Unschooling Math Doesn't Mean You Don't Have a Math Strategy!
Unschooling math doesn't mean you just assume your kids will absorb it by osmosis. A lot of moms seem to think in a very black and white way, either you have to do a curriculum or you don't do anything. Here's the strategy I employed:
1) Math literature - from Ten Apples Up On Top for basic counting to the Sir Cumerfrence series which introduces basic geometry, there are many, many wonderful picture and easy to read books out that that introduce math concepts to kids. Make a point to read one out loud about once a week. But don't beat yourself up if life hijacks that plan and you forget for a few weeks. Just pick it up again when you think of it. Also, remember that kids love to reread or have books reread to them. This is an especially good idea with math literature books. So read them over and over again.
2) Math Learning Station - where kids can measure, weigh and count whenever they feel inclined to do so. See this post.
3) Games - card games, any board game that includes keeping score, having a bank, rolling dice, all help with math skills. Video games help too. My youngest son figured out percentages by playing Super Mario Bros.
4) Do your own figuring out loud. Leaving a tip? Figure out loud! Have to do some division or multiplication in some task, such as cooking, gardening, building, budgeting, shopping,etc? Do it out loud or even write it out on a prominently placed chalk or white board. Let the math stay up there for a while so the kids can examine it if they are curious.
5) Strew things like tangram puzzles, sudoku books, fun number puzzle type work sheets (once in a while), Multiplication Rock in the car, etc.
6) Tie in math when you see a chance. Math comes up in sports scoring, statistics, economics, science demonstrations or experiments, record keeping, building projects, sewing and knitting, music theory, calendars, We let our read alouds direct our very rabbit-trail-unit-studies. I would just look for opportunities to tie in math that way. It can just be a little bit sprinkled here and there. A lighter touch is better than a heavy hand.
7) Short, direct one on one lessons when needed. I had to do end of year testing to show proof of progress. I used the CAT and bought practice work books. We would spent a few weeks before the test going through things in short rather sporadic lessons to help prep for the tests. Also your child might approach you and ask to learn something. My youngest son wanted to know how to do long division. I tried to teach him but he just wasn't quite there developmentally. So we stopped but a year later it came up again and this time he got it in one lesson with a couple of weeks of casually following up by putting long division problems up on our whiteboard to solve at our leisure. He'd put up one for me to solve and then I'd put up one for him to solve.
Ways to transition to learning math more systematically in the teen years:
1) If your student is willing, you can begin to require some formal work. We started with this in 7th grade. You might agree on spending a certain amount of time a couple days a week on math. If you are good at math and you want to teach it, go for it. Here's an objection I have to a lot of what homeschoolers do. They expect their students to be 'independent' and self-taught in a subject the student doesn't feel comfortable in. I find this unfair. If a kid is in school, they are getting instruction almost every school day, having someone else correct their mistakes and support them as they learn. You can't just shove something at your kid and say this is your responsibility. I know you are probably overwhelmed with little kids and all kinds of things and tired too. But that, to my mind, is your problem and not something you should use as an excuse to not support your student in something you are requiring. So if you can't be a strong and encouraging mentor with math, I think at this stage it is great to use on line resources such as Kahn Academy, LPH Resource Center's fraction course (understanding fractions is key to pre-Algebra prep) or Homeschool Connections math classes. There are plenty of other options out there too to choose from. Find one that fits your kid.
2) Even if you don't address math formally in the early teen years, at some point your teen will become concerned about how they are going to transition into self-reliant adulthood. At that point when he or she is thinking about what they want to do for a living, your student can take advantage of the local community college. At our CC, a homeschooling teen can study for the placement test, take it and then test into either remedial, regular or honors math. This period of study to get into the CC can motivate the student to go to Kahn Academy or some other resource to prep themselves for the test, without you even having to step in and require anything.
3) If a student wants to go to a 4 year college and needs to take the SAT/ACT, they can buy a prep book to get a sense of what they need to know and then either take a prep course or get a tutor to help get them caught up for taking the exam. This costs more money of course. those prep courses can be expensive as can tutors. There may be an on line tutoring program that is less expensive. I happen to know an unschooled teen who took this strategy and did just fine, getting into the 4 year college of her choice, never having taken a formal math course!!!
4) If a kid would like to work through math using a curriculum at this stage and doesn't really relish the idea of something on line, I can recommend two choices. We used Saxon, starting usually in 8/7. There is so much review at the beginning of Saxon that you can use it to catch any gaps in basic operations as you prep for pre-Algebra. We jumped right into Algebra after this in either 8th or 9th grade. My youngest child though struggles with math and rebelled against Saxon, so we used the program Learn Math Fast. I think Learn Math Fast is great if your kid is okay with math. For my daughter, who struggled, she finally decided to go back to Saxon and work through that, She's in 12th grade and just finishing up Saxon Algebra II. She did well on the SAT though and got into college. We were worried about her math test taking skills so we did sign her up for a prep course which I think helped her immensely. Part of her problem is she just freezes up with math. She's got no confidence in her abilities. She definitely needed the most support out of all our kids. She just isn't a mathie (alas, I am the same way). But my other kids just needed Saxon and a once a week tutor and they did fine.
5) Full disclosure, I can't teach higher math to save my life! My husband can. He enjoys math and is good at it. He double majored in Economic/Business & Finance. None of that math intimidated him. But his schedule is crazy and we couldn't reliably count on him to be able to do the teaching so we hired tutors. Our first tutor came through an agency recommended by a speech therapist one of my sons was going to at the time. She was great but by far the most expensive. Our other math tutors over the years have been stay at home Catholic moms who tutor as a side gig for more income. They've been wonderful.
The moral of the story is!
Just because you are unschooling math doesn't mean you don't have a plan! You are presenting a smorgasbord of math activities, applied math and math concepts, in an intentional way, deliberately woven into your family's learning lifestyle. That's doing math! It's just not doing it in a pre-digested, drudgery based way a la typical math curricula. Numbers are something kids will interact with naturally just by living. You can deftly broaden these learning opportunities without becoming too didactic about it. You will be amazed at how quickly your kids can pick up certain things. Other things will come more slowly. Let your child learn via his or her own internal scope and sequence and not by something decided by a committee somewhere where the child is not the focus but the 'outcome' is. Outcome based learning is not respectful to the student. It's soul-deadening. And as Catholic parents, we need to protect and nurture our children's souls!
1) Math literature - from Ten Apples Up On Top for basic counting to the Sir Cumerfrence series which introduces basic geometry, there are many, many wonderful picture and easy to read books out that that introduce math concepts to kids. Make a point to read one out loud about once a week. But don't beat yourself up if life hijacks that plan and you forget for a few weeks. Just pick it up again when you think of it. Also, remember that kids love to reread or have books reread to them. This is an especially good idea with math literature books. So read them over and over again.
2) Math Learning Station - where kids can measure, weigh and count whenever they feel inclined to do so. See this post.
3) Games - card games, any board game that includes keeping score, having a bank, rolling dice, all help with math skills. Video games help too. My youngest son figured out percentages by playing Super Mario Bros.
4) Do your own figuring out loud. Leaving a tip? Figure out loud! Have to do some division or multiplication in some task, such as cooking, gardening, building, budgeting, shopping,etc? Do it out loud or even write it out on a prominently placed chalk or white board. Let the math stay up there for a while so the kids can examine it if they are curious.
5) Strew things like tangram puzzles, sudoku books, fun number puzzle type work sheets (once in a while), Multiplication Rock in the car, etc.
6) Tie in math when you see a chance. Math comes up in sports scoring, statistics, economics, science demonstrations or experiments, record keeping, building projects, sewing and knitting, music theory, calendars, We let our read alouds direct our very rabbit-trail-unit-studies. I would just look for opportunities to tie in math that way. It can just be a little bit sprinkled here and there. A lighter touch is better than a heavy hand.
7) Short, direct one on one lessons when needed. I had to do end of year testing to show proof of progress. I used the CAT and bought practice work books. We would spent a few weeks before the test going through things in short rather sporadic lessons to help prep for the tests. Also your child might approach you and ask to learn something. My youngest son wanted to know how to do long division. I tried to teach him but he just wasn't quite there developmentally. So we stopped but a year later it came up again and this time he got it in one lesson with a couple of weeks of casually following up by putting long division problems up on our whiteboard to solve at our leisure. He'd put up one for me to solve and then I'd put up one for him to solve.
Ways to transition to learning math more systematically in the teen years:
1) If your student is willing, you can begin to require some formal work. We started with this in 7th grade. You might agree on spending a certain amount of time a couple days a week on math. If you are good at math and you want to teach it, go for it. Here's an objection I have to a lot of what homeschoolers do. They expect their students to be 'independent' and self-taught in a subject the student doesn't feel comfortable in. I find this unfair. If a kid is in school, they are getting instruction almost every school day, having someone else correct their mistakes and support them as they learn. You can't just shove something at your kid and say this is your responsibility. I know you are probably overwhelmed with little kids and all kinds of things and tired too. But that, to my mind, is your problem and not something you should use as an excuse to not support your student in something you are requiring. So if you can't be a strong and encouraging mentor with math, I think at this stage it is great to use on line resources such as Kahn Academy, LPH Resource Center's fraction course (understanding fractions is key to pre-Algebra prep) or Homeschool Connections math classes. There are plenty of other options out there too to choose from. Find one that fits your kid.
2) Even if you don't address math formally in the early teen years, at some point your teen will become concerned about how they are going to transition into self-reliant adulthood. At that point when he or she is thinking about what they want to do for a living, your student can take advantage of the local community college. At our CC, a homeschooling teen can study for the placement test, take it and then test into either remedial, regular or honors math. This period of study to get into the CC can motivate the student to go to Kahn Academy or some other resource to prep themselves for the test, without you even having to step in and require anything.
3) If a student wants to go to a 4 year college and needs to take the SAT/ACT, they can buy a prep book to get a sense of what they need to know and then either take a prep course or get a tutor to help get them caught up for taking the exam. This costs more money of course. those prep courses can be expensive as can tutors. There may be an on line tutoring program that is less expensive. I happen to know an unschooled teen who took this strategy and did just fine, getting into the 4 year college of her choice, never having taken a formal math course!!!
4) If a kid would like to work through math using a curriculum at this stage and doesn't really relish the idea of something on line, I can recommend two choices. We used Saxon, starting usually in 8/7. There is so much review at the beginning of Saxon that you can use it to catch any gaps in basic operations as you prep for pre-Algebra. We jumped right into Algebra after this in either 8th or 9th grade. My youngest child though struggles with math and rebelled against Saxon, so we used the program Learn Math Fast. I think Learn Math Fast is great if your kid is okay with math. For my daughter, who struggled, she finally decided to go back to Saxon and work through that, She's in 12th grade and just finishing up Saxon Algebra II. She did well on the SAT though and got into college. We were worried about her math test taking skills so we did sign her up for a prep course which I think helped her immensely. Part of her problem is she just freezes up with math. She's got no confidence in her abilities. She definitely needed the most support out of all our kids. She just isn't a mathie (alas, I am the same way). But my other kids just needed Saxon and a once a week tutor and they did fine.
5) Full disclosure, I can't teach higher math to save my life! My husband can. He enjoys math and is good at it. He double majored in Economic/Business & Finance. None of that math intimidated him. But his schedule is crazy and we couldn't reliably count on him to be able to do the teaching so we hired tutors. Our first tutor came through an agency recommended by a speech therapist one of my sons was going to at the time. She was great but by far the most expensive. Our other math tutors over the years have been stay at home Catholic moms who tutor as a side gig for more income. They've been wonderful.
The moral of the story is!
Just because you are unschooling math doesn't mean you don't have a plan! You are presenting a smorgasbord of math activities, applied math and math concepts, in an intentional way, deliberately woven into your family's learning lifestyle. That's doing math! It's just not doing it in a pre-digested, drudgery based way a la typical math curricula. Numbers are something kids will interact with naturally just by living. You can deftly broaden these learning opportunities without becoming too didactic about it. You will be amazed at how quickly your kids can pick up certain things. Other things will come more slowly. Let your child learn via his or her own internal scope and sequence and not by something decided by a committee somewhere where the child is not the focus but the 'outcome' is. Outcome based learning is not respectful to the student. It's soul-deadening. And as Catholic parents, we need to protect and nurture our children's souls!
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