Our Plans to Home School

On the 29th March it's the last day of school for many children up and down the country as they all break up for the Easter holidays. For L and A it's also the last day but with a bit of a difference: they won't be going back...

I've written before on my blog about L getting upset at school. I mentioned that I could see why home education was on the rise (and it continues to be) and even wrote that I wondered if this could be a path for us, or more specifically for L. I never actually thought I would home educate though until I experienced home ed with Mr K and his boys over the summer and several times after that too. Home Ed can be great fun and is really freeing. I love that we can decided what subjects we want to look at and what elements of essential studies such as maths and English we want to look into too.

A library trip is a favourite day out for me!

Both the children and myself are looking forward to starting home education. William and James have been home educated by Mr K and their Mum for a number of years now. James is on a waiting list to go back to school and both my 2 will also go on a school waiting list when we finally settle in Kent. Until we settle down though it's going to be a home education journey for us all which we are looking forward to.

So why not Permanently Home Educate?

Will benefits from a permanent home education set up due to his additional needs which are still ongoing through assessment. He does much better in the home than he could ever do in a large school. James and A could both do well in home schooling but I believe and so does Mr K that both boys would benefit more in a school environment. A works harder in class because his friends are doing the same things, his confidence has grown immensely in school and I would like to see him stay in that environment. He benefits from one to one with someone he doesn't know incredibly well (like myself or Mr K who he can mess around with etc) L on the other hand, for me, it's a watch this space.

L struggles with the continuous assessments and tests, it doesn't go over her head like it does some children and it makes her anxious; she's only 10 but has been this way since year 2. I feel that home education wouldn't take anything away from her, she listens to me, does as she's told and treats me the same as her teachers when I'm trying to help her learn something. We just happen to have more fun too!

A out in the snow

James taking advantage of a snow day

During our break away in February we did a lot of home school. We started poetry which involved a trip to the library to pick up some books, we read different poems and picked out our favourites. All the children chose one and wrote it out complete with an illustration and a reason why they chose their poem.
We also took the opportunity when it snowed to go to the empty park and run around. We learnt about snowflakes and what exactly is snow. It's fascinating stuff!

A with his poem

Science is always a favourite because Mr K is such a nerd! We did an egg experiment involving striping the shell using vinegar. The children were doing an activity that they wouldn't see until secondary school: how cool is that? 

They had to draw their items, write a method and a hypothesis. Then we got to do the experiment with exciting results (and a bouncy egg!). We also did a write up of putting copper coins into vinegar and leaving it out for several days. 

Writing our egg methods

Our egg in vinegar

A produced this science work for our egg experiment

Maths can also be fun, something new i've learnt!

I have no idea how long our home school journey will be. It'll be fun, exciting and we will all learn new things. I'm sure there will be days where having the children around me all the time will get really hard but I'm hoping that will be few and far between!

Do you home school or perhaps you are thinking of starting this journey also? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

Hannah