How do you do it?!

[DaisyRaine90]

Got to home school DD for a half term as moving house.

How many hours a day do you teach them?
What subjects?
Do you just take it as it comes or have a routine/ time table?

I never intended to Home school so not clued up on this but need to keep a smart active 4 year old occupied and educated for 3 months 😊

Thanks

Everyone does it differently! There are no right or wrong ways to home educate as long as you and your child are happy. As far as the law goes, unless you are in Northern Ireland your child is not yet of compulsory school age so there is no requirement for you to provide an education at all, so no worries there!

I wouldn't invest too much effort in hunting up the perfect resources if you are only going to be doing it for half a term. You'll be quite busy settling in anyway after your house move. Maybe visit the library regularly, read with/to your child about a variety of subjects, do a few visits to museums or other interesting places, get him or her to help you with the shopping list and handing over the money, measuring up for curtains. These things are all educational.

Why the delay in starting school - do you expect to have to wait for a school place to come up, or is it too awkward to get your child to school during this time or... ? Just being nosy! I wondered how you know your child will be out of school for half a term.

At 4 I wouldn't worry to much

Any places to get good worksheets? I’ve bought some learning books but she eats through them 😂

I would be concerned if she eats books.
Do you have your hv number? I would maybe give her a call.

She’s 4! I wouldn’t be doing anything tbh! There’s no rush.

Search Reggio Emilia on Pinterest and you will find a wealth of lovely things to do.

At 4, play board games, visit your new area, visit museums, run around and be silly, build things (small and large) get a pop up tent and pretend it's a castle, a spaceship, a cave.... Snuggle up and read stories, sing, build obstacle courses, take photographs, collect mini beasts, cook, go shopping and take a list, go to the cafe and order off a menu, act out fairy stories, go swimming....

And put the books and worksheets in the bin. You really really won't make her cleverer by pushing formal learning, you'll just make her board.

Bored!! I do know how to spell honestly

Reception seemed to be 80% play and 20% phonics so I’d say just do fun stuff but set 1/2 hour MAX to do reading and letter / number formation.

Our local county parks have a forest school group every month for a few quid. Ditto library groups.

I would have LOVED to have done this with DS - what a great opportunity

Take her out and about - museum, park , library. Bake, listen to audio books, play board games. Read books to her, take her swimming. Do art work at home... so much to do when they are this age and they want to enjoy life..

I am planning to do an outing each morning, (soft play, swimming, library etc., or exercising at home on rainy day) then in the afternoon 30 mins of 1:1 learning and 30 mins fixed activity eg. Art, music etc. Then another quick outing (local shops or park or bike ride), dinner, games and stories, bed x

Also need to fit in minimum of an hour 1:1 with the baby so 30 mins tummy time, and 30 mins baby music or baby signing, plus read books and play throughout the day.

Then once they go to bed my home learning (work for my degree, driving theory test, maths a level etc.)

Then I sleep and DP works on his work and Uni work. Then it starts over 😂

How are you doing a degree what you don't even have A level?

I have an access course but need an extra a level to do my PhD 😊

So starting work now. It’s to do with UCAS points and needing higher maths skills than I have 😊 you can be studying for a degree and also taking a nvq2 or gcse. In fact I may do that too.

Learning should be part of our lives forever in my eyes. We should always be learning new things 😊 be they academic or not. Some people craft, I sit practice exams 😂

How do you need an extra A-level to do a PhD? I'm sure when I applied for my PhD the main focus was my degree/MA results. And don't you need to do a masters first anyway?

Sorry I meant my Masters I only just got in on my points and need to improve my maths skills. At masters and PhD I need the maths skills regardless.

Daisy, you sound like a lovely, concerned mum who wants the best for your kids and they're lucky so I'm not trying to have a go but do you think you might need to RELAX!!!

They're very tiny still, try to relax a bit, go with the flow. Your description of your days sounds very very prescrptive and it sounds like you will end up quite stressed.

If you relax and respond to your kids as and when things come up, you'll find that there are many many educational opportunities that occur naturally at any age.

Today it all went to hell and I napped when the baby did

Now catching up on washing after a game of snake and ladders

She managed to count to 50 while I was cleaning and we played a game on outing to shop and park this morning

I don’t feel cut out for this at all I get so tired
I never relax though tbf x

To be honest though I think most parents feel not cut out for it and tired, it goes with the territory... I know I do, all the time
Your dd sounds like a bright little button, you won't break her by allowing yourself to have an off day. Take care of yourself, you matter too

Thanks x

She's 4, not even compulsory school age yet so you are not home schooling her, just waiting for her to start school. Chill out.

Going well with the home schooling just struggling to find time to do my own homework
The tablet has been rediscovered though and baby has been introduced to ITNG
He loves it
I am sure there will be no lasting damage from being more flexible on screen time