The single most effective project I ever oversaw was what I called my “house” project. Kids got an individual budget,were assigned a family, bought one of 10 pre-approved houses, and set about furnishing them. In the course of 20 or so weeks of school (give or take) they also learned how to create spreadsheets (useful for the real world and a logical application of why negatives matter), learned to price compare (again, shockingly useful in the real world), measured real life pieces of furniture (wow, it’s not always easy to measure stuff with round edges, is it? See how circles and estimating are important?), made graphic representations of how the furniture would fit in each room (see, I TOLD you geometry was useful), wrote journal entries about their experiences (English and Math at the same time? GASP!), and presented their findings to the class (public speaking). Along the way I liked to send around the cup of destiny which presented them with such wonderful news as “your kid broke a window playing baseball..that will cost you $200″ which taught them to adjust on the fly. I’m forgetting some of the parts, as it’s been two years since I was able to teach this, and it sucks that I would never be allowed to do it in a “regular” room…the only reason I got away with it is because my students were “gifted” and therefore I could get them through the curriculum each year AND do my projects.

What few seem to realize, except me and the students, is that those 20 weeks was what made the rest of the year interesting, relevant, and helped them finally “get” it. I could easily design a sixth grade math course around this project without once using TERC/CMP as a resource and they would walk out with a much deeper and happier understanding of the precepts I was teaching.

This is one of those reasons again, why I often think I’ll end up homeschooling…I want my kids to love school, and math. And to understand that Math is cool and awesome…and know their stuff by heart. Without once ever using flashcards (I hope).