Unschooling

  • Unschooling

    It’s just the beginning: Home ed & life without school

    As the final weeks of summer roll past, something big is coming for us: The beginning of home education. Now I am a firm believer in that there is no start to home education, because our children have been home educated since birth and will not set foot inside the education system. The formal beginning of home ed really means nothing more than a bit of a line in the sand.

    My daughter, who is 4.5 years old would be due to start her reception year of school this coming September, just weeks away. We have always known since before she was born that we wanted to home educate her but as that official start date looms closer I wanted to put pen to paper to think about how I feel going into it. And if you have stumbled on this post because you are thinking about home educating your children I hope it provides you with everything you need to take the leap.

    The beginning: Being home educated

    Now like I said, our children are what we would term as home educated since birth and so there really won’t be any change to our normal life and routine, just a continuation of the learning and growing we do every day. But I suppose what I am marking is that this will be the school year my daughter will turn compulsory school age. And, if she were going to school, this September is when she would be starting.

    It only seems right to mark it in some way, and while we feel like we’ve been home educating since birth this, I guess, is the true beginning.

    Excitement? Nerves?

    Something that crops up time and time again when I talk about home educating my children is people telling me I am mad, or that they could never do it. And sometimes that they don’t want to spend so much time with their children.

    Home education is a big undertaking, it’s committing yourselves to providing that education to your children for the next fourteen years of their life. It’s day in day out, every month of every year until they turn 18. I can understand why it seems a lot for most people.

    However, I can’t wait. We’ve known since before we had children that home education was on the cards and as time has gone on we have become more confident in our choices. I don’t doubt that there will be times where it is hard or difficult, but I know that its something we can learn and grow through together.

    What might the year look like

    At this point – I have no idea and I am really excited about that. I have some ideas in mind that generally ebb and flow around the idea of creating a firm basis in the way we live our life. I want to instill this idea into the children that their worth is not measured by being busy or productivity. I want them to understand the beauty of a slow and simple life, I want them to understand the importance of living a life that aligns with the seasons. I want them to understand the importance of yoga, mindfulness and meditation. I want them to feel at ease with who they are and rest when they feel they need to. I want to teach them about our health and wellbeing and why we eat seasonally, but organic and grow our own food on our allotment. This, along with so much more foundational learning I hope to be a part of our first year.

    I don’t intend to give a blow by blow account of our learning here but I will update along the way I am sure. I might also share occasionally over on Instagram too.

    Let me know in the comments if you currently home educate or if you are thinking about it.

  • Simple Living, Unschooling

    Opting Out Of The School System: A Parent’s Guide To Home Education

    A post about home education and opting out of the school system. This post is related to episode 36 of The Slow Living Collective Podcast where I was joined by Roseanne from @home.ed.hopes on Instagram. Both of us have home-educated our children as a first choice, meaning they have never been in the school system.

    Apple Podcasts | Spotify Podcasts

    As parents, we all want what’s best for our children, especially when it comes to their education. But what if the traditional school system isn’t meeting your child’s needs? What if you’re looking for a more personalised approach to learning? That’s where home education comes in. Opting out of the school system can seem daunting, but it can also be a rewarding experience that fosters a closer relationship between you and your child. In this post (as well as this episode – if you haven’t listened yet be sure to check it out) we’ll cover everything you need to know about home education. Let’s dive in and explore the world of home education.

    Why Consider Home Education?

    One of the biggest reasons to consider home education is the ability to create a customized and individualised curriculum for your child. In traditional schools, the curriculum is often set and inflexible, leaving little room for tailoring to your child’s unique interests and learning style. By opting out of the school system, you have the freedom to create a curriculum that meets your child’s specific needs and fosters their passions.

    Creating your curriculum can be a fun and collaborative process between you and your child. You can incorporate materials and resources that align with your child’s interests, whether it be art, music, or science. You can also adapt the pace and structure of lessons to better suit your child’s learning style. For example, if your child struggles with reading but excels in hands-on activities, you can prioritize projects and experiments over traditional reading assignments.

    Another reason to consider home education is the ability to provide a more focused and distraction-free learning environment for your child. In traditional schools, distractions from peers or irrelevant coursework can hinder a student’s ability to fully engage and learn. At home, you can eliminate those distractions and create an environment that is conducive to learning.

    Overall, opting out of the school system and choosing home education can provide a unique and rewarding experience for both you and your child. The ability to create a personalized curriculum and provide a focused learning environment can foster a deeper understanding and appreciation for education.

    Creating Your Curriculum

    When embracing the benefits of home education, and if you aren’t following a philosophy such as unschooling, you might want to think about creating a curriculum tailored to your child’s needs and interests. By doing so, you can provide a unique learning experience that caters to your child’s strengths and weaknesses, and fosters a love for learning. Here are a few tips to help you get started on creating your homeschool curriculum.

    First, consider your child’s learning style when selecting curriculum materials. Visual learners may benefit from textbooks or videos, while auditory learners may excel with podcasts or lectures. Kinesthetic learners may need hands-on activities or experiments to fully grasp concepts.

    Next, research curriculum options that align with your educational goals for your child. There are numerous homeschooling resources available, including online courses, textbooks, and educational software. Some of these resources are even available for free, making homeschooling an affordable option for families.

    In addition to traditional subjects like math and science, incorporating creative outlets such as art and music can help foster a well-rounded education. Physical education and outdoor activities can also promote a healthy and active lifestyle for your child.

    Ultimately, creating a personalized curriculum allows you to provide a learning experience that is unique to your child. It can be adjusted and modified as needed to ensure your child is receiving a well-rounded education. By doing so, you can help your child develop a lifelong love of learning.

    Setting Up Your Learning Environment

    Another important consideration is the learning environment. As a parent, you want to make sure that your child feels comfortable and inspired to learn in their home environment. This means setting up a space that is conducive to learning, with all the necessary tools and resources at their fingertips.

    Your learning environment will depend on your child’s age and learning style. Consider creating a designated space for learning, such as a designated room or corner of your home. Fill this space with age-appropriate materials, such as books, manipulatives, and educational toys. This will help your child focus and feel motivated to learn.

    Another important aspect of the learning environment is organization. Keep track of your child’s progress and learning activities with a planner or tracking system. This will help you stay on top of your child’s learning and ensure they are meeting their educational goals.

    Remember, the learning environment extends beyond the home. Look for opportunities outside the home that can enrich your child’s education, such as joining a homeschooling co-op or attending educational outings. This will provide valuable socialization opportunities for your child as well, which we will discuss in the next section.

    By creating a nurturing learning environment, you can help your child thrive in their homeschooling journey.

    Socialisation Opportunities

    Home educators, we’ve all heard this one before haven’t we? If our children are home educated how on earth will we ensure they are socialised? Well, here is the answer: home educated children have ample opportunities to interact with other children their age and engage in group activities. From home ed groups, home ed co-ops, classes, and educational outings such as museum visits or field trips, where children can learn while interacting with others. In fact, children are interacting with people all day, every day in their home ed lives.

    Opting out of the traditional school system and choosing home education is a significant decision for any parent. It requires careful planning and preparation, but the rewards are immeasurable. By creating a curriculum that aligns with your child’s learning style, setting up a supportive learning environment, providing socialization opportunities, and staying compliant with state regulations, you can give your child a customized and fulfilling learning experience. As you embark on this journey, remember that hard work, dedication, and support from your community are essential. So take the leap, assess your child’s needs, and be confident in your choice to provide them with the education they deserve.

  • Unschooling

    How we create our morning basket

    Creating and using a morning basket is something I only started at the beginning of this year and already I have fallen in love with the idea and concept. It isn’t a new idea and something that is used a lot in the home education community, I found many resources on Instagram and Pinterest, before jumping in. Actually though, despite there being a lot of information out there what I found best (as I do with most things) is to just decide what I thought would work for our family and just dived in from there. You know your family best and I think this is probably going to be my top recommendation – do what works best for you.

    What is a morning basket?

    A morning basket is, quite simply, a basket of items designed for the morning time, when your child has just got out of bed. Something they can immerse themselves in to begin a slow start to your days. It can include books, toys, flashcards…in fact whatever you think will work for your family. It can be something to start the day slow and easy, something you can go through together or something to keep your child engaged while you sort out your morning coffee or even their breakfast. The most important thing is that it works for you and it’s something that suits your child and your family.

    What do I put in ours?

    We started doing a morning basket when our daughter was 1 and she has recently turned 2, so definitely keep this in mind when looking at what we put in ours. We enjoy a slow start to our days, I enjoy drinking my coffee and sitting with her while she looks through it. At the moment, at her current age, I add items which I think will be engaging for her and that she will be excited to see first thing in the morning.

    You can see this fun Instagram reel I created as an example of putting my daughters morning basket together.

    Overall, does it work?

    You can be as fun or as educational as you wish. Sometimes I do a theme and sometimes I don’t, but I foresee as her and her sibling get a little older I might tie it more into their current interests in our home education journey too. I definitely expect it to change over the years as they grow as well as applying it to seasonal rhythms too.

  • Unschooling

    Why we decided on Home education

    There is so much joy in following your own path and seeking wonder to fill your child’s precious early years. My wants for my daughter and her brother (who at the time of writing I am in my second trimester of pregnancy with) is that they are surrounded by the freedom to explore their world, to express their love for what matters to them, to be guided by their own self belief and to experience a childhood full of wonder and beauty.

    Time moves fast and my dream to give them a long and slow childhood, with no rush to grow up, no early interludes into academics and a childhood filled with their passions, loves and interests. The biggest and most radical contribution I can make to this world is not in who I am or what I do, it’s in the little people I have the honour of raising.

    Home educating by choice

    Let me be honest here, it’s early 2021 and on and off for the past year families have been crisis schooling (or emergency schooling) their children from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s not the easiest of times to be standing up and saying “Hey, I am going to home educate my child by choice”, because the current pushed agenda is that what is currently happening is home schooling, when in fact the current situation is so far from what true home education really looks like. Right now we’re all trying to just get through these times of crisis in the best ways we can and I do hope that soon our world can return to some normality again.

    In fact, standing up at anytime and talking about taking the home education route is kind of scary and a little bit nerve-wracking. It’s something that can really be open to a lot of judgment when it’s something that maybe people don’t know too much about.

    It’s always been in the plans

    Funnily enough the current Covid situation has played no part in our decisions to home educate our children, it is something that has been in the works since before we had children, became a serious conversation throughout my first pregnancy and has become something we’re both even more passionate about in the years since.

    Our daughter is just 2 so it might seem a little odd to you (if you aren’t from the home education world) that I am already talking about educating, but the way home educating looks is so different from school that we’ve been putting our rhythms and ideas for homeschooling really since birth. It’s a conscious thought in our brains and it’s not even a blip on the radar to our daughter, and it’s something I feel passionate about continuing throughout our home education journey.

    Sharing as we go

    Both my husband and I have some very strong ideas, plans and feelings about education in general and also what we would like our own home education journey to look like. However I am certain this will grow and evolve as we move through life with our children. We’re passionate about the unschooling philosophy as well as being inspired by Montessori and even a little Waldorf, all of which I plan to go into along the way, as we grow and evolve together. As well as covering so many subjects throughout their home education, being a historian means I am passionate about sharing so many aspects of history with them. Looking back at family history is a great reference point when it comes to delving into history, along with the personal connections we make as we connect to our own past.

    One thing is for certain, I know in my heart of hearts that this is a wonderful decision for our family, I know that we’re so excited to embark on this adventure and also I can’t wait to share this journey here and on my Instagram page too.

    Do you home educate, or plan to, with your children? I would love to connect with you as we move through this journey together.

    Feeling Overwhelmed?
    Get My Free Guide to Slow Down & Simplify Your Life
    Your no-fuss guide with simple, actionable steps to help you create a slower, calmer and more intentional life.
    Thank you for subscribing!