Homeschoolingmama

I must admit, ever since little person was old enough to try and hold a pencil, I enjoyed buying anything arty! From simple pencil colours, crayons and felt tips, to stamps, glue and glitter. Eventually, as time went on, space started to run out (no surprises!) We went from a small box of supplies, to a large box, to an 80l box, plus shelf! There were two issues with the box and shelf Nothing was organised or in order  Things weren’t placed back correctly, moreso just thrown back in.  This meant creased card, terrible looking a4 paper and usually sequins and glitter everywhere. Something had to change...and boy was I glad to find this absolutely fantastic organiser trolley at Hobbycraft.  This trolley has been an absolute lifesaver when it’s come to organising our art supplies. The picture is after the kids have had a play and tried replacing items, which is so neat compared to our old system!  In order to keep everything tidy, I bought a few more it...

Little person has struggled with creative writing for sometime. He fell in love with the idea of writing after watching and reading 'captain Underpants' -finished the series! It was more of a struggle with trying to get the idea onto paper.  We tried a few workbooks, worksheets but they all seemed to quickly work through the important ideas, which is great, but we needed something that focussed on each point at a slower pace. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to find 'The Usborne creative writing book'.  THE BOOK The reasons this book is so good, is not only because to works on each idea at what I feel is a lovely slow pace to ensure the idea is embedded, but the fact that it opens up different styles of writing and ideas.  The book works through character building, and a fab way it starts this is by working on the person completing the tasks. Little person had a lot of fun noting important information about himself, whic...

I saw a post by a mum about a resource to help with coding. Not surprisingly, I jumped with joy and went along to purchase this resource. I possibly faltered for a moment or two, is this wise? I asked myself, will it sit on the shelf like a lot of my ambitious yet spontaneous purchases? Well, only one way to find out! So off I went, through the www to https://www.detectivedot.org The website itself is lively and full of information, but the 'secret package' is absolutely brilliant! The mega pack I decided to purchase the product (the wavering lasted about 30 seconds) , and went for the mega pack. It looked like there was a lot more, and I needed to make sure there was at least something my 7 year old son could do (assuming he didn't like this!) The megapack contains not only the book, but business cards, mission cards and his very own I.D card-that is a huge hit on its own. The mission cards alone have provided hours of fun (and we've only look...

Or websites I should say! Science is amazing, it's everything and everywhere. There are so many ways we can teach science, not just the usual mundane 'sit at your desk' way, but hands on experiments, watching experiments/science shows and using creativity within science. Little person takes in a lot of what he watches, so I thought it's time I introduced the two websites we love and are all about science. First off mystery science.  This is the first website we started using. The great thing about this, is that you have the option to sign up for free (not all resources are available for free) but so much is available, it's fab! That's not all, each session has lesson plans, you get a list of everything needed, so you too can take part and carry out the investigations! That, is what makes science science.  It is American, so if you're in the U.K. like us, your child might looks bewildered and wonder what season fall is...however, it's g...

Screen time; that discussion that goes round and round in circles with people on both ends of the spectrum, with some sitting on the fence...this blog, I shall dedicate to trying to decipher screen time and what I think is the best way to 'control' it. What is screen time?  Well, the answer is obvious really. It literally is the time spent using a screen, from phone/tablet, to tv and computer/laptop. When I was a child (in the Middle Ages) this wasn't an issue, even tv wasn't a problem as you had about an hour slot of kids shows. Parents never worried about screen time, and life went on.. Today though, screens are everywhere, and it's hard to ignore them. So, it seems ideal to come up with a solution that works. Simple steps to avoid screens Quite simply, get rid of all screens. If it's not there, it can't be used. So, if you're a firm believer that there should be zero screen time, this is probably the easiest option. Asking children not ...

Maths is hard...or is it? How many people have used that line? Is maths really hard? Is there a trick we've missed? And most importantly, how do I make sure my child never utters those words? Well, the short answer is...I don't actually know, but I think I have a small breakthrough... Since little person was littler, I've always told him maths is an easy subject (albeit the fact that mum struggled during primary school), maths is and will never be hard. Everyone knows, say something so many times and it becomes truth. I think I may have nailed that one, maths is not hard and will never be hard! The only thing I learnt many moons ago, when I finally fell in love with maths, was the fact, that as a 14 year old, all of a sudden it seemed like fun! The subject was fun, because it was fun it felt easy...it wasn't the bad guy, it was a good guy trying to be understood! So what has all the above got to do with our home ed journey? Well...understanding how I came to ...

I won't lie, a box that comes with all the essentials required for at least one, two or even three projects (be it art, food or science) is my kind of thing! So, we decided to try the Weeknd box. It's a box full of fun. Ours is a Halloween themed box, which makes sense considering time of year. Why we love it  So there's a lot for a box that was easily posted through the letterbox! That is definitely worth every penny there! We have spider making, pumpkin designing, witches hat (game), popcorn making (yummy), booklet full of puzzles/colouring and the clock to help with 'time telling.' Honestly, this box can keep my 7 year preoccupied for longer than a weekend (that sounds good!!) It's so convenient, I can get a little lazy, so trying to find the sellotape/string/glue normally means I'm thinking later kids. This, however works, because the sellotape/string/stickers is all there...in one place...bliss! That's not all. It's full of ac...

After a long and hard (over many months) thought process, I finally decided to purchase the Osmo kit  for iPad. I was wary, I'm not too keen on excessive gadget use, nor do I like anything that's new and uses the internet. See, I have, what you would call, techno phobia, and with everything about hackers, viruses and what not I feel a little lost. I read a few (lots) of reviews, heard and read about the educational benefits, and watched smiling children playing with their iPads (albeit via YouTube). Yesterday was the big day, it was time to set up our lovely new toy! Set up was very easy (even for me), and didn't take much time at all. It's as simple as downloading the apps, setting an account and off you go. The great thing about Osmo is that it can be played offline. This, alone, is a huge thing for me. I don't have to hawk eye watch little fingers accidentally join an online community or worse. The games are fantastic, it's a mixture of the real wor...

This post is about a resource that we've used for both Spanish and French. If you haven't already heard of or seen OneThirdstories, I highly recommend taking a look (website linked below). You simply sign up for the subscription box (my little one loves waiting for his post!). The subscription includes the story booklet, flash cards, an activity booklet and the audio is emailed directly to you. It is probably one of the more effective language tools we have used so far. The stories are common stories (Red Riding Hood) but with a funny twist to keep everyone entertained. The second language is slowly introduced into the context, for example the word fruit is in Spanish on first page, and gradually most of the words are in the second language by the end. The audio is brilliant, very well read, also means I can have a listen too to ensure I am pronouncing everything correctly. Language learning is fun, the activities provide the revision required but with the fun, and I...

Spanish was the first language little person wanted to learn. Now it made sense to start with this, as I had some (very basic, sort of forgotten!) knowledge. You may have heard about brain plasticity (or not, not really a term that comes up in everyday convo!), but in essence it is the brains ability to alter neuron connections in order to learn new ideas/aspects etc. As an example, when someone loses sight, the 'hearing' part of the brain eventually takes over sight as that is now important and higher functioning. Children's brains (before the age of 7) have greater plasticity. Therefore, a language is much easier to learn in childhood compared to adulthood. Yes you can learn a language, or ride a bike, but it generally takes longer as an adult due to the slower process (in the head), compared to children. Ok enough of that waffle, let's get back on track about Spanish. The first resource I'm going to write about is a website, RockAlingua (web address below)...

Languages are rich and diverse. The world is full of colourful languages, some classed as romantic and others more elegant. In this house, we truly believe in the importance of mastering at least one other language. The advantages are innumerable. Not only are you able to communicate in another language but bilinguals (more languages more benefit) have shown that their brains are wired differently enabling better memory, ability to fathom mathematical concepts quicker and for some, especially tonal languages, the ability to use the right hemisphere for language (usually associated with music/visual concepts). When little person expressed an interest to learn another language, it was as if he had asked the perfect question! Off we went, trying a variety of apps, subscription boxes, books and websites. We've delved in the learning of three languages so far, Arabic, French and Spanish. We aren't structured with our learning and leave it up to little person with how much he ...

This question is one of many I face day in day out. So, what makes parents decide to go against the 'norm' and elect home education? I, for obvious reasons, can only explain our decision in this process. Other parents may have reasons completely opposite to ours, but at the end of the day, we all strive to do what is best for our children. Now there's something else I should note before going into details about our decision. Home educating /home schooling doesn't work for every family, for some school is always going to be the best place. The reality is, one shoe doesn't fit all. So why are we home educating? For us, there's one huge factor, and that is because little person (7years old) is a kinaesthetic learner. He learns through movement, and asking him to sit for more then half an hour in one spot does more harm than good. Movement and visual aids are what helps him. We were wary, that in a classroom of 30 or so children, his need to move would be label...

I thought it would make much sense to begin with a 'hello' post. After much contemplation I thought it would, in reality, be quite nice to log our home schooling journey. So this is both a hello post and quick introduction! We are a family of two little people and two adults. Currently we are home schooling (home educating) a 7 year old. 3 year old is still a little young for any formal schooling.  So why log/blog? At the beginning of our journey I found reading other home schooling blogs immensely important. Not only did they help keep me motivated, but they also allowed me to picture our journey. The one thing I really wanted to do, which is probably out there (I'm not the best when it comes to searching the wide web), was review products we were using on our journey so other families could/can make informed decisions as to whether to buy or not. I hope you enjoy reading through the posts, and do leave comments/suggestions. Thank you for joining us!!  D...