Home education benefits

 I initially began home educating, following on from Covid homeschooling. I definitely wanted to do more practical learning with Niamh but I immediately tried to continue with the core subjects - maths, English and science. This was a huge mistake early in our journey, and I did realise early on that it was causing a lot of stress and anxiety in my perfectionist child. I also (thankfully) realised that she had a gap when it came to number value and while deschooling, we spent short (ten minutes max) bursts of very slowly and calmly recapping. 

I realised that in a school environment all the children are expected to learn at exactly the same rate and teachers in the UK are pushed for results - rather than how well the children are retaining the knowledge. For me - this is a government issue rather than the fault of teachers, but it saddens me greatly, because I'm very aware of how limiting this can be to further understanding of a subject. Number value is imperative to developing in maths. 

So we took our time. Months of crying and self judgement from Niamh followed, 'I can't do it' and 'I'm stupid' were the two sentences that made me feel as though I'd failed her and I reassured her but I also drilled into her that mistakes are how you learn. 

Yesterday we started early (learning new concepts is now done as soon after Niamh wakes up as possible) and we had to broach long multiplication. There were tears - I'll admit, but she kept going and she completed a page. I was ecstatic. But the best was yet to come - we went on to geography - a subject that I've discovered Niamh absolutely loves. She loves factual information, she's curious about the world around her and she has incessant questions so it's the perfect subject. 

I wanted to guage how interested she was, so I set up numerous videos on mountain formation, earthquakes and volcanoes and I asked her to make her notes first, and then write up. Home learning for me is about fostering life long learning, not setting arbitrary dates on education. 

Niamh worked independently, she made copious notes, shouted out the interesting facts to me and then produced a beautifully written piece of work. Nine months ago this felt like it wouldn't ever happen. 

Home education may not be for everyone but for my daughter, it's teaching her resilience, independence and it's giving her a sense of pride in her work. And that means the world. We ended the day with painting a robin thank you card for a friend, using Niamh's own photo as the source material. 

Academic attainment is important, but manners, kindness and thoughtfulness are equally as important. Raising a child isn't about what they can do, it's about who they are.