7 September 2018

Making Unschooled Kids Learn Maths Just in Case: [Podcast]

In this week’s podcast episode, I’m sharing a story called Making Unschooled Kids Learn Maths Just in Case. And I’m discussing the main points in it.

  • Is it sensible to make all kids learn maths just in case?
  • What if kids need maths to go to university?
  • What if they decide they want to go to school?

This is another episode in my blog post story podcast series!


Show Notes

Blog post

Making Unschooled Kids Learn Maths Just in Case

Videos

Are You a Curious Unschooler?

What Will You Strew Today?

Youtube channel

Sue Elvis



Photo: I took this photo of Sophie and Gemma-Rose just before the start of a fun run they competed in a few months ago. Both girls use lots of maths while they’re running!


Thank you for listening to this episode. If you enjoy my podcast, please consider sharing the link so we can spread the word about unschooling.


Update

A blog post and a podcast and now I’ve made a short video on this subject. Will you watch?

Please feel welcome to leave a comment about anything I talked about in this episode. Or just stop by and say hello!

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Sue Elvis

I'm an Australian blogger, podcaster, and Youtuber. I write and speak about unschooling, parenting and family life. I'm also the author of the unschooling books 'Curious Unschoolers', 'Radical Unschool Love' and ‘The Unschool Challenge’. You'll find them on Amazon!

4 Comments

  1. “Just in case” is a very confusing discussion topic for me, Sue…

    I believe that I grew up primarily on just-in-case-s!
    Take your umbrella just in case it rains
    Grab your jacket just in case it gets colder
    Put a short sleeve short under your sweater just in case you get too hot
    Eat as many fruits and berries as you can in summer just in case you don’t eat enough vitamins in the winter months
    Get your driver’s license now just in case you would like to buy a car in the future
    In school it was the same story. Most subject I learned were “just in case” and “because right now you are too young to see a bigger picture”.

    In fact my entire diaper bag consists primarily of just-in-case-s!

    I think we do a lot of things “just in case” we just don’t realize it because we enjoy doing it (and not many people enjoy math). I am not purposefully giving my daughter a “just in case” sniper classes when we play a game of tag and she tries to hit a moving target (me) with a small ball. Just as I am not intentionally teaching her math when we use addition/ extraction trying to chalk out on the ground a smaller version of our house and compare it to the size of diplodocus. But some people might view such games as “just in case” learning… Especially if those games are not spontaneous like ours, but pre-planned activities.

    Love your work!
    Natasha

    • Natasha,

      Oh yes, life is full of just in cases! Parents do like to say this word, don’t they? I wonder if telling kids to do things ‘just in case’ prevents them from evaluating different situations for themselves and making appropriate decisions.

      Of course, we all make ‘just in case’ decisions for ourselves. Some of us like to cover all the options and others don’t worry about the possibility of being too hot, too cold, hungry or whatever. They’ll cope whatever happens. I’m the sort of person who doesn’t like to be cold and I hate being sunburnt so I’ll throw a coat into the car on a possibly cold day and I always carry sunscreen and I’ll apply it even on cloudy days ‘just in case’! Maybe different things are important to different people.

      Your comments are always interesting to think about. Thank you for stopping by!

      • Extrapolating form “a coat in the car”
        We, adults, have uncertainties and even fears about some academic subjects we’ve encountered long time ago (or not so long 🙂 ), we know how uncomfortable it feels to have those fears and, therefore, we want to do everything we can so that our children will not have those fears. That is why we try to load their metaphorical cars with coats of all colors and sizes – just in case!

        To be more specific: math has always been one of my favorite subjects – very interesting, very rewarding. I do not have any fears of math or of learning anything related to math. So I am not afraid of unschooling math. Why wouldn’t my children find math as easy and fascinating as I do? After all, they are MY children. Life is long, sooner or later “the math gene” will let itself known.
        My husband, on the other hand, fears math, so if he could, he would use kids’ future college math classes as an excuse and make wallpaper out of the multiplication table while encouraging the kids to repeat Pythagorean theorem every night before bed – just in case – to really eliminate his own fears…

        • Natasha,

          I find your comment very interesting. I also find maths fascinating and enjoyed learning it while at school. But I had trouble unschooling maths. I couldn’t understand why my kids didn’t enjoy formal lessons like I did as a child. Didn’t they have my maths genes? I thought they should be able to learn maths the way I learnt it. But of course, this was the wrong approach for them and I had to let go of my traditional ideas and let them unschool maths.

          It’s strange but very interesting how we are all so different!

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