A little about our home schooling.....

....I promised in the 'Summer 2008' post I'd write a little about our home schooling venture. Well, it's been very successful so far. We keep a daily journal of what we do but it's amazing how much of what we do anyway with Ethan is 'educational' in some way. We tend to do anything that takes a few minutes concentration in the mornings while he's fresh. However, alot of his learning is done through play as he's still so young. That said, he already knows nearly all the alphabet phonetically and can spot letters he recognises all over the place, especially when we're in the car and he sees them on signposts. He recognises some words like his own name, mummy etc. He knows all his colours including the difference between dark/light blue etc. He can recognise amounts up to about 5 and can count by rote up to 20. He knows all the basic shapes and some more diverse ones like oval, semi circle, rectangle. He can tell you a story by memory using just the pictures in a book. He's also just starting to tell the time.

We do all the usual stuff like crafting, play doh, painting, drawing/colouring, tracing, cooking, music, making mobiles [we recently made one of the life cycle of a buttefly as we were learning about that after reading 'The Hungry Catterpillar' book]. He's just learning to use scissors. We also go to the library every other weekend. He loves working in the garden with Daddy and has succesfully grown some plants this year from seeds.

He can use a computer really well. Can use the navigation keys and play platform games when he's allowed to. He can click and drag with the mouse really accurately. I watched him on it with Si the other day and I was amazed at how much he's learnt as he only started on the PC at the beginning of the summer holidays.

Outside the home we do some educational things through MKhen such as nature walks. We recently did a fire engine visit which he loved. Alot of what's organised by MKhen he's still too young for or it's in the early evening when he's too tired, he's usually in bed by 6.30pm. Socially we do the coffee mornings at Sarah's, Messy Play in Bletchley, soft play at a local play centre and Musical Mini's on a Friday morning. We also get together with the Christian Mum's group every now and again. He does his football once a week, swims once a week with Dave [and is nearly swimming on his own]. We all go cycling regularly around the city in search of local parks to play in with Ethan on the back of Simon's bike in his little seat. Must get a photograph of him on there before he grows to big to fit in it.

As you can see it's a busy time. To be quite honest I have to be careful to make sure we spend the odd day at home as we can be out five mornings a week. I was worried that I'd not be able to fill the days but in fact the opposite is true. I had moments of doubt when we started but they've gone now as I can see that he's already far ahead of his age group and we're not pushing him at all. We will always review our decision regularly though to make sure it's still the best 'fit' for Ethan. We're doing the 'child led' approach at the moment so everything he learns are things he's asked us about or has shown an interest in - the alphabet just started because we read one Jolly Phonics book and that was it - he was hooked. I love spending every day with him - it's just such a gift. It's also amazing to see him learning things and know that it was me/us that taught him. Very, very rewarding.

I will update of any new home ed. adventures as they happen and try to be a little bit better with my photo' taking.

Hugs to all who read...

every blessing

Sharon xx