Heat Wave Learning...

Let's be honest, are we still doing sit-down learning when it's this beautifully sunny outside? We're not - not to the same extent that we usually do...

We're only 6 and 3 right now, so there isn't hours and hours of learning time anyway, not intentional learning anyway, we're always learning! While the weather is this stunning, we are spending as much time as physically possible outside, and by that, I mean that some days the boys go outside straight after breakfast, and don't come in again until bathtime... One day, they didn't even get dressed because they changed out of their pyjamas into their swim stuff, and by the time they decided they were done, it wasn't worth getting dressed!

Most mornings, if we aren't heading out somewhere planned for an early start time, we still fit in our literacy and numeracy, where Bear works through a couple of exercises for each, taking anywhere between ten minutes to half an hour. The Cub joins us sometimes, where he is learning his alphabet and matching capital and lower case letters, and recognising numbers, which he pretty much has in the bag now.

We try to fit in some crafty work which usually stems from our Whimsy & Bug subscription box, and Bear reads... all the time! He reads in a morning, he checks out his magazines at random times of day, he has lift-the-flap encyclopedias in the car, they listen to me read at bedtime together, and then Bear reads a chapter book to himself for a while before going to sleep. We also still play a lot of card and board games, which regularly have maths elements to, especially Uno, which we have just got a newer version of and both boys are loving it!

I have squeezed in some nature studies while out and about in parks etc, but other than that, we are playing out in the sun, spending time in splash parks and on the beach before the summer holidays make everywhere busy. We are playing in the garden, splashing in the paddling pool and chilling with ice lollies in the shade... 

Because, honestly, if the schools are closing and sending children home, then we can manage a few days without any structure!

How are you surviving the heat wave?

Mama Bear x

Yearly review

When we moved house just before Christmas, we also moved council districts, meaning Bear moved Home Ed teams. So, we had a meeting with the new team to meet them and have Bear's annual review recently to check out what he's been learning.

The home visit went amazingly, Bear chatted away and told her all about what he has been up to recently, what he likes doing and where we like to go. The Cub joined the conversation for a while and then they both went off to play.

The whole meeting and experience went fantastically and the report she wrote about Bear's learning journey was brilliant!

A second year under our belt, and next year The Cub joins the fray as he would be due to start FS1 in September. He still won't do much officially, but he does love to join in and while ever he enjoys learning with us I will let him join in. He is already more advanced that Bear was at his age because he wants to be involved.

I'd love to know your opinion on having the Home Ed teams visit. Do you write your own reports? Or do you have the home visit to chat?

Mama Bear x

Monday Morning Meeting!

We had our first official Monday Morning Meeting this morning, something that I saw on Instagram a few days ago and loved the idea of. I don't remember the page I saw it from, so do call it if this was your idea!

In a way, we already did this, but I streamlined the theory after reading the Instagram post so that I wrapped a few jobs into the meeting and got the boys involved a little more, trying to give them a bit of a say so that they have an element of control over their week.

I made a page to fill in with questions to ask them, which included some of the routines we already have. Things like our calendar and page-a-day quote which they both help move and keep up to date. We also have a handmade, velcro Weekly Calendar that is used as a visual representation of roughly what we are planning during the week. This has been on the go since long before Bear could read the events on the main calendar, so that he could see what days we were off out, etc. 

This morning, we talked over breakfast, thinking about what we had booked in for the week that was non-negotiable, like appointments and Home Ed Groups/activities, then added in learning based plans and outings. I also asked them what they would like to do, and included them where possible, or made notes and explained why they would have to wait a little while, but will get them into the plans for the upcoming weeks.

Our morning meeting was a great place to introduce something else that I had created ready to use with the boys. I want them to start to take some steps towards initiating learning, so I put together a list of things that I like us to accomplish in a week in one of their old routine checklists so that they can tick things off as we get to them during the week, and Bear can initiate plans for items that haven't yet been ticked off.

It was a lovely way to start the week, and a nice way to hear their thoughts and see what they'd choose if they got to make the plans. I think my favourite part was knowing that one of Bear's choices for things to do this week was actually learning based!

Do you do anything similar to a Monday Morning Meeting? I'd love to hear the variations :)

Mama Bear x

Nature Study

Since before Bear was compulsory school age, we started a nature study where we looked at seasonal changes throughout the year. The first year, we chose a tree and checked in on it each season and took some photos, talked about what was different, and we recorded our finds in a journal. The following year, when he was compulsory school age, we chose a different tree, so that we could look at different changes, and we also chose a pond with the intention of looking at the life cycle of frogs. However, I never actually located a pond with frogs in, so we just checked out the pond in general.

Both boys loved the pond study, and we quickly amassed a nature study bag with lots of tools to check out our tree and our pond, including their magnifying glasses, microscopes, bug jars, a thermometer for the water temperature and so much more! Last year, the boys loved this and they always looked forward to going and seeing the pond, and the tree, and getting involved with the checks, photos and the journal entries afterwards.

This year, the tree we chose was the one in our own back garden because it is a type of tree that the boys have never really had any contact with, but I think, because it is there every day, the idea of checking it out for the season has become a little boring. Likewise, the pond we chose has been mega boring! There have been very few changes to see or record, other than the temperature of the water. We didn't make it out to see it during the coldest part of winter, so they didn't get to see it frozen, and there is very little happening there at all... We also haven't done any of the journal pages because they just haven't been interested.

So... I have laid off the whole theory for now, and I am going to alter the outlook ready for summer. We are going to choose a "spot". We are going to find a place where there is a bit of everything to see; trees, plants, flowers, bugs, birds... you name it, I want them to have a little more freedom with it.

We are going to go in the height of summer and decide the boundary of our chosen spot, and identify the trees and flowers etc. See what bugs and birds are present. Possibly even note the weather and what effect that it having. I plan to take all the nature books and their nature journals so that we can record our findings; stick in some pictures, draw the bugs and label them, etc. Spend the afternoon in our spot rather than just half an hour doing the same few things.

Then I want them to think about what changes might happen between the current time and the following season. We will discuss the changes and make some notes with their guesses, and then do a couple of check in visits before the big visit during the next season, where I will aim to go there during a "typical seasonal day" for that season. So, for example, in autumn, the day would be jumper weather, dry, warmish, light breeze etc so that they can record that alongside any and all changes to the trees, flowers and wildlife they see.

I have high hopes for this being much more open project-based and led by their interest and curiosity, rather than a set idea that they follow each time we visit. I want them to explore the things that they find intriguing, check out the bits that they notice and see what feels important to them. They both love being outdoors and being in nature so much that I want them to enjoy the learning linked to it rather than see it as a repetitive activity. 

Of course, I will write some updates, but for now, I plan to keep a look out for a nice spot that has a bit of everything... any recommendations will be visited and added to the list of possibilities :)

Mama Bear x

 When he got a little older, we added a pond to this study too and we picked a new tree so that we saw different changes.

Learning takes place everywhere...

Although Bear is still young, we do have what we call our 'intentional learning time' in a day where we sit down together at either our kitchen table or the space we have in our living room, and we learn something specific. Whether that be maths work, where we are currently looking at times tables and an introduction to money, literacy, where we are looking at when to use capital letters versus lower case letters and trying to use full sentences, science, which we are still exploring the human body, or our topical work, where we use our Whimsy & Bug subscription box. I try to do something that fits this heading of 'intentional learning' daily, even if that is just Bear reading a book, as I also prioritise getting out and about as much as possible.

What I am very much an advocate for, however, is that learning, even intentional learning, doesn't need to happen at a desk!

Some days, our intentional learning is a pre-booked Home Educators day at a venue like Eureka! Children's Museum, where we recently attended to learn all about the digestive system via their interactive workshop, as well as all the possibilities from the museum itself, or the Home Education Day at Boston Park Farm where we learned all about lambing. Other days, our intentional learning is sit down work, but not at the table at home. Recently, we have gotten out of the house for a change of scenery and taken our work with us. We went to the pub for dessert and took some maths practice and a reading book with us to work through after sharing ice cream together and chatting to a few familar faces and we headed to our favourite Cafe, Grimm & Co and took some more maths practice, another reading book, and some card games with us to play while talking to the staff there. 

Aside from all this intentional learning, Bear is a very inquisitive little person, and we are always finding something out from either a question he has thought up, or something random that he has read or heard that he has asked about. Where possible, I try to let him follow a train of thought to his own conclusions, and then give him what facts I know before resorting to looking up answers.

We also spend a lot of time outside, which means there is always something new to discover. A recent outing was just an excuse to get out of the house and enjoy the unexpectedly warm day we had and we took their bug hunting gear with us and their outdoor journals. This turned into a full on bug hunt and we researched the bugs we caught and did some drawings, but we also checked out one of the experiments in their outdoor book which had us making a compass out of a stick and using the shadow from the moving sun to find North. This was an accidental learning curve and we got talkaing about shadows in general which led to the boys doing their own experiements over the course of the afternoon.

All the 'unintentional learning' is probably my favourite at the minute, as I love watching them follow their own theories and finding ways to check out what they are thinking. This probably leans into the idea of unschooling as far as a home education term is considered and I can understand why so many families choose this way as a general idea for their educational path. I also love when we get together with friends, and what starts out as something intentional, quickly gains traction as they bounce their ideas off each other and some up with new and exciting ideas that they then want to investigate.

Even their play matters - this morning for example, as I sit writing this post, the boys have been playing together, really beautifully, for ages. They are building with Duplo and I can hear Bear helping his brother to choose the right blocks for what they are trying to build together. Bear's structural skills are impressive and he can build almost anything, often without any help or direction, and work out how to correct mistakes when his builds don't quite act how he intended them to. The fact that he can apply this to teaching The Cub too, I find impressive and all great building blocks in his conversational skills.

I'd love to hear what your approaches to learning are like in your home educational journey. Do you plan and deliver 'intentional learning' or do you lean more towards the unschooling ways of letting your children lead their journies?

Mama Bear x

Independent Reading

Bear turned six at the beginning of February, and one of the changes we have made for him growing up is that he gets to stay up for a little extra time at bedtime. He still gets bathed and ready for bed with his younger brother, and then we have story time together before their bedtime routine and getting into bed. However, now, Bear gets half an hour of independent reading time before he has to turn off his light and get settled down, and he is in his element!

He started off with one of his birthday presents, Dragon Tales by Dav Pilkey, which I bought for him having loved the way it was written. Clear, short chapters, colourful pictures and small amounts of text on each page. Plus, it's about a dragon, which Bear loves.

That first book was finished in three nights, being three short stories within the book, one story per night! Done. That was not what I'd expected when I'd said he could start reading at night... I should have known really, he is just like his mama, a total bookworm. But now I have to fund not only my own book addiction, but his too!

Once he had finished the book, we looked at writing a book review. He could easily talk to me, and tell me what each short story was about in the book, and together they made up a whole story about Dragon. The way he can recall stories, some parts word for word, especially speech, assures me that he is understanding and taking in what he reads. He can answer questions about the storyline and characters, giving more detail when asked for it.

His book review included being able to copy one of the pictures out of the book which he loved to do, and he wrote a sentence or two as a summary, giving it five stars! Then we moved on to a new book at bedtime... The Wizard of Oz, an early reader version.

He has made it through four books in February, including a couple that we sourced at the library, because if he is reading them this fast, there is no way that I can afford to buy them all. I have agreed to buy ones that we already have parts of a series for, and maybe a few new series if they are ones that I know we will reread and The Cub will love too, but many of them are going to have to come from the library, which means more regular visits there.

If I can get him onto bigger chapter books, I may be able to slow him down a little, but I don't want to overwhelm him, or have him struggle to take in the book if it is aimed a little older than him. For now, we will cope with speed reading books like I do, and see where his interests start to develop as far as genre goes.

And of course, wanting to be just like his big brother, I found The Cub in bed ready to be tucked in, chilling with a book. "I'm just reading my book." I let him finish looking through and then tucked him in that night with a smile on my face that both my babies love books as much as I do and that reading is enjoyable for them, and not a chore.

We'd love some recommendations of books suitable for a six year old to read independently; what are your favourites for this age group?

Mama Bear x

The Importance of Games

Anyone who knows my boys, or even follows us on social media, will know that they are both very into board games right now! They have both always loved playing games, and we have a bookcase dedicated to games and puzzles that has constantly been expanding and changing as they've both grown. However, since the start of Games Night at our favourite book shop where the boys discovered the game Hero Slam - created by comic artist Jamie Smart, this family card game is absolutely brilliant and genuine fun for all the family. It was one of the most looked forward to events of the month, getting to go to Games Night and play Hero Slam, and then it was one of Bear's Christmas presents, and we have played it virtually daily since Christmas Day. Genuinely, I think I can count on one hand the number of days we haven't played!

There were several other games made an appearance at Christmas, Labyrinth, Quoridor, and even Exploding Kittens, all of which were quickly added to the games days that now take place. Bear quickly picked up the rules for each game and can play independently, with very little intervention at nearly six years old. The Cub, at three, has picked up the rules enough to be able to play with some assistance. Some games he plays as part of a team with an adult, others he plays and there are exceptions made because of his age, and others, he plays just as well as anyone else!

From playing games weekly, if not daily this last month, I have seen a quick development in skills from both boys, especially the littlest who now has a grip of his numbers from one to ten, and to a certain extent, knows which number is bigger out of a pair when comparing cards for which is better. The skills involved in games like Labyrinth and Quoridor, where they have to play ahead, see how the board may look in future turns, and guess what other players might be up to have developed quickly, and Bear is really good at seeing how a board might look in the future and planning for it. He's always been a lucky little thing where games are concerned, always able to roll the right numbers or draw the card he needs, but this involves real skill of having the foresight and he plays incredibly well

There have been days among January when the only 'learning' we have done has been playing games, and I do count it as learning, especially if there has been a 'teachable' moment in there somewhere. For example, Bear needing to add several large numbers together recently, so we looked at simple column addition and he picked it up really quickly and has used it several times since. With The Cub, we have been able to identify numbers and put them in numerical order to decide which card is better, and being able to know who has won because their card was higher. They have also taken to designing their own cards to add to the deck for Hero Slam after talking about what they thought their own scores would be if they were heroes in the game.

We have a lot of Orchard Toys games which are great for number and letter recognition, dice reading, colour sorting and matching and many more basic skills. The Cub has several favourties amongst these and they are always quick and easy games for when we don't have as much time to play. They're great for when we have fmaily roudn too! The boys are happy to play with anyone :)

I am hoping to add some more games to our stash soon and would love to hear what your recommendations would be for younger players. I am feeling an introduction to Scrabble coming on, as that is a firm family favourite, and there will be lessons in Chess from Pops at some point soon too!

What are your go to games with your children/family?

Momma Bear x