Danielle Conger

> Aimee wrote: Yeah, same here. But that's why I found unschooling
> lists for support, cause my hubby isn't often
> interested in fleshing things out with me. I will
> talk to him about what I'm learning, what Alex is
> doing, stuff that's no pressure on him. Just simple
> commments works best, my two cents.
=================

Funny thing is, I feel like dh and I talk a lot about unschooling and what
the kids are doing, yet he made a comment not long ago that I needed to
update my blog so he knew what was going on in his home. Huh? He was just
being silly, not mean or anything, but it made me realize how much he
enjoyed going to the blog during his week and reading about the kids and our
adventures. I guess just being able to read something when he feels like
taking a break, something that's not addressed to him or pushing a
particular agenda, really holds an appeal for him. I don't know if a blog
would work in your case, but it has become an interesting form of
communication with my dh that I never foresaw.

On another note...
Dh and I seem to go in circles about unschooling. He's totally on board and
then busts out with some really inappropriate remark like, "Well, we have to
expose them to math; otherwise, how will they be able to do word problems?"
He's clearly distorting the word "expose" in a way that makes me really
uncomfortable--we'll be coming back to this during our hot tub therapy
sessions. *g* This came out the other evening when we were discussing a
possible move to Virginia where either portfolio review or testing is
mandatory every year. Sigh. Maybe my blog will begin to have a dh-aimed
agenda after all! *eg*

Seriously, though, I'm thinking these worries manifest themselves as he's
projecting the kids into the future. He's supportive about what's going on
now, has backed off about reading, etc. My hope is that the blog and other
conversations will help him continue to be okay with the present all along,
if you know what I mean. The more years he can do that, the more likely I
think he is to let go of concerns over the future. I think he will begin to
see that he's worrying uselessly as he realizes that the kids really are
okay and really are learning loads of things that make word problems and
other schooly things look silly and abstract. It's just hard for him to make
those connections now.

--Danielle

http://www.danielleconger.com/Homeschool/Welcomehome.html

[email protected]

In a message dated 7/29/04 7:18:16 AM, danielle.conger@... writes:

<< "Well, we have to

expose them to math; otherwise, how will they be able to do word problems?" >>

Word problems are the real everyday ones!

That's funny, in a funny way. Kirby's got a GED practice math workbook,
and it's not the word problems that are news to him, it's all that notation with
a lack of words!

But exposing him to it sooner wouldn't have helped much. He's exposed to it
now, he has a need to know, and he's old enough and experienced enough to
understand the explanations. SOME of them. There were a couple of things in
there that Keith and I were "HUH!?" about, and looking at the answer section
didn't really clarify. But it wasn't a math question, it was a test-taking
problem. They have these grids to put numbers in, and it wasn't clear on looking
whether it mattered what columns the answers went into. I don't know how the
scanner that scores the test is going to look at those.

Anyone here know?

They're columns with circles from 0 to 9, and then up top the choices in the
middle three columns are slashes and decimals. The answer sheet showed a
fraction going 7/3 in the middle three columns. So that was centered. What if
someone put it on the first three or last three? Would it be counted as
wrong?

Sandra

Elizabeth Hill

** They're columns with circles from 0 to 9, and then up top the choices
in the
middle three columns are slashes and decimals. The answer sheet showed a
fraction going 7/3 in the middle three columns. So that was
centered. What if
someone put it on the first three or last three? Would it be counted as
wrong?**

The GED test publisher probably has a free practice pamphlet and may
have an extensive website. I would start with their website if the
1,000+ minds on this list are all stumped. (I'm stumped.)


Betsy

Andrea Burlingame

SandraDodd@... said:
==That's funny, in a funny way. Kirby's got a GED practice math workbook,
and it's not the word problems that are news to him, it's all that notation
with a lack of words! But exposing him to it sooner wouldn't have helped
much. He's exposed to it now, he has a need to know, and he's old enough
and experienced enough to understand the explanations. SOME of them. There
were a couple of things in there that Keith and I were "HUH!?" about, and
looking at the answer section
didn't really clarify.==

This reminds me of the worksheets that my step-daughter, Sarah would bring
home when she was in second and third grades at a private school (and also
my son, when he was younger and was still going to school.) Sometimes the
directions made absolutely no sense at all. There would be missing
information or it would be so poorly written that neither my husband or
myself could figure out what they wanted the kid to do! We assumed that
they were probably doing similar problems in class and that our kids were
just supposed to remember what to do, but still, this was so unreasonable.
We didn't blame either of the kids for hating math homework. Sometimes, we
would just show them another way to accomplish what we thought was
essentially the same thing being asked in the worksheet, but other times, we
were completely mystified as to WHAT they wanted. I asked my son's teachers
about the worksheets a couple of times, but never really got a satisfactory
answer, though I can't remember what they said, exactly.

~Andrea