Unschoolers...How did your kids learn math and reading?

Question

Hi. I'm unschooling my kids except for reading and math. My 6-year-old daughter is doing great with "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" and we just got Shillermath and so far it looks promising. For HER, at least. My 5-year-old son, however, is a little different. He's a little, shall we say, *off.* I've read all the books and I'm 99% sure that an expert would say he has ADHD. Whether or not he actually has it doesn't really matter too much because whatever the deal is, it's hard to get him to pay attention to me, or even look at me sometimes.

Anyway, I was thinking that when he was ready to read, he might not really be able to follow any structured program. It might be easier for him to just pick it up informally. Buy I really don't know how he would. I asked this on another forum and the only person who answered said that her son just memorized what was read to him and then he could read, but that's not real reading, is it? So, how did your kids do it?

Answer 1

You can start to get some of the basics of phonics into his brain through active channels... have him draw giant letters on the driveway with sidewalk chalk and talk about the sounds they make, progress to small words.  

Make a hopscotch court with letters or words in them, and have him call out the word as he jumps from square to square.  Or even just put one letter in each square and have him shout the sounds as he jumps "C-a-t " Then ask him to put the sounds together.  I know the hundred easy lessons book discourages letting the child say the sounds separately, but plenty of kids have learned to read even though they do say the sounds separately.  

If you  buy the first set of "Bob Books" you could use that as a guide for introducing letters and words, the first book can be read after the child learns only three of four letters and sounds, and the books are very short.  You could actively teach all the letters and even the words first, and then at a time when son seems relatively calm you could see if he wants to read the book.

Other things to involve his whole body in the process, scavenger hunts where he reads words that give him hints about where to find something, bouncing a ball back and forth while verbally spelling simple words. Putting letters or words on balloons and having him jump on the balloons to pop them as he says the letter, sound, or word.  

Just try to make it fun and active and sneak a little reading skill here, a little there.

The same things can be done with math, plus you can use manipulatives during math lessons.  You could make it more physical by making your own giant manipluatives with any large objects for counting.  Be creative and have fun, and be patient.  Its not uncommon for boys to be 8 years old or older before they are ready to sit still very long.

Answer 2

I'm not sure I understand how you are unschooling except for anything.  It's a lifestyle and isn't really done in parts.

My kids just seemed to pick up reading.  We kept a lot of reading material around, so they could pick it up if they chose.  We also do read a lot, so they got a lot of modeling.  We did read to our children, though some wait until their kids read on their own, we felt it was something enjoyable to do together.

Some math was just natural.  One child asked to do work sheets for a short time around ages 6-9... I say short time, because it would be a few days then again months later repeat the process.  

Around 12 or 13, both my kids decided they wanted to learn algebra and I spent some time going over a lot of basic math that they didn't quite get yet.  It took about 4 hours to cover the material necessary to move on.  Within 18 months they had completed 4 years of textbook highschool math.  (Their goal, not mine).  The idea was to get it dont so that they would have college prep coursework completed.  

I think you may want to think about why you are not including reading and math in unschooling.  I understand that it takes a leap of faith.  I can assure you that it does work, and it is worth it.  



The link below provides insight from many unschooling parents and their adventures in reading.

Good luck :D

Answer 3

My unschooled six year old learned to read because reading was something he needed to live his life. YuGiOh cards, Pokemon, video games...they all need reading to do by yourself. While I read them to him, he was following along, and picked stuff up. Then at the library he found books on those subjects, and we read them together over and over, me pausing for simple sight words that he knew. Then it went to picking up books on animals, reading the signs at the zoo, then reading the labels at the grocery store.

We unschool math too, and he's just learned multiplication already by helping plan our new TV room. He measured the walls, figured out the area.

He does have adhd, and unschooling has been very beneficial, because in preK there was such an onslaught on his self esteem because he couldn't do things the same way other kids did them. From the kids and the teachers.

Also, keep in mind that boys mature differently than girls and he might need another year or two before 'lessons'

Answer 4

I agree with hsmom and glurpy.

This info on learning styles may help:

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

Answer 5

I'm not an unschooler, but I know several, and perhaps this won't exactly answer your question, but it should still be helpful:

1) Unschooled boys typically don't decide to read until at least age 9.

2) Reading to the kids on a daily basis from a variety of books is always listed as key. You don't want to read just novels to them--actually sit with your son and read something to him that he might actually attempt to follow along with the words.

3) Some unschoolers like to play lots of sound games as kind of a prep to reading. Or they'll just make sure to have lots of reading/writing materials around: magnetic letters (and mom leaves little message like, "Hi kid" regularly), alphabet cards and you play I Spy with the sound you pick from the deck (you pick and f so you look for something in the room that starts with f), have sound and word bingos available, would write stories with the child (child dictates story), etc. Basically, a very enriched environment without actually forcing anything on the child.

Answer 6

some kids do GREAT homeschooling but others need that one-on-one with a teacher. my step sister is 9 and she has ADHD and we tryed homeschooling her but it didn't work. instead we ended putting her in a school that helps with kids with disabilitys. such as ADD, ADHD, etc.

Answer 7

With your son, he may be very kinesthetic; my son (10) exhibits the same behavior.  He does pay very close attention to things that he's interested in, and he has a long attention span, but he shows it in a very different way.  He can't sit still for more than about 20 minutes to save his life (it was about 3-5 minutes at age 5, if that) and he can't remember a thing you say if he looks you in the eye.  However, if I let him walk around, play quietly with a toy or ball, and don't make him look me in the face when I'm speaking, he can remember every bit of it.

It's just his learning style, how his brain is wired.  It's not a disability (though many have said that he exhibits ADD/ADHD symptoms), it's just how he thinks.

I've found that Math U See worked really well for him.  It talks to him, shows him the concepts visually, and lets him build them out with manipulatives.  The lessons are on dvd, so he can watch them as many times as he wants, and they are short - 3-5 minutes in the lower grades - and have movement and color, so they'll hold his attention.

As far as reading...I really did just read a lot with him, went through basic phonics, and answered his questions when he asked.  Although I know "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" is a great method, he didn't catch onto it at all.  When he was ready, he really did just pick up a book and start reading - now, at 10, he reads CS Lewis and Tolkien on a regular basis, and can journal and answer short essay-type questions about what he reads.

It will be hard to get him to *look* like he's paying attention to you, but chances are, he is.  As he gets older, you can work with him more on sitting still, appearing to pay attention at the same time that he really is paying attention :), and other skills.  Right now, he's likely just not ready for it.

My 10yo just read the title to your question over my shoulder and responded, "Simple - you just do it, and you learn."  I know it sounds overly simplistic, but kids who think and act "out of the box" often have their own way of processing information.  These ways don't have anything to do with how a traditional curriculum presents it, much of the time, which will drive a homeschool parent nuts :) They really do learn it though, and down the road if there is a skill that's "missed", it's very easy to go back and pick it up (a math pattern, a few parts of speech, etc.).

I hope that helps?

Edit - yep, that sounds exactly like my son at 5 :-)  Darn near drove me nuts!  There are even still times, at 10, when I have to leave the room and let him work, zipping and zapping and moving around.  I've tried it both ways though, and the movement actually triggers the learning center in his brain.  If I don't allow him to do things like that, he doesn't retain the information.  At 10, he's calming down, but he still moves around during read-alouds - he's just learned that he gets longer read-alouds if he keeps it out of my line of sight, since I get less distracted and frustrated :-)

He eats and works standing up, whenever he's allowed to.  The only time he sits down while eating is when we're at someone's house or they're over at ours, just out of respect.  That skill came slowly as he got older, though.

When Jeffy's ready, he'll sit down and do it.  He'll likely read while walking around (just give him a confined space with stuff that he can't trip over, lol); my son also likes to read in a bean bag on the front porch, on a pile of laundry in the laundry room, under the window in his room, even out in the garage.  If I made him sit still, he honestly wouldn't learn a darn thing; when I let him do what comes naturally, I can't get him to stop learning :)

He is now able to sit still for classes (though he usually chooses to sit at a table by himself, so that he won't be distracted), but he'd go nuts if he had to do that every day.  He prefers to walk around, touch things, and quietly move.  (The "quietly" part has slowly evolved over the past couple of years.)

Hope that helps :)

Answer 8

My child taught herself to reading, beginning at the age of five.  She was in school until fourth grade, but by golly, she wanted to do it herself!  

For math, she realized fairly early on that math is a necessary part of many activities...gardening, cooking, grocery shopping, design, household repairs...so we found a math program that works with her learning style.

Answer 9

I used math texts and manipulatives (in the earlier years) for math.  For reading, he read books, magazines, video game dialog.. whatever grabbed his interest.  I allowed him to choose his reading material.

I did for a time use Hooked on Phonics, which was wonderful.  Was a good jump start.