Generations

The scriptures for today were Genesis 4-6 and Matthew 2.  Genesis 2:4 states "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. Genesis 5 begins, "This is the book of the generations of Adam."  Matthew 1 (reading for 1/1/14) discusses the generations from Abraham to Christ. Mathematically speaking, sequences are much like generations. A sequence is an ordered list (order matters) and are useful in a number of mathematical disciplines.  Sequences are also of interest in their own right and can be studied as patterns or puzzles, such as the prime numbers or the Fibonacci numbers.  It contains members and can be finite (countable) or infinite. 

Did my brief definition of sequences resemble your understanding of generations?  Then quite possibly a math lesson over even numbers, odd numbers, primes, or multiples (Use Genesis 4:15 as a reason to learn the multiples of 7.), could be taught beginning with a discussion of the generations that exist within your own family.  This discussion would transition very easily into several different educational activities.

I think my favorite activities would be to use the data from Genesis 5 to teach

• how to create a bar chart/graph depicting either the age at which each person died or became the father of the indicated son (or both).
• how to create a stacked bar chart/graph using the combined data. (You could use this for an Excel lesson.)
• a family lesson by either drawing on butcher paper (Can you still get that?) or using Excel to highlight/shade columns creating a vertical 'timeline' depicting Creation to the flood - or even to Joseph if you want to extend this lesson.

I will tag some 'extra' math lessons from these scriptures after this post, but now, I want to get into the 'family lesson' I mentioned above.

At one time, there were nine living generations.  Adam was still alive when Enoch was born and died only a 'short' fifty-seven years before 'Enoch was not.'  Wonder how many times Adam took Enoch for a walk by the Garden of Eden and possibly said, " Enoch, my dear great, great, great, great, great, great grandson, I really messed up.  You see those cherubim with the flaming sword?  I can't take you in there to show you what you're missing, but you really NEED to walk with God.  A relationship with Him is what you need to seek. Don't ever forget that!"

What do our children hear from us each day?  What should we be telling them?  Are we?  Do our children or the generations following us learn from us, from our experiences?  As far as math (or everything else) goes, what kind of impression to we give those watching us?  Do we indicate that math is too difficult to understand?  Are we like the people in Matthew 13 whose "heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart," both mathematically and spiritually?

Just some questions for you to ponder today, as I've been pondering the Verse of the Day from biblegateway.com found in Psalm 90:12. "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom."