A Learning Experience to Remember: August 2021-August 2022

The morning period is personally the best time of day for lessons for my girls. They are alert, focused and raring to start lessons, consequently breakfast lessons are an established learning time. I have a captive audience, they are in the kitchen with me anyway learning how to prepare the food, tidy down and set the table. This session can be the best for attention span and concentration out of the entire day, so I have learnt to capitalise on this precious half hour.  This morning we learnt twenty spellings from two word families. They are storming through their word lists, quickly approaching the 200 mark in only a couple of months. I cannot recommend this learning style enough, the girls are retaining their spelling knowledge and are actively using the words in their artwork in their free time. Today they also requested spelling tests to be their handwriting practice, and did further spelling practice on top for another half an hour through choice.  The rest of breakfast ...

There is so much potential for learning on car journeys. This time Sophia's attention was caught by seeing electricity pylons and wind turbines and she was avidly asking questions about these. I briefly introduced them to her and offered to set up some follow up science educational YouTube videos at a later date. Good old 'Dr Binocs' came through and the children have been eagerly learning about fossil fuels, renewable energy and electricity. Sophia has started writing down her thoughts and knowledge on electricity in her new science book. It is a great sidestep from their current topic of light, which is being learnt enthusiastically. They have loved their light experiments, as simple as they were, including going into a dark room and shining a torch, seeing how a pencil seems to change when placed in a glass of water, just with a light shining on it. Observing what materials allow light to pass through and which cast shadows, and performing shadow puppet plays on the wall...

This first week of October has flown by, centering around Sophia's 6th birthday, and our learning journey has strongly been influenced by new crafts which were gifted to Sophia.  Arts and crafts have an important role to play in teaching and reinforcing skills, particularly for those who are in early years education. Sophia has decorated a clock for her bedroom, counting in fives around the clock as she coloured. It was a project that required great concentration, she wanted to stay within the lines and create an end product she was proud of. She chose a beautiful and elegant colour scheme and took regular breaks to make sure she kept concentration, to rest her hand. She would go outside to play, then come in and work on the next piece.  She was also gifted with a weaving project, and this was the first time she had seen this skill so she had a lot of questions about what the skill was used for. Following her interest we watched YouTube videos to show her the history, art and ...

This last week heralded an unexpected extended stay in hospital with Xander fighting several serious infections in his bloodstream, so whilst the staff worked to prevent sepsis, our family had to adjust to hospital life once more. Home education has to continue both for the girls and little man at this time, as it is not a one off occasion but is our way of life. It is not an excuse to not learn. The pattern of learning may change under Daddy and Grannie's care, but what is important, is that the learning journey continues. The girls applied existing knowledge and skills to new situations, enjoyed a lot of physical education and learning new skills.  Sophia likes being post mistress and collecting the letters from the front door. She has been practicing reading from takeaway menus and writing down dishes, before she put them into the recycling. As she helped to prep the meals she was reading from the back of the packets, utilising her skills from outside of the traditional reading ...

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 ...