A bit of "independent learning" photo montage!

independent learning

We call it independent learning, others letting them do "whatever they bloomin' want", and they don't mean that in a good way! But in our little home educating world it seems to be working! We've taken the pressure off of them and ourselves a bit recently and it hasn't seemed to have stopped anyone from actually learning stuff! Inspired by art group they have been drawing zen doodles all week taking the original idea further and further.

Music practice is happening all times of the day without nagging or cajoling. They are reading for pleasure and to research. And while they do still try and watch all sorts of things on the internet! They really are using it for good.

Gaudi!

On the learning list for last week was Antoni Gaudi. David is architecture mad at the moment, so this was his choice. His lovehas been enduring and continues to grow. He sketches and plans and researches, and Gaudi has always been a favourite. We went to Barcelona in May this year and visited the Sagrada Familia and then wandered the streets spotting as we went.

I think they all really enjoy visiting different places and buildings. We have always dragged them off round National Trust properties, Castles, Cathedral and cities, and although they often start with "why are we visiting another church?" they always manage to find something interesting!

And so last week sketches were made, duplo houses were built, they had a very interesting trip to nearby Peterborough Cathedral and all sorts of interesting facts found out!

Pets

We have a few pets! And as the children are getting older they are able to be come more involved with the actual care of them. As a child I grew up dogs and cats and stayed a lot with my grandparents who were farmers. And while we cant yet realise the dream of properly living in the country with land and animals to become self sufficient they learn the importance of animal care and responsibility.

Dogs need walking and feeding, poo needs cleaning up!

Chooks need feeding, cleaning out, raking over and health checked.

Cats need feeding.

And they all need to be wormed. deflea'd or pest controlled in some way or other!

But on the plus side they do love us! And feed us too (although not in this weather) and the children get to see all side of life and death.

For us having pets is a really positive thing, we love em!

P.S. Please can I have Aplacas for christmas, please, please!

This week!

This week we have started something new.

Each week one of the children will pick a topic to learn about and everyone else will join in and see what we can find out. Idea being that the person whose idea it is gets to explore something they are interested in and the others will hopefully find out something new too! We have to enter into the topic with open minds and when its not our choice, had to add this stipulation as the boys were worried in case Mia chose Barbies or similar! But when we thought about that possibility we realised that we could explore lots of avenues within a topic. so for Barbie it could be about design and manufacture processes, developments in plastic, social aspects and views of women.

We didn't have to battle too much this week as Mia was first on the list and chose Polar Bears!

Cue lots of DVD time watching the BBC Life series about ice worlds and the Poles. Environmental discussion, story writing and crafting and fact finding. We actually saw some Polar bears in a zoo in Germany last month while visiting family and we were not very happy with how it made us feel so this has led to further debate about animal welfare and the value of zoos or wildlife parks.

We only had one dissenter in the bunch, but I have to say it has been one of the best things about this week. Oliver has been reading, alone! Yay, and its a big old Harry Potter to boot. its this sort of thing makes me feel our decision to home educate has been the right one for us. Its been a long time coming but without force he has done it himself and discovered a love of reading again. It started slowly with fact books and easy reads to Mia but all week we have found him curled up all over the house quietly reading away. Wonderful!!!

Crafting

We have been doing all sorts of crafting these last few weeks, Mummy included!

Lots of hastily put together halloween outfits were made. David and William doing all of their own sewing. Pom poms were made as gifts for Pipin and Dibble Uncle Loz's kittens. Knitting projects have been started, and will hopefully be carried on! With the change of seasons there seems to be more time to start projects and take our time.

Next on the list are christmas gifts! We are trying as a family to be more thoughtful with our purchasing, to think about who makes things. What are they made from, how far have they come. So with that in mind, handmade from recycled seems to be the best option all round! And we are trying, but I have to say the children are better than me. Maybe because I buy the wool and fabrics for projects and they use all the odds and ends after?

Even still, just talking about our choices, thinking about what we need as well as what we would really like will hopefully encourage the children to be thoughtful consumers as they grow up.