Dinosaur land

On Monday my eldest daughter started creating a dinosaur land and I wanted to share the outcome 

Hours of fun and creativity have come from this as dino land is still growing and so far 3 days of fun have been spent on it. I think this is a fantastic thing and a great way to spend time as it has sparked other discussions about when dinosaurs lived what sort of vegetation there would have been, carnivores and herbivores. So letting children play really does aid their learning experiences and we should encourage and foster this inbuilt curiosity!

 

Home ed resources

I just wanted to share resources as I come across them so I will start today

Firstly I use a free online christian curriculum called easy Peasy homeschool, it is split into subjects so you can use as much or as little of it as you like and it i

Has lots of links to free resources dotted throughout

Www.allinonehomeschool.com

Another link for downloading free reading books is progressive phonics, and is a nice way to supplement a structured reading program, although I am also a big fan of using the local library.

http://www.progressivephonics.com

If you like book based activities as we do and linking curriculum areas then try teaching ideas they have a great 

book list with a good selection of activities based on the books

Www.teachingideas.co.uk

Imagination tree has some fantastic craft ideas and fun play ideas which I love for learning through play

Www.theimaginationtree.com

I will add more as I come across them but I hope you can use some of these in your home education. 

A new reading resource 

Www.teachyourmonstertoread.com 

Fantastic phonic practice and totally free!!!!!

Mad Mondays

Halfway through Monday and we have decided to restart school.  So far we have had good start to the week.

We started our day by baking a Chorizo focaccia, which went down well and was eaten up for lunch

Then we attended a spooky spider craft activity at our local library, then on our return started making a pen pot to organise our materials 

And now we are working on our dinosaur valley

  With so much fun this morning who knows what will happen this afternoon, we are planning to do some reading and making some pasta jewellery and playing a few games maybe even a little maths! 

What I am loving most about home ed is the flexibility to have fun and to learn at the same time, we have cover reading a measuring when baking, and creativity and imaginative play in our artistic crafts!

There is so much more fun to be had when learning through play!

To plan or not to plan....... That is the question?

As we are in the "school holidays" we are generally taking a rest from work but this is mostly due to the weather and as I only took my daughter out of school in June we are still really deschooling! 

But the question for me is as September approaches do I follow a timetable for formal learning or not? Do I plan for September and keep to term times or do I just go with the flow, I am swaying towards a semi structured and project lead approach where my daughter chooses the projects and we plan around that but we do try and stick to a little English and maths each day! I also do not expect to follow traditional term times but to keep to a less formal approach and break when work becomes unproductive and stops happening, hopefully we can wait and see an I can post up some of our fun projects for you all to see. 

Just as a taste of our project work so far my daughter was interested in ancient Egypt so we built a sugar cube pyramid below is the outcome

Hot, hot, hot!!!!

As I sit in the living room keeping out of this stifling heat and listening to the children play nicely together upstairs, I know I have made the right decision to home educate my children! 

I think of the children stuck in hot and sticky classrooms learning and working because they have to and I think of the fun my two have been having in the sun and how work has been slower due to the heat and the struggle to concentrate! 

You are only a child once and you can never get those years back, we spend enough time as adults working because we have to and missing out in the sun or fun days so why should we miss out on it as children too! 

When the weather cools down we will do more work again but while it is difficult due to the heat we will enjoy ourselves and stay cool, how many school children do that! 

Also my 2 girls are having such fun playing together but they are 2 years apart so stick them is school and they won't be together, when my eldest was in school this had a big impact on their relationship as she was tired on her return home so they did not really get time to play together but now they are having fun! 

As I write this post I can see the parents getting ready to pick up their children from school, they all look too hot and fed up, I wonder how the kids feel! 

The joys of home ed

Over the last few days the weather has been amazing with temperatures reaching the low 30's.

With such lovely weather it seems a shame to be cooped up in a classroom not really listening because all you can think of is getting outside and how hot you are!

Because we home ed we have been out enjoying the sun, playing in the paddling pool, messing in the sand, looking after the garden, going for a walk and just generally having fun!

Then when it has cooled down later at night we have settled down to some work and some stories and just little bits that need doing!

Seeing my children happy and being able to seize the opportunities that come along as and when is very important to me and by home educating my children I have that opportunity that I would not have if I sent them to school!

Going well!!!!!!!

It has been a while since I have posted as things have been a bit chaotic with getting things organised, we had a visit from the LEA last Friday and I am please to say it all went well! 

The lady that came out was very friendly and helpful and is looking onto helping me get the school records faster and arranging access to the schools library service and even supplying us with a HE discount card! 

Although we have not done much due to the short space of time that has passed we got some excellent feedback and the LEA are pleased with our curriculum

Things around here are getting more structured now we have started using a free online christian curriculum called Easy Peasy homeschool, it was devised in America but is an excellent Christian curriculum for anyone looking to home educate on a budget as all of the links and worksheets supplied are free, and the cost for completing the projects is minimal! 

So My 3 year old has started work on getting ready stage one the UK equivalent on foundation stage one or nursery and my 5 year old is just finishing off getting ready 2  to start year one in September!

I am pleased with our progress so far and we are starting to get involved in local HE activities. We will for example be going ice skating on Friday and to an adventure playground later today!

I will try and keep you updated with a daily run down of our events and let you see how home education is working for us!