Learning through home education

As a home educating family, we've always adopted a relaxed, autonomous style of education and learning, where as much as possible we teach through games and through experience. For ideas on how you might teach (or more aptly, help your children learn) a certain subject, please click a book on the right.

I also believe in plenty of exercise for children, which is why ours do karate, circus workshops and yoga as weekly activities, as well as constantly being on the go (playing chase, visiting the play park, taking the recycling to the recycling point - after only being asked 5 or 6 times, etc.)

Every day presents learning opportunities for children (and for us as parents for that matter!) for example:

If you're asked a question (such as 'How does a lava lamp work' or 'Can dolphins breathe underwater') if you respond with another question 'How do you think it works?' or 'What do you think?' then this helps the child figure it out for themselves and develops their thinking skills (obviously you will know your own child and know when to do this).

If your child's learning to read, then read street signs, labels in shops, book covers, or anything else you come across.

With maths, ask which notes you need to use to buy a 7.35 Euros toy and how much you can expect to get back in change. Discuss fractions by chopping up a cake and eating it.

Interpersonal skills are something I've always found home educating kids develop quickly and easily:
naturally they're presented with a wider range of interactions (including meeting more adults and seeing parents interact with business men, bank managers, etc.) Unless our kids want to do something else, we tend to let them be with us for some of our business meetings, to help them gain an understanding of the real world.

If you're watching a film on a DVD, watch the 'making of' or special features and chat about what goes on behind the scenes.

Share learning together - if you don't know, say 'let's find out!' and look it up in a book or go on the net to find answers. Questions we've done this with include things like 'How long would it take us to fly to the nearest star in our fastest spaceship?' 'Are crocodiles reptiles?' and 'How much would such and such a Yu-gi-oh card cost?'