This Homeschooling Life #7
March!
We’ve been so glad of some sunshine, there have been a few garden days and I always am amazed at what a difference it makes to be able to just open the doors and be outside! Sunny mornings make all of us feel much more like getting out of bed frist thing! This month the girls have gotten into a better rhythm for their ‘school work’. Lola tends to get on and do her stuff in a morning, as mostly she can get on and knows what she needs to do by herself, just coming if she’s stuck {usually on some Maths questions that fry my brain as it’s been 16 years since I’ve had to do them!}
For the other two, we were trying to do little bits most days.. that got hard on days we were out or I had a lot of work to do. So now, we have a couple of mornings a week we do some Maths and English type activities, then fit in some project work another day, and they spend a lot of their afternoons drawing and crafting. THis works pretty well for us right now, it’s meant less stress as I’m not trying to fit everything into each day, but spreading it out over a week.
This is one of the joys of home ed, in that you can change things to suit the right now… life changes all the time, as do what our kids need, so the way that we homeschool changes with that too. I’ve found over the years it comes in ebbs and flows… there are times we’re all busy, busy, busy… there is lots of works and projects going on, lots of ‘obvious’ learning to be seen. Then there are quite times, whne it may seem we’re not really doing anything much at all. I’ve come to see over the years, that those quiet times are just as important. Just because there is no obvious learning being done – no worksheets to show, or projects completed, there is so much oging on in the girls brains, ideas being formed and perfected.
People often ask what kind of home educator we are… and honestly, I’m not sure I could fit us into one box. There are times we’ve unschooled, times we’ve been much more structured. It depends on the season of our life, but also it depends on the child we are talking about. There is no one right way to homeschool, and I’ve seen people convinced that thier way is right – that maybe they believe children shouldn’t be taught to read before they are 7… and that’s fine, some children aren’t ready until then. But others are, and I think the most important things is following your child’s needs, not a philosophy. My eldest was reading fluently, and well above her age at 5. My middle daughter could read at 7, but didn’t really want until this past year {she’s 9}, my youngest daughter has just started reading fluently at 6… I’ve always been lead by them… our eldest we did some phonics with and she loved it, the other two have used the Reading Eggs programme, but at their own pace. I don’t push, but equally I don’t hold them back if they are ready and asking.
We’ve just started going to another home ed group this past month too, it’s one we’ve been to in the past, but stopped going to as at the time there wasn’t really anyone the girls played with/were friendly with so it was a pointless trek… now there are different people there and some of the girls friends, so we’ve decided to add it in. It’s actually really nice to have another day out of the house, esp after the winter when I feel like we’ve been home way too much! We also popped to Techniquest this past week for one of their home educator days which the girls really like! This month has been a good one- looking forward to March being even better!
2. Link up a post from your month, no more than 3.
Jess @ Along Came Cherry
March 8, 2016 at 07:37I love reading your updates because it’s interesting to see what it’s like with older kids, you are so right about it changing all the time and some months being really busy and others not at all. Also totally agree about the reading thing, Cherry is not one bit interested, it’s not even on her radar but if she was wanting to learn then I would be letting her explore it as much as she wanted to. I love the way all children are different and homeschooling means you can find a way to work with that :) x
polly
March 8, 2016 at 19:41MY three girls are SO different to each other – its’ great that homeschooling means they can do things there own way x
Becky | Spirited Puddle Jumper
March 8, 2016 at 13:06I love reading these posts Polly (as a bit of a long time lurker!). We don’t homeschool but I commented on Jess’ post before saying how fascinating I find it, as I’ve always loved the idea of letting the children’s interests lead their way of learning. Keep em coming! x
polly
March 8, 2016 at 19:39Thanks Becky! Glad that you enjoy reading about our homeschooling :)
Adele at Beautiful Tribe
March 8, 2016 at 22:28I’ve really enjoyed reading this, Polly. It’s great to hear the experience of someone who’s been at it a lot longer than we have. Already I can see that things need to change as life changes (certainly being pregnant while home edding is teaching me that!) and that children are so different. My 2-year-old is doing totally different things to what my four-year-old was at that age and I need to just stay open to seeing what each of them will want to do and when. I’m with you all the way on following the child.