The first month of January has gone and it’s time for the next instalment of our home education blog diaries. I know it may not seem like the most exciting thing to write about. But I hope this is useful to anyone wondering how home educating tweens works in an unstructured environment.
It was also my youngest’s 10th birthday this month, so we had a few celebrations for him too! Seems crazy that both our children are in double figures now! Now I’m home educating tweens!
Table of Contents
Read More About Our Home Educating Family
- Our Home Education Philosophy
- Best Books For Home Educators and Home Schoolers
- How Do You Teach Kids Without Formal Lessons
- The Cost of Homeschooling in the UK
- Educational Activities For Kids
- A Letter To The New Home Educators
- How To Teach Your Child To Read At Home
History
Although the month began with a holiday, we don’t actually take time off. This is because we don’t actually do any formal learning. It’s autonomous and just part of life. Which means the kids listened to copious amounts of podcasts, with history being a favourite topic. These included Who, When, Wow and Greeking Out. The kids love Greek mythology in particular!
We also walked along to an old graveyard outside of the village of Doune. Although the kids didn’t read many of the gravestones this year, they do remember a little of the history from our previous visits.
On Burn’s night the kids and I visited the Wallace Monument for a press event. They are launching a new after hours tour experience. So the kids and I explored the monument, enjoying the activities, having a meet and greet with William Wallace and Robert Burns. Plus a chance to try some weaving and listen to the Address To The Haggis at the top of the monument.
Science – Home Educating Tweens
Science again begins (and finishes) with podcasts this month. The kids have enjoyed Wow in the World, Tumble, Mysteries of Science and How To Be An Earthling. This includes topics such as time travel, panda behaviour and zombie ants!
The eldest also tried out some new science experiments with MEL science kits. Making a sugar snake and a colourful foaming reaction.
We’ve also had lots of chats about science topics and the youngest has enjoyed looking at his new minerals that he got on his birthday, building Gravitrax marble runs and making a water tornado with two 2l bottles.
Geography
I’m not sure much geography went on this month. We often have chats about capital cities, countries and of course have tons of maps and globes around the house. So although we’ve had no real learning that I can remember from geography themes, they can’t really get away from it in our house!
English
The eldest has been enjoying reading the latest Adam Kay book after finishing the penultimate Wings of Fire book. He’s waiting for the last book in the Wing’s of Fire series from the library, but it’s not arrived there yet!
The youngest is reading to us every day, practicing his reading skills. He can do great when he concentrates and read most words. But his attention span isn’t always great and he gets frustrated at how slow it is working the words out himself. But he is definitely getting there by reading to me almost every day and I can see his confidence growing.
Maths – Home Educating Tweens
Both children have been continuing with using Prodigy maths game online. They are definitely getting better at doing maths in their heads, without prompting.
We’ve also played various board games that require quick maths skills. Zeus on the loose is great for getting kids to very quickly add and subtract up to 100.
The Arts
The kids have done a few drawings, but the eldest has enjoyed creating some mini figure scenes too. He’s taken some outdoors to photograph as well as around the house!
Socialisation
When people find out that we home educate, one of the first questions is ‘what about socialisation’? Well don’t panic! Our kids are not kept inside all day long, they spend the majority of their waking hours with other people, from friends or family, to home ed meets and after school activities. There’s plenty of time to socialise!
We’re out a lot during the week, meeting friends and even just chatting to random people in shops. The kids also have several after school groups and clubs that always involve socialisation too.
Groups and Clubs
The kids clubs restarted at the beginning of the month. So they are both back to Cubs/Scouts, chess club and scouts. The littlest also has a singing class, two gymnastics classes, two dance classes (acro/commercial and ballet/tap/modern) and two drama groups each week. Both children choose what they want to do, with my eldest wanting to do a LOT and the eldest less so. Which is fine, they are different people and choose different groups that they enjoy.
We also attend an indoor climbing home ed group twice a month, so another activity!
Physical Education
The kids love moving about and don’t seem to mind walking when the weather is nice. The weather hasn’t been great this month, with strong winds and a LOT of rain! But we have got out when we can, with visits to parks, walks and climbing trees.
The youngest also chose to got to Go Ape for a birthday day out, which was great fun for us all. Plus there’s the indoor climbing and playing outdoors with friends.