Wonderful video that explains it beautifully :)
Saturday, 24 March 2012
Play Dough and Hoops
I took Papaya along with me to the next session of the local Home Ed group I visited before. They run an art lesson at the start of the group, but I think she was a little overwhelmed by it all and spent her time at the playdough table instead.
She was then tempted out into the sunshine by some Hula Hoops.
The next session (they are every two weeks) is during the Easter holidays so I'll be able to take both children along. I'm hoping I can continue to take one or other of them each time until they finish school in July and we can be there officially :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
She was then tempted out into the sunshine by some Hula Hoops.
The next session (they are every two weeks) is during the Easter holidays so I'll be able to take both children along. I'm hoping I can continue to take one or other of them each time until they finish school in July and we can be there officially :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Monday, 12 March 2012
Sick Day
Papaya has glandular fever, which means she's fine one minute and exhausted the next. Yesterday she managed to finally ride her bicycle without stabilisers, but unfortunately that means she exhausted herself and was too tired to get to school today.
Since finding out more about home educating it's already changed our outlook on learning opportunities and it's amazing how many can be found even by a poorly girl.
Today she did some observational art with some blossom picked from a tree at school as we dropped her brother off......
Multi-tasked! Here she is doing Reading Eggs, eating lunch and watching Norman Wisdom all at once ;)
De-constructed and then re-constructed! She took apart her brother's Hogwarts Bus but (thankfully!) managed to put it back together!
Finally she dosed up on some vitamin D. Let's hope it has a healing effect.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Since finding out more about home educating it's already changed our outlook on learning opportunities and it's amazing how many can be found even by a poorly girl.
Today she did some observational art with some blossom picked from a tree at school as we dropped her brother off......
Multi-tasked! Here she is doing Reading Eggs, eating lunch and watching Norman Wisdom all at once ;)
De-constructed and then re-constructed! She took apart her brother's Hogwarts Bus but (thankfully!) managed to put it back together!
Finally she dosed up on some vitamin D. Let's hope it has a healing effect.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Some Thoughts on Deschooling
A blog post from Mamasmu got me thinking again about something I can't seem to come to a firm conclusion on; deschooling.
For anyone who doesn't know, the term deschooling (in this sense, it is also used by some as an alternative word for "unschooling") means a period of time after the child has left formal schooling during which they don't do anything like formal school work. It is a time for the child to move away from school until they learn to learn for the joy of it. To decompress after having been at school and just relax into learning naturally. To forget any ideas of statistics and tests and "keeping up" and find their own pace.
I can see the importance in this to get us all to separate our expectations of what "school" should be and move forward in a more autonomous way. My original plan was to let them deschool over the long Summer holiday and then officially start their home education in September. I liked this plan as it fulfilled the need for deschooling and gave me a timetable to work to. I began planning my curriculum basing it on a September start.
Then I started reading a particular statistic being thrown about; that children who are to be home educated actually need a month of deschooling for every year they were at school. At the point the children leave their school Papaya will have had 4 years of schooling and Povey 2 years, so those two months of de-schooling I had planned (July and August) would be fine for Povey but not Papaya.
I started fretting.... "but I only have those two months set aside for this! I wanted our home-schooling to begin in September!" I started pondering whether we even needed to do it at all. I panicked that if I allowed Povey to only deschool for 2 months and then Papaya for 4 we would end up out of sync. Plus what would friends and family say when September comes and I'm not doing any sort of school work with them? I need to prove that I'm capable of home education........
Then I stopped.
I suddenly realised that the problem was me. In fact in my fretting I was proving how it was just as important for me to deschool as the children. Why was I putting a timescale on this? Working to timetables and terms is what schools do.... we won't need to do that any more! I need to change my way of thinking.
The children finish school on the 4th July. My calender already has July filled with festivals and camping so that's really our holiday time. After that....... I just need to leave it be. I need to leave school-work aside until the children naturally return to it themselves. I need to relax and let them take their own time, it may take months, it may only take weeks, but I need to allow it to happen naturally.
Of course this doesn't mean I have to stop planning ways of studying, and ideas to help the children learn different subjects. I just need to prepare it all knowing it may well not be touched for months.... and that by the time we are ready for it I may have changed my mind on how I want to use it. It's actually very freeing. I think I've just taken my own first step in becoming deschooled :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
For anyone who doesn't know, the term deschooling (in this sense, it is also used by some as an alternative word for "unschooling") means a period of time after the child has left formal schooling during which they don't do anything like formal school work. It is a time for the child to move away from school until they learn to learn for the joy of it. To decompress after having been at school and just relax into learning naturally. To forget any ideas of statistics and tests and "keeping up" and find their own pace.
I can see the importance in this to get us all to separate our expectations of what "school" should be and move forward in a more autonomous way. My original plan was to let them deschool over the long Summer holiday and then officially start their home education in September. I liked this plan as it fulfilled the need for deschooling and gave me a timetable to work to. I began planning my curriculum basing it on a September start.
Then I started reading a particular statistic being thrown about; that children who are to be home educated actually need a month of deschooling for every year they were at school. At the point the children leave their school Papaya will have had 4 years of schooling and Povey 2 years, so those two months of de-schooling I had planned (July and August) would be fine for Povey but not Papaya.
I started fretting.... "but I only have those two months set aside for this! I wanted our home-schooling to begin in September!" I started pondering whether we even needed to do it at all. I panicked that if I allowed Povey to only deschool for 2 months and then Papaya for 4 we would end up out of sync. Plus what would friends and family say when September comes and I'm not doing any sort of school work with them? I need to prove that I'm capable of home education........
Then I stopped.
I suddenly realised that the problem was me. In fact in my fretting I was proving how it was just as important for me to deschool as the children. Why was I putting a timescale on this? Working to timetables and terms is what schools do.... we won't need to do that any more! I need to change my way of thinking.
The children finish school on the 4th July. My calender already has July filled with festivals and camping so that's really our holiday time. After that....... I just need to leave it be. I need to leave school-work aside until the children naturally return to it themselves. I need to relax and let them take their own time, it may take months, it may only take weeks, but I need to allow it to happen naturally.
Of course this doesn't mean I have to stop planning ways of studying, and ideas to help the children learn different subjects. I just need to prepare it all knowing it may well not be touched for months.... and that by the time we are ready for it I may have changed my mind on how I want to use it. It's actually very freeing. I think I've just taken my own first step in becoming deschooled :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Home Ed Group
I went to visit a Home Ed group today that is about 19 minutes away so one we'd be likely to go to regularly. It is held every other week on a Wednesday. From 1.00pm-2.00pm there is an Art lesson for older children and then from 2.00pm-4.00pm there is a looser coffee/chat/play session. It costs £1 per family plus £1 each child to take part in the art.
I decided to turn up around 1.30ish so I could see a bit of the art session and then get some chatting time. I felt a bit of a fraud though as I went on my own without the children! I did consider taking them out of school for the afternoon (I reckon it would count as a legitimate reason, after all they would let us take them out to visit a new school) but they had a science workshop today that we'd already paid for! Plus it gave me a chance to get a feel for it before bringing them.
The room is set up with the art taking place on one side and then on the other side are sofas and lots of toys and games laid out for all different ages. Most excitingly (well for me anyway!) there was a whole table full of books to read about home education and related subjects..... including all Ken Robinson's ;) The art lesson was lovely and gentle and allowed the children to go off with their own ideas, Jaya will really love it I know. The "chat" part kind of carried on during it as well as afterwards. There were around 20 adults and 30 or so children, of all different ages. I saw a lot of girls who reminded me of Papaya, all floating around being arty with flowing hair, but not many boys who reminded me of Povey. In fact the boys seemed to be mostly toddlers and babies, although I guess that probably varies from week to week.
I chatted with several mums all of whom had different reasons for choosing home education and different ways of approaching it. The meeting was held in a "Christian centre" so I was a bit nervous it would have a Christian core to it (I'm Humanist) but actually there was no mention of any religion and the adults were a wonderfully diverse group with women and men from every ethnicity, social status, age etc. you could think of. I wasn't the only one visiting for the first time, and I also wasn't the only one who hadn't brought her children. Everyone seemed to be very friendly and open to talking and the children were able to happily roam inside and out and do whatever took their fancy.
The next one is in two weeks time which is the last week of term. I'm thinking I might take Papaya out of school that day to come along as I know she'd really get a lot from the art session, and then take them both along to the one after that which will be during the Easter Holiday.
I decided to turn up around 1.30ish so I could see a bit of the art session and then get some chatting time. I felt a bit of a fraud though as I went on my own without the children! I did consider taking them out of school for the afternoon (I reckon it would count as a legitimate reason, after all they would let us take them out to visit a new school) but they had a science workshop today that we'd already paid for! Plus it gave me a chance to get a feel for it before bringing them.
The room is set up with the art taking place on one side and then on the other side are sofas and lots of toys and games laid out for all different ages. Most excitingly (well for me anyway!) there was a whole table full of books to read about home education and related subjects..... including all Ken Robinson's ;) The art lesson was lovely and gentle and allowed the children to go off with their own ideas, Jaya will really love it I know. The "chat" part kind of carried on during it as well as afterwards. There were around 20 adults and 30 or so children, of all different ages. I saw a lot of girls who reminded me of Papaya, all floating around being arty with flowing hair, but not many boys who reminded me of Povey. In fact the boys seemed to be mostly toddlers and babies, although I guess that probably varies from week to week.
I chatted with several mums all of whom had different reasons for choosing home education and different ways of approaching it. The meeting was held in a "Christian centre" so I was a bit nervous it would have a Christian core to it (I'm Humanist) but actually there was no mention of any religion and the adults were a wonderfully diverse group with women and men from every ethnicity, social status, age etc. you could think of. I wasn't the only one visiting for the first time, and I also wasn't the only one who hadn't brought her children. Everyone seemed to be very friendly and open to talking and the children were able to happily roam inside and out and do whatever took their fancy.
The next one is in two weeks time which is the last week of term. I'm thinking I might take Papaya out of school that day to come along as I know she'd really get a lot from the art session, and then take them both along to the one after that which will be during the Easter Holiday.
Monday, 5 March 2012
Lego.... and the Universe
Well it appears the Universe wants me to home-school!
It has just been Povey's 6th birthday, and unsurprisingly there was a Lego theme to it all. He is just obsessed with it and wants to do nothing else. I've been scouring the internet looking for ways of incorporating it into our home-schooling in September.
I found lots of Lego maths activities including Lego geometry....
and mathamatical shapes....
Lego anatomy!
I even found a way of incorporating Lego into story writing! Plus of course there is the wonderful blog Lego Quest that offers a monthly challenge and helps Lego fans to stretch their creativity and imagination.
I plan on using aspects from all of these, and as a first step I planned to get hold of a load of Duplo and draw or stick letters and numbers onto them for Povey to use in Maths and English..... which leads me to why I think the Universe wants me to homeschool.
Look what I spotted in our local charity shop....
I actually got a shiver down my spine when I saw the labels on these blue boxes. I opened them up in there to find Duplo letters for spelling and word forming, including punctuation...
..... Duplo numbers and maths symbols for forming mathematical problems....
.....and Duplo pattern blocks to help form and focus, complete with photos of patterns to make....
Each box was only £3 so as you can imagine I snapped them up! Just £9 for everything I wanted, all ready labelled and in boxes! I just can't believe my luck!
It has just been Povey's 6th birthday, and unsurprisingly there was a Lego theme to it all. He is just obsessed with it and wants to do nothing else. I've been scouring the internet looking for ways of incorporating it into our home-schooling in September.
I found lots of Lego maths activities including Lego geometry....
A couple of Lego games....
Lego anatomy!
I plan on using aspects from all of these, and as a first step I planned to get hold of a load of Duplo and draw or stick letters and numbers onto them for Povey to use in Maths and English..... which leads me to why I think the Universe wants me to homeschool.
Look what I spotted in our local charity shop....
I actually got a shiver down my spine when I saw the labels on these blue boxes. I opened them up in there to find Duplo letters for spelling and word forming, including punctuation...
..... Duplo numbers and maths symbols for forming mathematical problems....
.....and Duplo pattern blocks to help form and focus, complete with photos of patterns to make....
Each box was only £3 so as you can imagine I snapped them up! Just £9 for everything I wanted, all ready labelled and in boxes! I just can't believe my luck!
Monday, 20 February 2012
Planning Subjects
I've started looking at the loose list of the subjects I would like to be covering each day somehow with the children, so far it stands at....
English
Maths
The World - One of; Languages, Geography, History, Science, or Forest school
The Arts - One of; Drama, Music, Art, or Dance
I'd like our timetable to work that we do 3/4 hours all together of more focused work on these subjects (so every day we do, English, Maths, The World and The Arts) in the mornings and then the afternoons are left free to explore whatever they like, whether that means just Lego (likely for Povey) or finding out more about something we learnt that morning.... or maybe even just a walk, outdoor play or seeing friends. One of the things that I noticed they were losing through busy days of school and homework was seeing their friends so I plan to make more play dates.
They will both attend a Forest school on a Friday, and ACM Kids on a Saturday morning. I plan to take them both swimming once a week, and Papaya will join a drama club that runs on a Tuesday evening, which Povey can join when he turns 7. I'd love to get them both music lessons too, (Guitar for Papaya and maybe Ukulele for Povey?) although ACM should cover that if we take them up to the next level. At the moment the planned schedule looks so busy I'm starting to wonder how we ever had time for them to go to school!
This is all still conjecture though; I've heard from many other home educating families that often you start with plans and timetables and then things change very quickly to become much looser. I'm a planner though so I feel comfortable doing it this way.... my daughter is a planner too so I know that to start with it will help her to know exactly what is happening each day. Povey would be happy with no plans at all!
I'm going to take each of the subjects above and do some research and post up here when I have come to decisions about how I plan to cover them. Some of them I already know exactly what we'll be doing, others (Languages being the worst) I have no idea where to even begin thinking so would love some feedback. I'd also love some feedback if there are any blindingly obvious subjects I've totally failed to put on my list!
English
Maths
The World - One of; Languages, Geography, History, Science, or Forest school
The Arts - One of; Drama, Music, Art, or Dance
I'd like our timetable to work that we do 3/4 hours all together of more focused work on these subjects (so every day we do, English, Maths, The World and The Arts) in the mornings and then the afternoons are left free to explore whatever they like, whether that means just Lego (likely for Povey) or finding out more about something we learnt that morning.... or maybe even just a walk, outdoor play or seeing friends. One of the things that I noticed they were losing through busy days of school and homework was seeing their friends so I plan to make more play dates.
They will both attend a Forest school on a Friday, and ACM Kids on a Saturday morning. I plan to take them both swimming once a week, and Papaya will join a drama club that runs on a Tuesday evening, which Povey can join when he turns 7. I'd love to get them both music lessons too, (Guitar for Papaya and maybe Ukulele for Povey?) although ACM should cover that if we take them up to the next level. At the moment the planned schedule looks so busy I'm starting to wonder how we ever had time for them to go to school!
This is all still conjecture though; I've heard from many other home educating families that often you start with plans and timetables and then things change very quickly to become much looser. I'm a planner though so I feel comfortable doing it this way.... my daughter is a planner too so I know that to start with it will help her to know exactly what is happening each day. Povey would be happy with no plans at all!
I'm going to take each of the subjects above and do some research and post up here when I have come to decisions about how I plan to cover them. Some of them I already know exactly what we'll be doing, others (Languages being the worst) I have no idea where to even begin thinking so would love some feedback. I'd also love some feedback if there are any blindingly obvious subjects I've totally failed to put on my list!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)