Inspired by Stark Raving Dad's latest podcast - I do love a good podcast! - here's a week in our life at present. This is, as always, written primarily for the kids to one day look back; but it's also, hopefully, to encourage others who are home educating or thinking about it, to let you see what a week in the life of a 7 year old and a 5 year old can look like without school.
I feel like I should mention beforehand that we take a child led, autonomous approach to learning: we never sit down at a table to follow a curriculum or do worksheets. At this age, everything in life is a learning experience. And because we are led by the children's interests, which are subject to change, nothing is set in stone - this is literally just a snapshot into the way our weeks shape up right now. It's not a blueprint of how home education should look - that's the beauty of this approach, it's so individual that no two home educating families will be the same. Because our children aren't all the same.
So, our week! Let's get to it...
Monday
Every other Monday, we meet up with other home educators in a co-operative aimed at primary school aged children. Parents work together to create a day for three age groups - mine are in the youngest so I can only speak to that. We start the day with a kind of 'assembly', singing together; then there's a teaching time, which this year is all about money and how to handle it. After that, and a bit of a snack and playtime outside, the kids gather in the kitchen to cook together. We've made burgers, curry, and pasta so far!
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| Running around playing in between sessions |
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Tuesday
My ambition at the start of 2020 (pre-Pandemic, ancient history now!) was to try and spend one day a week at home, because we were always on the go. The Pandemic has certainly provided a crash course in staying home! And I've tried to maintain a sustainable rhythm as we went back to activities outside the home, so I have intentionally reserved Tuesdays as family days where we either do bigger outings or stay home together.
If we're home, N(7) is hugely into cutting out and colouring at the moment, so she spends much of her time doing that while listening to audiobooks on the Yoto Box; whereas D(5) tends to play with cars or lego. Both of them will spend a good chunk of time in the garden, playing with the chickens; at some point, they may have tablet time where they have Reading Eggs, Teach Your Monster and a few other apps that keep them interested for about an hour. I'll often bake with them when we're home.
If we do go out (which, to be fair, is almost every time unless someone is feeling poorly!), the world is our oyster! There's beaches, parks, estates, zoos, libraries, churches...
Wednesday
Up to today, we have been going to an "intergenerational" allotment every other Wednesday - a place for old people to work together with kids, where particularly N enjoyed the chatter and D preferred to get stuck into the work. As it's got colder, though, N has decided that she doesn't want to go there any more, so it looks like we'll be taking a break for winter.
The other fixture of our Wednesdays is Gymnastics. Both kids love that - and I love it because it teaches them about their bodies capabilities, and limits. Keeping them safe in their everyday movement.
Following gymnastics, they go to their grandparents' for the night and all day Thursday; usually they'll go swimming with them, and to the beach or farm.
Thursday
This is Grandparents Day. I love that my kids have such a deep, close relationship with their grandparents! They love going there, and I think the children keep them young at heart .. they go to playgrounds, beaches, swimming pools, activity centres - always something to do!
As for me, Thursday is my main working day. I've managed to stack up almost all my work into one day - it's 9am-9pm! Such a blessing to be able to choose when and how much I work, and to have the grandparents looking after the kids while I do it.
They come home happily exhausted every time on Thursday night!
Friday
Friday is a half-work day for Mr. so we only really have the morning to fill. For several weeks, we went to a home ed Lego Club - but the kids now decided they were finished with that. It's another one of the perks of home educating for the children: they don't have to stick with something they don't like, so they are free to try out different things without worry that they'll be stuck with it no matter what. Lego club was probably most enjoyed by myself (because I got to sit with the other mums and have a coffee & chat!) - N found it hard that she couldn't really play with the other children, as they were too absorbed in their constructions, whereas D did enjoy the lego but struggled with the noise levels that naturally occur in a hall full of kids. Oh well.
Because Lego club is now no longer in our diary, Friday mornings have become open again - and I haven't yet decided whether to find a new activity for them (thinking swimming lessons or martial arts) or go to a weekday Mass and then just do crafting / creative mornings at home. We'll see. I do try not to overschedule them, but N is an extremely social person who just likes to be with other people whereas D tends to be task / activity focused, so it's about finding something that works for them both.
Weekends
What's special about the weekend? Daddy is around! So there isn't necessarily anything fixed in the diary, but as a family we just like to hang out with each other and do big or small things - whether it's a walk around the neighbourhood to litter pick, or go to the nature reserve to check what's happening at this time of year, or to the farm; it's not so much what we do, as it is who we do it with. Together time.
And there you have it. Our week in the life, as at Autumn 2021 - at the moment, it's pretty stable like that. After the extraordinary six weeks we had in Vienna, it feels like we're definitely back in our comfortable groove, a routine in our weeks. And that's good, too.
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