January 2018: Busy despite the rain.

Owen with his model of Willy Wonka's Factory!

January seems like it has rained EVERY darn day... so with the cold, crummy weather, we have spent a lot of time indoors - hurry up Spring! Owen doesn’t mind, he would happily spend every day in pyjamas, reading books and making Lego creations, so a lot of January has been just that - though my house is now literally covered in bricks. The important thing for me is that he is happy, which then makes me happy too. I had thought we'd had a quiet month but writing this it seems we still did plenty!

Owen has been obsessed with Greek Mythology this month

It's been fascinating to see the books that Owen has chosen to read himself, nothing like the type of reading books he had at school! As the youngest of 3, Owen is lucky to have a huge amount to choose from, a lot of them 'fact' type titles. I had vastly underestimated the level of his reading ability (probably due to the 'band' system I was used to him being put in at school, they so like to pigeonhole children), he is reading very complex words and sentences with apparent ease! He discovered his big brothers books on Greek Mythology and has been reading them obsessively - but now won't stop talking about the Minotaur!

What I have learned myself is that given the chance, children will learn independently when they can choose and follow their own interests. I try to supply resources or info that can extend that interest, and it has to be said that Google is bloody amazing - thank you internet! If Owen asks me a question (it was randomly about Mantis Shrimps yesterday!) I will look it up for him. In our previous stressful, rushed after school days I would often have not done it. For example: Owen - "How big is the sun mummy?", Me - "I don't know darling, fudging huge".

If you would like the actual answer, according to Space.com: 

"The mean radius of the sun is 432,450 miles (696,000 km), which makes its diameter about 864,938 miles (1.392 million km). You could line up 109 Earths across the face of the sun. The sun's circumference is about 2,713,406 miles (4,366,813 km)."

So as you can see, my first answer was essentially correct!

Owen's Treebeard Lego model

Another current obsession is Lord of the Rings, we've worked our way through all the LOTR and Hobbit movies (the extended versions no less!), which is fine by me as I absolutely love them and popcorn and movie watching suits the bad weather. Owen recreated some characters from Lego and his model of the Ent 'Treebeard' was fantastic.

Drawing Anime style and tasting Japanese snacks

We attended a home ed screening at The Exeter Picturehouse of  'The Tale of Princess Kaguya', we are huge fans of everything Studio Ghibli, Owen's first ever cuddly toy was a Totoro! There were craft activities set up, Japanese snacks / sweets and even Green Matcha tea to taste (Owen thought it was disgusting haha!). After the movie we stayed on and shared a big pizza in their cafe bar (delightfully deserted because it was school term time), a lovely treat. We also popped into The Works on the High Street to get some maths workbooks, getting Owen to look at them though is a challenge (bribery for getting gadget time may be needed). He said after being shown a book on times tables - "arrrgghhh, you are killing my mind!" (the cursed, lying book cover had promised me the opposite effect "extend your child's learning!" blah, blah, blah). Needless to say, we put them away for now and will try again another time!

Weighing ingredients for cake making

A regular Exeter meet up we go to was having a cake competition so Owen helped me with baking. Measuring out ingredients for cake is the kind of 'maths' that he enjoys most! The finished honey & cinnamon cake was super delicious, but silly mummy left in sat in the darn kitchen (I realised half way across Exeter), we had hurried out to give my 16 year old a lift to college, at least I had remembered Owen!

Trying out the drums

It suits him... playing electric guitar

The following week (I baked another cake and remembered to take it this time!), a home ed family had brought in musical instruments. The children so loved it, it was a very noisy afternoon! Owen tried drumming and electric guitar, he really enjoyed both and is now pestering me for his own guitar! Unusually for his age, his favourite music is Hawkwind's 'Hall of the Mountain Grill' album, I do have a vast and eclectic music collection though and BBC's 6 Music plays on our radio all day.

Right at the end of January we had our first visit from the LEA (local education authority) home education team. Legally, you are under no obligation to accept an offer of a home-visit. You can meet elsewhere (with or without your child) or not meet at all and keep any contact in writing. You never have to provide 'samples of work', produce a time-table or a lesson plan. This area though is another example of a 'postcode lottery' as opinions on the Local Authorities seem to differ wildly across the country. I had researched my local team (Babcock for Devon County Council) and heard good reports, hence accepting a visit. The lady who visited us was absolutely lovely, she stressed that her role was purely to offer support and information - if we needed it. She left us some links to free online educational resources and a little card that proves Owen is home educated (this can be handy for getting discounts).

Looking back at our month, even a dull and wet January, it strikes me how interesting and diverse a time he has had - once again I feel totally assured of our choice to home school. One wonderful part of homeschooling is the freedom it gives you, you are totally in control and set the pace, wearing pj's and baking one day, heading off to the woods another. You can do as much, or little, as you choose. I was asked by another parent if home ed was expensive, you can spend as much or as little as you choose really. I've met working mums who use private tutors and all day forest schools and others who spend next to nothing. We no longer have to pay for school related stuff like uniform, p.e kits, coats & bags, school trips, last minute fancy dress, enforced fundraisers / hand-in-pocket for stalls etc. and the saving for taking trips away in term time is massive. There are many free or cheap activities / resources available. Huge discounts can be found for home ed families, there are HE Facebook groups just for sharing these, one (among many) we signed up for was an online maths app, usual price £45 a year, for only £6. Most of our activities are low or no cost, being together and connecting with nature = free and priceless.

Come back at the beginning of March to find out what we got up to in February! (we already have pony club, a forest adventure and indoor rock climbing on the calendar - and Owen's big brother turns 17!).

Take the path less travelled - be happy... xx


I have added some more links to our last post, so why not give it another read!
*** Our first blog post ***