What Do Homeschool Kids Do All Day? | Home Education Week in the Life UK 

I'm glad it was useful to you- thanks for commenting! 💜

wow, thank you so much for such a kind comment. Glad I'm not the only one who falls into binge-watching youtube holes 🤣. Yay, so exciting that you are starting your home ed journey son. Where are you based?

@@nurturingdiscontent LOL I’m in northwest London how about you? and are you on insta I looked you up but couldn’t find you. X

Ahh cool. We use to live in South London but are south coast now. I come to London a fair bit though and want to bring the kids to London for some Home ed days this year. I have an old insta I haven't posted on in aaaaages @coffeebooksandkids, I mostly just follow others now, but check messages occasionally etc

Ahh thanks so much for such a fab comment. Great to connect with a fellow Mum of home-ed, mixed heritage twins - I don't get to say that very often 😃 I love the sound of the 4 day learning week, and sure your kids do too! 😂 Thank you for such positive encouragement!

So reassuring to hear I’m not the only one. It’s so easy to look on social media and see everyone having these perfect home Ed mornings with everyone dressed, peaceful and studying and think why is mine so chaotic 😄 Thanks for continuing to watch our vids. Glad you enjoyed it! Hope you and your little one are doing well x

Semi-controlled chaos is also a great description of my house (although often it doesn't feel controlled at all!). Bear in mind that I won't be posting the hardest times like my kids' meltdowns because that wouldn't be fair on them, and social media or RU-vid is only ever a snapshot, although I try to be as honest as I can that it's not all roses and I get exhausted at times! As for getting out a lot each week, I would def agree with you about getting worn out. At the moment we have one "out-the-house" activity each day (apart from Thurs: Grandma day) but we try to keep the rest of the day flexible and the activity on Mon is technically a park meet, so we can skip that (or any other activity the kids want to really). However, for us I do find that days at home are rarely the relaxing days I dream of, and we do need to get out the house for sanity. Interestingly, I think we are probably less regulated as we are under no obligation to do a certain amount of hours a year (our children must "receive efficient full-time education" but there are no set hours to define this) or keep records (although often people do for their own personal reasons or to simply enjoy looking back on it!). The problem here I think is that often the Local Authorities don't even realise that, or try to overstep their remit. Where is your family based? Great to have you here and thank you for your comment!

Thank you

Where these is chaos coffee should always be close by 😄. Your 1 litre mug sounds amazing!! I’m hoping to film an update today on my reports and what they said back, so should be out mid-week all going well. Fingers crossed your correspondence with them runs smoothly. It can be such a stressful time! Thanks for watching again! As for the coffee, my brother landed a dream job at a coffee roaster near me and is keeping me in a good supply of beans. We have two huge boxes of Kenya and Papua New Guinea to keep me going! ☕️

Ahh thats a nice message thanks. Don’t feel it sometimes so a nice reminder

@@nurturingdiscontent you have great energy

Hey! Thanks so much for your comment. Yes, I feel like it's clicked quite early with me that trying to force a learning activity is just never going to work, and if anything will put my kids completely off learning the thing we want them to learn. It's a tale as old as time for both kids and adults that we learn and retain more when it's something we're really interested in. I think the "time to yourself" is such an important question, and I hope to make more videos about it as I go on, because as the main home educating parent I really think it's one of the top priorities to look after yourself. I would say it's a bit of both (pockets of time and set time). I'm so lucky to have a really engaged husband and their Grandma to give me the oppourtunity, and kids that are (sometimes) happy to play with their siblings alone for a bit. Pockets of time will look like a coffee and book for 15 mins in the morn while they play, or having 15 mins to myself when my Husband finishes work. Set time will look like my Husband taking them out for a few hours on Sunday, so he gets some quality time and I get some solo time (usually for RU-vid), or a solo trip to London when I can find cheap train tickets, or a dinner out with friends. Also my Mum is here every Thursday, and while we mostly do things together it does give me a chance to do something "for me" if I really need. I guess it really depends on a person's situation as not sure how I'd manage it without family support. There are more childcare facilities opening to Home Ed kids nowadays but obviously it comes at a cost! Have you managed to find anything that works for you in terms of getting alone time?

@@nurturingdiscontent thank you for your thoughtful reply :) I really appreciate it. It's interesting to hear how other home ed parents find time for themselves, as we are almost always with our children (which is a wonderful blessing, but I can personally find it overstimulating at times!) It's lovely that you have your mum close by. My husband works long shifts - so we have times where we don't see him very much, then times where he's around during the day which is nice. On days where he's at work, I try to find little pockets of time to myself while my children are playing (such as reading a few pages of a natural history book, starting a new fermentation etc). On his days off I get more alone time, where I may do some crafts or visit a local antique centre. I'm trying to get better at waking up before my children - to pray, make a loaf of bread, do some stretches etc in a quiet home - but it doesn't always happen 😂 My 15 month old also often refuses to nap, so those days can feel rather long! My husband also says he thinks I can sometimes struggle with a lack of boundaries with our children (such as agreeing to play a game when I really need some time to myself, or always saying "yes" when they ask to help me in the kitchen or garden), as I feel guilty saying "no". So that's something I'm working on!

I definitely don’t think you’re alone in finding it overstimulating sometimes. I think every home Ed parent I know feels the same at times. It sounds like you’re managing to get some little pockets of time, but could do with some bigger chunks of time, which can be so hard depending on your family setup/work commitments. Totally hear you on setting boundaries. Sometimes I try and think of it like me setting boundaries for my alone time teaches the kids that it’s important and hopefully something they will do for themselves when they are older too. I wouldn’t want my kids to become parents at risk of burn out because they never take time for themselves. I completely recognise it’s a privilege to be able to do so though 💜💜

@@nurturingdiscontent thanks for your reply. That is a really good point actually - that by setting our own boundaries as parents, it will teach our children the same if they become parents one day!

Haha, I know right. Stuff of nightmares!

Hello! Thanks so much, it's always so useful to know which content people are enjoying because then I can make more :) My youngest currently doesn't attend any setting. He has just recently turned 3 and will receive his government funded hours in Jan. Honestly, I've been so back and forth about whether to send him anywhere, it's really playing on my mind a lot at the moment. This could be a long answer, but will try and keep it short. The twins attended forest school a couple of sessions a week and I wouldn't say they ever fully settled in, and in hindsight I'm not 100% sure I'd do it again. BUT my 3 yr old is a completely different character and could do well at a setting. BUT I really think being around the home ed community at a young age has benefited him SO much. He is so much more confident than the twins and gets on so well with the other home ed adults too. BUT there are times when it's tricky to balance everyone's needs at the same time and I wonder if it would help me to focus on the twins' learning with him in a setting from time to time. There are lots of other factors going on in my head I won't bore you with unless you really want. So ultimately, I haven't decided yet, and I'm probably leaving it a bit late for Jan start. What are the pros and cons you've been thinking of? They might help me decide too. haha

@@nurturingdiscontent thank you for being so honest. Yeah there are definitely pros and cons, my youngest is 3 so gets funding now, at the moment we do two/mornings per week and this does give me the chance to take my older kids to home Ed classes that need a bit more focus. However I could take my youngest and that would be okay too. My only negative is some days it feels like I’m in the car a lot dropping off, going to groups, home for lunch, back out to pick up, home again. Also the preschool we love is at the school my son used to go to so I do wonder for him if it’s a bit triggering, I think it is for me but not sure for him. That’s my thoughts on it all anyway haha basically pros and cons isn’t there I think haha x

I think two mornings a week sounds like a really good balance and would probably be similar to what I’m looking for. Totally get it on the driving around everywhere, although already feel a bit like that with all the Home Ed meet-ups etc. What I was also looking at was one day a week where they could all go together somewhere, but the nearest place that covers all ages seems to be about 40 mins from me!