My little family and I are now back in the UK
But we are not back to school
We are continuing our Home Education adventure
We have had an extended summer
But every day is filled to bursting with learning
Through discovery
And through play
I think long term we will take a more structured approach to learning
But for the moment
What we are doing is enough
There are as many different approaches
To educating at home
As there are families doing it
And that number is rising all the time
If you are curious about home education
Please do follow this Not Back To School series
And consider following some fo the families featured more closely
To see the amazing things they get up to
Here is Happy Handley
We are a family of 6 (plus a dog and 2 guinea pigs) Daddy is Steve, Mummy is Tanya, three girls aged 8, 5 and 3 and one boy aged 7. We live on the Dorset/Wiltshire border amongst beautiful countryside. We have been home educating since January 2015, we took the older two out of school first and then our middle daughter came out of pre-school to join the others in May. Now all four children enjoy being educated at home together.
Home educating was something I had wanted to do even before I had children but we just kind of got swept off with the crowd, but when the older two were struggling at school for different reasons we decided to take them out and give home educating a go. Every so often I get little niggles, wondering if we’re doing “enough” but then I look at how much happier my children are, I see how far they’ve come and how much they’ve learned and I know we did the right thing.
We are an “unschooling” family meaning that we have no structured learning, we don’t follow the national curriculum. We learn through everyday life, through going to the shops, the library, and museums. We learn outside and inside, we learn all day long and often into the night too! We love spending time outdoors, gardening, growing fruit and vegetables, looking after our animals, climbing trees and building dens. The children all have unlimited screen time and I was surprised at how well they manage their time, even the smallest. They don’t spend all day everyday glued to the PC or TV. They play educational apps, they play Minecraft, they run shops on Roblox, they enjoy science videos on YouTube and watch films about nature. They also turn the screens off when they have finished and play with toys, bake cakes, do colouring and crafts, they love riding their bikes and trampolining too.
I keep a blog to record what we’ve been up to, I also share on social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. it’s nice for friends and family near and far to see what we do and learn about our lifestyle choices.
I have so much fun with my children that I rarely feel the need to be away from them. When we are at social events they go off and play with their friends and I get to chat to my friends. It’s nice to have adult time but still be with my children. I do occasionally go to a friends house in an evening, go grocery shopping alone or go out for a meal with my husband. Once a month or so Daddy will take the children out for a few hours so I can catch up on bits at home or have a quiet bath. For me this is enough, although I know some other parents may want more “me time”.
Both mine and my husbands families are very supportive of our decision to home educate. It is nice for them as they get to see more of the children than they would if they were in school for 6 plus hours a day. I’ve never received any particularly negative comments, although I am often met with lots of questions about how it works. Most people are curious, some are not keen on our decision but most think it’s great for the children to have so much freedom.
My children have never been as social as they are now. Our calendar is always so full of activities to do that we don’t manage to fit everything in, and of course we need quiet days at home too. My son struggled at school socially because he doesn’t like large crowds of people, this caused him to shy away from social activities. With home education we tend to socialise in smaller groups so he finds it easier to engage with others. I have also found the socialisation is different to that in school in that the children are able to mix with children and adults of all different ages and backgrounds. They can spend hours being truly social and building friendships and not have half an hour of play before it’s interrupted for lessons.
For me the best thing about home education is how much time we have, if the children are really involved in an activity they can see it through to the end. They have time to play and explore, they are closer to each other as siblings because they have time to get to know each other properly. We have to talk about what interests them, scares them, excites them and what makes them happy. I have time to watch them grow.
I honestly can’t see my children ever going to school again, but if they were adamant that they wanted to try in the future then we would consider it. I want my children to grow up to be happy, headstrong, independent adults and I feel that home education is the best way for us to achieve this.
For anyone that is thinking about home educating their children I would say “Go for it!”. Life is short, and there is no harm in trying. Enjoy the time you have with your children, relax, have fun, laugh and the learning will come naturally.
I have loved reading this
And I hope that you have too
To see more of what the Happy Handley family get up to
Please do find their blog
Other families #notbacktoschool
More to come very soon!