Pond Study

Autumn brings about the beginning of a new nature study for us, and we needed a new tree and a new pond to study for the upcoming seasonal cycle.

We've already done a sycamore tree and a horse chestnut tree, and this year I wanted to find a fruit tree so that the boys could see the fruit growing. For this, we are going to look at the cherry tree that grows in Nannie's back garden!

As for a pond, we used the one in Clifton Park last year, and this year we wanted somewhere new... so, we set off on an adventure to find one. 

The first place we looked was Whitwell Wood, as I knew that there was a pond, but I had no idea what it was like. My ideal pond would be one where frogs laid frogspawn so that we could see that cycle too, but I haven't found anywhere yet.

We had a lovely walk in Whitwell Wood, and we took Daddy and Nan with us and collected so many acorns! However, the "pond" was more like a stagnant, muddy puddle, so that was out as far as our study goes.

Our next adventure to look for a pond was Shirebrook Nature Reserve after speaking to a friend who recommended there. The adventure was epic; we took a wrong turn right at the beginning and took a beautiful scenic route through the reserve. When we finally found the pond and stopped for a snack, we found that there were some little fish in there. So the boys were very excited, and although I'm not convinced it's perfect, the boys like it so, that's our pond for this year!

We will be checking out both of these around mid-October for our Autumn study and then again each season to see how things change.

Does anyone else do anything seasonal like this? I'd love to hear what you get up to.

Mama Bear x

Planning for September

Although we didn't officially break for summer, as I didn't want Bear to forget everything that he had learned over the last few months, we are resetting a little for September with some changes to our subscriptions, a new rhythm to try and ensure that our weeks don't get too hectic, and some new inclusions now that The Cub is a little older and getting involved a little.

Firstly, I picked up this amazing workbook which is intended for school-educated children to work through over the summer between year groups, and I thought it was perfect for us to use in the first few weeks to gauge what kind of information we have already covered and where I may have missed anything with Bear's learning so far, as I have not used a curriculum of any sorts, we have just gone withe the flow of life and covered anything that came up as him needing. So, for example, we started with basic maths, and we have concentrated on time and money as these are concepts he needs to grasp in real life. To aid these learning curves, we have done some addition and subtraction, some basic times tables, doubling and halving, and Bear has a pretty solid grasp of most of what we have covered. 

This book has a little of everything in it and some great activities to look at each of the skills they would have covered in Reception, making it great as a starting peg for us.

We never stopped reading, any of us. I read aloud to the boys regularly, both picture book stories and chapter books, which we do one at a time, and read a couple of chapters at a time, maybe once or twice a week. Sometimes I try to create activities linked to these books, but so far they have been very simple word or punctuation hunts on a photocopy of a page. The boys are forever choosing books to have read to them, and we read at least two stories together at bedtime every night before they get into their own beds.

We usually sit together for Bear to read to us when we are using his phonics level-appropriate books from the library, and now that Bear can read, I regularly find him sitting with a book, either reading to himself or sometimes, reading aloud to his brother, which I will never tire of seeing! Bear also likes non-fiction and I will often find him with his nose deep in facts about sharks, vehicles, or whatever else we have on shelf. Their book collection rivals mine already!

This academic year, I plan to introduce some science into our weeks, and hope to be able to do this in a fashion that means both Bear and The Cub can be involved and learn alongside each other. Bear is very interested in how his body works at the moment, especially where food is concerned, looking at whether food is good for you and what it does for your body, so I plan to start with the human body as a topic and work through just a little a week. I have an amazing book which includes little experiments to help show how our body works, and I have a box kit that I have had for a while now, waiting for the right time to use with some hands-on activities in.

As for our subscriptions, I have cancelled our Adventure Gang box as we have been receiving them for a couple of years now, and I found that the boys just weren't as excited about them this last few times. Instead, I have the first of the revamped Whimsy and Bug boxes ready to go, and if they enjoy that and can both access it in a way that I feel is worth the price, then I plan to subscribe to this and have that as part of our monthly routine.

As always, getting out of the house for outdoor adventures is often my priority, and I have tried to find a way to ensure that we spread our activities out across the month so that we have groups, meet-ups, trips out and walks spread out each week. We visit the same places regularly, which I want to try and pin to a date or specific time of the month, and then the groups that we attend actually space out quite nicely at the moment. There is nothing that we are signed up for weekly, as I didn't want that kind of rigidity in our schedule yet. It also wouldn't work well with my job right now as I don't work set days.

We get out regularly though, and I plan to fit in lots of seaside trips again this year as it is by far all of our favourtie place to be!

And lastly, linked to our outdoor plans, we will be on the hunt for a new tree, hopefully a fruit tree, and a new pond for our nature studies this year. I hope to have them chosen by the end of September so that we can do our Autumn studies quite early and get them finished up before the Birthday and Halloween fun of October.

What does your home education rhythm look like this year? I'd love to hear how it works for you and your family. 

Mama Bear x

Our Summer Rhythm

All home educators are different, but I am not planning on stopping many of our learning rhythms over the summer. Bear and The Cub are only little, and we only do small amounts of intentional, sit-down learning a week, so I don't feel that keeping some of those things up will impact upon our time too much.

One of the downsides to summer off from school is that children tend to forget a lot of the things they're learning, meaning that the first weeks back to school in September are revision, covering basics that children haven't practiced over the holidays. 

I intend to keep up Bear's reading and maths practice over the summer and into next year so that he doesn't lose any of the skills that we've learnt and are practicing. Including our read aloud and lots of hands on skills.

We have so many plans for adventures and family holidays over the summer, that our learning may look different and take place in different locations, but I'd still like to keep it there so that the rhythm doesn't disappear on us.

How do you plan for summer in your home education journey? 

Mama Bear 

Mother Culture

Mother Culture, from the home education perspective, is based on a Charlotte Mason approach where the mother needs to care for herself to ensure she has enough energy to look after her children. Basically, it's about ensuring that you fill your own cup, so that you can fill those of your children - you can't pour from an empty cup and all that!

It's about making sure that in a busy world, you carve out a little time that's just for you... which isn't an easy thing for any parent to manage, but even more so for the home-educating ones, as we spend all day, every day with our children.

For me, I stick to quite a strict bedtime routine with my boys that has them both in bed before 8pm. The littlest is fast asleep long before then, and Bear stays awake a little longer, but does it in his room and stays in bed. The time after they've gone to bed is my time. Two nights, occasionally three nights a week, my partner is out, which means I really do get them all to myself. 

During the evening, I try to get 'chores' done on certain nights so that others are totally mine. I clean, tidy, and manage home ed plans as soon as they're both safely in bed, and then after a shower, my time is mine and is normally spent chilling and watching a little TV with Daddy if he is home before we go our separate ways to do our own thing. And on nights that I am home alone, more often than not, you will find me writing or reading, as those are my biggest passions. Sometimes I watch a movie and crochet or colour on nights when I'm solo, if I'm really tired or just don't have any drive to write.

I recently took up running as a hobby too, something I did pre-motherhood, and try to get out once or twice a week, in an evening, after the boys are in bed and Daddy is home to be with them. I'm hoping to turn this into swimming/gym time over the winter, as I don't want to be out running after dark. I have just completed the Couch to 5K program, and just a few days ago, managed my first 5km run!

Other than the evenings, the only other time I'm really away from my boys is when I go to work for two days a week. Which, in some ways, is okay as far as time away from them, but it's not exactly a break as I'm busy working and traveling all day.

When Daddy is out gigging, I like to try and get to the most local ones as I love seeing him play. I was at all of his gigs before we had the boys, and I do sometimes miss being able to go and see him play. To go out, I have to rely on having someone to come watch the boys, which isn't as straightforward as it sounds. As I imagine is the same for anyone.

I have an amazing friend who occasionally watches the boys in an evening so that I can go out for date night with my partner and I have had the odd evening/afternoon out with a friend or my sister when he is available to stay home. But to go out at the weekend when he's home means that I miss out on the small amount of time we get to spend together as a family. It's all a very hard line to balance.

However, five and a half years into motherhood, and the stage we're at currently, where the boys are always bickering, I am finding myself needing some time to myself. I'm hoping to organise a few friend dates and some time with my partner, I just have to find the right way to do it so that I don't need too many babysitters!

How do you get some time to yourself? I'd love to hear how it works for you and your family.

Mama Bear x

Summer Pond and Tree Study

Thursday 3rd July

We packed our bags with everything we could possibly need and more, made a picnic, enlisted the family for an adventures, and headed out to Clifton Park to go and visit our conker tree and the pond to do our seasonal studies for summer! The boys were more than a little excited to be going back to the pond and couldn't wait to get their duck back in there to see how warm the water was. If this makes no sense to you, then check out our post from spring, when the boys used their new thermometer for the first time.

We met Nannie, Auntie Hammy and Baby Panda at the park and then went to show them our tree. Bear was quick to point out the tree and ever quicker to notice the conkers growing on it where it had been covered in blossom last time we did our studies.

The boys got their gear out and went about their investigations. There was lots of measuring, magnifying and microscoping, (yes, that is a word now,) and they collected lots of tiny conkers from the floor under the tree where they had been knocked out prematurely. The Cub was actually first to voice the fact that they were so small, and Bear picked up on it and immediately informed us that it was because they hadn't finished growing yet. I backed this up by breaking into a few to show them the miniscule little conkers that had started to grow inside, which they found absolutely fascinating and continued to find ones for me to open to see if they could find one big enough to class as a conker.

After plenty of investigation, we had our picnic close by, meaning the boys could both still go to and from the tree, checking stuff out and asking lots of questions. They're both always so full of questions and it makes me so happy that they're so interested about everything.

After lunch, we headed for the pond, which is their favourite. I can understand why, there is so much more to see and do at the pond. Their bags were immediately emptied and the duck came out and got thrown straight in by Bear to take the temperature of the water. The water registered at 20 degrees this time, up by 6 degrees since we did our study in spring. The pond lilies had beautiful big white flowers on them, there were pond skaters and water boatmen in the water, which was pretty clear. 

The Cub checked it out in his magnified pot and everything! Aunty Hammy and I had a go at catching a bug, but I'd forgotten to pack the net and they were far too fast to catch in the pot, so we had to settle for catching a pond snail to look at under the magnifying glass. The Cub took the duck thermometer for a walk pond while Bear played with ripples, and even Panda came to get involved, checking out what we were doing and chewing on a magnifying glass!

Ice cream was next on the list, and a play on the rocks for us before heading home, where we will be putting journal pages together with our findings. I will do a post with our years' worth of findings once they're all complete to show you the changes we observed over the year. Then it will be time to start searching for a new tree and a new pond ready for next year! If you have any recommendations, please share them.

That last photo, because who doesn't need to see a boy taking a duck for a swim?

Mama Bear x

A different learning environment

Some days are more structured than others here at our house, but the unstructured days are often hard work. I don't by any means plan our days out to the hour, but I usually have an idea of where our day is going to go... and more often than not, that includes leaving the house for an adventure as I am still at the stage where I value that over most things.

The days that we have adventure plans are the easiest for us, as we all prefer being outside and there is less pressure and no walls for anyone to climb, myself included because I go slowly stir crazy if I stay home all day. However, there are days when we have to stay home, or when we have plans to do some more structured learning at home. These days can get pretty rough sometimes. Especially, as proven this last couple of weeks, when we're trapped due to the weather altering our plans. I hadn't realised, until I had my kids, just how much the weather actually affects me! 

We had a day this week where we had been in the house all morning and the rain outside had kept us there. I felt naff, the boys were climbing the walls and annoying each other which, in turn made me edgy. We'd tried playing games, which had ended up in a lot of frustration and some tears. We'd read some books, but they'd kept arguing about who got to choose the next one, and by lunch time I was counting down the hours until bedtime.

In the end, I packed a few things into a bag and got out of the house, heading for one of our favourite places. - Grimm & Co.

The boys had magazines recently that had several activities left inside to do which I took with us in lieu of other 'learning work' as they were easy to pack and often have lots of different kinds of activities in and Bear doesn't even realise he's doing work that counts towards his learning. I packed a book for Bear to read, which he is always more than up for at the minute, and his ability is coming along so quickly that he astounds me daily.

Once there, we ordered ice cream, cake and drinks, and the boys picked their favourite table and we played some board games that are kept at The Feastery. Bear loves playing Guess Who at the minute, and there are a couple of Orchard Toys games that The Cub always pulls out. We ate our snacks, played the games, then sat and worked through some of the activities and stories in their magazines. Bear practiced some adding and subtracting after some very simple ones in his magazine, then we had a go at one of the activities from The Apothecary where Bear invented a magical potion and wrote down it's name, and its properties, practicing some writing and spelling before he read the book we'd taken with us to me and The Cub, who loves sitting and listenign to his big brother read.

All in all, we spent just under a couple of hours there, and honestly, did more learning than we probably would have done at home. We had less frustration, complainng or tears, and we actually enjoyed each other's company!

What have we learned from this... that sometimes we just need a change of scenery!!

Where do you go? I'd love to have a few palces that we could escape to when these situations arise - we've already done this again since the original time, and it worked just as well for us.

Mama Bear x

What does "learning" look like?

Following the same path as my previous post about what 'play' looks like, I found myself thinking the same about 'learning' recently after talking to family and friends about expecting our first home visit from the local authority to meet Bear.

I started Bear's education journey with quite specific ideas in mind for how I wanted to plan and deliver things like phonics and basic number skills, but, as home education allows... and one of the big reasons I wanted that freedom, it soon became obvious that my methods weren't right for Bear, and over the course of his Foundation Stage 1 year, I adapted how I delivered the material numerous times over until I settled on a way that I thought worked for us.

Since Bear took an actual interest in learning to read this last month or so, those ways have changed again as it very quickly became apparent to me that Bear picked more up by actually reading books than he was by me 'teaching' him phonics. So, I ditched the 'lessons' and workbooks and we just read. We talk about new sounds as they come up and think about some examples, then keep reading, and so far, his recollection of sounds he has come across has been ace. 

But, aside from the obvious 'learning' moments, I'm talking about what learning looks like in the everyday moments, the unplanned ones where your child just learns... no books, no lessons, no guidance, the world around them just provides the education.

For us recently, that's looked like Daddy finding an old Choose Your Own Adventure book at a charity event and him and Bear sitting and playing for over an hour, Bear listening to the story and choosing his path, or rolling dice and flipping coins to find out what happened next. It's playing board games with Nannie and Pops, or teaching his friend who works behind the bar how to play draughts at the pub because it wasn't a game she knew how to play. It's reading a bedtime story, and asking questions about something he saw in the pictures and Daddy finding him a video to show him exactly what it meant alongside his explanation, or reading the map while we were out following a local scavenger hunt. It's picking out the keyboard/piano in songs that we listen to in the car because Mummy has been trying to teach herself how to play, and learning song lyrics because he wants to sing along with Daddy. It's realising that there are numbers on the coins in his purse and then putting them in order and trying to make things sink or float while playing in the water tray in the backyard.

I could keep going, but I think you get the idea... And what do I do with all these moments? I let them play out... I bought more Choose Your Own Adventure books and board games and I picked up a magnetic draughts set so that he could play for real at the pub. We selected new non-fiction books from the library to follow his interests. We chose new songs for Mummy to learn on the keyboard and got all the coins out of his purse to look at properly and discuss which ones make up the others so that he can start to count out his own change when buying new things...

The biggest draw to home education for me was that Bear would be able to learn about the world around him, from the world around him, not just from books while sitting at a desk. He can converse with people of all ages, backgrounds, and in lots of different settings. He isn't shy about going up to cashiers in shops or speaking to wait staff in restaurants. He listens to them, makes conversation and learns from them as much as he teaches random facts back... He wants to get outside and be around nature. He has a love of non-fiction books that even I don't understand because I am firmly a fiction lover, but he's like a sponge for facts and recalls them and asks more questions to further the knowledge he already has because he's inquisitive like that. And at the end of the day, I can't help but feel that the school system would squash that out of him because he'd have to learn what they wanted to teach him...

That's not life - life is for living, and he is living and learning every day in a way that is truly setting him up for his future and I am so glad that we are in a position to provide him with that opportunity!

What moments have you had recently that slide into this category of just learning by living?

Mama Bear x