A Learning Experience to Remember: August 2021-August 2022

Physical education can be a loaded topic within the home schooling environment. It is not stated by law within the UK that it has to be included as part of a curriculum or be part of a childs life, where in some states of America it is mandatory. I have heard varying opinions from UK based parents on its place within a childs life. I will be discussing physical education options for physically able bodied children within this blog.  It is easy to cultivate a love for a sport from an early age, and it can be a wonderful bonding activity for families, as well as a great way for your child to make friends and learn important social skills. There will be parents who strongly encourage ballet, swimming, football, gymnastics, martial arts, tennis, cricket for example and that is awesome, I cannot wait for it to be the right time for my children to explore some of these options. There are parents however who may not be able to afford this route, or may not be sporty themselves or may not ...

The groundwork for the following topics has been laid over the past couple of years. Last year the girls learnt the definition and distinguish between carnivore, herbivore and omnivore, and could place animals into groups, who lived in different environments. However they were not massively interested in the topic and as I could see they were not retaining knowledge beyond the basic facts I shelved the topic. It is so important that children stay interested in a topic, especially if they are autistic. I have observed that forcing a subject will only cause them to completely switch off. So we stepped back and moved on to another topic at the time. Consequently habitats, living things and food chains were on the goal list for this academic year. The girls seem to be full of surprises this year and after unexpectedly having a win with the topic of magnets I let them scroll through their science educational playlist to choose their next topic. They chose habitats! They were really engaged ...

Sophia’s pet project of her herb garden is proving to be a success. She has managed to keep them alive for a couple of weeks now, and takes her responsibility seriously. She spends time with her little charges daily and worries about them when they’re left out in the rain. A parsley plant joined the ranks this last week, donated by Grannie, and it has happily settled in amongst the rosemary, chives, oregano and thyme. It got the tour of the garden by Xander who carried it round proudly, before Sophia gave it some tender loving care, removing its dead heads, giving it a trim and a water. She was clucking over it like a right little mother hen. We had a chat the other morning while she was tending her charges over which herbs compliments which meats and dishes which she found very interesting. She has been providing herbs for varying bbq meals which we have been enjoying during the past fortnight, and takes a taste test daily to see the quality of her stock. Sophia has shown a great inte...

What is charity? It is an act of kindness, thoughtfulness, to help someone in need, to make the world a better place. It does not always have to involve a donation. As you wander down the street you may never know what charitable works are occurring around us. A smile to a stranger may make their day and give them a sense of self worth, even though you may not feel like smiling. Letting someone ahead of us in a queue, could mean they're not late for a shift. My husband used to accept his right to have a meal at work so he could pass it on to one of the many homeless people living on the streets. I visited a park in Sheffield recently with Sophia and was struck by two acts of charity which have enveloped the park. One had occurred over a century ago and was epitomised by a memorial statue. Sophia stood looking up at it and asked me who it was and why there was a statue named Elliot in the park. I must admit to my ignorance here and said merely that he was a poet, which she accepte...

No two days are alike when you home school three children at this amazing age where everything is an adventure and they find joy in any new exploration, whether it is found academically or outside in nature. The subjects may stay the same but the key is to keep the approach spontaneous and in the hands of the children if possible. Over the course of two days, surprising and magical events took place.   In regards to the academic side of things the girls were practicing their mental maths, multiplying by two, five and ten, and adding in tens and ones at breakfast time, and providing alternative additions and subtraction variants to reach the number seven and nine, and then they spent some time on their current maths workbooks. Xander proudly showed his mental maths skills off answering 1+1, 1+2 and 2+2. Multiplying by three has a hit a mental block past the stage of twelve, despite verbal repetition and YouTube songs, so I think I need to get creative and make the three times tabl...

Sophia was keen to practice her handwriting and her chosen content today was a mix of spellings and copying out animals from a book. She was absolutely fascinated to learn that I had a few secrets up my sleeve. She spelt out the word ‘was’, I whispered to her to add the secret letter ‘h’ and her face lit up in wonder as she read the word ‘wash’. She started squealing with joy when I told her to add ‘ing’. She now knows how to spell washing! She is really blossoming with her writing and spelling and is so connected and tuned in. Long may it remain! Xander was sat on the floor reading through Kiras current set of sight words pack of flashcards, words like ‘remember’ and ‘children’ did not faze him at all. Today marked one hundred days since Xander had his Bonemarrow transplant which is a massive milestone. He has survived the most critical part of the transplant and any complications past this stage should be far less dangerous and the risk should now continue to diminish as time passes ...

 I th ought lessons had finished for the day when a late afternoon mystery parcel arrived as I was cooking tea. Inside was a pack of magnets I had impulsively brought from amazon as a last attempt to introduce the topic to the girls. They have been quite resistant to learning this topic when I tried to introduce it via books and YouTube videos, and I was willing to try one last teaching method before shelving the topic and moving on to another for the time being. My girls usually cannot resist a science practical, however today there was no big build up or preparation as I wanted them to simply gravitate towards the magnets themselves. They had wandered down to the kitchen to investigate when tea was going to be ready and to see what had arrived in the post. I waved vaguely in the direction of the mystery box on the table whilst stirring the pot on the oven top. The following half an hour was one of the most impromptu, exciting and fruitful lessons we have ever had. It was an abs...

The majority of parents know exactly what their role is when the alarm goes off in the morning: it’s the school run, which I would imagine is pretty predictable on the whole. In stark contrast, my mornings prior to breakfast time are always different. Learning sessions happen, however it remains fresh and unpredictable day to day, dependant a great deal on the children’s level of concentration, interest and general head space. It may be a very successful, productive morning for one or two, and one may need to process and time alone and have no concentration for lessons. They may switch in at another point in the day and study something totally different from the others. Sophia has been quite occupied in drawing our house for the past month, and she is not content to simply produce the generic form of a house anymore. She’s been through that stage and now only concentrates on exact replicas of our three storey house. She draws it as if you are looking in at an open dollhouse, seeing a...

The girls have had a confusing and scary year, with their little world being turned upside down with the deterioration of their little brother's health. Xander deteriorated rapidly in the last few months leading up to Transplant in June, and was in hospital at least once a week, with a few over night stays. Mummy was all of a sudden very busy and absent and Xander was getting less mobile and needed more care. He would come home having had sometimes eight cannulas in a twelve hour trip away at the hospital. He came home one day with several strange tubes coming out of his chest, and just slept all day after that for a week. Mummy and Xander then disappeared one night and didn’t return for seven weeks. Daddy wasn’t working and was busy looking after them along with Nana and Grannie's help. Xander returned home with no hair, he had changed a great deal, and was still needing regular hospital visits. I noticed one day that Joyful Miss Jo, the Children’s Coach, had posted a lovely...

This has been a great weekend: with lots of family time, hours of garden time, and two nature walks. They loved showing off their woodland spoils to their friend next door. There's been an extraordinary number of bubble baths due to them coming in from the garden absolutely filthy from top to toe, and they filled a washing basket just between them! As our learning journey moves forward constantly and weekends are not traditionally recognised, there was plenty of home educating to counterbalance the outdoor adventures.  We woke up our sleepy brains with a good Spanish session which all three children are loving and picking up fast. This morning we had several renditions of Jack Hartmann musical educational videos on colours and alphabet. We sang 1-100, and looked at days of the week for the first time. I also sang a Spanish song about colours to them which I am sure they will learn quickly, if only to stop mum singing it to them. Breakfast time approached and as they sit round the f...