Homeschooling, Bin the Schedules!

Due to our current immobility after my husband’s surgery, I have spent the last two weeks officially covering and completing year 2 maths with my year 1 child.

Two weeks, for a whole school year, that’s it!

We’ve done up to an hour a day, most days, at whatever time has suited us.

Sometimes we’ve done it inside, sometimes outside, sometimes in a restaurant overlooking Haad Salad beach.

This child is mostly unschooled, we very rarely do anything formal together. We just live our lives and verbally pull every scrap of learning out of each opportunity that comes our way. So why the sudden interest in doing things by the book?

We are going to stay with Grandma!

Grandma is going to want to know how he’s doing, she’ll want proof and I want an easy life.

We have an online learning programme that is tied to the Australian curriculum. I can go there any time and see, at a glance, what areas we “should” have covered if we were following the Australian school system.( we’re not, but Grandma doesn’t need to know everything!)

I can switch on the laptop, show Grandma the year 2 maths page with every section complete and everyone will be happy. Easy! Boo is totally aware of this plan and is happy to go along with it.

Mostly, maths at this age consists of concepts that a child will pick up with exposure to the real world and its mathematical complexities. They do not need to be taught this stuff!

Yesterday we electronically ticked off counting in fives, counting in tens, doubles, dividing by two and simple maps. It took no time at all to wiz through and create the hard evidence. Boo knows how to do all of that already!

He’s never been taught or had any formal instruction, he’s just picked it up as he goes along.

In Homeschooling We Don’t Need Schedules!

Our intensive year 2 maths-fest has been fun for him because it’s been easy. He knows how to do it, he’s showing off and loving being “smart” and “ahead”. All kids love that. He wants to get most of year 3 finished soon, too so that he can “officially” be 2 years ahead in maths. I know he can already do a lot of it.

The point that I’m getting to is, why oh why do small children have to be taught this stuff to a rigid schedule? Why do they have to spend a week in school learning skip counting when they’ll just pick it up naturally if they’re left alone. If they don’t grasp it, maybe it’s because they’re too young. Leave them alone a bit longer, let them make the connections. They’ll feel better about themselves that way.

In Queensland, my home state, they like you to submit a term by term plan. I never have and they’ve never objected, the learning plans I submit show I’m on the ball enough. I’m sure a lot of people worry about creating their own timetables and schedules and that’s a shame. It’s 9am on Tuesday so we should do maths has no place in homeschooling. It is so unnecessary!

Children learn at their own pace, usually more and faster than schools allow. You can easily do next to nothing formal for a whole year and still create the documentation to show that learning is happening if regulations ( or impending visits with senior relatives) force you to. Childhood should be about having fun. Children learn through play and curiosity. Let’s give the kids a break!

I don’t normally post about homeschooling on my travel website, I save this stuff for Homeschool Group Hug, my other site. I’m breaking my own rule today for two reasons. Firstly, blogging isn’t doing it for me right now, it’s become work, not fun. I need to get back to being me, I don’t want to be just another travel blogger handing out top tips for tavelling with toddlers. Secondly, because  a lot of my followers are parents wondering how they will educate their own children on the road. My very simple answer to that question would be, don’t. They’ll educate themselves.

If you agree and want to spread the word about homeschooling as a fantastic option for children and families, please hit like and share . Thanks!