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  • From: "Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>
  • To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Schools
  • Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2006 12:26:42 -0800

Lisa, math is in everyday life for everyone. Baking a cake is math and chemistry. Unless someone is a braindead lump sitting around doing absolutely nothing, then they are learning all the time. And those that having been programmed by the p.s. system don't generally need to have someone standing over them telling them you have to learn this, that or the other thing.

As to what you need, I know a ton of unschoolers who don't live on homesteads and they have learned what they need, when they needed it and without any outside coercion. Unschoolers and just plain homeschoolers in general, are naturally motivated.

Harvard, Stanford and other big universities actively recruit homeschoolers of all types because they are more self-motived than p.s. and private school students. If they need the Algebra II, they go out learn it. They ask for the books, the help or go enroll in a CC class (thank you powers that be that someone has blocked my e-mail addy and we won't have to hear the rant about CCs and math!).

BTW, building that tree house would have been a distinct advantage to learning Geometry and may have helped with the Algebra II. It gives a real life basis for the concepts and rules you learn in those subjects.

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- From: "Lisa K.V. Perry" <lisakvperry AT gmail.com>

The child I'm speaking of occasionally does math work, but is by and large
unschooled (as is his sister who is into dance). From what he's told us, he
does math 1-2x per week or when he needs it (his words). He had to study
before taking an occasional afternoon job at a local coffee shop, so he
could count and make change and add a bill correctly. Perhaps that's a great
example of unschooling, learning what you need when you need it. Who knows,
maybe this boy is headed for a drama scholarship or directly to the stage
and will never need Algebra II or Geometry.

The way your children are involved on your homestead, it would be easier for
them to pick up math as they helped cook or often build something. My sons
have occasionally helped in my husband's music store for the last three
years. They've learned to help customers (and to truly be helpful), how to
calculate sales tax, and a number of other things retail store related. My
oldest son now has a part-time job working for a computer repair store and
we've been told that he's a great employee.

We told our sons (when they were both homeschooled) that we do 'school at
home' and every family makes their own choice. My sons are involved with
cooking and have made birdhouses and helped my husband build a tree house, a
raft and assorted other projects over the years and I'm sure they picked up
math from these experiences (particularly fractions). My oldest son is doing
well in Algebra II, but we don't think it's because he spent a summer with
my husband building a tree house. You could say that you don't need or use
much advanced algebra in daily living, but I suppose some people do and it
would depend on what you do.





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