Brain malfunctioning!

[SunsetOnTheHorizon]

Having recently started home education with my 10 and 6 year old I feel I am spending every waking second reading up or researching (if I am not sitting down with them) on home ed cirruculum, resources and all the other videos fellow parents are uploading.

I feel so immersed in this that I do feel like I'm in this bubble and the sounds out of the bubble are slowly drowning out. Obviously worrying, but I feel as a non teacher I do want to do the best by my kids and my brain is telling me "Have a rich cirruculum full of resources and thousands of books" I know this will come with time. But I feel unless I don't have an exotic timetable stuck on the wall full of extraordinary things to do, my kids won't be receiving the best I can give.

Are there any other new parents out there who have recently taken this step and are having similar feelings? Perhaps I'm overwhelmed or burnt out. Whichever it is some practical advice would be super helpful.

Thanks to all x

Sounds like you're on a fast-track sharp learning curve OP! It'll slow down, there's masses to take in at the beginning.

Are you in touch with your local groups?

Its not so hard to keep up with the curriculum with only two, compared to a class of 25+! You can get through it a lot easier. Try not to put too much pressure on yourself!

Did you get a good break over Christmas? If not, take a break now, before you do get overwhelmed!

WEll done making the leap, and good luck.

Thanks for replying!

There is a barrage of info out there, digesting the good, useful bits is a task in itself.

I have joined some local groups and attended some meet ups and without sounding cheeky, I just don't seem to connect with these people (trying my best) even the kids are like

We began after the Christmas holz and up until then we did take it easy. Really want to squeeze a holiday in but funds are so tight at the minute.

I just don't want to be doing the un-schooloing thing as much as it works for others. My two love sitting down and having a formal lesson (secretly, I like it this way too).

You're right about it being easier with 2, I didn't think of it that way. Mission:cirruculum seems so far away, it worries me. Subjects like history for example... I am which end do we begin with.

Bump for this morning.

Ah, you're still in the Bucket Theory of Learning phase 😍 we are mostly enculturated to believe that education is something that is done to children. Adults with knowledge and understanding impart that to children (who are the buckets).

It has been replaced by the internet. Knowledge is no longer difficult to acquire; now it's the critical understanding bit that's key to learn.

What this boils down to is: for sure, use a curriculum of some kind (we do, for key subjects; I'm not an unschooler, though we did unschool when the children were smaller) but you don't need to carry any of the knowledge yourself; you just need to be learning with your children, and helping them to evaluate the information they encounter 😊

And ps it takes a while to find your people. Around us, there are multiple (but overlapping) subcultures. Christian home edders (less commonly unschoolers); hippy home edders (very often unschoolers); special needs home edders (a right mix!); Reluctant home edders (where school was just damaging their children too much, but they wouldn't have chosen it otherwise); chaotic home edders with feral children; genius home edders/elite sports type people... It's a matter of persisting, and setting up occasional activities that really mesh with your approach, and then with luck your "people" will join in (e.g. a formal language class, set up as being adult led with certain behaviour expectations and a teacher you club together to pay for - that can be a good way of flushing out people with a similar approach to you)

Wow. Amazingly put. I feel I am going through a lot of different phases/feelings. It is one helluva rollercoaster atm. From feeling ecstatic and overly positive, to feelings of failure and negativity.

I am loving that grouping of the home address that you so cleverly put together. Made me laugh as I have seen chaotic ones with feral kids!

It is definetly uphill at the moment but persistence is key and I am not giving up any point soon. Plus the kids are very happy at home which must be a major plus point.

Thanks for the encouragement

Everything Ommward said.

I think new home educators often make the mistake of thinking it is a case of following the National Curriculum or unschooling and home education is so much more diverse than that.

Mine are 13 and 16 now. Eldest fully emeshed in GCSE study, youngest studying towards 2 GCSEs and we mainly use bought curricula for the main subjects we study as we are looking to develop skills to prep for GCSEs but we still do a lot of Documentary watching, reading aloud, workshops and visits to places of interest.

When they were younger we dabbled a bit in unschooling but it was never for us really (we'd take a long summer holiday from our more formal work though as they seemed better with less structure over the summer/hayfever season). We tried various things but what worked best for us was a more relaxed, secular take on a Charlotte Mason philosophy. We often used American curricula as I felt it did a better job of embedding the basics. Subjects other than maths/english we tended to do as projects, sometimes these were chosen based on their interests, other times prompted by an event or exhibition or workshop that I felt we could expand on, sometimes purely it was me thinking they should know about x - at the most basic these would be a fact book we'd read through, a fiction book to read alongside, a documentary to watch, a list of hands on activities to do (crafts, games, recipes, experiments) and a list of places to visit. We seldom produced written work outside of English/maths besides the odd lapbook (worth a google) it was mainly practically and through discussion that I knew they'd learnt and understood.

What we did worked for us. It takes time to find your way. Recognising that education takes place in many ways and the NC is what some bods in an office somewhere decided on is step one. Then you can work on deciding what matters to you and your children in terms of what you cover and ways which work for you to cover it and find resources to support.

On the Home Education group front activities that get the less feral breed along will almost definitely exist around you but often they are smaller numbers and booking ahead etc so might be harder to spot on Facebook groups. Worth checking pinned posts and group files as they can show up activities that don't always show up on the group. Persevere though as it does take time to find your tribe and watch out for regular posters on local FB groups as they might not physically be attending activities (kids different age of some other reason) but will happily answer questions and offer friendship and advice.

If you need a little boost to give you some focus and a sense of accomplishment while you figure it all out, what about a short project, maybe based around a museum trip? That gives some structure but without you having to have a detailed long-term plan just yet.

What a fantastic idea! @saracen For some reason my insides are screaming to me "do a project!"

I'll get onto that, kids will love it too as they always want some kinda focus each day. And that will give me more time to get that dreaded yearly plan in place!

Absoloutley superb bits of advice my fellow mumsnetters!

@it'sstillgood I'm loving the fact the kids could begin GCSE studies much earlier than 16, that must release so much pressure.

Your right. Home educating is so diverse and no matter how many times you say it, its never enough..."do whatever fits for your specific needs as a family".

Feeling much more positive now.

As a side note, what kind of subscription based websites are people using? Twinkl seems quite popular but the masses of worksheets makes me ill.

we love mystery science.

Get yourself onto Pop Art Home Education lots of group discounts to websites, which come with recommendations from the people who've managed to acquire the discount :)

Hi just wanted to join in on this to say I'm experiencing exactly the same. Just started home Ed with my 9/7yr old. Trying to chill but the temptation to immediately have a time table, a fab line up of resources, trips out etc is hard to resist. Even though everyone says, don't worry they'll learn I still panic.

Thank you @ommward. I'll be sure to check it out. The recommendations are the best as they have been tried and tested.

@alittle it is hard to resist! But if you do follow your gut and go crazy I think you will get burnt out. I had a few awful days feeling totally wasted. And yesterday I was coming down with a bug and as soon as I rested my behind I was right as rain. Me thinks body is saying.... Calm right down.

These experienced home eddders and like our parents they have all the experience and talk a whole load of sense and in a few years we will be like... they were so right.

The suggestions have been absoloutley super so far x