Over the past six months or so I have been receiving some lovely emails from people who read my blog, all asking the same question. Could I give a bit more information about how I home school? Some ask specific questions and some more general. I have found as I answer these questions that I am repeating myself and so have taken the decision to write about how I home school in a short blog series. I need to be honest and say it is for my benefit to cut down on the amount of email regurgitation I do! Instead, I will be able to direct the person asking to this series. Don’t misunderstand me, I LOVE when someone contacts me, and I very much enjoy the email contact I have with people all over the world. It has been one of the most wonderful and surprising things to come from blogging. That said, I have limited amount of time and could do without writing the same stuff over and over!
If anyone has specific questions about the hows and whys of our home school that you would like me to answer in the series please feel free to email me at angelicscalliwags@btopenworld.com (or if you like leave a message here on the blog) and I will endeavour to answer them all. I am happy to attempt to answer almost any question relating to home school and I don’t offend easily, so they don’t have to be positive ones (however, I would appreciate a modicum of kindness!). I am not willing to comment on anything other than our home school here at angelicscalliwags. The reason for this is simply that I believe passionately that everyone should have the freedom to school their children in the way that they believe fits their family and that one way is not necessarily better or worse than another. I school this way to maximise my strengths and minimise my weaknesses. If I had different strengths and weaknesses I would inevitably school a completely different way.
I’m not very good at writing these types of posts (as you all know if you have been reading this blog for any time at all) but I will do my best and hope it will be useful for some body!
This is certainly going to be a very insightful series, Claire. I’m so glad that you’re sharing your experience here. I am certainly looking forward to learning much from you!
I’m not entirely sure I have much to teach you, Hwee, but I shall do my best!!
I’m excited to read this upcoming series. I think my question would be, how do you come up with so many creative and wonderful ideas…and then carry out so many of them.
I feel like I come up with ideas often but never find the time or way to carry them out.
Have a great week!
Thanks for your question, Amber. I will do my best to answer it in a couple of weeks!
I’ve never left a message before, but I was wondering do your children do many outside activities. It seems to me you cram in quite a lot. Do they have any free time? Also your learning seems history heavy, do you do many other subjects?
Thanks for the questions, Fiona. I’ll do my best to answer them in a couple of weeks.
Thanks so much for doing this. I look forward to reading the blog series!!!
Thanks so much for your email. I’ll endeavour to do a much better job explaining stuff rather than the incoherent ramblings I sent back to you!!
Thank you for doing this series. I have a question – how do you prioritise your time?
That’s a hard one, but I’ll do my best to explain in a couple of weeks.
Claire, I have no questions, but I look forward to the answers, 🙂
I’m not sure I have many answers, but I was looking forward to the questions……! So good to have you back Erin!
It is always interesting to read how others homeschool. Isn’t that the wonderful thing about homeschooling? We can each apply what works and go with it and then make changes along the way. I do find that sometimes I am trying to measure up to what others are doing. It has taken me some time to admit to myself that we have to do what is right for us and not ALL those wonderful things it seems everyone else does.
I think what I love most about visiting your blog is that you LOVE your children and you devote so much time and energy into finding what works for your family. You admit to things that don’t work – I have lots of those moments – and you just seem plain nice!
I am looking forward to this series.
God bless you, Claire. Have a most excellent day:)
Thank you for the encouragement Donna. It’s nice to know I don’t come across like I know it all! That is always a concern when one does a series like this.
Do you ever feel overwhelmed when you think about organising the next school year? You do such a great job with all your kids.
Hi Caroline, Thank you for taking the time to comment, and have a wonderful and safe journey over the next few days. We’ll be praying.
Oh this will be a fun series to read, so I’m looking forward to it.
Thanks Ticia. I do hope I have something substantial to write!
You do such an awesome job. I am interested in how you plan and prepare for a unit you are about to study. It seems like it must be very time consuming to come up with all of the projects. Do you plan everything out in the beginning of the year? Also, I wonder if there are any standards that you follow for their grade level. Does your curriculum follow your local schools requirements or do you chose your own path. For example, over here in California we do state history for fourth grade and ancient history in sixth grade. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to pick your brain 🙂
It’s my pleasure. And thank you Amy for the thorough questions. It will be easier to write this if I have particular questions to answer.