This time thirteen years ago, I was heavily pregnant with my
third child and thinking about home educating our two daughters. Reuben was
born and our home education journey began. A journey that lasted nine years,
with Rosanna arriving along the way. We had amazing days, crazy days, mundane
days and days when I would shut myself in the kitchen and eat Nutella.
We’d been thinking about home education for about six months
before starting. Time to plan, meet people and think ‘is this right for us?’
This time we’ve got no choice, we are doing it for a different reason to save
lives; to stop the spread of this nasty virus. There won’t be trips to museums
and art galleries. No big meet ups with the home ed community. No groups and
activities. It really will be home education.
I’m not a home education expert, but have put together a few
thoughts. Over the past few days, I’ve felt overwhelmed by the about of
information available.
·
The first few days at home might be very
difficult. We are all adjusting to a new routine. So, don’t panic or think ‘I
can’t do this’. We will all need time to adjust. Don’t judge yourself on the
first week. It takes time to find a rhythm and routine that suits your family.
·
Talk, read books, play games, get creative,
bake. What things would your children like to do at home? I’m going to write a
list. We can then add, amend and tick off the things we do.
·
There’s lots of ‘home ed’ websites
available with free trials. There are timetables available. You can watch
lessons at 9am, 10am… Do look through them. Use the resources that will help
your family. I don’t think you’ll need them all. Last time, I had a couple of
favourite educational sites that I used.
·
Don’t panic when you see or hear what other
families are doing. Do what is right for your family. And remember that people tend to share their
highlights and not their lowlights so much.
·
Look at the work set by school, keep checking
for new work. After all children will be returning to school eventually. I want to keep dialogue open with school via
twitter, see-saw, school blogs. I think this will ease the transition back to
school.
·
Pace yourself, don’t burn out! After Monday
you’ve got to get up and do it again…and again! You don’t need to sit with your
children all the time. You don’t need to entertain them all the time. If they
are old enough, let them take some responsibility for managing their own time
at home.
·
Err on the side of trusting them. All children have a desire to learn and the
new situation might spark that in new and creative ways. Sometimes they will resist every suggestion
you make. So switch everything off and
give them a chance to get bored sometimes, ignore them and let them find their
own solution to it. You might be
pleasantly surprised.
·
Your house doesn’t have to be a classroom, but
if that works for your family do it. I would say the world is your classroom,
but that’s can’t be true so much just now. Your garden is certainly part of
your learning environment though.
·
When the weather is good, get outside into your
garden. If you want to do formal work, you can do it outside, you don’t have to
work inside at a desk. You may get a week when it rains, so when it’s nice
weather get out.
·
Be confident. You know your children better than
anyone else. Learn together. You don’t need to know all the answers. Be
investigators. Facilitate their learning,
point them in the right direction, the internet, books, even another adult.
Enjoy the process.
·
Be brave, be bold. Plan an activity that you’ve
always wanted to do.
·
Make time for yourself, take time in the day to
go into a different room and take a break.
·
You’ll have bad days and you won’t be alone in
that. Phone/text a family member, have a
moan and move on.
·
Record what you are doing (photos, video clips,
writing), put it somewhere you can see it. It’s a great way to stay positive
and to see how much you have achieved.
·
Don’t have a pj day. Get up and get dressed.
·
Celebrate the good days, move on from the bad
ones .Record it all for history! One day
you love to look back on it. I certainly have over the past few days.
·
Dance in the rain! You’ve got to do that!
