After sharing a day in my homeschool, I’ve decided that it would be fun to begin recapping our homeschool months here on the blog. For reference, we use Ambleside Online and I have three boys. My eldest is 10 and in Y5T1, my second is 8 and in Y3T3, and my youngest is in Y1T2….
I come to the same place at least a few times a day. A place where I want to temporarily ‘check out’ of my current circumstances. It’s a combination of tiredness from physically caring for my family, and of weariness from near-constant conversation with young children most of the day. I want to tune it…
One of my bigger challenges as a mom of three little boys is coping with highly fractured time. Gone are the days when I could spend an hour getting myself dressed and ready for the day, mosey to the library to get a bit of work done for uni, wander back for lunch, read a…
It’s been spitting rain and cool temperatures all week, incredibly autumnal for the middle of August. I’ve been itching to get outdoors for days, so when I checked the forecast, I knew we needed to get the kids out for a walk. Less than 20 minutes from our house, Nicky Nook was a perfect circular…
One of my big reasons for homeschooling is to keep my children as intrinsically motivated as possible in their learning, something I’ve personally struggled with over the years. Because of this, when I noticed The Self-Driven Child (affiliate link) mentioned (a few times!) in a blog I follow, and in my Amazon recommendations, it caught my…
As a young, single adult, my hope for my future was pretty clear: meet a charming man, get married, have kids, and stay at home to care for them. Inspired largely by my own mom, who stayed at home until my siblings and I were all at school, set a wonderful example for me, you…
Some times I read something that is so significant I text a picture of it to my husband, so that he can read it, too. This summer, I am reading through Charlotte Mason’s third and fourth volumes, starting with School Education. The first two chapters are on docility and authority, and Miss Mason sets up Queen Elizabeth…
In my last post, I listed the reasons why our family is spending time on ‘preschool’ this year. Despite Charlotte Mason’s belief that children shouldn’t have formal lessons before the age of six, I think that our approach to preschool is in line with her philosophy. Preschool is short. Really short. We are looking at…
One year ago, I assumed I wouldn’t do any sort of a formal preschool with my kids. Charlotte Mason advocates starting formal lessons no earlier than age six. So why complicate things? I trusted the method, and the wisdom of many home educators who said, ‘Wait on formal academics’. How things change in a year,…
Back when my husband and I were young and carefree (you know, no kids, no house renovations), we enjoyed walking as a hobby. There is plenty to enjoy nearby. We like to get to the Lake District when we can manage it, but we are also very close to the coast and to Arnside and…