It has been a while since I wrote any kind of family update
I would like to share a home education update
I would like to share where we are up to
And where we are headed this year
Home educating four children between the ages of 2 and 9
Is an enormous undertaking
We are busy from sun up to sun down
Always doing something
It is exhausting and exhilarating
A rollercoaster ride like no other
It is an honour, a privilege
And a HUGE responsibility
Ensuring that I am meeting the emotional, social, academic, physical needs
Of all my children, every day
I would be lying if I did not say that some days feel utterly impossible
The lowest days are so low I feel like giving it all up
But the okay days and the good days and the amazing days
Far outweigh the bad
And I know that I am so lucky to have so much time with my children
Making memories
This year we are officially home educating Edie
Age two and a half she could be starting preschool now
But for the moment she will be staying at home with us
We have started our own Letter of the Week curriculum with her
We have only just started this week but she loves it so much
She keeps saying thank you and it is so so sweet
We have started with the letter E
E for Edie
We will learn all the letters in her name first
Before moving on to SATPIN
The first sounds that are taught in school
As part of structured phonics programs
I am a huge believer in playful learning at all ages
We are all involved in helping Edie with her ‘work’
Singing songs, reciting rhymes, completing puzzles, playing games
Today William made and organised an elephant hunt for Bea and Edie
They had to find eleven elephants (Letter E) that he had hidden round the house
It was so lovely
And with William taking the lead I was able to spend some time doing maths with Esther
One of the best things about home education is that we are all learners and teachers
All of the time
As well as letters I am also working on numbers and counting with Edie
She can recite numbers beyond 20 but her counting can be quite creative
We are working on one to one correspondence with lots of grouping and sorting of toys
And food
Edie LOVES her food
Especially pudding
Edie now attends ballet classes
She absolutely loves her class
Which is at the same dance school that the other three dance at
This year they will all be in the annual show together
I am going to be very emotional about that
Edie is picking up her letters really well
She is loving having activities planned just for her
And in planning for her
The days are running much more smoothly
Which is brilliant for everyone
Bea, not yet five and a half
Is doing really well with her learning
She is incredibly bright and able
But also incredibly strong willed
She reads beautifully and can sound out most new words
Her maths is solid
Her writing is coming along well
Her art is amazing
And her heart lies in singing, dancing and drama
Bea dances three times a week now
She does tap, modern and musical theatre
Ballet, acro, singing, drama and more musical theatre
Bea also now does a 30 minute Spanish lesson a week
Which she loves
My main focus with Bea this year is her emotional well being
We are going to do a lot of work on what is called PSHE in school
Personal, social and health education
Learning to be a good person and play a role in society
We are going to be doing lots of RE this year
Learning about different cultures and faiths
We are also going to try to get involved in some community projects
And start to build up Bea’s experience of the wider world around us
For William this year
The focus is on making sure we have covered the KS2 curriculum
He is well ahead of where he needs to be in maths
We need to focus on extended writing
And plugging any content gaps in science, history, geography
I also want to work on growth mindset with William
And his presentation of work
Encouraging him to always give his best and not just rush to be first finished
We are also starting to think about The Kent Test
As William is thinking that he might like to go to grammar school
He has over 18 months before he has to make a decision
But we will start laying down some foundations just incase
William also has Spanish and French lessons each week
One session with Esther and one session with a friendship group
He also attends stage school and dancing
William loves science and history
He also loves being outside and adventuring with Esther and their Home Ed friends
This year William is going to start doing some online courses
In the subjects he is passionate about
History and science
I am also planning lots of theatre trips, museum days and visits to art galleries
Esther and William love going to London
Each of the children are overdue a one to one mummy day
So I am busy planning those
Esther is a hard worker
She is a brave girl
Battling dyslexia and dyscalculia
We have also started the process of exploring ADD and ASD with her
I have written a post about our Esther here
Esther is an incredibly bright girl
She is eloquent and thoughtful
She is a problem solver
A peace maker
A big thinker
She has a wonderful long term memory
But a terrible working / short term memory
I do a lot of work with Esther on her writing and spelling
Last year we focused on mental maths and times tables
This year I need to push Esther on in maths
We have started 2020 with lots of place value and number work
And it is already paying off as we start to look at calculations
I try to keep maths simple with Esther
Clean
We look at addition calculations
We look at different methods
But I try not to overload with stuff
She struggles with too much information at once
Her progress in maths is very slow
Esther is a reluctant reader
She loves stories and has a wonderful imagination
She is also very good at comprehension
But she does not read very much on her own
Esther has lovely writing
But finds spelling incredibly hard
She struggles with creative writing
As she cannot process ideas, punctuation, spelling all at the same time
It is heartbreaking to see a little girl who works so hard
Find her learning so difficult
This year with Esther I want to build up her basic skills
In maths, reading and writing
While allowing her plenty of time to follow her interests
Esther loves animals
At the moment she loves bears
She has been busy making a book all about bears
She loves dancing and singing
Esther dances three days a week
In her own classes and also helping in the little ones’ classes
She has piano and singing lessons which she loves
And attends stage school
Esther loves small world play
She loves collecting things
She loves to make little worlds
Today she made a zoo
Esther enjoys art and making things
She also loves to be outside
She is very easy going
Good natured
Huge hearted
My focus for Esther this year is to make sure she knows
That whatever she wants to do
What ever she wants to be
We will be there
We will help her get there
When we are not home or at one of the children’s many classes
We are out and about with family and friends
Adventuring
Exploring
Discovering
And having a whole lot of fun
Home education is a whole lot of juggling
Learning is constant
And in all parts of life
As well as our planned activities
It is not something I ever imagined doing
But it is something I now cannot imagine not doing
Educating my beautiful children at home
Learning together every day
Often times things we don’t realise need learning
And making lots of lovely friends along the way
I am excited to see where this new year
This new decade
Will lead us
We hope you will join us on our journey x