Friday 31 August 2012

What type are we?

I read quite a few home ed blogs and message boards and often see people refer to themselves as a certain type of home educator, this has got me thinking.
What type of home educating family are we?

We are definitely not the school at home type, we don't all sit round the table and keep school type hours and records or follow a curriculum. My children would not learn in that way. The slightest hint of a school type situation and they start to rebel, whether they are interested in the subject matter on not, they are not going to take part.

I like the idea of unschooling but I don't think my neurotic, worrying mind could embrace the lifestyle fully. I love when the learning is child led and can see that when a child is left to their own devices they will learn independently and naturally but I am not ready or able to let my child lead the way in the areas of bedtime or how much computer time they are allowed.

More people have been asking us lately how home ed works, the favourite questions seem to be "who teaches them, how do you teach them or how do you know what to teach them?"
When asked this question I have to struggle not to openly cringe. I do not teach my children, they learn things of their own accord from the the world around them, just like it should be.

We have lots of resources in our house that the children can access when they like, we will also help in any way we can if they need something else or some other information. Sometimes we do work books together, sometimes little projects. We are a fan of kits you can buy that enable us to do little science or craft projects together. We read, alot. We love crafts and are keen knitters and sewers. Some of us like to cook and bake and others prefer to create and design.

I want my children to grow up with a love of learning new things. That's all I ask of this home ed journey we take together. What they do when they are all grown is up to them and something I am looking forward to finding out,

So what do you think? What type of home educating family are we?

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