Today’s post is a guest post, about a day in the life of Tanya, a mother who home schools her children. If you haven’t visited Tanya’s blog before, here is a little more about her:
Hi, I’m Tanya Tucker. I am a home educating Mummy to my 4 children aged 7,6,4 and 2. I live on the Dorset/Wiltshire boarder and have been married to Steve for 9 years.
I hope you all enjoy Tanya’s post!
A Day In The Life Of A Home Educator by Tanya Tucker
Before I began home educating the children I wondered how my days would be structured. How would I teach them and keep the house together and not lose my mind. I figured since I already had a toddler with me all the time and a pre-schooler around a lot it wouldn’t make a great deal of difference having an extra 2 at home. So we set off on our home education journey and while there have been the odd days when I’ve wanted to scream and pull my hair out we’ve done OK.
Today started as every day does, nice and slowly. No rushing around getting uniforms ready and the kids out by 8:30am. No, it was relaxed. The children got up just before 7am and as Daddy was off work he took them downstairs so I got an extra few minutes in bed with a cup of tea. Daddy got them all breakfast and they watched a bit of TV, played dollies or played computer games.
We had a day out planned today to meet up with some other home educators at Portland Castle. It was a bit of a trek for us, an hour in the car so I made sure all lunchboxes were packed and ready and we had all the essentials for a day out. We left the house around 10am after a full scale hunt for a pair of shoes which weren’t found, we settled on a pair of sandals (with tights) and set off. Using Sat Nav to navigate made me think that I really need to get out some maps so the children can see how we used to find our way around in the olden days! We arrived and met up friends old and new. Heading into the castle the children quickly went off to investigate, finding cannons, dressing up clothes, winding stairways and puzzles. We felt how heavy a cannon ball was and tried on old armour. We tried to figure out how to play a board game that Henry VIII used to play. R didn’t think they looked much fun compared to the games we have now. We enjoyed looking at the old kitchen and discussing what they used to eat, at which the children decided they were hungry and we headed out to the gardens for our picnic.
After the children had had their fill they all ran off to play with the others. About 6 boys decided that as they were at a medieval fort war games were the most appropriate to play and set about making swords out of sticks. Some of the others played chase and other games. For almost 2 hours the children ran about using their imaginations and burning up lots of energy while the parents were able to sit, talk and relax in the sunshine. Eventually we all headed home to make dinner.
At home the children decided on some quiet time doing various activities. R’s friend came over and they played Just Dance on the Xbox, honestly I don’t know where they get the energy from! S got out the guinea pigs for a cuddles and gave them their dinner, E spent time with Daddy talking Warhammer and little S had a wee nap on the sofa. I even managed a spot of gardening while the sun was shining. After dinner we read stories, watched TV and had lots of cuddles then off to bed.
It’s the sort of life I always wanted. Lots of children living a life of adventure, play time, endless exploring, on-the-go learning, friendship and love. We’ve been lucky that Daddy was able to enjoy our day with us today and not have to work but even when it is just the children and I we have so much fun and learn so much together. It’s not just them learning, today I learnt how to load a cannon. No matter how old we are we are always learning. And tomorrow? Well, who knows what tomorrow may bring.
Show Tanya some love:
Visit her blog and of course, leave her some comments below 🙂
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