If you haven't discovered her yet then it's well worth while taking a look at work by Beverly Paine. www.alwayslearningbooks.com.au is a great resource. Beverly is the most open minded, supportive and active member of the homeschooling community I have discovered so far...

I read this article in which a teacher says;"Kay Rogers, a recently retired teacher from Sharon School in North Carolina said, "After I heard about the possibility of focusing on solutions instead of consequences, it was the hardest habit for me to break. All my life I had believed that kids learned from punishment -- or at least from consequences. I can now see that my students and I both tried to disguise punishment by calling it consequences -- even though the consequences weren't as harsh as blatant punishment. I had to learn about the effectiveness of focusing on solutions right along with my students. We were all surprised by the difference it made in our classroom. The level of respect and caring for each other was raised ten fold. Students became pleased to find their name on the agenda because they knew, as Jane Nelsen had told us, that we would have a whole room full of consultants to give them valuable suggestions. And, the solutions they found were much more effective in changing behavior than anything we had done before."

Well this is how I look at it, that' a very good start but to get down to the nitty gritty we have to realise children are learning in EVERY MOMENT. They see a spring flower and they learn about beauty they hear your harsh tone and they learn about criticism, and themselves. We need to create an environment in which children are comfortable by focusing on meeting the needs of all in the situation. Make this your first principle. To try to meet the needs of all those in the situation. Whether it be the plants that you're watering the mouths that you're feeding the games that you are playing or the loved one you are cuddling. And you know sometimes that means you can't achieve everything you would like to in that particular moment.
In this environment where children feel comfortable and their needs are mostly met, they will be less likely to create conflict. They will continue to observe and copy, try and fail, try and succeed and observe again. The first time you change the tyre the kids might be playing n the backyard, they might not even notice you do it until the fifth time it occurs. But eventually their natural curiosity will drive them towards that which is undiscovered territory, even changing the tyre on the car, doing the dishes and cleaning the bathroom. And yes, if the environment provides the resources, eventually children will become curious about mathematics, english, science and even algebra. Every child becomes curious about different things at different times in their lives. This is normal and natural.
Make it your principle to foster discovery rather then control your child's education with rules.

All of the above pictured activities in natural play based environments allows kids to develop vital spatial awareness skills. Neural Pathway Connections are formed that have untold positive ramification across other areas of learning! The key is that the learning is self directed. But why is that so great? Well all of their senses, their, focus and their mind is immersed in the activity and you know what they say... it's like a sponge, new knowledge is soaked up and retained and then built upon quicker and more effectively than you could ever imagine. It will never be possible to teach such magic.