Very few children like mathematics, especially as they move forward into learning algebra. They will hit a wall, get frustrated and ask “Why do I have to learn this? Will I ever use this in real life?” Unfortunately, adults tend not to have a response to these questions. It is common sense that you should know mathematics, but I know I haven’t run across a single person who has been able to make an argument that responds with these inquisitive and disgruntled children. To be completely honest, the reason …
This is a great Blog from “Numbers and Knitting”. I thought that my readers would appreciate these insights on the tool of Algebra. I personally found some answers to give my kids when they say “Why do I need to know this stuff anyway?” Now if only that would guarantee that they will love it after my newly profound answer!
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Funny this should come up now.
My employer, the School of Education and Human Services at Oakland University, is currently considering (at my urging) offering one or more online courses for parents of secondary school-aged children. Our target audience is homeschooling parents, but others are welcome as well. We plan to offer, as our pilot offering, “Algebra for Parents”. If that is successful, we would look into expanding to a larger menu of courses.
The main idea behind these classes would be to help parents shore up their content knowledge, with a secondary focus on the pedagogy of home-based education. These would be not-for-credit courses offered on an a la carte basis.
I know that Ed Schools are not very popular among homeschoolers, and PD in math ed has a pretty poor reputation for being superficial and light on content (often, unfortunately, completely deserved). And I know first-hand that many homeschoolers are skeptical about getting entangled with institutions. But I have pretty high hopes for this venture. For one thing, I’ll be teaching the course, and I have complete creative control over what gets done. For another thing, I myself am the parent of five home-educated & unschooled children, all of whom learn quite differently, so you can count on an atmosphere that is open to a wide range of approaches.
All the details of format and pricing are still being worked out, but right now I am thinking that the class will run in six-week sessions. Each week we will meet once for a single two-hour, real-time webinar (ugh, hate that word), with the rest of the week filled out with individual work and forum discussion. Figure total involvement at anywhere from 2-6 hours per week, depending on how much you want to engage with the work.
I have been posting announcements like this around a variety of sites the last few days for the purposes of gauging interest. So please let me know (either in comments, or via email to weiss [at] oakland [dot] edu: Would you be interested in taking (and paying for) an online class like this? Does the format and focus sound right for you, or are there other things we should consider?
Michael- thank you for the interest in providing online classes for homeschoolers. I think that Math is an area where many Home Educators desire their students to have a strong foundation and online classes can be a good way to provide quality instruction in this area. Please keep me posted on this project. I also blog over at NC Homeschool”Ology” on Word Press and would like to post your info there once you have all the details set. Blessings and thanks again for this comment! Merit