A new rhythm

We may have found our new rhythm... After admitting that I'd fallen into a pattern that I didn't like, and clearly wasn't working for Bear, we took a step back for a week and had an impromptu break week, then came back in with a different view.

I have Bear signed up to The Bear Can Read scheme, which, for us, comes every other month, and I recently altered the subscription to the next level so that the books and activities coming in his packs are similar to those he would be doing/reading in school. This current pack is his first Koala pack, and it has been brilliant!

We have used this as our main focus for phonics/reading, as well as encouraging Bear to try and read books that he is either, familiar with already, and therefore can match the words on the page to the story he can recite, or to read books which I know are at his level of capability.

A recent trip to Grimm & Co, one of our favourite places to visit, had a jackpot moment for me in their Library of Forgotten Books, where the boys usually choose a book each to bring home, when I came across what looked like a school that had donated many of their reading books. They were all colour-coded and labeled with the phonics level and stage and I picked out several of these for Bear to have a go at reading, leaving them a donation due to the amount I chose. When we're done with them, I will return them for someone else to find! I also plan to check out our local library, and maybe even the one in town, to see if they keep similar style reading books on shelf.

Since we picked these up, Bear has read a couple and has done incredibly well and is so proud of himself when we get to the end and he realises that he read a book!

His The Bear Can Read pack had a reward chart in which we have put into use as a sticker for him reading a book to me, and we will look at a reward at the end of it. He's enjoying working out how many more books he is going to read before he reaches the end!

As for numbers, when I went back to check the Early Learning Goals for Foundation Stage, the curriculum he would be following had he entered the education system, I found that he would have been concentrating much more on the numbers 1-10 rather than 1-100 and therefore we have gone back to 1-10 and started looking at number bonds rather than recognition of numbers up to 100. He's doing amazing well with the bonds and we are going to start looking at doubling and halving numbers 1-10 soon too!

As well as numbers and phonics, we will be continuing our seasonal studies, and we have started following the #DrawWithRob tutorials on YouTube with Rob Biddulph, which Bear absolutely loves! They are fantastic, simple, drawing lessons that Bear is capable of following along with, The Cub even gets involved at the colouring stage and colours the one that I draw! They're loving it and anything that encourages their creativity is a win for me. I plan to get Bear the Draw With Rob activity book for Easter I think...

We have been sitting down for this kind of learning maybe three to four times a week over the last couple of weeks, and we usually sit for around an hour, not necessarily all in one go, but that about covers the topics at the moment. The Cub now has a handmade wipe-clean Busy Book too with some simple pen control and name recognition activities, as well as shapes and colours and numbers which he is quickly picking up. He loves to be involved when we do our sit-down learning and is loving having his own resources!

When we're not sat down doing this type of learning, the boys are still forever learning. We play games most days that we are not out on adventures. We have a nice collection of Orchard Toys games going now, many of which I've picked up in charity shops, and are brilliant for simple maths and literacy skills. Both boys love to play games and we often find ourselves still in our jammies and sat around playing games after breakfast.

And last but not least, we are always out and about on adventures, getting outside lots, exploring both new and familiar places, all of which is natural learning about the world around them. They are both very sociable and love chatting to people we meet. Bear has always been very sociable but is going through a phase of saying hello to people he passes when we're out walking at the minute, and some of the lovely conversations we've had with people is amazing.

We are regularly out with friends, and both boys have several friends their own ages, as well as many a little older or younger. Nannie often joins us on our adventures, and Aunty Sammy is now on maternity leave with the boys' new baby cousin, so she will be joining in too. They always have a smile and are both comfortable speaking to the people we come across, whether it be staff or other visitors, and Bear is always full of questions and not afraid to ask the right person to get his answers. 

For now, we have something that works for us, and I can see clear progression in both boys' learning, so this is our new path for as long as it works! This is what Home Education is all about - being able to fit the learning to the child so that everyone is able to keep moving forward and I feel so lucky to be in a position to provide this for Bear and The Cub!

What does your week look like as far as 'learning' goes?

Mama Bear x

A Sunflower Study

Me and the Bears are planning a Sunflower Study! 

We are going to plant sunflowers, which in fairness, we have done every year, but this year, we're going to include it in our home ed learning by tracking its growth.

It will roll in some science as I plan to do the parts of the flower and look at what it needs to survive, and also maths by measuring its growth over time and even plotting a simple graph so that Bear can see the line.

I have started putting a pack together with some colouring and activities that I've found online, and am hoping to get some other home ed friends involved so the kids can compare sunflowers too.

We started with a trip to the garden centre to buy the things we need, including seeds! And then we will spend some time planting them in the garden one sunny afternoon in early April, which is what it says is the best time to plant them as it's still a little cold over night yet. We have repotted some of our other seedlings recently and the boys are more than excited for their sunflowers!

Would anyone like to join in?

Mama Bear x

Spring Equinox 2025

Spring Equinox - Thursday 20th March 2025

We started our day with our Spring Adventure Gang box which gave Bear his new t-shirt and some activities for us to do over the coming days.

As per our tradition now, me and the boys headed out to spend time in nature for the Equinox. The besties didn't take any persuading, and we decided to check out one of The Wildlife Trust properties as we recently joined up! Dearne Valley Country Park was our playground for the day and we had a blast!

Me and the boys made it there first and spent some time in the glorious spring sunshine checking out the playground and skate park. Then we went for a walk to find the perfect picnic spot, which happened to be a stone circle with so many imagination prompts! The kids loved them and it was a beautiful space to relax in.

After the picnic, we went on our spring scavenger hunt looking for signs of spring in nature. We looked for spring flowers and minibeasts that are waking up again. The kids went 'fishing' in the lake and we spent the better part of an hour in the woods where they found a den, climbed some trees, played on a rope swing and then made a second one both spare rope we found near the tree. A good time was definitely had all around I believe!

After a walk around the lake, we packed up and headed to Audrey's Tea Rooms for well-deserved cake and hot chocolate before we drove home again.

Spring stories for bedtime finished off an amazing day and both boys went out like a light for a good night's sleep.

What did you do for the equinox?

Did you get outside?

I'd love to hear about your adventures!

Mama Bear x

Taking a step back

This last week, there has been a lot of frustration at our sit-down learning time, both from Bear and from myself, because we keep having moments where Bear struggles, but often with something that I already know he understands or knows... His first instinct when he doesn't know an answer or doesn't understand something is to get upset, which in turn frustrates me because I know there is nothing to get upset about, and that we are always learning... I have explained that so many times to him, but we still get tears.

Somehow, despite me being so sure that it wasn't the path I wanted to follow, we have found ourselves using workbooks for our intentional learning time, and usually, the books are aged at 3+ and then 5+. Obviously, as Bear is five now, I have been choosing the 5+ books, as the 3+ ones seem mega easy and he knows most of the information in them. However, I think that's where we are coming unstuck as the 5+ ones have too much in them that he doesn't yet know or understand, and that is a wall too steep to climb right now.

Bear is pretty bright, and picks things up relatively quickly, sometimes with very little input, so I think I might be overdoing it at a level too high for him right now. Since my realisation, I have backed off a little, coinciding with the five days mentioned in my previous post where we were so busy we barely had time to sit down for anything like this. I have gone back to reading and writing for fun, but have started to put more emphasis on how I read, pointing to the words as I read them, and getting Bear involved with words that he does recognise, or can sound out and blend easily.

From here, I am going to go back to games, reading and much more hands on learning for a little while until I see his confidence in his ability rise a bit, and then go back to the books, but maybe not as often. Use them as a base and then develop activities to learn the sounds etc, rather than use the workbooks as the learning.

This is one of the reasons I chose Home Education to begin with - the ability to work at the right pace, at the right time, for each individual child! Right now, Bear needs more hands on, fun learning, not sitting down at a table every day with a workbook and pencil in front of him, and by learning at home, we can do that. I can accommodate his needs.

So, moving forward, I am going to follow his lead a little more and see where it takes us!

How do you get through the main subjects, if you do? Phonics and numbers are what I concentrate on right now... I'd love to hear what you do with your littles, especially if they're of a similar age!

Mama Bear

Experiences over sit down learning

One of my biggest reasons for Home Educating my boys was the desire for the freedom to be able to get them out and experience the world. While they're still little, Bear having only just turned 5 and The Cub being 2, I will absolutely always put experiences above formal sit-down learning.

For example, recently, we hadn't done any formal sit-down learning in days as we hadn't been in the house long enough. 

On the Thursday, we headed out with other home ed friends to Rufford Abbey to have a go at their Fairy Trail, which was brilliant... The kids all got a trail sheet and we had to follow a map to find the fairies. There were letters to find and unscramble which Bear identified and wrote on his sheet, butterflies to find and match to the set on their sheet which Bear could do and The Cub enjoyed ticking all the boxes. Plus each of the fairies had names, which were a bit hard for Bear to read yet, so I filled those parts in.

There were little scenes at every fairy stop which the kids loved exploring, and lots of nature to look at in between!

Friday, we headed to Eureka! for their Home Education Day and learned all sorts of interesting things about lots of different things. We had access to the museum as well as a short Light and Sound display where the boys listened to a talk with some amazing visuals that we are going to try and replicate at home some time. 

We went with friends again and had the best day exploring and checking out the different sections.

Because the museum is so far away, The Cub napped for an hour on the way home, just before tea time, so we also stayed up late for a family movie night with Daddy!

Over the weekend I had to work Saturday so the boys got a one-on-one day with Daddy where they enjoyed several hours out in the garden in the spring sunshine... then Sunday we headed out to Norfolk Heritage Park with friends for a picnic, a play in their playground and a walk around the park looking for big sticks! We're definitely making the most of the sunshine. 

A trip to the pub for tea Sunday evening and to listen to Daddy sing and play his guitar finished off a good weekend. The boys love the pub, have a great relationship with the staff and other regular customers and even help to set up the equipment for the jam night. They also test the mics by singing nursery rhymes, which they get a round of applause for from the audience.

Monday, we had to do some food shopping first thing, and then we went to check out our local swimming pool after lunch with Aunty in tow. The boys love swimming, but we don't get often enough and it has been the better part of six months since they were in the water. Both boys were fantastic and had a ball in the pool, practicing their swimming and playing around.

Then afterwards we went back to Aunty's house for snacks and to see Nannie too.

By the time we got home, unpacked and, tidied up it was almost tea time and far too late to be doing sit-down learning, so that would wait for the morning after.

They didn't learn nothing in those few days, and they had had some amazing experiences, and interacted with lots of different people of different ages. We have had moments of obvious learning where there has been an opportunity to practice numbers or phonics for example, and there have been so many small moments of unintentional learning that I couldn't keep count. Proving that they don't need to be sat at a table to learn.

I love seeing them discover the world around them and will continue to prioritise time for that for as long as I can. Play matters. Time to explore matters. I will protect their childhood for as long as I can, and I won't apologise for it.

How do you organise your days? Do you have a set time for sit-down learning or do you get out of the house as often as possible?

Mama Bear x