Learning tools: TV and Video (age 5)

I don't have much to offer in this field. As a general rule we don't watch TV, not because it's forbidden, but because we don't care for it. I find it over-stimulating and we enjoy getting our information from books. But that doesn't mean we don't use video at all. Nowhere else can you get a good look at animals that live in faraway lands (without leaving your house), or actually see how people lived long ago.

We use the TV mostly for documentaries, usually through Netflix because we don't have cable. We also use a number of internet video sources. I stumble on a lot of fantastic short videos by visiting The Kid Should See This every day. When I find videos I think Calvin will enjoy I pin them to a board on Pinterest so he can explore as he wishes (to avoid YouTube's annoying list of possibly related videos).

We watch a lot of demonstrations, or short animations of concepts.

Right now we use a lot of documentaries (BBC, History Channel, Nova) to get a feel for ancient civilizations.

We enjoy looking up orchestra concerts or operas on YouTube broadcasting them to our TV.

We also enjoy old movies from time to time, like the silents (Charlie Chaplin is a favorite), or old musicals.

Internet video sources (current favorites):
BBC
The Big Bang (Stephen Hawking) 
Decorah Eagle Cam
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Eureka! Physics 
Formation of the Solar System (Stephen Hawking)
Kahn Academy
Minute Physics (on YouTube)
National Geographic
Ancient Mesopotamia (a timeline)
Prehistory 101: Prologue (from 23andMe)
Prehistory 101 Part 1: Out of Africa (from 23andMe)
Prehistory 101 Part 2: Weathering the Storm (from 23andMe)
Schoolhouse Rock (on YouTube)

TV video (current favorites):
BBC
The History Channel
The Incredible Human Journey (BBC, Alice Roberts)
National Geographic
Nova
Planet Earth (BBC, Attenborough)
The Walking With Series—Monsters, Dinosaurs, Prehistoric Beasts, Cavemen (BBC)

So it's a pretty weak list—kind of a stretch—but it's all I have at this moment. You can find more lists via OLM.

Learning tools: Math (age 5)

Math in our house looks like a little bit of everything. Calvin does a few sheets from a curriculum a few of times a week, but most of our math now comes in the form of games or real life usage. I am finding that the real opportunities for learning math come when a question presents itself and, instead of simply answering it, we work with Calvin to reach the goal, doing all the steps together along the way.

In fact, the more comfortable I become with the unstructure of the unschooling life I always wanted but was afraid I could never do, the more I find that I am able to leave the curriculum behind and seek learning in life itself. Calvin has never been the problem—it's me who keeps getting in the way. (and I have many unschooling bloggers to thank for my increasing courage, especially Stephanie at OLM—thank you for sharing what you do).

So here is a list of math learning tools from a mom that desperately wants to be unschooling, and is getting closer every day.

Math in everyday life:
Cooking
Keeping a calendar for library books
Measuring and building, or measuring and making crafts
Recording the savings and spending of allowance
Telling and measuring time

Workbooks/Traditional:
Lollipop Logic (books 1-3)
Math-U-See (blocks and books—now on Beta)

Board games:
Any game that requires adding up a score
Blokus Junior (Mattel)
Math War (School Zone)
Monopoly (Hasbro)
Qwirkle (Mindware)
Shut the Box (ours is by Melissa and Doug)
Totally Tut (Learning Resources)

Other games and activities:
Art
Legos
Making games, graphs, mazes
Pattern Play (by Mindware)
Piano (now on Piano Adventures, level 2A)
Puzzles
Tangrams (Puzzles by Chris Crawford, and Grandfather Tang's, by Ann Tompert)

Internet games:
Feed Fribit (addition and subtraction, coolmath-games.com)
Math Lines (addition, coolmath-games.com)
Count the Cubes (coolmath-games.com)
Turtle Pond (graph manipulation)

Shut the box

Puzzles (Dec 2011)

Cooking (February 2011)

Math-U-See (Sept 2011)

Monopoly

Qwirkle, and keeping score (Aug 2011)

Legos (July 2011)

Piano (sept 2011)

See other great lists of math tools over on OLM.