One Day of Math Down

The girls saw me pulling out the various math books that we have, and immediately started shrieking. Literally. Not happy shrieks, mind you.

I got the books out to get some ideas of what to do and where to head with math. I didn't even let them look at the books. I then picked up an abacus and started playing with it.

Sami saw me with the abacus, sat beside me, and wanted to play with it. I let her hold it. She wanted me to tell her again how to use it, so I explained it again. Then she wanted me to give her some problems to work out. I started telling her some word problems that I made up in my head, and she started working through them with the abacus. We added, subtracted, multiplied and divided.

Megan saw this going on, and she wanted to do it too. She got the little abacus that a friend gave us, and started doing the problems, too. They even learned about remainders today.

After they did this for a while, they wanted to know when the math lesson was going to begin.

Win!

To Math or Not to Math...

Our first week back to unschooling went well. One would think that unschooling happens 24/7, but in my case we really did take the summer off and pretty much did whatever we wanted, including watching TV and playing on the computer whenever we wanted. With Dave going to Iraq in April, we all just needed some time to just be and not add to the pressures and demands that were already on our lives.

This last week the children were calm and relaxed, and so was I. They came up with many activities on their own; their creativity is always a joy to see. I made a couple of suggestions of what to do, and we did some activities as a family. They only complained of being bored a couple of times, but they quickly found something else to do and they forgot all about being bored. I was very happy with the flow and the atmosphere of our home and their learning journey.

I did give them a couple of art lessons. While both girls did listen, it was obvious that Sami had no interest or desire to do what I was trying to show her. She just wants to do things her way and to be left to her own devices, so I happily let her. If she has her own ideas about how art should be, then I will let her take that ball and run with it. I am secretly hoping that she'll watch Megan following the lessons and that she'll want to try some things out, too, but that's just to broaden her techniques.

Now we get to math. I want to start doing official math lessons again, and it's just because I am paranoid that they will never learn their math skills on their own through unschooling. I don't have any unschooling mentors to talk to in my community, so I just don't know how to unschool math. I've read a couple of blogs that say that they learn it through measuring while baking, or counting their allowance, or through every day life. While I'm sure that 's true, I'm wanting the girls to be GREAT at math NOW. The paranoid side of me is afraid that they'll be the only kids around that can't do math at their "grade level," which is totally counter to everything I believe in.

So today I will dust off the workbooks and we will slowly delve into the world of math. We will do a few problems daily, do simple math activities, and make sure that it stays fresh in their minds. I don't think any of us would survive doing a whole hour, so I'll keep it short and to the point. The girls will complain, I'm sure (they hate workbooks and worksheets), but I'll be sure to keep it from the point of tears that used to come with their math lessons.

I can't imagine them doing math in public school. Would the girls do their assignments? Would they have cried in class? Would the teacher move on even though the girls weren't ready yet? I'm glad I don't have to know those answers.

First Day of "Back to School"

We homeschool 24/7, so saying that we are going "back to school" doesn't really apply. However, we do keep the TV off and the computer games off so that natural learning does occur.

Our first day of school went smoothly. The girls claimed they were a little bored, so they made up stuff to do, which is what I wanted to happen in the first place. They read a little and I read to them a lot. They latch-hooked. They made buildings for their Zhu Zhu pets. Sami caught butterflies. They got to visit with their Aunt Amy.

They were calm, happy, and content. Except for the fact that Megan is dying to go to Walmart to spend her money...we'll work on that one next.

I wonder what we'll come up with today?

Vacation's Over

My vacation is over, and now it's time to get back to "work." I say "work" in quotes, because we're just getting back to our daily homeschool routine and enjoying a great life.

We had two wonderful weeks with Dave while he was home from Iraq. We went to Holiday World, the pool, and just plain-old hung around the house and snuggled. It was great to have Dave home to just spend time with. We all hated to see Dave leave and go back to Iraq, but we are a strong family and we will get through this as a family. When he leaves, we go through a few days of "mourning" and depression before we can feel normal again.

The girls and I are starting a new homeschooling year today...as soon as they get out of bed. I'm going to continue primarily unschooling this fall, with some math inserted here and there. I'm going to concentrate on having the girls read, reading to them, and having stealth learning opportunities available (keeping books laying around, interesting activities to do, nature exploration). We keep the TV and computer off during the day, but there are exceptions for learning games or documentaries.

This will be a year of experiments for me, as I am still learning what makes my girls tick and what inspires their passion of learning. I want to keep that learning fire going, and not dampen it with twaddle and workbooks (they get so bored with those). Wish me luck!

Opinions of Homeschooling

Dave Ramsey recently asked, on his Facebook page, "Which is better? Private or public school?" He was asking from a financial standpoint, but he got nearly 1000 responses of which I estimate that nearly half said to HOMESCHOOL.

The homeschoolers listed all sorts of reasons why it works for them, from a financial standpoint to a theological standpoint. Some who responded were students, and some were parents.

What I thought was funny were some of the responses from those opposed to homeschooling. These are some of the responses that I found funniest, most ironic, and uninformed:

• My ex-wife homschools our child, and she is a terrible speller and not good at English. She thinks she's so much better because she graduated with honors. (Okay, where did she graduate from? Public School? Private? Apparently that honors tag can't be any worse than homeschooling.)
• How qualified are parents to teach homeschool? They need interaction with others their own age. (Great, I'll let my child's whole world of influence come from other children the same age and zip code. I don't my child to see what else is out there in the world.)
• Why are the homeschool kids on Facebook? Shouldn't they be schooling? (It's summer? We don't live in prison, after all.)
• What about socialization? (You knew that one was coming.)
• They will miss out on group sports, prom, and other stuff. I know homeschool kids have their own sports and proms, but they're not the same. (Yes, we know. That's why we do it that way.)
• (commenting on someone else's list of notable homeschool graduates...) Sure, there are famous homeschool graduates, but there are a lot more famous public school graduates. (Let's do the math...there are a lot more public school graduates, so maybe that's why there are more?)
• Homeschoolers can't learn leadership skills. You can only learn that in public schools. (Is that "Lord of the Flies" style of leadership? Only the strong survive, and the weak get tossed aside?)
• Going to the local orchard, visiting with artists, and traveling doesn't count as having a vast knowledge of the world. (Then why do public schools go on field trips?)

I can't list them all. There were just too many. We homeschoolers hear these comments from uninformed people all the time. It gets old, and "those people" never learn. Fortunately, we homeschoolers DO learn, outside of their negative influences.