A Learning Experience to Remember: August 2021-August 2022

A holiday for us is a pushing of boundaries.  It is fraught with concern beforehand.  It can so easily be derailed.  We went away on holiday in the summer.  To a new location, a new home, visiting my mother who had moved since our last pre covid visit.  I planned it to the nth degree, had contingencies in place for weather changes and the children's reactions.  My maximum goals: A heavily planned week of educational and social events including: - Farms - Zoo - A boat trip to see seals  - Aquarium  - Visits to neighbours  - Beach trips - A glass blowing class  - A shell museum   - A birthday party  - Réunion and sleepover with cousins  Their hurdles: - New home  - New area  - Away from dad - No safe places marked out - Heavy socialising - Multiple events happening daily - All new first time events - Extensive car rides - No tech all week except for ipads.  My expectations: - They wouldn't be able to hand...

Child led learning can often receive a bad press. Maybe there's a fear attached to the rejection of the concept of allowing the children to have a choice, some power over their education.  I find the snow ball effect of learning absolutely magical, it takes you places you'd never imagine.  We traveled an educational path from seeing a wind turbine for the first time, back in time to the land of the dinosaurs.  Sophia caught sight of a wind turbine one day last year as we past it in the car. She was really interested and enjoyed a spontaneous car lesson. She kept talking about it past the moment, so I took it further.  We looked at the basics, electrical items within the home, health and safety concerning the items, the concept behind charging their ipads. Sophia created a electrical circuit lighting up a light bulb.  We moved on to fossil fuels, the greenhouse effect, and then on to renewable energy. This project took over the learning year with the children ask...

Sophia is loving her education, both on an academic level, as well as training to be capable and equipped in what should be the basics.  She enjoys taking part in activities which teach home life skills. She voluntarily helps around the house helping with easy cleaning and tidying tasks and has certain personal responsibilities which she takes pride in completing.  She has been in charge of a little herb and fruit patch with half a dozen herbs, strawberry and tomato plants for over a year now. She tends to them daily, and has greatly enjoyed eating from her garden over the summer, and dehydrating herbs for the cupboard.  Sophia has enjoyed going out on foraging adventures this summer and coming home with her spoils of apples and blackberries and utilising them in desserts and enjoying bowlfuls of them.  She loves cooking with us, and has been learning different culinary skills, including making mirepoix, marinades and sauces.  Sophia has been learning about succ...