Things I wish I had known when starting out home educating!

 With more people than ever choosing to home educate their children, I thought a post of some of the things I have learnt over the years would be good. Those things I wish I had known at the start!

 

1.      You cannot replicate school at home. It didn’t take me long of trying to do school at home to realise it does not work and that the reason I took my children out of school was to give them an individualized, flexible education to suit them.

I was not teaching 30 children in a classroom anymore; I was not teaching at a pace to fit everyone’s needs and tick boxes. I was teaching my children – each with their own learning style and personality and I had to move as fast or slow as they needed in a way that suits them.

 

2.      Don’t compare!

Following on from first point, your child is an individual. Do not compare them to their siblings, other home-schooled children or public-school children. Each child shines in their own way, each has skills specific to them.

Also don’t compare yourself to other home-school families. Each family rolls the way that suits them. Different families often lean towards what their families enjoys the most and what works for them; whether this is sport, literature, science, nature adventures, maths, computers or languages (the list is endless).

You need to find what suits your family, what you enjoy and build your home school around this.

 

3.      You do not need to follow any one curriculum. Coming from a teaching background, my experience was from the English National Curriculum and the Welsh curriculum which my children followed when in school. I feel that these curriculum put limits on learning. They only delve to a certain level and ultimately it is the government and education ministers that are deciding what is important or relevant for your children to learn. We just need to think about what history is taught in schools and this point is well and truly made.

Things to think about when choosing what to follow is to consider what you want your children to learn and what they themselves want to learn.

There are so many different curricula to chose from, it can get overwhelming and expensive. I would try and get samples, listen to reviews and really work out what works for you. I have got to the point where I have constructed my own curriculum and pulled parts of many different ones that I feel work for us. Never feel constricted by a curriculum. Learning is not limited or tied to guidelines. Learning is lifelong and happens all day, everyday.

 

4.      You will have days when things are hard and don’t go to plan. That is real life. What I have learnt is that when things happen, and life gets tough. Take a break – allow yourself time to refresh and then move on.

 

5.      Don’t buy too many textbooks. I made this mistake and bought so much when starting out. I am still dealing with some of them now. The problem with this was that many of them did not suit my children’s learning styles and some I didn’t like the way they are set out or taught. In my opinion many of them killed the subject, they were boring and uninspiring. Textbooks are not the only option so think big when deciding how you will teach subjects.

 

6.      Treat each child as an individual and work out what style of learning suits them best (Visual, auditory, kinestheic or reading/writing). Home-schooling allows you to customize the education you provide for your child. Not all will learn at the same speed, in the same learning style and be interested in the same subjects.

 

7.      Education is not a race! The school system makes us believe that children should all be at a certain point at a certain age. The reality is that there are developmental brackets (usually 3-4 year span) that children develop certain skills within, it all depends on the child. So expecting children to all read at the same time is not realistic. When we think back to when our children were babies and toddler, there is often months difference even between siblings for when they crawled, walked and talked. Each will hit developmental milestones when they are ready. Academic learning is the same. 

 

8.      Flexibility is key. One of the great blessing of home-schooling is that you do not have to fit into the 6 hour, 5 days a week slots that public schools do. You can work when it fits your family. Morning, afternoons, weekends. Use this to your advantage. Have spontaneous trips out, meet up with friends and embrace the freedom home educating gives you. 

 

9.      You will be questioned and judged. Family, friends and strangers will question your choice to home educate. They will question your ability; they will question what the children are learning, and they will question you about socialisation and claim you are making your child awkward! 

Be confident in what you are doing for your family and don’t let others bring you down.

 

10.   Making connections, spending time with family and friends, experiences and days out are a big part of home-schooling. Embrace them and don’t question the idea that you are not sat at a table for more hours. I was always worried that we were not spending enough time doing worksheets but when I started to document our trips and experiences that involved many learning experiences, I was really surprised at how much we managed to fit in.

 

Below are some of the things that I have found useful since starting our journey:

(Again they worked for me but may not work for everyone).

·        My printer

·        My laminator

·        My binder

·        Academic diaries (page a day).

·        Khan Academy for maths tutorials for older children

·        Twinkl for worksheets

·        Canva templates for making educational worksheets, planning and timetables.

·        OpenLearn free short courses for those age 13 years+. (The open University)

·        Maths Cubes

·        Handheld white boards and pens

·        A pencil case of sharpies in my handbag for when out and about (pebble art)