Sunny Home Ed

[CheerMum]

Hi, This is our first summer of Home ed (started last September) and I'd like to pick the brains of more experienced home edders!

When we first started out we were quite regimented with our approach but I've found myself relaxing more as the months go by. I still plan our time out and have targets and lesson plans but I've found myself throwing it all out of the window over the past couple of weeks due to the good weather.

At the moment I'm more interested in letting my dd play in the garden than sitting down to do formal study and I suppose I'd like some reassurance that that is okay, that there are others out there who say, blimey the weather is lovely today, let's get the chalks out and colour in the patio!

dd is 9 and is very bright and we ARE still doing some work, just not as much.

reassurance needed please for a slightly neurotic mum!

I have 3 age 8 and 9 and have been HE since September for two and a few months more for the other.

In the last few weeks since the weather has been good we have done much less formal stuff and gravitated outside a lot. We have done loads of gardening and they are picking up lots about how things grow etc.

I think letting her do her own thing a bit more is fine - she will be learning lots and putting things in context through experience. Relax and enjoy.

LOL it is scary in the beginning, isn't it?
I'm at the end of our home ed journeyWe've had years of long summers spent outdoors -in the rain and in the sunshine.............in the garden, at home ed meetings, on the beach, and camping with other home ed families.
Seriously come April/May we'd live our lives outside.

My children know more about gardening/producing food, nutrition than I ever did.
They seem to have picked up all sorts of knowledge about birds and British wildlife, than I have ever taught them.
We have spent hours walking, kayaking, canoeing, cycling and seen and learnt so much.....

and all three are now at FE college/university, doing very well indeed-as are everyone crowds of autonomusly home educated teens/young people that we know in real life, that have shared those wonderful days with us!

relax and enjoy and plan as many days outside as you can manage!

We spent yesterday outside planting tomatoes - I want to get to the point where I can accept that they are learning so much just through living an doing - coming from being a primary teacher where the emphasis is on constantly recording what they are learning and assess assess assess that's what I am finding hardest to let go of - not that I liked that part of my job - it just gets burned into your psyche and it just doesn't fit with home ed

mummybiz - for me that is the biggest difference (and positive) of HE. Getting rid of that assessment and mapping progression mentality and just letting them learn what is important to them at any given stage.

We all build a picture of our world by experience, and reassess and refine as we go along learning more. There is no rule that says we have to learn at a given rate, or order, and nothing that says we have to do x at y age. That is a straightjacket that schools adopt because I think it may be the easiest to manage with large numbers - but it is very artificial and really nothing like we learn if left yo our own devices (eg like we do as adults).

thanks guys, i do feel better now. and i completely agree with you!

i think i am my own worst enemy when it comes to justifying how we spend our time.

we met a friend for lunch and on the way there i made dd recite her times tables so i didn't feel we had wasted the entire day but then on the way back i ended up explaining "economies of scale" and she completely 'got' the concept! (she asked a question about it - i don't just throw econmics into the conversation normally hehehe)

I don't know what economies of scale means - can you explain it to me please :o

We aren't homeschooling but it is amazing how much my 3yo learns from being outside. We just go on nature walks, we've caught, inspected and released insects and water creatures, looked at different flowers and birds, she's getting good at identifying different types. We've also just done up our garden - got loads of fruit and veg growing now! And we are having a sunflower race :)

Sunflowers - how lovely - would we be too late to plant seeds now?

we've just planted pumpkin seeds (dd and dh are having a biggest pumpkin competition this autumn)

Well DH and DD planted the sunflower seeds today so hopefully not too late!

I think it's good to take advantage of the good weather while we can! I home ed my 5 year old and we have been constantly outdoors in the good weather - who knows, we might be doing the early training of a botanist or farmer or future home ed mum who will need to know how to plant things and what creatures live in the garden!