As Bear is still not Compulsory School Age yet despite the fact that he would have started school in September just gone, I've still kept 'official learning' to a minimum and very much chosen to value experiences, outdoor time and playing together over sitting down to learn.
We have started the SATPIN phonics program together, and have stayed on track with three sounds a week and have started using them to sound out two and three letter words. Bear has picked this up amazingly well, but gets frustrated very quickly when he doesn't know one, and that shows me that he's still too young to be doing full sit-down 'lessons'.
One of our recent weeks, as an example, we have done very little sit-down learning as we have barely spent any time at all at the house. That's not to say we haven't learned anything, or practiced our phonics or numbers 1-20 - but I think we only did one official sit down first thing on Monday morning before heading out to run some chores.
However, we had been to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, where we read some of the boards and learned something new about both the lions and the giant otters, and Bear wanted to know where each of the animals was from this time. We had a family bonfire night on Tuesday which was lovely to have everyone together and having fun, socialising with adults and children of different ages. We attended Boston Park Farm's Home Education Day where we learned all about birds, the food chain and what they do to help the spread of seeds. We also got to see some real birds' nests that had been vacated long ago, and have a go at building one ourselves which the boys both enjoyed. And lastly, we joined our local home ed crew on Friday at Wentworth Family Farm where we attended an Exotic Animal Encounter where the boys learned a little bit about some small animals including rabbits, tortoises and snakes, and got to handle them, as well as spending the day on the farm, doing farm things like feeding the animals and playing in their giant sand pit with friends, again socialising with other children of all ages and their parents.
The boys have spent time with lots of different people this week, including family, friends we see regularly, those we don't see as often and new friends we've made, and all the adults that have been involved in the days out, including parents of the other children. They both have no issues communicating with others and enjoy being around lots of people, and aren't afraid to ask questions in order to learn more about people or places. Bear will happily approach people who work places, for example the Wildlife Park, and ask questions if it's something I don't know the answer to and we can't find on the boards. He's learned so much this way!
And in and around all of that excitement, the boys have had plenty of time at home for free play, which has included lots of time with each other. They are slowly getting better at playing together and there are some beautiful moments between them, including Bear "reading" to his brother, either quoting ones he already knows or making them up from the illustrations and The Cub happily sits with him to listen as they both love stories so much - I have no idea where they get it from lol.
I'd love to hear how others balance their outdoor adventures and general outside time with their sit-down learning, it's something I feel like I'm struggling with until I sit down to write it all down like this and I realise that this is one of the reasons that I chose to keep Bear out of the education system, because I wanted to be able to have all these experiences with him and for him to have his childhood with me and his little brother rather than behind a desk.
He is learning, maybe not at the same rate as children his age that are attending school, but it isn't important to me for him to be 'keeping up' - he'll learn when he's ready and right now he is exactly where he's meant to be, enjoying his childhood right alongside his little brother!
Mama Bear x
