[email protected]

I forgot I got permission to share this with this list (or some list, and I
choose this one) earlier in the month.

If any of you want to write to her it might be really cool for other people
down the line. Can't hurt!

==============================

Hi Sandra,


I found your site while checking the traffic to my site (Math Cats -

www.mathcats.com); I noticed that a visitor this evening had arrived at Math

Cats through a link from your "Unschooling and Math" page -

http://sandradodd.com/math. I read the lengthy piece in the right column by

Linda Wyatt and the descriptions in the left column, though I haven't

followed the links yet. I was tickled to see the description of Math Cats:

"I found a great math site that seems like it was designed for

unschoolers.... www.mathcats.com You can mess aroung with polygons and

tessalations, explore what you like with no determined path or

drills...great stuff."


Everything I've just read that Linda Wyatt wrote resonates deeply with me,

even though I and my three children were all schooled in the conventional

way. But the only time I loved math in school was when we learned how to

make some polyhedra out of triangles. We actually just cut out templates in

school, but I was so intrigued that I went home and figured out how to draw

perfectly even rows of equilateral triangles so that I could make as many

icosahedra and other polyhedra as my heart desired. And I eventually became

one of those teachers who was rather uncomfortable teaching math; it

certainly wasn't why I had gone into teaching; I just endured the math

lesson each day, until my wise principal once observed one of my math

lessons and pointed out that if I put as much creativity and enthusiasm into

teaching math as I did into teaching creative writing, my students would

love math as much as they loved writing. Wow - that was a revelation for

me. From that point on, I did everything I could to make math class fun,

hands-on, and meaningfully connected to the real world, and yes, my students

did start loving math. So now I'm trying to do the same thing in the online

environment.


I'm frankly amazed when kids sometimes write to tell me that their math

skills have improved from visiting Math Cats, because that is certainly not

my priority, though I think it's pretty cool if it happens along the way. I

mostly want kids to discover the same joy and beauty in math that I

experienced in my youth when I began turning ordinary pieces of paper into

beautiful geometric ornaments.


So anyhow, I just want to say I'm glad to have discovered your page, and I'm

looking forward to reading the other material on your site. Also, I would

be very happy to correspond with some of the unschoolers who visit your

site. I'd like to know more about the unschooling approach to learning.

After visiting your page, I think I'd like to add an "unschooling" idea bank

to the grown-up cats' section of Math Cats, and you can be sure I'll be

recommending your site!


Wendy Petti

creator of Math Cats

http://www.mathcats.com

Angela

Very cool Sandra! Fun site too. We've been playing with the birthday page.

Angela
game-enthusiast@...


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