Here is the thing about home education it is a lifestyle, it takes time, it is not a big SPRINT.  There is no desperate need to finish that book today, if it takes an extra day it is OKAY, if it takes an extra week that is FINE, have a cup of tea or coffee chat to the kids and give yourself a break.  If you Sprint to finish everything you are going to get exhausted. And in my house exhausted mom = grumpy mom = not the best at facilitating learning.

There are going to be topics that your kids learn about that are not covered by the schools in your area in the same year.  So if you don’t cover the exact same History topics at the exact same time as your local schools, it is okay.  Breathe.  If your kids study the Egyptians one year later it is going to be okay.

We don’t need to stick to school term dates, so if your kids prefer to do the museum trips and activities during school term when it is quieter embrace it because guess what when it is school holidays and all the museums are crazy busy you can use that time to do some learning projects at home.

We don’t need to fit everything in during the school hours.  If you are as lucky as I am and have a partner who wants to be a part of the home education, include them.  Let them spend half an hour with the kids in the evening talking about a topic that they are interested in.  I am constantly amazed by how much my kids have learnt from the half an hour evening reading / chatting to their dad (when he gets home from work).  The detailed knowledge they now have about animals blows me away.

When we first started out home educating my oldest I worried about fitting everything in, I got grumpy when we did not do the activities that I wanted to do in the way that I imagined them.  But as we have progressed I have realized that the more I stopped looking at this as a race to get everything covered, the more I relaxed and enjoyed learning alongside the kids, the more we actually got done.  And more importantly when I was not panicking and rushing the kids through the activities but giving them time they started to understand, they started to question and the real learning actually began.

So in our house this is more about Long distance. We want the kids to enjoy learning, to question, to explore topics they find interesting and like this week if our plans get thrown out the window because one of them needs a break it is totally fine.  There is no deadline for our learning.

And must just find them sitting down doing something on their own.

Save

Save