homeschooling q&a

i've had a lot of questions about our homeschooling lately. what we do, what methods we use, how i plan our days, etc. i thought i'd try and answer a couple of them here.

homeschooling wasn't something that we chose to do on a whim. it is something that we researched heavily and spoke to other homeschooling families before we made the decision. the biggest worry that seems to come from onlookers is the social aspect. my kids are pretty sociable, and they have many friends from their outside groups that they have know for a long time, family friends and friends from our homeschooling groups. we get out and about a lot, we don't sit home all day long - we spend a lot of time with other people. homeschooling is definelty not the easy option... to be perfectly honest four people {as the mr goes to work} who spend all day every day with each other, we can drive each other nuts! but hand on heart i love it - i couldnt' imagine it any other way. the good far outweighs the bad, and i'm incredibly blessed to get to spend my days with my kiddos.

q - what curriculum do you use?

we don't use one particular curriculum. there are so many different ways and styles of learning, i pick and choose what works for my family best. we take a mix of ideas from montessori and unschooling most of all.

i had a few questions as to what books we are using, so here are some of what we have for the year

maths - for both - C.I.M.T mathematics programme

english - lola - Comprehension Books, creative writing books and this literature unit study

           - kiki - focusing on phonics and reading skills, and this language arts guided journey

geography//both - world geography

nature study// both - handbook of nature study, nature in a nutshell and the nature connection

history//both - we created a list of topics that we wanted to study - we're starting off with Ancient Egypt- I've put together a unit study for us to work through together.

science//both - again, we've created our own unit studies - starting with our senses {i can tailor the work to suit different ages//levels so that everyone gets something out of these}

also - we'll be doing lots of practical experiments, using these books - 100 science experiments and science in seconds

these are just a few.... within each subject we do so much more than just book work. we do a lot of art and crafts {we're doing a unit study on the worlds greatest artists this year}, go on nature walks, visit museums and gallerys. the older kiddos take outside groups too - brownies, rainbows, netball, a book club and drama.

miss baya likes to be involved - she wants to do jsut what her big sisters do. i can see that a lot of it is going in. right now she is very interested in letters//spelling and practicing some letter formation!

q. how do you plan your days?

there isn't a right//wrong way to plan your days, just as there isn't a right//wrong way to how you homeschool. you need to do whatever works best for your family.

for us, we usually work from around 10am [we're not early risers!!] to around 1pm. We cover a few short lessons each day. somedays we'll do a little more, somedays a little less... we take it as it comes, and never miss out on a trip out or a visit from friends because of work ;)

to keep track of what the kiddos are studying i printed out some charts. at the start of the 'school' year, i make a rough plan of what we want to cover that year. I tend to map out a half term {6 weeks} at a time - picking unit studies, gathering books + supplies, etc.

the charts that i created have a space for each subject, and a column for each day of the week. i use a seperate one for each kiddo. it gives me space to write down what we'll be studying each week, as well as when - i need things written down clearly for me to see else i lose track and get nothing done!

right now, we usually do maths, english and geography three times a week, two science sessions, 1 nature study session. history and art happen twice a week, and music and language study once - this changes from time to time, and of course, we do more of each subject outside 'formal' times too!

i hope this has answered a few questions for you - feel free to ask anymore below!

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