3 posts tagged “homeschooling”

Quite a lot of people think I am completely crazy to have my children with me all day every day.  To be quite honest I think it was my biggest worry when we started home educating.  I am pretty certain that I can do it intellectually, but emotionally I was convinced I couldn't.  It isn't always easy and we have our bad days but really it has been easier than I thought.  The caveat here is that my youngest is four and my eldest eleven so they are all of an age where they are good company and can dress, wash and eat on their own!

Once they have come to terms with the idea of having them home all day, people move on to asking how we do it.  They want to know what we do all day.  Do I sit down with them round a table all day and study or are we always out and about?  Actually this is one of the most difficult questions.  No two days are the same.  Some days we are out and about, others we are in all day and sometimes we flit in and out rushing about to appointments.

What have we done today, for instance?  Well the chap came to look at the boiler (furnace), because after the other company had been out twice (£120!) and it was still playing up I thought I ought to get a second opinion.  The poor man was quizzed by the children and by the time the boiler is mended I should have at least 2 children fully versed in mechanics!  I am relying on this for my old age. :-)

We had breakfast and settled down to some study.  All of us are tired.  We have had three late nights and last night's movie and chocolate cake was a bit of a mistake.  It made them late for bed and so they were a bit fractious. Evie especially!  The study started with Abram, moved on to Israel and then on to the current hostilities in Israel.  I tend to let them talk and ask questions.  Sometimes to the detriment of the lesson, but I want them to be curious.  Things got difficult with the kids yawning and stretching and Evie moaning so I gave them a break.  She was making paper people and their clothes but her heart wasn't in it.  

Meantime there has been one game of chess, several games of draughts, lots of football in the garden, several Lego creations and the boys are now making bouncy balls from one of Ewan's birthday presents.  The kit mentions the use of polymers and Callum and Ewan immediately knew that was plastic.  The discussions going on over the creation of the balls are quite interesting!  Isobel has been playing her flute and tidying her room (!) and Evie has been dressing up.  Currently she is dressed as Batman and we are to call her "Bat"!

There has been no lack of activity.  The television has not been on and no-one has mentioned the "B" word.  They are happy to have time to get on with what they want to do.  It is all education.  Maybe not in the traditional sense but they are constantly learning and more importantly they remember what they learn. I have a bit of maths for them all to do this afternoon (little and often seems to work for us with maths) and they all have Scout and Guide badges to get on with.  That will about round off our day.  We haven't done as much formal work as I would expect but I will save that for a day when we are all feeling a bit more rested!

We ate toasted salsa and cheese wraps for lunch and there is a chicken in the slow casserole.  Meantime have been planning and cleaning;  changing over loads of washing and picking up around the house.  I am not really sure what we do all day, but this morning I would gladly have sent them to school;  this afternoon I am happy they are home!

We don't do curriculum at the moment (in the traditional sense) but we make it up as we go along.  We cover the children's interests and fit in extra subjects as we go along.  For instance, we covered Scottish history when we went to Scotland and the Egyptians to fit in with a visit to the King Tut exhibition.  Surprisingly enough the kids seem to have a really clear chronological historical knowledge even though we don't necessarily cover it in chronological order.  They seem to fit it together like a jigsaw puzzle.  They are much more clever than me!

However, I am finding the collation of all the information they need a bit time consuming and difficult.  We are therefore looking at a very flexible curriculum (for 3 age groups!)with plenty of different activities to stimulate their minds.  I won't tell you which, because that will sway you - really it will!  I love the idea of having it all in front of me, but I really don't want to be doing "school" at home.  I want plenty of reading time, plenty of talking and discussion and not too much bookwork.  I really do believe that they need to write to learn, but I also don't want every new discovery to be killed by the threat of written work.  The kids can smell written work coming!!

We have maths curriculum for Ewan and Callum.  I am making it up as I go along for Isobel. That is it for curriculum really.

What works for us??  We love A Child's Geography.  We also love the Apologia science books.  We are studying Zoology at the moment.  In both there is lots of practical application and some written work (notebooking and lapbooks) but real flexibility.

SO, for the homeschoolers among you;  do you use curriculum?  What do you use and WHY?

Callum is sat at the table with his maths in front of him.  As is the usual form, he asks if he can do a page that is too easy;  I say no and make him do the page that is his level;  he groans and gets on with it.  Usually he is pretty quick as he finds maths easy (unlike me!).  So....

instead of the the 'groan and get on with it' we get;

"Oh Mum, we will all fry from global warming by the time I finish that!"

The little exchanges that make the day pass happily!!