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Hello,

I've started a local unschooling list in hopes of connecting & helping
others learn about unschooling here in Louisiana. I myself am relatively new to
it since my daughter is only 5 1/2 & I only 'discovered' unschooling about 2
years ago.

Although I'm mostly a lurker on these lists due to time constraints, I now
come to you for advice and suggestions from one of our listmembers. She gave
me permission to forward her post to you to seek your advice. Since I have
so little experience the only thing I could think of was to suggest she find
an electronically minded person as a mentor...and that we seek advice HERE :)

The first part of the email is a response/advice she got from our list :(
As you can see, she needs some suggestions from real unschoolers!!!

Thanks in advance. ~ Denise
>>>>>>

Hi Louise:
the big problem with math is that it is cumulative and
must be learned from start to finish. you can try to
teach just the formula but the problem is there are so
many parts to the formula that need to be known first
and each formula changes with each problem (measuring
the volume of a cone and a prism requires 2 similar
but very different formulas)also those formulas might
require knowledge of square roots or powers. Unless
you know or are a math whiz it is hard to teach
"unschooled" Forget those public school gifted
classes, all they did was give the kids more work to
do (keep them busy so they did not disrupt the class).
Math is one of the main reasons i am home schooling.
Having a future Neurosurgeon who is doing 7th grade
math instead of 5th and a future Architec who is doing
9th grade Algebra instead of 7th (they both probably
would be farther but i can't keep up!)I know
unschoolers hate to hear it but i am going to suggest
a curriculum that lets the child learn from basic on
up. It is called Saxon Math (their home school
version) You can go on line print up the test, give it
to Derek and find out where you need to start him off.
It has a lot of repetition, that is so the kids learn
"sight answers" (knowing multiplication, adding,
subtracting, common fractions and square roots just
off the top of their head) This is important for the
child that is going to go into advance math with some
formulas that take 3 hours to do and 20 pages of paper
(it sure makes the problem a lot easier if they don't
have to stress on the little stuff {and saves a lot of
time}). Again this is for the unschooler who will need
to know math for their future goals. I am not
suggesting this for unschoolers who feel this does not
fit into their methods. I hope i was of some help.
Sandra B.
--->>>>

louise wrote:
> This email may get long-winded, but I'm needing to
> inquire with other unschoolers about a snag our
> family has hit recently.
>
> Our son, Derek, unschools. Sometimes he just floats
> around indulging in whatever hits his fancy, other
> times he has come to us with a list of topics he
> wants to learn about, and asks for help. So far, the
> things he wants to learn about have been fun to come
> up with resources and ideas for him to explore. For
> example, he wants to learn about other countries.
> He's asked me to give him something to do so he can
> learn, so I put together a "backpacking through
> Europe" idea for him. There's not much to it, other
> than he started off with Italy and is now in France.
> We jot down a slew of questions about the country
> and he goes and researches the answers. Some of the
> questions lead him to learning about scientists and
> inventors from those countries that invented or
> discovered things that wow and amaze Derek, so he
> starts researching those topics as well. When Derek
> feels he's learned a lot about the country, he then
> puts together a menu of authentic cuisine from that
> country, sends out a fancy invitation to us and his
> grandmother and her friend to attend the dinner, and
> he then cooks a four course dinner for us of
> authentic cuisine and teaches us about the country.
> He's an amazing chef so we are spoiled with a
> wonderful dinner.
>
> So, it's not really a formal study or program or
> anything, it's just something fun that he enjoys and
> has asked us to continue doing.
>
> Derek's big passion is studying electronics. He's
> off on his own with this, using electronic kits,
> books, and collecting bits and pieces from broken
> appliances and gadgets and turning them into
> electronic toys. Last night he demonstrated an
> airboat he built from bits and parts. His mission
> is to be the first person to build an electric
> plane. He brought in a diagram he drew of his
> design, and it's very impressive (this coming from
> me, who knows nothing about electronics).
>
> So, now my dilemna. Derek has reached a point in
> his electronics where he really needs to know his
> math. He asks his father, Graham, questions now that
> can't be answered until Derek understands advanced
> math. Derek was in gifted math & science classes
> when he was in public school, but after unschooling
> for 1 1/2 years, he barely remembers what 2+2
> equals. This may seem like a knock against
> unschooling, but I see it as a knock against the
> public schools method of teaching math. If he truly
> had learned what they taught (and he brought home
> those A++'s all the time), then he would remember it
> 1 1/2 years later. What Derek needs is applied
> learning.
>
> However, the kind of math he needs right now isn't
> going to be gained quickly from his cooking, or
> building a playhouse, and playing his math computer
> games. He's learning from those experiences, but
> for his electronics he's needing to learn to some
> degree of algebraic formulas.
>
> He told us last night that he wants to learn this
> math. He's anxious to get past the roadblock he's
> hit with electronics. He's ready to start building
> that electric plane.
>
> Does anyone have ANY advice on how we can help Derek
> achieve this? I know nothing about fancy math
> formula's. Graham has the knowledge, but not the
> know how of sitting a child down and teaching them
> math. Plus, Derek has to go back to the basic
> building blocks he's missed out on. He has a gifted
> mathematical mind to understand it all rather
> quickly, but I haven't a clue of where to point
> Derek to on this one.
>
> I would like to have several ideas of how Derek can
> learn this advanced math, building up from the
> basics, and present them to Derek so he can let us
> know what would work best for him. He's passionate
> about wanting to learn the math he needs for his
> electronics and I want to provide him with some
> outlets. I need some ideas though.
>
> Does anyone have any advice/ideas they can share?
>
> Thanks
> Louise





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scrapgal

> > So, now my dilemna. Derek has reached a point in
> > his electronics where he really needs to know his
> > math.
Then he studies math. See Unschoooling isn't about not learning.
It is about learning what seems appropriate at the moment. Learning
what one needs. If Derek feels he needs to learn some math, then
look online for some rudimentary math lessons (they are everywhere
online) It may be enough to spark his memory about what hehas
somewhere in his brain. Then look for some math books. Look at
college bookstores for used texts or half.com or even go to thrift
stores or rummage shops. Let him look through some books and see
what sparks his creative juices.

I disagree with the respondant that one must use a curriculum to
learn math and that using Saxon (gag) is the best way. (It may be
the best way for *some* people but I see many flaws in Saxon's
theory). Anyway, my kids have all done higher forms of math with
only basic skills *and* there is no reason whatsoever that a child
can't use a *calculator* to do these basic skills. Get one of those
fancy calculators with all the square root buttons and cosign
buttons. What are they, scientific calculators? Guess what?
Scientists use those things. They don't do all that math in their
heads, so why do we make kids do it? (And yes; kids do learn
mathematics by using a calculator.) Remember there are two things
that revolve around numbers. Mathematics and arithmatic.
Mathematics is the study of numbers. Artithmatic is just doing tons
of math skill problems.

Michelle