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JoannB
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| Posted: March 05 2006 at 7:05pm | IP Logged
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I have a 2nd grader, and I am sold on unschooling and am going to test the waters this week. BUT....what do I do about math? Do I just hope he discover's subtracting triple digits by himself? Do I just hope he one day wakes up and wants to do ratios? How exactly should I go about math skills?
Thanks...
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Joann
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ShawnaB
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| Posted: March 05 2006 at 10:44pm | IP Logged
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Well I will be the first to admit that I have not studied much of the "unschooling" philosophy, but as I read more of Elizabeth's book, and I continue to re-evaluate and dismiss many of my previous notions about education, I think I am becoming more of an "unschooler" than I ever thought possible!
Regarding math, I am coming to understand that teaching math is not just about teaching children to compute numbers, but rather teaching them to "think" mathmatically, and to see and appreciate and recognize numbers and their relationships in everyday life. I am blessed with a 5 year old who absolutely loves numbers and has been interested in mathmatical reasoning from a very young age (he's just like his dad!). I have gleaned a good deal from the resources of Marilyn Burns (click on "publications".) Her books focus on drawing out mathmatical reasoning from students in a very natural way. She uses simple games and activites, a lot of literature based learning (yes, even for math!), and there is no text book whatsoever. I have learned a lot from her books. There is another thread on the Living and Loving Numbers section of this board called "Marilyn Burns and math at our house" that has a lot of ideas and inspiration. (Maybe someone more technologically savy than me could post a link??)
Again, I don't know if this is truly "unschooling", but math this year has really felt natural, and joyful! God bless you in this new endeavor!
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Shawna, wife of Jacob, mom to Abraham 8 Amelia 5 and Jillian & Jonathan age 3 years http://www.psalm121family.com
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Karen E.
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| Posted: March 06 2006 at 7:51am | IP Logged
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Another thing to consider is that for some children, unschooling works beautifully for the areas in which they're naturally inclined, but not as well in areas with which they have less natural facility.
My eldest dd is a dreamer, reader, writer, and loves books, history, ideas and imagination. She glazes over at anything having to do with math. My standard joke is that when it comes to story problems, she and I both have the same reaction:
Story problem:
"Larry ordered 3/8 of a pizza. He gave Pat 1/3 of his pizza. How much of a pizza did Pat get?"
DD and I would say, "Who's Pat? Do you think it's a guy friend, or Larry's wife? And why would Pat only get 1/3 of 3/8 of a pizza? That's not very much ... Larry must be pretty selfish. Let's write a story about a man who's so selfish that he hoards his pizza until ...."
Well, you get the idea. 
At any rate, I unschool a lot of things with this child, but I also keep a constant exposure to a low-pressure math program (this year it's "Key to...") to keep her progressing. Otherwise, in our house, it just doesn't happen.
If I were more math-oriented, I could probably make it happen in fun ways, but my eyes glaze over, too .... 
My second dd, on the other hand, has stunned us with how quickly she picks up on math concepts and how naturally she takes to math. I can unschool more with this one, and also just have her sit in on the older one's math time. She also picks up a ton from cooking, her questions about life, and the other "everyday math" that happens. That just didn't happen with my oldest; every child is different!
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God bless,
Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: March 06 2006 at 9:33am | IP Logged
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In addition to the many math-related computer games available, there are also tons of math games and activities on the internet. Just google math games and you'll get a ton. Introduce some of these and ds may like them and ask to do them on his own.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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ShawnaB
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Karen E. wrote:
Story problem:
"Larry ordered 3/8 of a pizza. He gave Pat 1/3 of his pizza. How much of a pizza did Pat get?"
DD and I would say, "Who's Pat? Do you think it's a guy friend, or Larry's wife? And why would Pat only get 1/3 of 3/8 of a pizza? That's not very much ... Larry must be pretty selfish. Let's write a story about a man who's so selfish that he hoards his pizza until ...."
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Oh, I just LOVE that! What a precious girl.
I'm sure you are right...most of us are not totally balanced in our interests, and in order to give a balanced education, we will have to guide our children in some areas. I predict that for my ds, who is really analytical and product-oriented, he will need gentle guiding in the creative and in the habit of observation.
I used to think that "unschooling" meant totally waiting for the child to take the initiative for learning, and as a former p.s. teacher, I thought NO WAY would I ever "unschool!" Some of my (former) students would choose recess ALL DAY! But I'm learning that this is not necessarily what is meant by unschooling. There is a balance between following the student's interests, and also guiding towards a balanced education. And in a home-centered environment, where your entire life-style is created to support learning and love-of-learning, unschooling just "happens" whereas in a traditional classroom, well...its unfortunately just not a condusive, for a lot of reasons. OK, sorry for the rambling...
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Shawna, wife of Jacob, mom to Abraham 8 Amelia 5 and Jillian & Jonathan age 3 years http://www.psalm121family.com
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Chari
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| Posted: March 06 2006 at 10:57am | IP Logged
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ShawnaB wrote:
| OK, sorry for the rambling... |
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Shawna,
keep rambling 
I love to see where your thoughts lead you.......
as always,
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Chari...Take Up & Read
Dh Marty 27yrs...3 lovely maidens: Anne 24, Sarah 20 & Maddelyn 17 and 3 chivalrous sons: Matthew 22, Garrett 16 & Malachy 11
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Karen E.
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| Posted: March 06 2006 at 11:11am | IP Logged
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ShawnaB wrote:
I used to think that "unschooling" meant totally waiting for the child to take the initiative ....
...I'm learning that this is not necessarily what is meant by unschooling. There is a balance between following the student's interests, and also guiding towards a balanced education. And in a home-centered environment, where your entire life-style is created to support learning and love-of-learning, unschooling just "happens" whereas in a traditional classroom, well...its unfortunately just not a condusive, for a lot of reasons. OK, sorry for the rambling... |
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You're not rambling ... I love these kinds of conversations.
While there are "radical unschoolers" who would say that you should totally wait for the child to take the initiative, I've found that most of us who approach home education from a Catholic standpoint have more of a "guidance where needed" approach. Children, after all, are just that: children. They are, by nature, immature, inexperienced and incapable of certain things that have been entrusted to us as their parents. So, yes, there is a level of guidance -- at least for us, in our homeschool, and I don't speak for everyone -- that can go along with "unschooling."
We're such a mix here that "unschooling" alone doesn't describe us, but it describes a lot of what we do.
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God bless,
Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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Leonie
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| Posted: March 06 2006 at 6:54pm | IP Logged
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A lot of maths, esp early years maths, just comes up in real life. Really and truly. I find keeping a record of such experiences is quite an interesting endeavour - I can *see where my dc are learning and using maths in their daily lives.
There are also many non text resources available for maths.
FIAR has maths activities related to each book.
Laid Back Learning has many ideas for maths and other subjects in a non text fashion.
Of curse, just because we like to be unschooly doesn't mean we don't use textbooks or workbooks - at least, we use them in our home, as tools.
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Leonie in Sydney
Living Without School
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4Real Forums : Living and Loving Numbers
Topic: Okay, I "get" unschooling....BUT....
