As homeschool teachers we all have certain subjects we love and hate to teach our children. The funny part is when your child dreads a subject you soon learn to dread teaching it. At least until you find a curriculum that works.
For us my favorite subjects to teach are history and science. I love the hands on projects and extra curricular stuff that you can do for these subjects. The field trips, the lab projects and experiments make it all so much fun. We learn better hands on and the kids foster their curiosities and want to learn more about it.
Of course there is two subjects that I dread teaching. English and Math. Mainly because there are so many rules and yet so many ways, especially in English, that the rules do not apply. Math becomes monotonous because its just numbers over and over and over again and there is no application. I mean really, who needs to know, in real life, how many watermelons will fill up the back of a VW Beetle? I don’t need that many watermelons and I don’t own a VW Beetle so what is the purpose?
When my kids have to apply something, they remember it. When they experience something, they remember it. So the next question for us is how do we make these subjects fun. English can be added in with history and science in Unit Studies that way the kids are actually applying what they are learning to the subjects that they love. Math, however, is a bit harder to do and as I am still looking for ways to make it more fun I keep trying different approaches.
So my question for you all is this: How do you make math fun and applicable to daily life in your homeschool?
Please share your answers in the comments section below. I look forward to reading your comments.
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