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I understand that for the younger child learning maths by *doing* -
having a 25% slice of cake etc is fine. My yooungest son could count
up to 3 before he could talk (ok slight exageration)because when i
puled the pushair up the stairs i wuld say 1 - 2 - THREE!
But what about the 12 yr old? I insist on a page of math from the
workbook once a week - nothing too hard - at the moment it is
fractions and percentages.....
What are other peoples opinions on this.
Marianne (Who is very new to this and still deschooling herself)

Tracy Oldfield

I understand that for the younger child learning maths
by *doing* - 
having a 25% slice of cake etc is fine. My yooungest
son could count 
up to 3 before he could talk (ok slight
exageration)because when i 
puled the pushair up the stairs i wuld say 1 - 2 -
THREE!
But what about the 12 yr old? I insist on a page of
math from the 
workbook once a week - nothing too hard - at the moment
it is 
fractions and percentages.....
What are other peoples opinions on this.
Marianne (Who is very new to this and still deschooling
herself)


The thing I would wonder is what is she getting from
this? I could be more specific, but my brain's fried.
Hibernation really setting in... Is it still called
hibernation when it's aminals which sleep through hot
seasons? Tangent alert!! LOL

Maybe if you can acknowledge that you ask her to do
this because you want her to, to reassure yourself that
she's getting an education, not because it's any use to
her... I dunno, sorry if that's offensive, but it's
how I read it...

Tracy

Yvonne C Smith

Marianne,
We have homeschooled for 3 yrs. and we do several workbooks, so I
guess we are not complete unschoolers. I feel that my children should be
able to set their own pace and be able to pursue their own interests, but
not at the cost of neglect. I do want them to be able to do things like
spell, mainly to feel confident about themselves. My children also
happen to like workbooks (at least 2 of them do). Variety never hurts
either. I also consider myself new at this. I learn new things daily!

Yvonne
Mom to Macy (9),
Mattilyn (6), Alona (3), and Adam (6mos.)
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Julie

Hi Marianne

Does 12 year old object to doing workbook? That is the only thing that
would make this a problem. Perhaps talking with your child about what hir
goals on this subject are is a good idea. (You have probalby done this
already but I am only going on one post so sorry in advance ) If child
decides that workbooks offer little for hir, that is okay. Are you honest
with 12 year old about why you insist on work? Is it to calm your worry?
Ask yourself why s/he needs to know this.

An example from my own situation involves spelling. My oldest daughter, who
is 10 learned to read at about age 6. because reading and writing are
lumped together in many curricula, I rahter expected her to be able to write
and spell as well. (changed views on this but will save for another
discussion) She did the common things in developing her writing, ie words
with just the consonant letters, then sticking the vowel letters on the end,
inverting consonant pairs, etc. One day, when she was 8 1/2ish, she wrote
something which made me smile. She was trying to spell a certain word, but
to my adult eyes it said something different. She got very cross with me
and I said well if you want to learn to spell properly, then lets start
doing lessons. She responded by saying that she did not want to do lessons,
she wanted me to stop laughing at her. SO i did. I set myelf a goal in my
own head to not worry about spelling until she was 10. Then if I needed to
I was going to leave it another year etc etc. But in the time that I left
her alone I saw her understanding grow and her spelling is pretty good now.
I have learned to trust both her and myself. That is a hard lesson to learn
for us because we have had to distrust ourselves in order to survive in
institutional settings. Since most of us have been schooled it is hard to
begin to think of life in an unschool-type way. But even older children can
grasp concepts without being "taught". We also have to question why we
assume that we need to know certain things? Your child may already know all
of the math that s/he will ever need to know. If not, a choice later to
attend a course may alter the situation. But the choice is hirs.
Peace
Julie
> I understand that for the younger child learning maths by *doing* -
> having a 25% slice of cake etc is fine. My yooungest son could count
> up to 3 before he could talk (ok slight exageration)because when i
> puled the pushair up the stairs i wuld say 1 - 2 - THREE!
> But what about the 12 yr old? I insist on a page of math from the
> workbook once a week - nothing too hard - at the moment it is
> fractions and percentages.....
> What are other peoples opinions on this.
> Marianne (Who is very new to this and still deschooling herself)
>
>