We started back at (home)school yesterday so being in the season of things new, I thought I would write a post on my poor, neglected little blog. I am, after all, trying to keep a record of our home education journey and up to now, it really gives the impression that we don’t do very much at all! Although I suppose that my lack of posting could signify that we’re doing sooo much that I just don’t get chance to tear myself away from the fun to post anything. I hope the children remember it as the latter option anyway!
I didn’t really intend to follow school holidays but we ended up taking a break from our normal routine over the summer. And a rather lovely break it was too! We had the best holiday ever in early July – two weeks on the Lizard in Cornwall, coinciding with a heatwave. It was like being in the Mediterranean without having to travel there! We spent long days on the beach and walking on clifftops, just enjoying being there and being together. We seem to have spent the rest of the summer in the garden or at various school holiday activities. The boys tried trampolining and went on a week-long swimming course. I ran a sports day and an art camp with the MEACHE group, both of which were wonderful times with our home ed friends. We went almost every week to Angelsey Abbey’s Wild Wednesday sessions to do wild art, den-building, learn about birds and make things with sticks. We planted and tended a pretty impressive (for my amateur standard!) vegetable garden with potatoes, onions, leeks, squashes, courgettes, gooseberries, blackcurrants, strawberries (small amounts of each one!) and to my great excitement, tomatoes! I’ve tried for three years to grow tomatoes and this year, it has finally worked – in that we actually have some chance of eating the tomatoes. The four bushes are laden with green tomatoes that are definitely ripening!
But, back to schooling. This year, I want to redress the balance between planning and doing. I know that my weakness is actually doing what I spend so long planning to do! There are lessons I’ve learned from previous years that I hope – with God’s help – to implement this year. First, that I need to get to sleep earlier. I’m an owl but I have to start the day earlier to get things done – this is definitely where I lose time in the day, time when the children are at their freshest and most able to concentrate. Second, that lots of subjects can be covered quickly; in fact a little every day is the best way to learn some things. For instance, Edward is learning three languages (Spanish, French, Koine Greek), which can seem insurmountable when planning how to fit everything in but we only need to do 10 minutes per day of each one. Third, that there are lots of subjects that we can all do together: in Charlotte Mason-style, a feast can be laid before them and each child can take from it what they are able to. We’ve always done this with Spanish and it’s been lovely to see how much Lydia enjoys it – even at 3 – and spontaneously uses Spanish words during the day. There are, of course, subjects that need to be done separately but I would like to limit this as much as possible and try to include the little ones, even if they are only sitting with us and playing while I read to the older ones.
Lighting a Fire 