Home Economics » The Curriculum Choice

“From the time my children were in kindergarten, I have followed the same basic weekly schedule for math. We typically complete three textbook lessons per week and two living math lessons per week.” ~ Cindy West

Cindy West’s Loving Living Math has given my family permission. Permission to learn and enjoy the real life stuff of math. See, I admit I am not a math type mom. But I do thrive on the practical. That’s why Loving Living Math speaks to me. I can see math all around us now.

This ebook also opened my eyes to the fact that we were already enjoying many living math opportunities in board games, Snap Circuits, Saturday morning trips to the store and simply setting the table! Our favorite game, Blokus? Check!

Dear Parent – Loving Living Math is for you! Most often curriculum is for the student. This is for you. To teach you. To encourage you.

Coaches the parent in how to:

teach outside the textbook. You don’t have to complete each and every textbook lesson!
add living math to your homeschool. Practical ways for working your schedule.

Offers lengthy lists of resources for:

Logic
Problem solving
Favorite skills and drills
Making the most of website links
Using manipulatives

Includes worksheets with math puzzles (e.g., popcorn puzzler, Valentine math, coordinate candy graphing) to mix in. (Complete with the answer key at the end of the book.)

But there’s more! Did you know you can teach math through literature?? Through hands on projects?? Yes! In the photo above, my son is enjoying both a Tapestry of Grace assignment and living math.

Loving Living Math even shows the parent ways to incorporate writing into math and infuse math into other subjects. The latest, greatest technology? How about Excel spreadsheets, balancing the family online bank account, designing a graph for the science fair project? All math.

Baking. Oh I can see this area expanding even more. All that Cooking Fun we do during our week? It can all count as math. And Loving Living Math gives examples for doubling, tripling recipes, sorting candies…

For my family, Loving Living Math cued up the fun. Added in the logic that was lacking. My children are traditional math textbook learners. But this approach throws a bit of delight into math learning. I can see Loving Living Math being a successful tool for families that might have difficulty learning the traditional textbook way.

Loving Living Math taught me, the teacher, how to see the everyday math learning opportunities. It helps answer the practical question, “How will I use this in the real world?”

Loving Living Math is a 48 page ebook. Excerpt from the book description: “Loving Living Math will answer all your questions, ease all your fears, and bring skeptics at least closer to the idea. This is a book for parents who would like to learn more about living math – a “how-to” book of sorts. In 46 straightforward pages, you’ll understand what living math is, learn why it can be so effective in your homeschool, and consider various ways to incorporate it into your homeschool schedule. Don’t get the impression that Cindy wants you to get rid of math textbooks! Although some parents use living math exclusively, this book encourages you to supplement textbook lessons with living math lessons and shows you how to effectively do that.”

What age/grade is Living Math designed for? All ages. What you, the parent and teacher will learn will help students of all ages.

View a sample on the NaturExplorers site: Loving Living Math

Loving Living Math! So many children (and parents) struggle with math during the school day. Whether you’re hoping to learn how to ease the whining, add some new lessons to the regular textbook schedule or overhaul your math curriculum, this workshop will inspire you. Learn how to add “real” math lessons that make sense to your child. Questions will be answered very practically! What is living math? How will it help my child enjoy math again? How can I add it to my textbook curriculum without overwhelming my child? Why would I want to add living math to our schedule? What are some super ideas and resources for living math? ~ Heart of the Matter session description

But don’t take it just from me. I had the privilege of hostessing Cindy’s Heart of the Matter Online winter 2011 conference session. I heard directly from the author how simple it is to incorporate living math ideas in our homeschool. And you can too. The mp3 of her session is available for purchase HERE.

I’m off to oversee children tripling some recipes…

Before you leave, here’s a special note from Cindy West…Please enjoy $3.00 off Loving Living Math through the month of September! Use the code “livingmath” (without quotes) at checkout.

~Tricia faces a daily dose of chaos homeschooling five children. She contributes a blend of writing at parenting, frugal living and homeschool sites as well as her own daily Hodgepodge.

Since my daughter is in 8th grade this year, I was eager to start some formal home economics classes with her as part of her school day. Not only do I feel that home economics classes teach valuable life skills, I think they are a wonderful, hands-on break from the more academic subjects which compose her school days. My daughter had shown interest in learning to sew, so I wanted to add a sewing course to her schedule this year. Given that my seamstress skills are limited at best, I was nervous about putting together my own sewing course.

Thankfully, I ventured into the Sew Teach Me booth at the Midwest Homeschool Convention. After talking with the helpful folks at the Sew Teach Me booth, I decided that the sewing curriculum was exactly what I had been looking for in a beginning sewing course.

I purchased the entire course on CD for $89.95 which includes patterns for a few of the projects and pattern design software from which all of the other patterns can be printed. If you prefer to purchase the curriculum printed and bound which also includes the pattern design software, the price is $159.95. The curriculum is recommended for ages 8 and up but I think you would really need to consider the maturity level of your child. My daughter definitely would not have been ready for this course at 8, but at 13, the course is a perfect fit for her.

Sew Teach Me includes 8 chapters covering a wide variety of basic sewing skills. My favorite part of the curriculum is that chapters 2 through 8 all include a great sewing project to complete at the end of the chapter. My daughter’s enthusiasm for the sewing course increased dramatically when she had successfully completed her first project. All of the projects are items that could be given for gifts or kept for oneself.

Most chapters offer a choice of projects so that your child could choose his or her favorite project to complete or complete all three projects if desired. For example, your child can choose between a ski hat, pet planket, or tic-tac-toe board at the end of the chapter on straight sewing. My daughter chose the ski hat.

More specifically, each chapter in the Sew Teach Me sewing curriculum covers basic sewing skills with a project or projects at the end of the chapter designed to practice the newly learned skills. Here is a brief overview of the contents of each chapter and the sewing projects from which your child can choose.

Chapter 1 – Learning the parts of the sewing machine.
Chapter 2 – Straight stitching. Projects include a ski hat, pet blanket, or tic-tac-toe board.
Chapter 3 – Stitching curves. Projects include a candy swirl pillow, oven mitt, or hand puppet.
Chapter 4 – Fasteners (sewing in a zipper, sewing a snap, sewing hook and loop tape). Projects include a book bag, hanging organizer, or wrist wallet.
Chapter 5 – Survival sewing (replacing buttons, repairing hems, mending tears and rips, re-sewing seams, replacing zippers, pressing, laundry). The project for this chapter is a laundry sorting bag.
Chapter 6 – Decorative stitching. Projects include a lap quilt, computer mouse pad, or a visor.
Chapter 7 – Field trip to a local fabric store, learning about patterns.
Chapter 8 – Putting it all together. Projects include a picnic tablecloth, iCare bib, or apron.

Sew Teach Me is written directly to the student in simple, clear language. While the class is clearly designed to be primarily an independent study, I am working through the class with my daughter. If at all possible, I think it is quite helpful to have somebody available to help work through the sewing projects. Expert sewing skills are NOT NEEDED to help your child with this course. I have some experience with sewing but I am no expert. With my limited knowledge and the excellent instruction in this course, I am learning right alongside my daughter. In the very first chapter, I learned that I’ve been removing the thread from my sewing machine the wrong way for the past 17 years!

My only complaint about the Sew Teach Me curriculum is that I find piecing together the patterns after we’ve printed them out to be difficult. Using the included pattern design software, patterns are printed right from your computer. Then, all of the pieces of paper need to be matched up, taped, and then the pattern pieces need to be cut out. Therefore, I will be purchasing a simple apron pattern for my daughter to use in the last chapter rather than trying to piece together the pattern pieces for a large project like an apron.

You can learn more about the Sew Teach Me curriculum at their website. As well, you can see pictures of each of the chapter projects. Fabric kits for each project can also be purchased on their website but I find it much more fun to pick out the fabric of my daughter’s choice at our local fabric store. If you are not close to a fabric store, though, this may be a convenient option.

Samantha has been homeschooling her three children for the past 8 years. Currently, she is homeschooling a 4th grader, 6th grader, and an 8th grader. Samantha writes about homeschooling and family life at To Be Busy At Home.