Tag Archive | holidays

Now more than ever

Aug1

I grew up in the city. Lived much of my life on concrete.

I live rurally now and we did so throughout the children’s childhoods. Our lifestyles as closely linked to the natural world as it’s possible to be, to the seasons, to the land and the way it produces our food, the place where we lived being an intensely agricultural area. We saw greens and potatoes grown, livestock raised, and food transported from field to shop. Sometimes we interrupted that final process and had food direct from the people who produced it.

So we were constantly conscious of how the land, the weather, and nature supports us. How it is wholly dependent on the entire ecosystem for it to continue to do so.

When we visited the city, which we regularly did, I was also aware of how completely sealed under concrete and tarmac this land, this earth, was, and consequently how easy it was to forget all about it as you lead city lives, with city pastimes of pollutive shopping and coffee shops and consumerism as hobbies instead of mud pie making and wildlife watching and seeing vegetables grow, as we did at home. In cities it’s like all forms of nature are seen as inconvenient, often dirty, and to be eradicated. Was only something you visited in a conveniently tidy park space.

Over my lifetime, since I made this change from city to country dweller, the majority of the population has done the opposite. When I was a youngster, most of the population lived in the country – had experience of it – knew what earth was! Now, the higher proportion of the population lives in cities, removed from this direct consciousness of the earth, the land, and the precious ecosystem. And consequently it is extremely easy to forget all about it. To forget that the land that is battened down under all this concrete is what provides us with food, with materials we need, with the very stuff of life.

If there is one subject more important than anything else, on any curriculum, it is that. Think about it.

But it’s August. Lets not talk about curriculum. It’s time off from all that.

However, being August, now more than ever is an opportunity to get outside, to use this time to re-establish contact with the earth. To get the children’s hands dirty. To get our feet off pavements and onto grass, earth, sand, rock, woodland floor, into rivers, under trees, and reflect on the fact that this is where our lives come from. Our breath depends on leaves and plants. Every little critter we find – however repulsive to you, every type of habitat we explore, is equally important within the great diverse ecosystem.

How, more than ever, as our environmental crises deepen, we must educate the young to look at and look after our earth, whatever time of year it is. It is THE most important thing to be educated about. To understand.

So try and get out there this August and enjoy it. Bring the earth to the forefront of your thinking. Bring your contact with it to the forefront of your activities. And thereafter bring it to the forefront of your education. Nothing matters more than the earth does.

Now, more than ever, we need to love it better and show our children how to live their lives so that they may do so. That’s why first hand contact with it is so important. To come to understand that the earth and countryside is not just for holidays, and to look pretty; it’s where our life’s sustenance comes from. We must remember and respect.

Combining the corn for our daily bread

May you all have a safe and Happy Christmas

Dec1

Christmas could be tricky in a home educating household at Christmas. For the children were always around and Christmas secrets were hard to keep. I’d also always encouraged curiosity as it is a vital precursor to learning. Curious children cannot help but learn about the world. So they were always very curious as to what’s going on around them, especially when mum tried to sneak things upstairs away from prying eyes! But trying as this is, at least I didn’t have to worry about them travelling home for Christmas as they do now, all grown up. And driving – another worry.

I remember one Christmas just after our eldest had started driving, when we needed a trip to town.

The weather was so festive it felt like we’d been living in our own Christmas card. Everything had been jewelled in a light dusting of white. The frost clinging to every gate, stem, fence and seed head as if it had been sprayed on. With added glitter. Every roof and spire was softly coated, the ploughed earth bright white instead of rich dark, the footpaths rock hard and cleansed with ice. Needing some valuable winter driving experience, she took the wheel and drove slowly and carefully along slippery, glistening lanes under boughs weighed down with crystalline decorations and dyke sides stiff with frost.

It looked like a magical wonderland just right for dreaming of Christmas.

Then, in one shocking second it all looked very different.

As we drove into town a child decided to take a risk to show off to his mate. Decided to dash out in front of the car to see if he could beat it as he ran to the other side of the road, not understanding that the consequences of him losing are irreversible and ruins lives.

My daughter, who’d not been driving long, hit the brakes. The contents of the back of the car catapulted to the front, our seatbelts wrenched our chests, the tyres screeched.

Thank goodness that despite our happy chatter about the glory of the frosty scene she was alert. Thank goodness that bit of road was dry, not icy. Thank goodness there was no one behind to shunt us into the daredevil. A very nearly dead daredevil. How we didn’t hit him I do not know.

The car stopped dead. The child stood clinging to the barrier at the side of the road. The look of fear on his face told that he knew he could have had a disastrous fate that would have obliterated all dreams of Santa. We had all looked upon a very different Christmas in that split second, to the one we’d been admiring before.

We drove on with many ‘What if’ s whizzing through our heads.

More than presents, more than good food, more than easy travel and kind weather, I’m just wishing for a safe and happy Christmas for you all – whatever stage of home educating you are at, however young or old your youngsters are, and that everyone gets safely where they need to be.

I’ll be waiting to welcome mine!

Happy Christmas!

4 simple things

Aug2

It’s August! It’s the holidays. Slack off. Chill out. Have a lovely time with your children and young people.

Let their days happen without an agenda for a while for they’ll learn just as much through the simplest of things, many you won’t even have anything to do with.

But when you feel you need to have some input here are:

A reminder of THE most important subject

Aug9

A short pictorial thought this time to remind you, whilst you can get out and about during the holidays, what’s THE most important of all subjects for your child to learn about. You’ll see why when you read the original post here.

Do let me know your thoughts!

What do you do in the holidays?

Jul26

Since it’s that time of year again I thought I’d bring up the subject of holidays and term times, with this story from ‘A Home Education Notebook‘.

Even after Home Educating for a while I could still be influenced by them even though I knew that education didn’t have anything to do with term times at all.

They were usually brought to my attention by the children – and the fact that most other families are controlled by them.

“Mu-um?”

Even this one word could make me feel I was about to be manipulated, probably by something I may not like.

“Ye-es?” I’d reply suspiciously.

“Ruth’s breaking up from school today; it’s end of term.”

“Oh, is it?” I’d feign ignorance knowing full well what was coming.

“Can we break up too?” She’d give a big sheepish grin.

I’d give the usual answer. “Well, I wasn’t aware we had anything to break up from.”

Another grin. “But can we?”

I’d pause, keeping the suspense and the pretence going a little longer. Then; “Yea, go on then – let’s.”

And she’d bounce off to go and do the same things she would be doing anyway, ‘breaking up’ or not.

We’d sometimes go through this little ritual when the schools finished their terms and my children knew their school friends were available for play during the day.

It was partly that, but also because our children did spend some time in school earlier on in their lives and, although freed from it, they still wanted the sense of celebration and release their mates were feeling.

And why not? We all need a change and a celebration. A release from that constant feeling that we perhaps should be doing something more educational than just having fun. It took quite a while for us to get over that idiocy and realise that education just went on all the time, term times, learn times, fun times and holidays.

We educated our children in a mostly autonomous way, with them deciding very much what they worked on but we’d still motivate them to be busy doing something. We’d encourage them to try new things, make and invent, play actively, be engaged, to read, we’d go out, meet others, whatever.

But it was good for all of us, adults and children in the family, to have a break from all that motivation. To switch off the driving force for a while and stop looking for activities or projects that would stimulate, and searching the internet for active learning sites.

We could drift. Do things that merely took our fancy and I could stop looking for an educational slant.

So, on one ‘end-of-term’ occasion, I thought I’d observe what the kids did instead.

The eldest took a heap of books, magazines, sketch book and pens out into the garden, spread herself out on a rug and designed all day, researching her books for inspiration, studying other people’s work and incorporating and adapting their ideas into her own work.

The youngest decided to build a den out there. This required searching out suitable materials within her environment, putting them together and solving the problem of making the structure strong and upright in discussion with me or whoever else was available. Then she spent the rest of the day in creative play, making up stories, reading to her toys, imaginative ideas passing through her faster than hot biscuits passed through her mouth.

In other words the children, ‘on holiday’, covered these skills; reading, research, writing and use of language, drawing and hand eye coordination skills, problem solving, estimating, analysis, use of materials, investigation, construction, exploration, interpretation, discussion, development of imagination and ideas and creativity. All those skills that teachers had to force reluctant children to practice in schools, usually in a boringly academic and repetitive manner, because the children had been removed from the natural opportunity to practice them anyway.

My children had been busy with all this simply because their minds were freed up from the confines of ‘doing education’, a trap we sometimes find ourselves falling into how ever autonomous we try and be.

It was a good reminder that we don’t always have to be forcing everything in order to further a child’s education. And just because there are not set schedules, timetables, term times or regulated practice, it does not mean there will be no learning taking place.

So, just in case you’re wondering what to do in the holidays, just back off and see what happens. Encourage them to develop their own ideas to relieve the ‘I’m bored’ syndrome, and keep these five simple daily practices in mind:

  • Be physically active at some point everyday.
  • Get outside, in green spaces if you can but playgrounds and streets are just as good.
  • Observe the wonderful world around you – on your doorstep – by giving time to looking deeply and mindfully.
  • Plan, shop for, prepare and cook meals or bake together.
  • Encourage them in their own projects beyond the usual screen based ones!

All will develop important life skills without you even realising – trust me. And even better, they will enhance your well being too – an important skill for all.

What ever projects they want to work on they will always be learning

Break from education?

Jul27

End of July and traditionally the time when you don’t have to worry about education for a while as the schools break for summer!

Of course, this year, there’s been little traditional about education and the routine learning life most are familiar with as Lockdown kicked in and everyone was learning without school. Life has been up-skittled, both for school users and those already home educating whose learning life was also disrupted by being unable to go out and about like normal.

It’s all been very weird. Hard work. And worrying for all families. I know there are thousands worrying about their children’s learning. The original home educators among them, even though they’re used to a slightly less orthodox learning schedule.

So I reckon it’s time to take a break from all that fretting about education and learning, about how much to do, or worrying about what has not got done! Now’s the time, as the lockdown restrictions hopefully lessen during the summer, to enjoy the outdoors even more, enjoy family activities safely spaced, and let go concerns about making it ‘educational’.

You never know; you may see magic happen.

For there’s something important to know about learning – something many home schoolers already know;

Even though you may not be thinking about it, it will still be going on.

Children learn and develop every day, from everything they do, see and experience.

They’re always learning, whatever they’re doing.

You can’t stop them learning. They’ll be developing in ways that enhance their skills and understanding which will in turn reflect on their progress when they get back to more formal activities.

So just enjoy your summer. Stay safe. and trust in the process.

And I may take a little blogging break too and return later in the summer with more words and pictures! Although I’ve tried that before and it hasn’t always worked for, like with learning; you think you’re not doing it but ideas are generated all the time.

Sometimes all we need is some space to let new ideas flow, children and adults alike!

4 simple things that make a difference…

Jul29

Someone told me recently that although they’re not home educators, some of the posts they read here are still useful to help them understand and keep a healthy mind towards their children’s learning whilst they go through school.

He’s not the first to have said that! I’m really chuffed! Because education is education wherever it’s happening and whatever you’re doing, home educating or not.

So with those parents in mind, along with all the home schoolers who visit here, I was thinking again about the holidays (see my recent blog post ‘Is there ever a break from education’) and how parents worry that they should be doing stuff with the kids through term breaks, or the kids will regress.

Firstly, they won’t regress – as much as schools like to threaten that! And secondly, it’s true; we should be spending time engaged with the children whenever it is – term-time or not. We should equally be spending time not engaged with the children. This is all part of parenting – and as some fail to understand – education is very much dependent on parenting!

But we don’t need to stress over it. Most of what we do with our children will further their skills and knowledge in some way or another, from outings to cooking, from gaming to catching a bus, watching stuff together, chatting – it doesn’t have to be academic. Small things can make huge differences.

Taking that further, there are four very simple things to do in the holidays that can impact on your children’s development, but which might be overlooked as we are seduced by stuff that’s more glam or expensive.

They are:

  1. Read to them as much as possible, be a reading family; encourage reading by reading yourself – doesn’t matter what
  2. Talk with them and respond to their thoughts, questions, ideas
  3. Encourage their curiosity (which is their inbuilt desire to learn) by facilitating activities that involve; exploration, variety, investigation, experimentation and creativity in all its many forms
  4. Be active as much as possible, essential not just for body, but heart and brain health too!

These can cost nothing but your time, but by doing the above at some point every day you’ll be furthering their education in ways you may not understand but which make an important difference.

Here’s a simple reminder:

Feel free to share, print and post, copy or use this pictorial reminder however works for you!

Is there ever a break from home education?

Jul8

Learning, whatever they’re doing

Whenever we approached the time of year associated with school holidays we always got asked in relation to being home educators; “Will you stop educating for the holidays?”

Which just goes to show how most people are still conditioned to think that education only ever happens within certain times and structures like timetables and terms.

Of course; it doesn’t!

We witnessed proof of that regularly throughout all the years our children were learning out of school. And the longer you home educate the more you’ll see that happen in your house too. How learning takes place all the time, through all activities, even sitting on the toilet we discovered one day when a little voice pipes up from behind the bathroom door;

“Mum, how does the wee get inside?” And we have a short biology lesson at night before bed.

These are the little ‘lessons’ the children remember the most. And despite seeming a terrible hotch-potch style of learning, the amazing computer that is the brain pieces the bits together into a coherent body of learning and knowledge that contributes to the children becoming educated. Consequently, holidays don’t mean the children stop learning – so you can cease to worry about that!

However, there is another aspect that you home educating parents might like to consider and a question that regularly arose in my exhausted mind early on – do we have to do ‘learning’ all the time? Is there ever a rest?

Well the answer is this; although children never switch off from learning – it’s just a natural part of how they live their inquisitive lives. (See the chapter ‘What about term times, learn times and holidays’ in ‘A Home Education Notebook’). But as parents you have to occasionally switch off from the incessant drive to make use of every learning opportunity (like the toilet incident). And you have to also switch off the feeling of guilt if you don’t!

If you step back from it occasionally nothing terrible will happen! Okay – you might have missed an educational opportunity, but this will not scar your child for life and there will be other opportunities. More importantly, if you don’t, you’re the one who will be scarred from not giving yourself a mental break and keeping it all in balance.

Balance develops healthy individuals; children and parents.

I thought this was worth a mention because like the saying; once a parent – always a parent, it is also the case that; once a home educator – always a home educator. In both cases you have to find a healthy and balanced way to proceed through it all.

Don’t ever fret that your children are not learning whilst you step back a bit. They actually need you to back off a bit as much as you need to. And never feel guilty. Just because you home educate, it does not mean that you have to utilise every second. Kids at school wouldn’t. Teachers wouldn’t either.

So you could use the term time holidays as an opportunity to step back, or you could just try and create a generally balanced family life and approach to learning and resting whatever you’re all doing and whenever you’re doing it, and disregard what the school lot are doing and the term times associated with them!

Happy Spring: What better time…

Apr15

Easter Holidays!

What better time than this to celebrate the season of rebirth, regrowth and the earth’s burgeoning vitality. When days of longer light can make me feel that my own sap is rising along with that of the trees and plants!

Spring amid the concrete

And what better time than this also to get yourselves and the children outside, experiencing and learning about our essential connection to the earth, how all species are connected to the life of others and imperative for the longevity of the planet, for our own health and wellbeing and that of the children.

I was reading recently about how the increase in childhood conditions and diseases may be exacerbated by our children’s decreasing contact with the earth, the soil, fresh air and green spaces in particular. And how parents should do all they can to reconnect, to encourage learning about the natural world supporting us, and perpetuate a care of it. From the tallest tree, to the tiniest insect, and all those essential organisms we can’t even see – it’s all important!

What better time to do this than when Spring makes it easier to be outside, when it is so pretty and inviting and downright dramatic with its April showers!

So why not get out to spot and experience:

  • Birds – with bits in their mouths, either for nest building or for baby feeding, or singing their Springtime songs
  • Insects – from creepy crawlies in the crevices to the first bee or butterfly you’ve seen this year
  • Rain – appreciating the fact that it is essential for survival. How often do you consider that? And consider also ways in which you can economise with your water usage – waste less of this essential resource
  • Young – the best time for seeing newborns, especially lambs. There may be a farm or a centre nearby you can visit, a river for ducklings
  • Plants, shrubs and tress that are beginning to leaf up or bloom. If you have a garden get the kids involved in growing things, in pots if you don’t, in order to learn about the vital elements needed in order to grow; nourishment, light, water – which we need too! Along with health giving contact with soil!

You may live in a concrete environment, but that is all the more reason you need to teach the children about the earth that lies underneath and to find ways to get them back in contact with it. Otherwise how will they know it’s there, grows our food, supports our lives, and that it needs our attention? Use the season to celebrate this earth and the abundance of life bursting around us, on which all ultimately depend, however city central we live.

Have a Happy Spring!

 

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Dec21

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

I get fed up of looking at words so occasionally I do a bit of artwork especially at Christmas when I get the urge to make a few cards.

And I’m posting a card for you, dear readers, because Christmas seems like the perfect time to say thank you.

Thank you to you all. To all who’ve been with me through my books, to all who’ve shown such warm support for my work over the past year – for many years some of you. Your little messages here, on Facebook and other platforms, your reviews and your kind remarks have kept me going.

It’s been heartwarming. Thank you.

May your Christmas be heartwarming too and full of love and may that continue throughout the coming year.

Have a happy one!