Homeschooling Mainstream Schooled Children

Frozen moments in time from the Beenleigh Historical Village

I've often thought about homeschooling my children. Guiding them in a nurturing environment to reach their potential by encouraging them to be creative and follow their passions, while avoiding many of the negative aspects of the schooling system. I have so much respect for parents who homeschool and take on the challenges and rewards of educating their own children. My husband has a much more mainstream attitude to schooling however, and I'm not sure I could balance the responsibilities of educating all three of my little ones, while still keeping my creative spirit nourished with my business. (I still think about it though!) My husband and I do share the same philosophy on early childhood, which means we don't send our children to childcare or kindy, and they start school in Prep. I understand it is such a personal thing for each family, these are the decisions that we have made that are working for us. I'm pleased to be their full time carer and be so involved in their early learning.

I find homeschooling blogs and websites are a great resource to compliment mainstream schooling. I'm engaged as much as possible with Cohen's education at school, and daily learning with all three at home. With my eldest in Grade one, this means prioritising homework and reading at home, meeting with his teacher weekly, discussing the social and educational aspects of his day to day with him, and encouraging his involvement in activities like Science Club during his lunch time. With all three children I endeavor to create a positive, fun learning environment at home and on holidays, with visits to galleries, museums, animal parks, and the Historical Village pictured above. Together is give us opportunities to explore, play, absorb, question and find answers.

I believe a well rounded education is the most important thing we can offer our children, after a safe and loving home and family. With the growth of technology we have little idea what the job market will demand of our children in ten to fifteen years time. But I believe a love of learning, strong curiosity, flexibility and creativity will put our little ones in the best position to find their way in the world. And for me, that means mixing mainstream school with homeschooling.

What does your education journey look like?

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Some great resources and interesting reads I have found lately:

Motherhood, Screened Off - a great article that suggests narrating our use of smart phones to our children, so they feel included, not excluded each time we pick our phone up

Socialization: What I learnt from school - so many great points raised regarding the things we inadvertently learn in school, like that is is 'uncool' to be smart

20+ Home Science Projects for Kids - from silly putty to salt crystals

Homeschooling on Pinterest - so many great posts

Success on Paper or Success in Life

No Cook Playdough

How good is play dough? For my five and two year old, it is the best. They spend hours using household items, their hands and imaginations to create everything from people wearing dinosaur shirts (as above) to angry birds being bombed with sling shots. Seriously. (And while the second is not exactly my choice of play inspiration, who am I to argue with the creativity of my big boy?)

Even more exciting for my two was the fact that they were able to make our latest batch of play dough all by themselves. From measuring to stirring, colouring to kneading, together they carried out the simple instructions. And they really are very simple.

You will need -

2 cups of plain flour

1 cup of salt

1 tablespoon of oil

1 cup of water

Food colouring

Mix flour and salt together. Mix in oil, water and food colouring, then knead.

Ta-dah!

Homeschooling for School Children

I've been looking up homeschooling activities lately, to complement the learning five year old Cohen is doing at school (Prep) in a creative and play based way, and for two and a half year old Emerson, who is already showing a lot of interest. There are so many great resources that are just a simple Google or Pinterest search away. I love that so many homeschooling parents share posts about their journey and what works with their children, which has inspired me to share more of our activities on my blog too. As the school year draws closer to its close, I wanted to start implementing activities that we could carry on with on the holidays, to nurture Cohen and Emerson's love of learning. On many blogs I read suggestions about Nature Books, and was reminded to lead by example and make it fun.

Yesterday, with an empty Saturday before us, we made plans to visit the library, the playground and the shops. At the library Cohen used a computer to complete his first catalogue search to track down his first chapter book, he and Emerson joined two other children to build with over sized Lego blocks, and Emerson and I selected several books for our routine pre-nap story time. From there we visited the playground and after climbing, sliding and swinging, I suggested we hunt through the many fallen leaves and find our favorites. Both children loved this idea, and we compared our 'treasures' in excitement. Cohen commented on the colours and shapes of the leaves, and I suggested we take them home so we could draw them, which was also met with excitement. I added that while we were at the shops we could perhaps buy a special sketchbook, and call it our 'Nature Book', and only draw the leaves, shells, flowers etc that we found on our adventures. Cohen couldn't wait to get going and headed back to the car! Emerson was less interested in this idea, but already has her own book and set of felt pens that she plays with on a daily basis and is currently in her circle period (where she covers the pages with circles).

Once home the youngest two napped while Cohen and I sat and drew together. I left the dishes in the sink, the clean clothes in the machine, and spent one on one time drawing with my big boy. It was so lovely. I lead by example, writing in the front of my book, drawing the leaves, labeling my drawing, and Cohen did the same. There was none of the resistance that I am often met with while encouraging him to practice writing for homework. He added his own creative touch by drawing a slippery slide, so he would remember where we found the leaves. He decided we should keep our treasure in a shoe box and is already planning to draw with his Aunty at our upcoming Farm Stay holiday.

So, while Cohen will continue to pursue a traditional education, and Emerson and Oscar will eventually join him, a year after most Australian children, I'm grateful there is such a plentiful source of wisdom online, that we are able to integrate homeschooling techniques and projects in to our daily lives.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this matter!