturday, to view the planets late in the nights through the spectacular telescopes there. It was (and still is), one of our favorite things to do as a family outing.

My kids were exposed to telescopes and planets very early. They have been obsessed with watching the planets since age 2. They would insist on waiting in those long lines along with the other grown-ups for those late night viewings beyond 11pm, not minding the chilly fall and winter weather at the Chabot observatory. They would climb up onto those telescope ladders on those dark nights, ('I will do it all by myself' would be their mantra). They would watch the planets and stars wide eyed, kind of mesmerized by what they would see, (until I had to peel them off of the telescope to get them down, so others could take their turns). The scientists close by would explain what was being focused in the sky, and were happy to have long conversations with the kids, impressed by their interest and knowledge about space and planets. And then, the kids would march right back onto the back of the line, to wait yet another turn to watch it again. And then again and again:).

There were other scientists, professional and amateur astronomers who would be also present, and sometimes they had their own telescopes set up for anyone to see through them. They were very happy to talk to the kids as well, and entertained the questions and discussions. Dd would bring in all her readings on space, mythology, and physics into her discussions, while ds would obsess about black holes and Stephen Hawking:). This went on for many years as part of our homeschooling journey. I used to look forward to the planet viewings every weekend, along with the kids. We still enjoy watching the planets as a family, and love our visits to Chabot. But we also found other places to hang out with professional and amateur astronomers, as well as with our own telescope and binoculars, to watch the sky. We also attended many public lectures in the universities, museums and science centers.

Here are a few places in the SF bay area that are highly recommended by my kids to learn more about Astronomy.
There myriad ways to learn about Astronomy from books and online programs. I have tried to list a few here. Hope it is of use to you. The following are a few Astronomy college level courses available online for FREE, for anyone to use.
  • Check out this fabulous list of college level Astronomy courses. Most of these are beginner levels, and are wonderfully done.

  • Astronomy 101 Basic Astronomy course from About.com. Check out this fabulous course, and also the forum.
High school level courses
Teaching Company's DVD lecturesStandard Deviants
General DVDs regarding Astronomy we have enjoyed so far, and are easily available through the libraries.



Kids Astronomy Resources

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Books on Astronomy
This is not an exhaustive list, and I am sure there are more available in the book stores. Ds spent much of his times reading books by Stephen Hawking, Brian Greene, Issac Asimov, and Carl Sagan. In addition, below are some of the books we have brought home frequently from the library. Some of these we liked so much that we added to our personal home library collection.

General Astronomy, planets, stars books
Solar system and more(from my personal blog)

Sky Observation and telescopes
Constellations, mythology, some history
Cosmology, space, universe, history
Science Fiction stories with Astronomy selective list of short stories and novels, which can be used to teaching Astronomy and reinforcing concepts. From the Astronomical society of the Pacific.

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KITCHEN / FOOD SCIENCE AND CHEMISTRY

I had an extremely busy two weeks of families and friends visiting with us, and also, a fun 10 day road trip of visiting familiar places, (but with sister and her family). And, now we are amidst the festive Golu celebrations. I have been SO busy, that I did not even get a chance to invite folks to my golu well ahead of time:( Well, there was also a slight chance of us not 'celebrating' golu this year due to our hectic schedules. BUT kids and dh pitched in with me to arrange a fabulous 9 step golu with great bommais(dolls). Unfortunately, not very many of my friends will be able to see and enjoy it with us this year. I hope to post some pictures of our golu, (along with our vacation pics) here. May be you folks would enjoy seeing our golu and share our fun.

Kids have started univ/college classes this week, and I am back to a maddening driving schedule of back to back events. This quarter, I am out on the road to Palo Alto or vicinity on all 6 days for both my children. (I am sure that one singled out day of the week, with no driving to PA, will be the one that will be spent on 'all day cleaning' of our home). I must have been out of my mind to have agreed to this schedule of driving. Oh well!

Here is something about the topic of this post. Inspired by the Kitchen Science discussions in the gifted homeschool group a while ago, I am listing the resources that I have collected so far. We have been doing Kitchen science as part of our every day casual learning. Let me admit, I never enjoyed cooking. I am one of those who likes to 'eat to live'. Seriously! I often thought of cooking as something that is done for hours by one person, to be just eaten (and finished) by many in just mere seconds:). OK, it is a bit of exaggeration, but I cook elaborate meals only when I am in the 'mood'. I love for someone to cook and feed me most of the times; and I live on the simplest meals:). No, I do not always have the luxury of someone cooking for me, unless when I visit my home country. But dh and I enjoy eating out a lot. I like to cook for friends and special occassions, ofcourse. Our family is big on Indian foods, and it is hard for us to be without our usual south Indian meals for long. After a few days road trip, we come home longing for rasam and sambhar:). Or, we try to find an Indian restaurant on our road trips. Kitchen science learning and homeschooling actually motivated me to enjoy cooking. I liked the fact that kids got to participate in it. For our family, cooking meals is usually a family affair. On any day, dh and I, along with the kids would be crowding our kitchen making some of the simplest meals:).

Since we are a family of strict vegetarians, there are limits as to what we can really do with respect to kitchen/food science learning from a book or web resource. We were vegans for a while too, (and that was real tough when we traveled extensively), but then went back to being lacto-vegetarian. One thing I have learned living in CA for so many years is that 'vegetarian' means different things to different people here. I have had people give me choices of 'fish' and 'bird' menus, inspite of having mentioned to them that that we are 'vegetarians'. I was not aware that people called themselves 'vegetarians' when they consumed 'bird' or 'fish', but just avoided 'meat' alone. That phenomenon was actually new to our family, and was confusing initially. We have learned to explain our vegetarianism these days to people by simply stating (listing) what we don't eat :)

With respect to Kitchen/Food sciences, I have put together our own 'lessons' by just cooking with the kids, and following our family recipes, as well as experimenting a lot with the recipes from different cultures('masala' pasta, 'spice' salads, and 'saag or paneer' burrito or taco). I realized with passing time, that I was naturally incorporating the Ayurvedic food lessons and discussions in all our home cooking. It started out as a means of explanations to satisfy the curiosity and questionings from kids regarding the usage of certain foods and spices in our cooking, the practice of some home remedies for simple ailments, to some indepth learning and constant reference to Ayurvedic medical books. Since my parents had a strong influence in Ayurveda and Naturopathic cooking principles, it has been relatively easier for me to incorporate such principles quite causally without going through much of any formal preparation or lessons. We resorted to looking into many books for additional information. Parents and other relatives began to share their knowledge and recipes of Ayurvedic foods to add to our knowledge. We have also incorporated Health and Nutrition lessons along with our food science lessons. Organic foods and importance of pesticide free foods also became part of the learning. And we consider such a learning of kitchen science to be an ongoing one with every growing year. Both kids have been pretty independent making their own simple meals, cleaning utensils, dishwasher duties, laundry etc etc since age 5. I consider chores around the home and kitchen/food science as an integral part of their home education.

The way we have done Kitchen/food science is to learn about all the ingredients in the recipes, nutritional value, Ayurvedic importance and reference, physiological chemistry, food chemistry, along with calorie content of the foods, health benefits etc. Unfortunately, I have no pictures to post on all our learning, as I did not have a digital camera at that time:). I hope the explanations help in getting the idea of what we have done. When the kids were younger, they did an extensive study on all kinds of lentils, Indian and other spices, herbs, their origin, usage, contents, nutritional value, Indian names and meanings, etc. Both kids prepared power point presentations, and illustrated some of their learning. They also created a Herbarium of the related botanical studies. One interesting and fun thing they enjoyed doing was lentil and spice charts; they made specimens of all kids of lentils and spices (also, see cook's thesaurus), in individual sealed, small plastic packages, and fixed them to the chartboard. They added the labels along with information on each of the 'specimens', the original root words or derivation, nutritional or medical value of each of them, and usage. Then they presented it in the science fair exhibitions; (if you do this, make sure you keep these charts in a cool, dry place to keep them bug free. Ours lasted for 4-5years :)). They also enjoyed doing a couple of Food science and Kitchen chemistry experiment based coop classes a few years ago.

We also clubbed our gardening experiences in our backyard as part of our food 'lab' experience. We rotated crops, participated in community gardening and master gardening events, learned from our farmer/gardener about food plants, took field trips etc to enrich our learning. The kids also jotted down the recipes in their 'lab' notebooks, while they took notes as they observed, and cooked together with me. They illustrated their notes when applicable. They cut, mixed, and ground materials when needed. They also participated in the shopping for the ingredients in the early years. (And budgeted the spending). We actually had cuisines from various countries on specific nights, (as part of vegetarian foods from around the world), and the kids researched their favorite recipe-based on the ingredients used -and shopped for them, and helped in cooking the meals. In the past couple of years, I have also started to translate all my parents' recipes to English. Both my kids have their own recipe notes and collection that I started them on a while ago. I would expect that grow with them:).

Now that the kids are older, (and are quite busy), they are more into simple recipes, nutritional value, health and calorie content. It is just amazing as to how much we cover with respect to kitchen and food sciences through our general conversation and discussions with every meal. These days cooking has become more about doing something simple and nutritious as possible. But the festivities give us an ample opportunity for our family to enjoy some of the wonderful elaborate Indian cooking that our family loves consuming.

Here are a few resources that I have found so far on general food science, kitchen science, kitchen chemistry, food chemistry and the like. This is not a comprehensive list. I hope this is of some use to you.

Web
Other resources for homeschoolers
Science/Chemistry Project/Experiment Books

Books on Food Science, Food Chemistry, Kitchen Science, Kitchen Chemistry
Elementary Kitchen Science books
>

Ayurvedic sites and books

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