New to Home Schooling? One of our very own library staff is here to help! Pick up some great tips as Suzanne shares a wealth of experience gained on her previous home schooling journey. This week we take a look at Early Years, ages 3-5.
Here a few points to keep in mind and to help keep you sane!
- Home schooling is only temporary during the time of Coronavirus. Who knows, you may enjoy it so much that you decide to continue!
- The school is still responsible for the education of your child so once schools reopen they will continue to teach your child everything that is required.
- Every child and family is different and what works for one family may not work for another.
- Be prepared to adapt. What works one week may not work the next. You may be trying to do your own work from home so don’t be hard on yourself.
- Try to get into some sort of routine, however loose it might be. Maybe a get up time and set meal times but too much structure can cause stress for all.
- Try to enjoy this time even though you didn’t choose to home school! This is a wonderful opportunity to be spending time at home with your child/children so enjoy yourselves and make memories. When your children grow up they will probably look back at this, as a very special time.
- Children learn through every experience, whether playing board games or helping you cook dinner.
- Try to do some reading regularly, this may involve your child reading to you but if this causes upset and worry it is also very helpful to instill a love of sharing books.
Stay Active!
PE Lessons at home – Young children are used to burning up a lot of energy in the school playground so try some fun exercises together at home. PE with Joe Wicks provides fun exercises for children of all ages. They are free live workouts that run live from 9-9.30 Monday to Friday.
Cooking – Chef Theo A Michaels streams live cooking lessons on youtube. Great recipes that are easy to cook with children. Recipes on the web here.
Reading Together! While the libraries are closed you can still access free online learning resources via Hillingdon libraries homepage including Britannica and Borrowbox for lots of children’s titles on eBook and eAudiobook format.
We hope you find these tips helpful. Next week we will continue our home schooling journey focusing on Key Stage 1 with more helpful insights and advice from Suzanne.
In the meantime here a few extracts from Suzanne’s home schooling diary to inspire you:
“When we started to home educate, it was very daunting, particularly because at the time, I didn’t know anyone who was home educating and it was still rather unheard of thing to do.”
“My main aim was for my son to grow up with a love of learning, and the life skills required to be able to follow his own path in life and make a positive contribution to society.”
“As I looked at different educational philosophies I began to shape a style that would work for us. One educational style I liked was the Charlotte Mason approach. She was an English reformer and educator from the 19th Century who devoted most of her life to Education. She did not like the education of her time, and her reforms shaped future schools and teaching methods. She believed in the cultivation of a love of learning through the use of ‘living books’, active hands on learning, nature, art appreciation, music, handcrafts, Maths, foreign languages, good habit formation and character development.
Living books are ‘classic’ or great books which really engage the child, and bring a subject alive by increasing a child’s interest in the topic as they become engrossed in the story line.
Good luck to everyone home schooling out there and see you next week!
Finally something to make us laugh when times are tough.
This has previously meant driving out and walking for the day, hopefully with a pub stop along the way or at the end of the walk. Of course, we’re now in different times so my walks have become locally focused and how lucky I am to live in Hillingdon with all the footpaths, trails and rivers to be found within 5 minutes of my front door. It’s quite often the case that we neglect what’s right in front of us to explore things further away, but no more! 
I had been saying “I must explore that footpath” or “one day I’ll have a look where that river runs”, so this is just the chance I needed to explore. I have so enjoyed watching the trees and flowers budding, coming into full bloom and now some of them such as the cherry trees have already lost their beautiful balls of white and pink blossom; what a short flowering season and one I’ve never really noticed before. 
The birdsong has been amazing, now I can start to identify the sweet song of the robin, the squawk of the parakeets and the whistling of the song thrush, not to mention the distinctive call of the chiffchaff.
In these uncertain times where we are having to stay at home and find new ways to occupy ourselves, one guilty pleasure has now become evermore important to me and that is the comfort derived from a good book. There is nothing better to my mind than finding a quiet place to curl up in, coffee to hand and a really great story. Whilst I am spoilt for choice with Hillingdon’s online library app, 
Notwithstanding Enid Blyton’s Famous Five who I lived, breathed and acted out for a number of years; the first book that comes to mind is The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin. At the age of eleven I will never forget my first English teacher, Mrs Hepburn, telling me that I was far too old for Enid Blyton and that I needed to broaden my horizons. She brought in The Wizard of Earthsea for me to read and I was instantly hooked on fantasy. This was pure escapism; a world of wizards, magic and epic adventures. A young mage, Ged discovers he has great powers and leaves home for the island of Roke where he studies the art of magic. But a conflict with another student leads to a magical duel and Ged releases a shadow into the world which he is forced to follow and eventually discover its true name to destroy it. 
Another all time favourite book is Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones, a modern fantasy based on a couple of Scottish ballads, Tom Lin and Thomas the Rhymer. Although I was in my early twenties when I first read this, I have probably reread it no less than ten times over the last thirty years and it still feels new every time I open the cover. Polly aged 19 realises she has two sets of memories; her normal life and a second, more unusual set that started when aged 10, she gatecrashes a funeral and meets Thomas Lynn. Over the next nine years against the backdrop of her parents’ breakup and having to move in with her grandmother after realising neither parent wanted her, she corresponds with Thomas, writing stories with him that appear to come to life when they meet up. Very loosely a love story, Polly has to find a way to rescue him from his ex-wife Laurel (the queen of the fairies) and cheat his planned death. Even now, after all this time, I still don’t think I have worked out exactly how it ends up. 
Another series that was hugely influential on my life long love of this genre was The Chronicles of Narnia. Perhaps one of the most famous fantasy series ever written, the book most people will identify with is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe featuring four children, talking animals, a traitorous faun, an evil Ice queen and Aslan the lion. Whilst the last book to be written, The Magician’s Nephew tells the story of how the iconic world of Narnia was created and is the definitely the place to start.
From there my love of fantasy has continued with The Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey, His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman, Magic Kingdom, For Sale – Sold by Terry Brooks and last but not least, The Borrowers by Mary Norton.
