What do you do about math?
12:13 PM |
| Reading with Daddy |
The philosophy of education that we mainly subscribe to is called Thomas Jefferson Education and it rely's mainly on Classics and Mentors to teach.
When people hear that their first question is usually: What do you do about math?
Before I answer that I have a question for you. What is the purpose of education? Everyone on the planet would likely have a slightly different answer, some would say that it is to prepare for a job, to learn the basics to be able to be an adult, to refine character. For me, the purpose of education is to prepare a person to fulfill their God-given mission in life and then to return to live with God. In order for that to happen a few key points need to be made.
They need to know:
1. about God, and their Savior
2. that He has given them a mission
3. that they have greatness inside of them, with unique talents, gifts and obstacles that will help them to prepare for and then fulfill that mission
4. that they are capable of figuring out anything that they need to in order to be able to do what God asks.
5. how to receive revelation, listen and obey
but mostly
6. that they are a child of God.
These are all of my most important priorities! (and you will have your own) I went on that little tangent because sometimes we see education as a checklist of facts and skills that we need to pour into our children's heads before they reach 18 and go off to college and "the real world." I used to think the same thing without really realizing it! That idea is just false (and I believe a counterfeit for the truth from the ultimate liar, because if he can't get us to be terrible, he can at least distract us from what is most important.)
It is really important to put first things first, and see everything else for what it is. The 3 R's are good basic skills that are important for life, and will definitely be learned by any normal, curious child with a little effort. BUT THEY AREN'T THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. The majority of the day, or the highest priority should NOT be placed on those, especially in core phase.
It is really important to put first things first, and see everything else for what it is. The 3 R's are good basic skills that are important for life, and will definitely be learned by any normal, curious child with a little effort. BUT THEY AREN'T THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. The majority of the day, or the highest priority should NOT be placed on those, especially in core phase.
With that said, in order to be able to navigate through life there are just some basics that you need to know. Reading, writing and arithmetic are essential to be able to even survive as an adult.
So, what do I do about math?
First I have another question for you… Do you use math as an adult? How? Do your children see you?
We use math ALL DAY LONG. For most of us it is so normal that we don’t even realize we are using it! I have just gotten in the habit of pointing out math to my kids. When I’m adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, etc. I show them and even ask them to do it sometimes. Here are a few ways we have done that in the last week:
- “how many forks do we need to set the table?”
- “how much time do we have left until we get to go to the park?”
- “how much money do we need to bring to the store for that toy?”
- “how old will Sasha be when Peja is 18?”
- “Do you want your sandwich cut in ½ or in ¼?”
- “If we have 12 candies, and 4 people to split them evenly with, how many do each of us get?”
I used to HATE the endless spreadsheets of boring-ness, it all felt so arbitrary. It is really cool that a homeschooler doesn’t need word problems and worksheets because math is just part of life. It is like real life, relevant word problems. There is nothing arbitrary about figuring out how many candies each person should get if it is to be fair. It is very important to them!
And that, friends, is the trick. We learn when something is important to us. That is just the nature of our brains. When we are tuned in, when we are curious or when we really NEED the answer - that is when we learn!
We might memorize, study and "learn" in order to get the grade we want, pass a test, or please our teachers/parents/etc. But we likely won't really LEARN much unless we are ready for the information.
My husband always says that anyone in business school should have to start a business first. Then the information that you are learning becomes SO much infinitely more important because you actually need it. You see the real life application and you really wish you had paid more attention! But our brains don’t pay attention just because someone says we should listen. They pay attention because they are seeking an answer. That is where learning happens. When someone is SEEKING.
This is the secret! We have to inspire children to seek answers.
Whether kids are schooled at home or at a schoolhouse this is still true.
So, how do I do math? I LIVE LIFE. Life is our school. And it is plenty right now!
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| These boys are ready for anything life throws at them. LOL |
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P.S. Here are some fun resources for early math:
Math Classics for kids (we have Life of Fred and LOVE it, but haven’t read the rest. I do trust the Demilles for book recommendations though.)
Math Classics for Adults (I have not read any of these as I’ve still been working on my own Core Phase, but I will be venturing into them soon!)
We love this game: everyone gets 2 dice. You draw 11 boxes on your paper and number them from 2-12. Then everyone rolls their dice, adds up the sum and then crosses off the number they found. The first one to cross of all numbers wins! They can learn to do this super early, and it is really fun!
And here are some more ideas I will probably use soon: http://www.k5chalkbox.com/math-games-using-dice.html
There are also a ton of ideas with playing cards also:
As we progress in math there are a TON of resources here (I will soon be diving into several of these as I work on my own re-education): http://www.tjed.org/2015/04/major-revolution-teaching-math/
3 comments
I love this -- it's key to everything throughout life: "Our brains don’t pay attention just because someone says we should listen. They pay attention because they are seeking an answer. That is where learning happens. When someone is SEEKING."
ReplyDeleteVery nice post Katia..and I would add that learning, when a subject becomes important, happens more and more for me....it really IS..exciting..!!:)
ReplyDeleteVery nice post Katia..and I would add that learning, when a subject becomes important, happens more and more for me....it really IS..exciting..!!:)
ReplyDeleteI love to hear your thoughts. Thank you!