Okay, it's time for us to return to the states and visit with Paul, who lives with his family in Indiana. Paul and his wife helped their son learn about math by simply involving him in their daily lives.
And, since he was a teenage boy at the time, he kept busy demonstrating his own math knowledge by subtracting from their food supplies constantly...
1. How long have you been homeschooling (or if finished, how long did you homeschool)?
We homeschooled our youngest son for 6 years, from 7th grade until graduation. I wish we'd started sooner and homeschooled our oldest son as well.
2. One of the main benefits of homeschooling is the freedom and flexibility it allows. Can you give us a few examples of how this freedom and flexibility benefited you (your family)?
During a good part of our homeschooling time I was working in the field, out of our house, as an appraiser and insurance adjuster and I took Nathaniel out on jobs with me during the day.
He learned first hand about the practical applications of math and geometry as I measured and then figured the surface area of roofs. I would have him do the math to figure the square footage of the different shaped roof slopes and he learned the different formulas for different 2 dimensional shapes.
He learned about construction measurements (how many square feet to a square of roofing, how many bundles to a square, how to figure how many square yards of carpeting are needed to carpet a house and the best way to minimize waste, etc.).
3. Another benefit of homeschooling is the fun factor. Can you give us a few examples of some especially fun times you had as a result of homeschooling?
I think Nathaniel had the most fun with his mom who used cooking and baking to teach fractions, nutrition, chemistry, science, etc. As a teenage boy, eating was one of his favorite things to do. Imagine that!
4. We all have funny experiences while homeschooling. Can you share one of yours with us?
The funniest things all revolved around going out during the day while the government schools were still in session. The looks and comments we'd get.
People, especially older people, would come up and say, "Why isn't he in school?"
And we'd explain that he was in school.
1 comment:
Great hands on learning for your son. It certainly beats doing math out of a book. I'm sure his retention of the subject was much better than other students because of this.
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