Ren Allen

"It seems
to me that unschoolers in general get very upset when people question
them-or maybe I am just taking it the wrong way"

I think you're just not seeing it from the other side (well...that's
understandable).
If you're saying that unschoolers get "no help" that's a bit
disrespectful to all the wonderful parents here that spend day after
day making sure their kids have access to the whole, wide world!!
I know it isn't meant as a put-down, but things that newbies ask can
sure come across that way sometimes.

If you think unschooling leads to poor jobs, or lack of math skills
or an inability to get a GED etc....then you're basically saying
that the lot of us unschooling parents don't care about that stuff!
Of course we care about our children having wonderful lives, that's
exactly WHY we unschool.
Maybe when you word things, just ask HOW it works, rather than
assuming all these negatives about unschooling like we haven't
thought all that through.
Does that make sense?
Asking "HOW do kids learn math without lessons and structure?" is
better in my opinion than saying "I have horrible math skills so how
will an unschooled child learn math?" (duh, you went to school!!:)
wink, wink.

Ren

Ren Allen

"I see how kids can learn everything they need just through living-
but
math is the only thing that really has me "worried"."

Well fortunately, you aren't his teacher!! If my kids only learned
what *I* knew, we'd have pretty boring lives. Luckily, I am simply
the doorway through which they access the world, so I try to stay
wide open (saying yes a lot, being interested in their interests,
finding creative ways to get them items and information they want
etc..).
If *I* was their teacher, then my oldest would certainly NOT know
all about computers and video games and guitar and Dungeons and
Dragons and history of wars and medieval weaponry and so on....

Thank goodness we are all individuals that each have our own
interests that enrich the rest of our family.
Does your dh need you to teach him everything you know? Do your
friends? Of course not. Your children don't either. So you have a
deficit in math. What caused that?
Was it pure genetics? Or perhaps some really crappy school
experiences that made you believe you had to be taught math? That
you couldn't possibly understand all that material without great
struggle?
I venture to guess that most of us blocked up by math were schooled.

So school didn't work very well to teach you math. And now you think
that school methods will somehow help your children learn something
you struggle with? How does that work?
If schoolish methods work, then they work? If they don't work, then
why are you trying to bring them home?

Ok, I've asked you a lot of questions....I'll back off now.:)
How about read an article for me, about how children learn when
they're interested. It's a schoolish method used, but ONLY on
children that WANTED the lessons.
So far, my children use numbers happily and readily, because it's
just another part of their lives. If they want to attach formal
words and equations to the stuff they're already familiar with,
think of the advantage they'll have over schooled kids that have
been taught all their lives that it's DIFFICULT to learn.

http://www.sudval.org/05_onli_11.html

And if it makes you feel better, read about Laurie Chancey, who did
not memorize her multiplication tables, never had a math lesson in
her radical unschooled life, and did (and is doing) fabulous in
college:

http://www.chancey.info/unschooling.html

My goal is not to turn out academically "educated" individuals. My
goal is to help my children live the life of their choosing as
happily as possible, which I believe will lead to a wonderful life
journey.

Ren