Homeschooling fascinates me. As a trained educator, I know I have the skills, the patience, and the materials that I need to make sure students learn mathematics. I know that there is a support network of other mathematics teachers who face the same challenges and experience the same successes that I do. Every year, I can count on working with a textbook, writing different versions of the same tests, finding new and appropriate ways to apply math concepts to the lives of today's teenagers. Call me a nerd, but I find comfort in that predictability.
There is none of that comfort in homeschooling. Each day is a new adventure. There is no set curriculum, no textbook to get through, no state regulations on learning what, where, how, and when. As your children grow and mature, so do the concepts that you teach them. No set method of evaluating how your children are "doing", and nothing to compare their learning experiences with. It is unpredictable. To me, a comparison of traditional mathematics teaching and homeschooling mathematics is like comparing night and day. They are at opposite ends of the education spectrum. (for more general information on homeschooling, visit Suite101.com's homeschooling site. http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/home... )
With that in mind, I decided to ask some homeschoolers, "how DO you teach mathematics in a homeschool setting?" These homeschoolers have very different experiences - their children are of different ages, socio-economic, religious, and ethnic backgrounds. They live is vastly different parts of the country. Yet, there is a common thread running through their responses to my questions. Each of them want their children to enjoy the learning process. They want their children to understand that learning is a part of life, not just something done six hours a day, five days a week, nine months a year, from age 5 to 18.
To get a better understanding of how homeschoolers integrate mathematics into their learning plan, I asked the following questions:
