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>>>>You know how you sometimes think maybe you didn't make something
interesting
enough for your child to WANT to know anymore. By NOT "talking" math or
doing "fun" things with math I just wondered if I was somehow short changing
her.

I read, she sees me read, she reads. I cook, she sees me cook, she wants to
cook. I garden she sees me she joins in. Sometimes its the other way around

but you get the idea. If you're not somehow exposed to it, how will you
know? <<<<<


I wrote this for our local unschooling group:

> >>>>That is the biggest challenge I have and will have is finding a way to
> sneak the math concepts in without it sounding like I am teaching math. If
> we even utter the word math right now, we hear the moans and groans, and
> whining begin. It is hard not to bring up the connection while cooking
> etc., but,...maybe in time, they will be less offended and anxious about
> the term math.<<<<

The BIGGEST challenge will be for YOU to BACK OFF on "teaching math"! They're
SURROUNDED by math! They CAN'T escape it! Unschooling math does NOT look like
"schooled" math---there won't necessarily be workbooks and "paper math".
Unschooling mathematics is patterns and logic and problem-solving.

To UNschool math, you need to think out loud when YOU do math. When you're
figuring the 15% tip, YOU should say, aloud, "OK, 10% of $44 is $4.40 plus
another 5%---$2.20 is $6.60. OK, she was a good waitress, let's leave $7.50."
Or if you're a 20% tipper---$4.40 and $4.40 is $8.80. Do math OUT LOUD---let
them SEE your gears working. Soon, YOU'LL be able to see theirs! DON'T make
it a "lesson", just problem-solve out loud.

Gas is $1.59/gallon right now. You have ten dollars. DON'T ask them, just say
outloud that you can get one, two, three, four, five---about six gallons with
your ten dollars. Estimation is a great tool. Who cares about "remainders"???
After filling ten dollars worth, then LOOK at how much you actually got! And
remember, it's NOT a lesson!!!! It's just a interesting tidbit---to YOU!!!!

If you start "sneaking" things, hell! They see right through THAT! They're
SMART! And what they're LEARNING is that YOU don't think they're smart ENOUGH
to learn math. YOU'RE handicapping them yourSELF!

The ONLY way they're going to be less anxious about math is if YOU are!

Buy them Zoombini's Logical Journey computer game. Zoombini's is a math game
for pre-readers. (Don't tell them THAT!) There are no + or - or x or > signs.
It's about THINKING and SOLVING and PATTERNS and very HIGH levels of
mathematics. It's alegbra and calculus for 5 year olds! And it's FUN!

Children can't help but learn arithmatic in their daily lives. It's
everywhere. It may not LOOK like long division, but the point is NOT that it
DOES. The point is that they GET IT. Kids will eventually come up with their
OWN ways of subtracting large numbers quickly (which is what division
IS!)---and if they figure it out ON THEIR OWN, they'll NEVER forget it---and
they'll OWN it.

Learning multiplication tables TRULY isn't important. What's important is
that they can figure out how to do math "their way".

At five, Duncan looked up at me one day and said, "Mom, two fives is ten.
Three fives is fifteen. Four fives is twenty." He was looking at his
digits---five fingers or toes on each appendage. I asked what five fives
might be. He struggled a minute and said, " twenty-five." He was doing
multiplication at five years old---because he wanted to. I did NOT rush out
and get paper and pencil to show him what it looked like on paper. I just
took joy in the fact that HE found joy in it!

Pam Sorooshian is a colllege statistics and economics professor who will be
addressing math questions at the conference this August. If you're struggling
with "unschooling everything but math", DON'T miss her!

BACK OFF on teaching math. Let them DEschool what they learned in school (and
at home) about math---that it's hard or that they're stupid---because THAT is
what they've learned! Back off. Ban the word "math" from your household. Let
them---on their own---find the joy and beauty of patterns and logic and
problem-solving. They can't escape it---they're surrounded by it. I promise!

And GET OVER the LD label! We ALL learn differently, but we all LEARN. At our
own pace and in our own way. Each child is unique. Don't put yours in a box.
Step AWAY from the box!

~Kelly



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In a message dated 4/7/2003 1:47:22 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
kbcdlovejo@... writes:

> Learning multiplication tables TRULY isn't important. What's important is
> that they can figure out how to do math "their way".
>
>

My oldest daughter's fifth grade teacher told me this, and then in a hushed
voice said, "I've never mastered MINE either!".

They've never been important to me, or important enough for me to "make" my
children memorize them either.


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