The Great Outdoors Wk 21: 13 hours

I've been back and calculated our total time spent outdoors so far this year, playing, learning and exploring in various ways - the current total stands at 154 hours and 15 minutes. 

Regular readers will have seen on my home ed posts that we are big fans of Charlotte Mason, a 19th century educator. She recommended that children between the ages of 0-7 should spend 4-6 hours outside everyday. In today's day and age this seems an unrealistic amount of time. But this daily length instead calculated over 3-4 times per week works out at about 1000 hours per year. 

Over on the 1000 hours outside blog, you can read more about where this figure comes from, the research supporting it and the developmental benefits of outdoor time on this post here http://1000hoursoutside.com/join-the-challenge/why-1000-hours/ 

I think we will still be a long way off the 1000 hours total by the end of the year, but nevertheless I'm enjoying keeping track of our time outside and seeing the difference it makes in the kids, in both the short term and over a longer period. Some of those benefits that I've seen, and many other good reasons for getting outside, are listed on this blog post from the 1000 hours outside website http://1000hoursoutside.com/2015/01/21/100-reasons-spend-1000-hours-outside/

The Great Outdoors Wk 20: 13 hours 15

Highlight of the week has to be the super Batwalk that Luke and Eden went on at the local park on Friday night, coming home with lots to tell! 

Here's a collection of pics from the week..

A new year on the allotment

I'm excited about our growing year ahead on the allotment. This will be our fourth summer having our allotment here in the Midlands. When we first took it on back in August 2012 it was covered in weeds upto our waists. Every year we seem to make a bit more progress in staying on top of the weeds. We've realised how important (and helpful) it is to keep the ground covered over when plants aren't being grown. The plot looks tidier, and more importantly the weeds are suppressed. The committee on our allotment are very strict about keeping weeds under control. 

Today was the first nice day of this year for the kids and I on our allotment plot. The kids seemed to appreciate the better weather down there! To my surprise they straight away got stuck in pulling up the surface weeds growing over our geotextile ground cover. 

The rhubarb patch has gone bonkers this year already! Previous years the crowns have clearly been spending their energies establishing roots and this year it seems to have really taken off. We cut 20 stalks to bring home, which barely made a dent in it at all. I'm going to need to look up some varied rhubarb recipes that don't involve the word 'crumble'.

I found some spare strawberries from last year lurking by the shed, so moved them to the end of our asparagus raised bed. I'm really chuffed that we have our first asparagus shoot! We planted 5 crowns last autumn, I hope the others start to show signs of life soon too. 

Finally, we put our potatoes in. Two rows of Charlotte potatoes, second earlies. Luke prepared the ground for us one evening earlier this week and Asher especially loved dropping the potatoes in the holes, learning about putting the shoots facing the right way up, covering them over and watering the rows. Asher at the age of 3 is a very hands-on learner, and his engagement in activities like this really confirm this for me. 

When we got home we made a 'rhubarb crumble cake' together and enjoyed it for our pudding for tea. Well earned after our work on the allotment. I'm looking forward to many more occasions spent down there this year. As the kids get older, not only are they able to help more (and as today showed, cheerfully help), but they can also learn so much along the way. 

Social skills in home education

Usually the first question asked about home education is 'but what about socialisation?' This afternoon at the park I watched Eden, aged 5, making friends with a just turned 1 year old. They were sharing lovely moments together. I watched Eden proudly holding the hand of this toddling unsteady one year old learning to walk. She spun her gently on the roundabout. She asked the little girl if she'd like to watch her ride her bike, she showed her where to stand for a good view and waved as she cycled past. The little girl responded by putting her arms out for a cuddle when Eden returned. Lots of moments. All the time Eden was chatting away to this little girl's Mum, completely comfortable in this social scenario of young and old. 

It was an example of how broad the social skills are that Eden is developing. She may not be in school 5 days a week, spending her time with 30 children of the same age, but who decided that was the necessary length of time required for children to be adequately socialised?

If we wanted to, there are local home ed groups and activities to get involved with everyday, we're spoilt for choice. We see our friends perhaps on average 2-3 times/week, which suits us as a family and it varies week by week depending on how we feel. But when we do see them, the children are spending quality time together often with no other agenda than to just have fun. As adults we catch up with our friends by going to each other's houses, out for meals, the pub, church. Thinking back to my own school days, my memories of quality time with my friends didn't happen at school, but rather I remember visits to friend's houses, going to kids' clubs together, sleepovers, parties, and trips to the fair. Our home ed children go to friend's houses, parks, soft play centres, parties, church, children's groups to see their friends. They will spend a few hours at a time, a morning or afternoon together, with no agenda and no interruptions to their play.  Eden will just as readily play with a baby, enjoy a shared interest with a child of similar age, follow the lead of a much older child in play, or chat to an adult. In the home ed community I see first-hand the children mixing together, boy and girl, old and young, comfortably talking to everybody, seeking common interests, cooperating, and inviting others to play. Research supports that home educated children are ahead in social skills for a number of reasons, including having a wider range of role models than that typified by peer-interactions at school. 

We may not be seeing our friends everyday, but that doesn't mean that the kids stop socialising inbetween. Home educated children have many opportunities to regularly and actively socialise with people in their communities. Social skills are transferable. The kids chat to each other, us parents, the grandparents, they use FaceTime. They're out in the real world, doing life everyday. They talk to the shopkeepers, the shoppers waiting in the queue, the librarians, the people at the bus stop, at the allotment, the museum, the dog walkers we pass with Viking, other children at the park, at church, at home ed groups. They are exposed everyday to people interactions of some form or another. Their communication is broad, with people of all ages and backgrounds. 

"But what about socialisation?" 

My opinion is that more thought is needed as to what 'socialisation' actually is. Is 'socialisation' the same as 'forced association' with 30 other children of the same age sat in a classroom? I believe our children's interactions with people can be a much richer experience than that. 

Nettlefest

Today we visited a local community gardens for 'Nettlefest', an interesting event to celebrate Nettles! With having the kids and Viking our guide dog pup with us, we didn't make it to any of the talks or workshops unfortunately, which were all about how to utilise nettles, an abundant free resource! We were however inspired, and when we got back home Luke went out to pick some nettles and began making some nettle beer, convenient as our previous home brew is running low. 

There was lots of other things to do around the community garden. We visited the beehives:

Did some chalking on the pavement (and inevitably clothes!) 

We decorated biscuits, and Viking was popular with some of the other kids there. 

The highlight for us though was the pond dipping. Asher surprisingly caught 2 newts, before Luke caught a third. Eden was a little disappointed not to catch any, but instead she helped release them back into the pond, having a hold in the process. 

An enjoyable afternoon of family time together. 

The Great Outdoors wk 18-19: 21 hours 20 mins

Last week we took advantage of the 'Sun' holiday scheme to visit my grandparents in Southport, staying right next to the beach. The kids loved exploring the dunes. We took along our Axiski to test out on the dunes, a little sceptical as to whether it would actually work on sand as promised, but it did and we had a lot of fun with it. 

Eden sliding down the dunes on the Axiski:

The Great Outdoors wk 17: 14 hours

The lovely spring weather continues. We spent Tuesday with lots of home ed families at Sandwell Valley, which has such a great set up of park play equipment, sand pits, a splash pad, woodland to explore and a farm. 

We took Viking for some good behaviour training at a park nearby. 

After 4 years since we relocated to the Midlands, last weekend we re-visited Southampton and had a lovely weekend catching up with friends, and showing the kids our favourite places in the city. 

Nature study in the garden

"Children should be encouraged to watch, patiently and quietly, until they learn something of the habits and history of bee, ants, wasp, spider, hairy caterpillar, dragon-fly, and whatever of larger growth comes in their way" 

Charlotte Mason, 19th century educator. 

I am absolutely loving the Charlotte Mason approach to home education. It really clicks with us as a family. As the kids are under 6, the Charlotte mason approach involves much of our days filled with outside-time, the weather at the moment is certainly lending itself to this! There are lots of ways to spend time outside, often I leave the kids to decide themselves. 

Today, Eden was excited to find an ants nest! I decided just this week that for the time being (until the summer or longer) I'd like us to focus on getting to know insects better, so this was the perfect opportunity for me to run inside and grab my Handbook of Nature Study to look up ants. We made a nature journal entry answering some very simple questions on the ants' activity around the nest, and if we find another nest this year we'll add to our answers. 

A little while later, the kids found 3 snails on a plant pot tray. They were very friendly snails! The kids spent ages this afternoon observing them close up and looking after them. They really grabbed their attention. I love the photos I took, capturing those special moments. 

The Great Outdoors wk 16: 22 hours

A big total this week! The good weather has continued and after the busy Easter holidays finishing, this was our first week back into our home ed routine, and we made the most of the weather! We've had an intentionally-quiet week for seeing people, instead choosing to have some space, and enjoy family time together. We've had our first bbqs and picnics of the year. A highlight of the week was visiting Witley Court and Gardens. It was a beautiful day, and such fun to explore the grounds and ruins, the place has such a tragic tale to tell, which both of the kids took an interest in. 

Read alouds in the garden:

Exploring Witley Court and Gardens:

Summer home education

Back into our 'routine' today after Easter. I'm excited for our first summer ahead of 'official' home ed. We've made a great start this morning (it's just after 10:30am at the moment). When the kids wake up they have a bit of tv time. At the moment they're both really enjoying Dora the Explorer and learning some Spanish! Then at breakfast time we usually have some bible time and say a prayer. Today we've started bible verse memorisation using the Simply Charlotte Mason system for remembering scripture. I'm pleased that even Asher at just turned 3 can join in with this. 

Usually after breakfast the kids choose to stay at the table. Sometimes I have something seasonal planned that captures their interest, but usually they'll find something of their own to do. This morning, they both wanted to add to some paintings that they'd done last night. Eden drew people and animals to her background scenes that she'd painted. Asher had mixed blue and yellow paint last night to turn his white paper green, he'd then announced that he'd 'made a jungle'. When they got their papers this morning, I found some jungle animals scissor practice pictures off Twinkl (love it!) and we added these to his background. He then went and found all his animals to match to the pictures and did some brilliant imaginative play! I was so proud :) 

Eden is really enthusiastic about helping with chores today. She's made her bed, plumped all the pillows in the house (her idea!), dusted and loaded the washing machine. Asher joined in too. I'm glad they enjoy this and it teaches them great life skills and the value of everyone in the family helping out around the house. 

Before snack time we got the spielgaben out. So far this school year we've been using the MEP curriculum to cover maths, but we finished the reception year's work before Easter, so we'll now switch to using spielgaben until September. It comes with 1000s (literally) of pages of fantastic learning ideas that get progressively harder, and I'm sure will stay used for many years to come. 

After snack time, Asher's having a nap and Eden did a page of a reading practice lesson with me and some spelling, she loves to write but it's got to the stage where some spelling would help with deciphering what she's written! She's now having a quiet time in her room. 

After lunch we still have the day ahead of us, planning on lots of garden time! I love when we have days where there's lots of hours to fill and we get lots done.

The Great Outdoors: week 13-15, Easter, 31 hours

We've had a busy few weeks over the Easter period! There's been some really lovely spring weather, warm and sunny. We've installed a new trampoline in the garden, which the kids are loving! (So am I!) We've been away to a church event called Spring Harvest, held at Butlins Minehead. We took the scooters and spent lots of time outside and on the beach. I've had quite a bit of my freelance work keeping me busy, so the kids and Luke have been on their own adventures while I've been working. 

Spring bike rides:

First bounces on the trampoline (finished just before bedtime and going on holiday the next morning!)

Minehead beach:

Planting seeds:

Seed collages, making use of very old seeds that I found:

Finding bat boxes at a community gardens:

The cats enjoyed the sunshine too!

Buying a trampoline and kinaesthetic learning

After many weeks of delay waiting for the delivery, our new trampoline for the garden finally arrived last week and we've begun assembling it. I'm sure the kids are going to love it, and spend a lot of time on it. So with this in mind we decided to go for a ground-level trampoline, perhaps more permanent, safer and more aesthetically pleasing than the more usual garden trampolines on the market. It's another reason to be outdoors, in the garden, keep fit and burn off excess energy and for Asher particularly, I think it will help his learning. 

Interestingly, I recently looked up learning styles, particularly kinaesthetic learning. Knowing that Asher is a do-er, right from the word go when as a newborn he was born strong and learnt to roll at 13 days old. Many of Asher's emerging interests as he moves into preschool age, fit with the kinaesthetic learning style. For example, kinaesthetic learners have good hand-eye coordination. Until a month or so ago, Asher had zero interest in sitting down with a crayon or pen. Then one week, all he wanted to do was colour. He sat for hours at a time carefully colouring in just one picture. His attention to detail and hand-eye coordination in his colouring was astounding for his age! These first pictures are now framed on his bedroom wall in pride of place. 

Kinaesthetic learners are good at sport. Asher has always hit his physical developmental milestones early and I want to encourage opportunities for him to continue to develop his gross motor skills. The trampoline will help here I'm sure. But more than this, I think we'll be able to use the trampoline to help in other areas of learning. Just a quick google and Pinterest search brings up lots of ideas for using movement and activity to teach literacy and maths skills. Quite literally, jumping into learning! 

Kinaesthetic learners learn through discovery, through doing and through using movement to enhance the learning process. I'm interested to see how Asher's home education develops as he gets older, and with us as his parents being the facilitators of his education, how we will go about helping him and optimising his learning. 

(Asher measures the depth of the pit below our trampoline)