New Member..Math for Learning Different 13yog
blestmomma
Hello
I am a sahm of 5 in Southern Ca. My oldest is 13 and we have always
unschooled. We (myself along with my 13yog, 12yob and 9yog) have just
finished reading Real Lives and were again encouraged!
My question is for my 13yog. She learns differently than most kids in
that she has to go over a concept many times before it "clicks." Over
the years we have just done math from "daily life." My daughter
wanted to start doing math from a book. I bought her a used Saxon 8/7
and it was way to hard. 7/6 was way to hard. She borrowed a 4/5 or
5/4 and she constantly needs help and gets many wrong. We did learn
all the multiplication facts because I made copies and copies and
copies of the same things day after day after day! She can get it,
but it can take MONTHS.
After she showed me Cafi Cohen's daughters plan for the year (in What
About College) she said, "Mom how can I finish high school if I'm 13
and in 4th grade math?"
I said, "I don't really know, but I know there is a way and I will
find out. :)"
So, do any of you parents have some ideas/thoughts for a 13yog who
WANTS to do more "school" but is way behind.
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!
Shannon
I am a sahm of 5 in Southern Ca. My oldest is 13 and we have always
unschooled. We (myself along with my 13yog, 12yob and 9yog) have just
finished reading Real Lives and were again encouraged!
My question is for my 13yog. She learns differently than most kids in
that she has to go over a concept many times before it "clicks." Over
the years we have just done math from "daily life." My daughter
wanted to start doing math from a book. I bought her a used Saxon 8/7
and it was way to hard. 7/6 was way to hard. She borrowed a 4/5 or
5/4 and she constantly needs help and gets many wrong. We did learn
all the multiplication facts because I made copies and copies and
copies of the same things day after day after day! She can get it,
but it can take MONTHS.
After she showed me Cafi Cohen's daughters plan for the year (in What
About College) she said, "Mom how can I finish high school if I'm 13
and in 4th grade math?"
I said, "I don't really know, but I know there is a way and I will
find out. :)"
So, do any of you parents have some ideas/thoughts for a 13yog who
WANTS to do more "school" but is way behind.
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!
Shannon
Michelle/Melbrigða
On 8/16/06, blestmomma <blest.momma@...> wrote:
to do with mathematics. Arithmetic makes no sense to her because it
doesn't correspond with what she does in real life. It has very
little to do with what any of us does in real life. Very few people
use "math" the way it was taught in high school (let alone elementary
school).
Does she need to "finish high school?" Is college her goal? Is it
her goal right now? Does she need to "finish" high school when she is
13 or even 18? We have the arbitrary time limits that are imposed by
"the system" that don't correlate to anything that is real. We assume
that a child is an "adult" when they are 18. that they are mature
enough to drink when they are 21. Senior citizens are considered
people who are 50 (or 55) or older and in many companies mandatory
retirement is 72. Do any of those ages have anything to do at all
with a person's ability or understanding? No. My father is 74 and is
sharp as a tack. Dan's dad is 86 and has just started to slow down
(he's decided that it might not be a good idea for him to go
motorcycle riding in the mountains on his own anymore!) I have
friends who are in their 30's yet I wouldn't trust them to make a
mature decision if their lives depended on it (and in the past it
has!) Yet I know other people who are under 18 who have the maturity
and understanding of several lifetimes who I would entrust my life to
if needed!
Your daughter doesn't need to "finish" high school anytime soon.
She's *only* 13. that's still very young. When your daughter has the
need for the understanding of mathematics it will work itself out for
her. It seems like the math workbooks are only causing her more
stress. Get her a calculator and move past this back into joyful
living! Assure her that arithmetic has very little to do with the
understanding of mathematics. I bet she understands math better than
she thinks she does. She's just all confuddled when it comes to
arithmetic!
--
Michelle
aka Melbrigða
http://eventualknitting.blogspot.com
[email protected] - Homeschooling for the Medieval Recreationist
>She's not doing math she is doing arithmetic. Arithmetic has little
> After she showed me Cafi Cohen's daughters plan for the year (in What
> About College) she said, "Mom how can I finish high school if I'm 13
> and in 4th grade math?"
>
to do with mathematics. Arithmetic makes no sense to her because it
doesn't correspond with what she does in real life. It has very
little to do with what any of us does in real life. Very few people
use "math" the way it was taught in high school (let alone elementary
school).
Does she need to "finish high school?" Is college her goal? Is it
her goal right now? Does she need to "finish" high school when she is
13 or even 18? We have the arbitrary time limits that are imposed by
"the system" that don't correlate to anything that is real. We assume
that a child is an "adult" when they are 18. that they are mature
enough to drink when they are 21. Senior citizens are considered
people who are 50 (or 55) or older and in many companies mandatory
retirement is 72. Do any of those ages have anything to do at all
with a person's ability or understanding? No. My father is 74 and is
sharp as a tack. Dan's dad is 86 and has just started to slow down
(he's decided that it might not be a good idea for him to go
motorcycle riding in the mountains on his own anymore!) I have
friends who are in their 30's yet I wouldn't trust them to make a
mature decision if their lives depended on it (and in the past it
has!) Yet I know other people who are under 18 who have the maturity
and understanding of several lifetimes who I would entrust my life to
if needed!
Your daughter doesn't need to "finish" high school anytime soon.
She's *only* 13. that's still very young. When your daughter has the
need for the understanding of mathematics it will work itself out for
her. It seems like the math workbooks are only causing her more
stress. Get her a calculator and move past this back into joyful
living! Assure her that arithmetic has very little to do with the
understanding of mathematics. I bet she understands math better than
she thinks she does. She's just all confuddled when it comes to
arithmetic!
--
Michelle
aka Melbrigða
http://eventualknitting.blogspot.com
[email protected] - Homeschooling for the Medieval Recreationist
Deb Lewis
*** She learns differently than most kids in
that she has to go over a concept many times before it "clicks." ***
Maybe you could expand on this because I'm having a hard time picturing
how an unschooler would "have to" go over "concepts." All kids learn
differently and unschoolers seem the most likely to understand that so
when you say your child learns differently it makes me wonder if your
ideas/definition of unschooling are different than mine and different
than what's usually discussed on this list. If they are, that's ok,
you will probably still find useful ideas here.
When you say she has to go over concepts what exactly do you mean? Can
you give an example from her childhood?
When she played with trucks did she have to drive them and drive them
before she could drive them? <g>
***Over the years we have just done math from "daily life." ***
Were you thinking of it as math?
***My daughter wanted to start doing math from a book. I bought her a
used Saxon 8/7
and it was way to hard. ***
How did you decide on that grade level? Why did you think that would be
a good place to start? What conversations did you have with your
daughter when she asked for a book for math? Why did she think a text
book would be the best way to learn math?
I have to tell you, if I picked up a Saxon 8/7 I'd find it hard, too.
Those books are bland and repetitive and awful. That seems the fastest
possible way to kill interest.
I have a feeling that you weren't always unschooling. Not in the way we
talk about unschooling here. That's not an accusation. When people say
they have always unschooled we get a picture in our head but my picture
gets fuzzy when you talk about concepts and Saxon.<g> It's a hard
concept for me. And we need to know what you want from us. Do you
want ideas about reassuring your daughter than she will learn the things
she needs naturally, out of her own interests or do you want to know how
to help her do school work?
***After she showed me Cafi Cohen's daughters plan for the year (in What
About College) she said, "Mom how can I finish high school if I'm 13
and in 4th grade math?" ***
Why does she think she has to finish high school? What does she think
happens after high school?
***So, do any of you parents have some ideas/thoughts for a 13yog who
WANTS to do more "school" but is way behind.***
Behind what? All people, kids in public school, kids in private
school, kids in home schools, unschoolers and adults will at once be
ahead of and behind others in some areas or abilities. I am way ahead
of my friend Ellen in vegetable canning. I am way behind my friend Sue
in birch bark canoe building. I would find out where she got the idea
that a specific kind of learning from a book would be a better way to
learn. I would tell her that "behind" and "ahead" are concepts that
have little meaning outside of school.
Deb Lewis
that she has to go over a concept many times before it "clicks." ***
Maybe you could expand on this because I'm having a hard time picturing
how an unschooler would "have to" go over "concepts." All kids learn
differently and unschoolers seem the most likely to understand that so
when you say your child learns differently it makes me wonder if your
ideas/definition of unschooling are different than mine and different
than what's usually discussed on this list. If they are, that's ok,
you will probably still find useful ideas here.
When you say she has to go over concepts what exactly do you mean? Can
you give an example from her childhood?
When she played with trucks did she have to drive them and drive them
before she could drive them? <g>
***Over the years we have just done math from "daily life." ***
Were you thinking of it as math?
***My daughter wanted to start doing math from a book. I bought her a
used Saxon 8/7
and it was way to hard. ***
How did you decide on that grade level? Why did you think that would be
a good place to start? What conversations did you have with your
daughter when she asked for a book for math? Why did she think a text
book would be the best way to learn math?
I have to tell you, if I picked up a Saxon 8/7 I'd find it hard, too.
Those books are bland and repetitive and awful. That seems the fastest
possible way to kill interest.
I have a feeling that you weren't always unschooling. Not in the way we
talk about unschooling here. That's not an accusation. When people say
they have always unschooled we get a picture in our head but my picture
gets fuzzy when you talk about concepts and Saxon.<g> It's a hard
concept for me. And we need to know what you want from us. Do you
want ideas about reassuring your daughter than she will learn the things
she needs naturally, out of her own interests or do you want to know how
to help her do school work?
***After she showed me Cafi Cohen's daughters plan for the year (in What
About College) she said, "Mom how can I finish high school if I'm 13
and in 4th grade math?" ***
Why does she think she has to finish high school? What does she think
happens after high school?
***So, do any of you parents have some ideas/thoughts for a 13yog who
WANTS to do more "school" but is way behind.***
Behind what? All people, kids in public school, kids in private
school, kids in home schools, unschoolers and adults will at once be
ahead of and behind others in some areas or abilities. I am way ahead
of my friend Ellen in vegetable canning. I am way behind my friend Sue
in birch bark canoe building. I would find out where she got the idea
that a specific kind of learning from a book would be a better way to
learn. I would tell her that "behind" and "ahead" are concepts that
have little meaning outside of school.
Deb Lewis