on math

Last year G was taking Science/Social Studies and Reading/Writing at school.  We were supposed to cover math at home but found that by the time he had done 3-4 worksheets for school homework, he wasn't interested in more work.  So we didn't make much progress on math last year.  Over the summer he cruised through the whole years worth of worksheets in math. 

This year he's at school for PE and Reading/Writing.   We've decided to let him do the math homework, 1 page a day from the school.  This works out nicely because he'll be able to take whatever tests they're working on.  The kids at school do 5 pages a day plus the homework.  I can't imagine why they need to have their brains numbed with so much repetition.  As repetitive as his homework is times 5 pages a day?  Insane.

Last night I was listening to some bloggers talk about homeschooling.  One was an unschooler and the other seemed to enjoy the freedom for travel.  So the traveling mom asked the unschooler what is done about subjects that just have to be taught, like math.  The unschooler talked about how kids don't need math that is not useful in their lives.  She sited a study where students were not taught math until 6th grade, and in one year had surpassed their peers who had been taught math since kindergarten. 

What math is useful in your daily life?  Do your children see you enjoying math?  If math is such an important life skill that it must be taught; isn't it such an important life skill that you cannot afford to make your children hate?

Because of credit, people are free to ignore the basic addition and subtraction of a budget.  And it's so "unpleasant" to do any math because kids are taught from a young age that they hate math.  Even, and especially, kids who are good at math don't learn practical uses for it.