Unschooling math
Christy
Hi,
I've been a lurker for about nine mos. We have been officially Unschooling in everyway about a year.
I find it hard to hold off and work on math, whether it be games, or workbooks. That is the hardest skill to trust on.
Really, how does one incorporate math skills in daily life that might take the edge off the worry?
They are given money...they save, they spend. We play games. They enjoy Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh. They cook somewhat. They can follow a recipe.
Have I answered my own question?
Christy, wife to Jeff, Unschooling, artist mom to: Elizabeth 15, Hannah 13, Hope 12, James Jr. 10, and Naomi 16 months.
"Landscapes in, oil, pastels, acrylic and watercolor"
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I've been a lurker for about nine mos. We have been officially Unschooling in everyway about a year.
I find it hard to hold off and work on math, whether it be games, or workbooks. That is the hardest skill to trust on.
Really, how does one incorporate math skills in daily life that might take the edge off the worry?
They are given money...they save, they spend. We play games. They enjoy Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh. They cook somewhat. They can follow a recipe.
Have I answered my own question?
Christy, wife to Jeff, Unschooling, artist mom to: Elizabeth 15, Hannah 13, Hope 12, James Jr. 10, and Naomi 16 months.
"Landscapes in, oil, pastels, acrylic and watercolor"
---------------------------------
Yahoo! FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Donald and Sandra Winn
> Have I answered my own question?Hi Christy! :-) Yes... :-) If one or all of your
children love it, they'll let you know and you just
give em' the resources to move to higher math IF they
desire. Unless one plans on being a mathematician,
there is no "need" for higher skills. Measurements
are used in cooking and if one builds, +,-,?,* are
used in daily life as is algebra. Money, etc., just
like you mentioned... all part of Math.
Welcome to the group.
Happy Learning,
~Sandy
www.360.yahoo.com/aplan4life
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Ren Allen
"They are given money...they save, they spend. We play games. They enjoy
Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh. They cook somewhat. They can follow a recipe.
Have I answered my own question?"
YES!
Just remember all the years of torture in school and just how much
math you actually use. Most people (other than those that have some
natural passion for math) come out of school math damaged.
If your kids only have the ability to believe they're intelligent and
capable, that is enough to learn math equations at ANY time in life.
Much better than what most of us had.
Just wait until Pam gets to respond. She's a math whiz and she's
helped a lot of us see that school is what messed up our minds and we
WEREN'T idiots at math.
She's really, really good at pointing out the everyday math that
people discount. Like playing strategy games and looking at patterns
in nature etc....
It always gets back to that trust issue though. Trust that they can
learn anything they need at any time. Trust that by living life they
will get all the "basic" skills they need and more. Trust your
children and their innate intelligence.
I'm guessing you have math fears because you yourself have problems
with math? Am I right or totally off base?
If I'm right, then you just have to remember NOT to give your kids
damaging math experiences and they'll be just FINE. Truly.:)
Oh, a couple of books that helped me in my math recovery;
I Hate Mathematics
The Joy of Mathematics
Don't have them in front of me, so can't give you the authors at the
moment.
I also picked up this budget book one time, about turning your brain
into a calculator. It was SO cool.
It shows you how to do simple arithmetic, which school made so
challenging, and make it EASY to do in your head. It helped me a lot
with using numbers in day to day life...at least I'm not using my
fingers to count very often these days. That's improvement!!
I can't find it at the moment either...lots of books still packed.
I'll try to find it today.
Ren
Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh. They cook somewhat. They can follow a recipe.
Have I answered my own question?"
YES!
Just remember all the years of torture in school and just how much
math you actually use. Most people (other than those that have some
natural passion for math) come out of school math damaged.
If your kids only have the ability to believe they're intelligent and
capable, that is enough to learn math equations at ANY time in life.
Much better than what most of us had.
Just wait until Pam gets to respond. She's a math whiz and she's
helped a lot of us see that school is what messed up our minds and we
WEREN'T idiots at math.
She's really, really good at pointing out the everyday math that
people discount. Like playing strategy games and looking at patterns
in nature etc....
It always gets back to that trust issue though. Trust that they can
learn anything they need at any time. Trust that by living life they
will get all the "basic" skills they need and more. Trust your
children and their innate intelligence.
I'm guessing you have math fears because you yourself have problems
with math? Am I right or totally off base?
If I'm right, then you just have to remember NOT to give your kids
damaging math experiences and they'll be just FINE. Truly.:)
Oh, a couple of books that helped me in my math recovery;
I Hate Mathematics
The Joy of Mathematics
Don't have them in front of me, so can't give you the authors at the
moment.
I also picked up this budget book one time, about turning your brain
into a calculator. It was SO cool.
It shows you how to do simple arithmetic, which school made so
challenging, and make it EASY to do in your head. It helped me a lot
with using numbers in day to day life...at least I'm not using my
fingers to count very often these days. That's improvement!!
I can't find it at the moment either...lots of books still packed.
I'll try to find it today.
Ren
Andrea L. Roher
I am also "math damaged" from schooling. I loved algebra, but if you
stuck numbers in, I'd screw it up every time. I think (looking back
now) that this was because of two factors, good test taking skills
(never bothered me any) and being forced to "learn" the math facts
before I was ready.
Anyway, what I wanted to say was that I found one book that I loved
that had very interesting math in it. A quick web search found it
for me (and I was ABOUT to post to ask if anyone could help me find
it again). The book was "Mathemagic" by World Book as part of their
Childcraft series (I recommend the whole series, but this one stood
out to this day).
It had puzzles like making Vampires and getting paid 1 gold coin
today, two tommorrow, three the day after for exponents and all kinds
of really cool practical applications of "higher" math.
Now I need to find a way to get my hands on these books again... >I<
want to read Mathemagic (and the rest) again!
stuck numbers in, I'd screw it up every time. I think (looking back
now) that this was because of two factors, good test taking skills
(never bothered me any) and being forced to "learn" the math facts
before I was ready.
Anyway, what I wanted to say was that I found one book that I loved
that had very interesting math in it. A quick web search found it
for me (and I was ABOUT to post to ask if anyone could help me find
it again). The book was "Mathemagic" by World Book as part of their
Childcraft series (I recommend the whole series, but this one stood
out to this day).
It had puzzles like making Vampires and getting paid 1 gold coin
today, two tommorrow, three the day after for exponents and all kinds
of really cool practical applications of "higher" math.
Now I need to find a way to get my hands on these books again... >I<
want to read Mathemagic (and the rest) again!
On 5 Nov 2005 at 13:18, Ren Allen wrote:
> Oh, a couple of books that helped me in my math recovery;
> I Hate Mathematics
> The Joy of Mathematics
Pamela Sorooshian
On Nov 5, 2005, at 5:18 AM, Ren Allen wrote:
child who seems to really enjoy mathematical puzzles, for example,
then you'd get more of those, right? And if a kid seems to really
enjoy and be interested in how to figure out how to add two fractions
together, you'd help him with that, right?
The danger I see is that so many parents have school-induced math
anxiety that causes them to avoid math. If you're avoiding it, you
ARE doing your kids a disservice. Try to treat math JUST like you'd
treat reading. So - gosh - do you snuggle up and enjoy each other's
company while you read together? Why not snuggle up and enjoy reading
books that include mathematics? There are a LOT of really good ones.
But math-anxious parents MIGHT avoid those books if they're not aware
of their own avoidance tendencies - so you might want to make a
special effort to INCLUDE more math-related reading material.
Also - if you're just having fun around the house, some families will
play with "ingredients" and do what amounts to science experiments
(mixing GAK and talking/thinking about it, cleaning pennies with
vinegar, making underwater-viewers out of milk cartons, and so on).
Some families will have lots of animals to care for and enjoy (and
learn about). Some will listen to a lot of music. Most of us will try
to at least "offer" (strew) all kinds of different things as we
create a rich and stimulating environment. But parents with math-
anxiety MIGHT avoid strewing/offering/bringing up things that seem
math-related. So a conscious effort to include fun math-related
activities might be needed.
If we adults were already so screwed up by having had many years of
school math, which effectively sucked all the potential joy out of
mathematics for most people, special efforts to include math in our
unschooling lives would not be needed.
But - trying to be realistic, I think it is a good idea for
unschooling parents to make sure they're not filtering math-related
stuff OUT of their kids' lives, by choosing consciously to include it.
Smarty Pants."
Theoni Pappas wrote "The Joy of Mathematics."
The Marilyn Burns books are probably better if you're just getting
started into enjoying math - more activity-oriented, fun stuff to do
with kids.
Theoni Pappas is always interesting and has some other really great
books out there, too, including the Math Calendar for Kids. Cool.
For a kid who likes biographies, there are two volumes of
"Mathematicians are People, too," which are great!
There are some really wonderful picture books that are math-related.
I just mixed these in with all the other picture books we read and
read and read - and some because my young children's favorites.
The arithmetic that is normally learned from Kindergarten through 6th
or 7th grade is USEFUL - it'll come up in real life because it IS
useful. So just sort of be aware of that and be a little bit on the
lookout for when it comes up. Again, if parents didn't have so many
hang-ups about math, you wouldn't have to think about it at all, it
would just "happen" that kids would learn - but if parents are into
avoidance, then the kids may be somewhat deprived of mathematical
experience from which to construct their own knowledge.
-pam
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> It always gets back to that trust issue though. Trust that they canYes. And trust yourself to know when to offer more -- if you have a
> learn anything they need at any time. Trust that by living life they
> will get all the "basic" skills they need and more. Trust your
> children and their innate intelligence.
child who seems to really enjoy mathematical puzzles, for example,
then you'd get more of those, right? And if a kid seems to really
enjoy and be interested in how to figure out how to add two fractions
together, you'd help him with that, right?
The danger I see is that so many parents have school-induced math
anxiety that causes them to avoid math. If you're avoiding it, you
ARE doing your kids a disservice. Try to treat math JUST like you'd
treat reading. So - gosh - do you snuggle up and enjoy each other's
company while you read together? Why not snuggle up and enjoy reading
books that include mathematics? There are a LOT of really good ones.
But math-anxious parents MIGHT avoid those books if they're not aware
of their own avoidance tendencies - so you might want to make a
special effort to INCLUDE more math-related reading material.
Also - if you're just having fun around the house, some families will
play with "ingredients" and do what amounts to science experiments
(mixing GAK and talking/thinking about it, cleaning pennies with
vinegar, making underwater-viewers out of milk cartons, and so on).
Some families will have lots of animals to care for and enjoy (and
learn about). Some will listen to a lot of music. Most of us will try
to at least "offer" (strew) all kinds of different things as we
create a rich and stimulating environment. But parents with math-
anxiety MIGHT avoid strewing/offering/bringing up things that seem
math-related. So a conscious effort to include fun math-related
activities might be needed.
If we adults were already so screwed up by having had many years of
school math, which effectively sucked all the potential joy out of
mathematics for most people, special efforts to include math in our
unschooling lives would not be needed.
But - trying to be realistic, I think it is a good idea for
unschooling parents to make sure they're not filtering math-related
stuff OUT of their kids' lives, by choosing consciously to include it.
>Marilyn Burns wrote "The I Hate Mathematics Book" and "Math for
> I'm guessing you have math fears because you yourself have problems
> with math? Am I right or totally off base?
> If I'm right, then you just have to remember NOT to give your kids
> damaging math experiences and they'll be just FINE. Truly.:)
>
> Oh, a couple of books that helped me in my math recovery;
> I Hate Mathematics
> The Joy of Mathematics
> Don't have them in front of me, so can't give you the authors at the
> moment.
Smarty Pants."
Theoni Pappas wrote "The Joy of Mathematics."
The Marilyn Burns books are probably better if you're just getting
started into enjoying math - more activity-oriented, fun stuff to do
with kids.
Theoni Pappas is always interesting and has some other really great
books out there, too, including the Math Calendar for Kids. Cool.
For a kid who likes biographies, there are two volumes of
"Mathematicians are People, too," which are great!
There are some really wonderful picture books that are math-related.
I just mixed these in with all the other picture books we read and
read and read - and some because my young children's favorites.
The arithmetic that is normally learned from Kindergarten through 6th
or 7th grade is USEFUL - it'll come up in real life because it IS
useful. So just sort of be aware of that and be a little bit on the
lookout for when it comes up. Again, if parents didn't have so many
hang-ups about math, you wouldn't have to think about it at all, it
would just "happen" that kids would learn - but if parents are into
avoidance, then the kids may be somewhat deprived of mathematical
experience from which to construct their own knowledge.
-pam
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Alysia
Also, on getting math basics for a particular career track one can usually take basic math classes at community colleges or start using a textbook at that time if that's where the interest is. Tutors are another option, which I bet you could find rather inexpensively from a local college, maybe even trading services if you don't have money to pay them. Even though I studied math through trig/analytical geometery in grammar school when I finally decided to go to college I had to redo the math classes starting at Algebra. Another example of how things work in the "real" world. My oldest son, who is almost 17, never did well in math in school. He had a really hard time with percentages and fractions and decimals and never really got any further than that in school. Now that he is facing real world applications of those things he's able to figure them out in his head.
Alysia
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Alysia
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