The American Schoolhouse

I love Free, and I've found a bunch of great sites that have educational games for free.  Now, I haven't tried every single game, but I have tested a few on my children and found them to stimulating enough for them to play.  Sometimes you might need to encourage them to do the right thing on the computer.   Today I want to focus on Math Games: Jet Ski Addition a fast and fun race with addition facts,  This can be played with multiple players, and it offers the ability to customize the facts so they can work with the level or lesson. Kinder Web Games This is a simple drill, with big bright numbers and optional sound, very simple Fruit Shot Subtraction - My youngest son played this game and did pretty well,  A target is shown with a problem and the fruit with the correct answer needs to be shot. Fairy Frog a game that focuses on number patterns Farm Addition Solve Chick math problems by dragging and dropping the correct answer Cannon Math  Shoo...

Making math stick takes some effort, and making it make sense means using it in the real world.   In this example we will be using math to build a raised garden bed.  Our garden beds will be eight inches deep with a length of six feet and a width of four feet.  The student must determine how many boards need to be purchased, and the cubic yardage of dirt using the following recipe  1/3 part vermiculite, 1/3 part chicken manure, 1/3 part compost.    Variations on this problem could include using cinder blocks for the edge, which would be 12" long, or using bricks.     To solve the problem you will be using perimeter and area, which means knowing when to add and when to multiply.  For more advanced students have them use the internet and search the local Lowe's or Home Depot for the parts they would need and make a budget and shopping list.

I hate labels and "Un-schooling" seems to be the dirty word in the home school community.  Maybe because the "Un" next to the word "schooling" in many common minds means not educating, but that is far from the truth.  In the true meaning of this label, the word schooling tends to mean a formal method of education, somewhere between classical and classroom.  My suggestion is we call it practicum - a word from the the Latin that we can draw the idea of a practical education.  Often you'll hear of ones practicum after graduating with a degree and in conjunction with learning or mastering a trade.  I suggest to you that each and every activity we pursue in everyday life with our children is just that, a moment for education. During that walk next to the pond a discussion could emerges that you discuss the inner workings of an aquatic habitat, or the trip to the grocery store practical math is used when we compare products by weight and price to determine...