How home education works for us

Having discovered that at age 3 our eldest son had taught himself to read fluently, we realised that home education, at least for half a dozen years, would be the best option for him. Our second son was very slow to speak and equally we felt he wouldn’t fit in to a school system, so by the time K-- was 4 we were definitely home educating.

At first I took a gentle but structured approach; 15 minutes reading, writing and maths together at 3 set intervals and an afternoon of craft or art. This soon developed into something more unstructured as K-- often spontaneously read or wrote for twice as long. I found J-- really benefited from structure and as he (much later) showed an interest in reading and writing I would set times for him. Craft etc. and cooking was never fixed, and optional, but they both always wanted to do it.

Now there are four children aged 10 – 3 and having much fixed doesn’t seem to work – it is almost impossible to teach long division, the six times table, 2 + 2 and make sure the youngest isn’t crayoning the carpet all at once, so the structure was abandoned long ago. At some point in almost every day the 3 older children write between 1 and 15 lines in a diary. They all read, draw and play spontaneously. Two or three times a week they play their instruments with or without help or advice. Four times a week, at a time to suit them, but occasionally spurred on by ‘There’s something you might like to watch on in an hour’ we ask them to do about half an hour’s academic work, which we have chosen (but it is open to debate if something equally challenging is suggested as an alternative). Often this ‘work time’ goes on for two or three times as long, as they get so involved in a story they don’t want to stop, or a maths problem is demonstrated practically. For example: 27 raisins, I eat six how many now? Everyone crowds in to offer advice or questions, or the thesaurus comes out and the writer dives into it and is not seen again for an hour or so!

Craft, art and technology is often instigated by me, when I feel like it, and who ever wishes, joins in (usually at least 3) if it’s with unusual material or based on a particular idea. We’ve been making clay gargoyles and everyone gets out paint or tools as they wish. Other than that, bedtimes and mealtimes are fairly fixed – but open to change on special occasions etc. or if we all go outside on a sunny evening and forget to come in!

Having children who love to learn and are always busy making, doing and discovering has made autonomous education easy. On a sunny day any number of learning experiences happen in a few hours. Someone makes a sign to warn others of a slippery path using wood, nails and paint. Others run in and out to identify a butterfly or plant; someone else picks fruit and divides it equally for lunch; another makes cheese on toast; dens are built; complex chasing or role play games go on; tree climbing, dam building, birdwatching, leaf printing, water play and so on. Inside it is just the same only lots of paper, pens, glue, Lego, soft toys, blocks, ramps are involved and I’m often presented with a map of an island or clues for a treasure hunt (for an apple!!) or a poem or a radio programme someone tapes and wanted to share …. My role as ‘teacher’ seems much more to listen to what they have learnt themselves than ever to ‘teach’ them anything. Apart from learning to read and a few other basics, most of what they know comes from reading, discussing and discovering for themselves. For example: ‘Is it all right if I take that clock to bits? I’ll put it back together!’

I had no idea education could be this easy, and so free – no 8.30a.m. to 4p.m. drudgery for us. We stay in when it rains and drive off to the sea in the sun when everyone else is in school. We have weeks of hermit-like isolation and another with a much-loved guest who must hear everything and be shown at least one play, every model and project.

Having said that, we have some bad days too but even (or especially?) NORMAL families have those. Two children bicker and another hits his head; I stamp up and down longing for peace or to do my own uninterrupted thing; the car won’t start or the washing machine leaks or a chicken dies or everything is lost or broken and the bread is burnt…. But we all learn from those things too – when to offer support and when to disappear; that adults can’t always solve things. But we persevere and somehow there is always some kind of solution, for example: that losing your temper doesn’t mean you won’t be friends later, and so on. They watch us learn, overhear our discussions and increasingly take on more responsibility for themselves and each other. Home education is for us LIFE, as creative, diverse and fascinating as possible (on a very low income) – challenging and even relentless too, but thoroughly recommended.

All we need, as parents, is time to pay attention and discuss, enthusiasm and self-confidence. After all most of us didn’t have to teach them to talk or walk or eat!