Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

My child loves literature, but she can't stand math! How many homeschool parents have a similar complaint? Tune in for one mom's solution to that problem, on today's Home School Heartbeat.

Mike Smith:


This week, I'm talking with Pamela Hall about capitalizing on our students' interests to make their learning experience more effective. But some important subjects seem impossible to enjoy, like math or spelling. Pamela, how should parents approach these subjects that their children just aren't interested in?


Pamela Hall:


Incorporate as much as possible into daily life, so learning is applicable and not just rote memorization. For instance, for spelling, write in a journal daily about events or topics of your choice, have a pen pal, write a shopping list. Today, my children are writing cards to encourage soldiers in Iraq. Write letters on email. Have the children take their spelling and incorporate it daily. They circle the words that they don't know, and then they can just look it up in the dictionary. And that's editing and those are life skills. And for math, play lots of games. Go into the kitchen and measure and cook. We do math at the grocery store, we estimate the bill, we compare the costs, we look at costs per unit, we count the money, count the change. We just play lots of games and make it fun and exciting.


Mike:


Pamela, that's great advice, especially the opportunity for children to learn practical life skills and learn at the same time. And until next time, I'm Mike Smith.