Welcome to our home Ed 2023

Our routine hasn't changed much since September, we all feel like we've finally found our feet with home Ed. 

My children love their online lessons and are happy to do some 'school' work. We've even added an extra lesson to our week recently.

Our current routine looks like this. 

Monday - free time, my children get to choose within reason what they want to do. Normally it’s a wind down day from a busy weekend and catch up on house work. 

Once a month we attend messy church. 

Tuesday - my youngest is at her childminders, my eldest two have science and either English or Maths. They help make lunch and then we play a game and read before having down time. We then collect my youngest before my middle child has ballet and then the eldest two have athletics. 

Wednesday - my youngest is at her childminders, my eldest two do either Maths or English depending on what they have done the day before and then work on a scouting badge or Pawprint badge. We then read and collect my youngest from the childminder followed by down time and my youngest ballet.

Thursday - is more of a chilled day. We tend to run errands and go for a walk. My eldest has cubs in the evening. 

Friday - for the past few months we have been helping to look after a horse once a fortnight in the morning. Then we chill in the afternoon, my children can choose what they want to do. Or we head out with home Ed friends for the day if we aren't with the horses.

My middle child has beavers in the evening. 

Our weekends have been filled with ballet for the past few months, our middle child has been practicing for dance festivals and now both my youngest and middle has ballet exam coaching on top of the festival practice. It's been a bit manic, so it's been nice to take a couple of chilled days during the week. 

My son also goes to a youth group twice a month on a Sunday. 

Our routine may not be perfect but its working for us, none of us feel really overwhelmed like we have done in the past. My children are happy, and they have a full range of educational opportunities every day. 

Our routine will change in April once my youngest turns 5, she will start doing some online lessons too, we may need to add an extra structured work day, so all of them have some 1 to 1 time. Although my eldest is now able to work well independently, he occasionally comes to ask for help or show me what he’s doing mid lesson.

 

In our house free time usually looks like my children sat in front of a screen with a pen and paper in hand. None of them can just watch TV without doing something else as well. They usually watch YouTube video’s that teach them how to do something, rather than TV programs. This is not something I have pushed on them, this is their choice. Children love to learn, watching YouTube video’s is becoming a normal way for people to learn. My husband and I as adults use YouTube to learn new skills. My husband was able to learn how to service one of our cars and change the brakes, he has also learnt how to plaster a wall. I learnt how to crochet by watching step by step videos. If we as adults can use this as a learning tool, I’m not against my children doing the same. Especially when they progress so well with it and there is so many free resources on there.

My eldest has taken this time to practice his drawing and he uses YouTube videos to help him learn new techniques, he is becoming so confident and talented. He loves using alcohol pens and has spent a long time researching the best ones and watching comparison videos.

Over the past few months, he started needing a lot of art supplies, pencils, fine liners, specific paper, sketch pads.... The list goes on, we decided he needed to learn the value of buying these. We managed to sort him out with a bank card, and he receives a basic rate pocket money each week and can earn extra money by helping around the house, Bonus! He can then buy his own art supplies when he has the money to do so. He takes pride in being able to buy his own things and he doesn’t have to share them with his siblings. He has had to learn the hard way a couple of times, when he spent some money but then realised he needed a new rubber or a pen but didn’t have enough to buy it. He would have to wait a week until his next pocket money day.

For his birthday he received a drawing tablet and software for his laptop. I love watching this new skill develop and am looking forward to seeing what he produces in the future.