Introduction
I’m am an home educating parent in the UK.
How long have you home educated for and what made you decide to do it?
My son is 8, we are second generation autonomous home edders (Boy is that a mouthful!) Originally we set out home edding as we felt 5 was far too young to start school with the intention to review at 7, however that never happened as we’re all quite happy with the way things are! If that changes at any point then we will discuss and review.
Briefly describe your home ed style. Do you have a ‘typical’ week and what does it include if so?
We autonomously home educate, we don’t really have a ‘typical’ week, however my son likes to read a non-fiction book every morning right now then we have a discussion on it after lunch and look at anything he wants to find out more about, or anything he needs help with understanding, we have a fair amount of gaming in there too, Lego Batman 3 and Pokemon are favourites right now which are feeding his imagination and he is enjoying researching the different pokemon types and drawing them with oil pastels, which is a new medium for him and he’s enjoying it because the colours blend together more easily. He’s just discovered a game called Robocraft as well which he is thoroughly enjoying (and it’s FREE!) He loves to organise his time based around what he is interested in. He’s recently started to develop a keen sense of delegating anything he doesn’t want to do! 😉 There are quite a few home ed meet ups locally, a home ed trampolining group has just started up again and he recently started swimming lessons once a week.
What was your highlight of home ed last week?
My son had his first swimming lesson and we discussed Earthquakes, Tornadoes and Hurricanes as a result of something he had seen in a Roblox video a few months ago. It reminded me that what he learns isn’t always immediately apparent!
What is your favourite thing about home edding your child?
The ability to tailor everything to his needs, also the time spent together is a bonus!
What do you find most difficult and why?
Letting go and trusting in the process.
Autonomously home educating is certainly not without it’s challenges, and despite the fact I can see the results of autonomous home ed right in front of me with my partner, it doesn’t necessarily stop me worrying or stop me having wobbles. I can’t put a price on the amount of support I’ve had from my partner’s mum when those worries and wobbles have cropped up!
What advice would you give to other home educators?
You know your child best, we all worry about whether what we’re doing is right or not. There is no right or wrong way to home educate, only the way that works for you and your family. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, as long as you and your family are happy with it.
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