Our home education - part 1

Some changes in the home educating front.

I’ve started this blog post so many times but never finished it so I thought today is the day.

Last September (2010) we made a few changes on the home education front mostly coming about through chats with the children and finding out what they wanted.
Firstly we started a new work card system which is a bit like the workbox system but with more control for the children. We still roughly follow the Charlotte Mason principle.

Each child has a set of cards that lasts approximately 2 to 3 weeks. Each card has an activity some done on their own and some with me/Paul. I made the cards business card size with a different colour for each child and laminated. They like being able to choose what they do and when they do it. I like to think of learning new things as food for the brain. Like the food we eat it’s healthy to have a balanced diet and to allow time to digest it, especially after a big meal (I think I got the idea from Charlottte Mason). The children and I talked about this and they liked the analogy. Cameron reckoned the Wii was like chocolate and spelling was green veg, then the rest of them discussed their chocolate and green veg activities. We’re flexible with the card system and allow for home-ed outings etc.

So far it’s working really well, Fraser likes to get up fairly early and start before breakfast, Kirsty & Maisie do bursts here and there mixed in with playing and Cameron gets stuck in after breakfast (once he gets up) then usually has another burst in the evening.

Back in Cyprus, Aug 2008

We flew back on Sat 9th (6 hours delayed this time), it was Maisie’s 3rd birthday on Mon 11th we had a small birthday tea for ourselves and got the Nintendo Wii for Paul’s belated birthday, he wanted a drum kit but that’s on hold until we move to the UK.
It’s all go for the move now, we had our pre march out last week, just minutes before the man arrived Fraser thought it would be interesting to find out what Maisie would look like with hair full of liquid had soap. Our car gets shipped in just under 2 weeks, the removals come in 2 weeks and we leave in just over 4 weeks.
We’ve managed to get to the beach a couple of days and also to the waterpark.
We won’t miss the summer heat but we will miss all the wonderful friends we’ve made. Also I love the Cypriots attitude to family and children, having 4 children is regarded as a blessing, makes a change from hearing "4 children, you must be crazy."
I think the children are a bit unsettled at the moment with everything getting packed up round about them.
We’re planning to go to Theos Villas again once the removals have been. We had hoped to go to Israel, but it’s going to be too rushed, so hopefully we’ll go next year. It’s not really anymore expensive from the UK.
We’ve been looking into the Charlotte Mason home educating method and feel drawn to her philosophy. However the home educating during the next month will be a bit paired down, once the bulk of our stuff is shipped back to the UK.

I was sent this homeschool video from a homeschool forum I'm a member of, it made me giggle.

“Oh, the misconceptions and realities of homeschool life," from comedian (and homeschool dad) Tim Hawkins.