Home Education in June

This is a little later than my usual monthly updates, mostly because we were away last week, (and I’ll write more on that another time) and I took a short break from my social media stuff for ten days or so.

I find this time of year difficult – I think it’s the combination of the looming end of the academic year plus lots of family events to attend to that make me feel anxious and the such. I’m not really a terribly social person and from the end of April to June we have lots of gatherings and things to attend to. That plus Easter and just general Home Ed meets means I find myself more anxious than I ought to be.

The end of the academic year is also a time to reflect; have we done enough, are the children enjoying things and is this still the right path for us?

So, June ended with me feeling a bit lost again, but then I am learning that this is a common theme at this time of year for me. I took the pressure off my running and gym stuff as well as taking a step back from social media and blog stuff.  The break has done me well and I feel reinvigorated and ready to share our plans and activities again.

June was a productive month home ed wise I think. It started with our Hedgehog themed meet which I think went well, and we attended other meetups friends were hosting, including one based on bees, and of course the Science Saturday event. We were due to attend a ladybird themed day but Daniel was unwell in the morning so we didn’t go but did get the work from my friend to do ourselves, which we did, and the children loved. Emma has been busy finding Ladybird larvae in the garden now!

The children continue to progress with their maths work, and I really do need to get the next stage of books ordered for them soon. Emma’s reading is going well and she just needs to build her confidence a little more and she’ll be away – she can read pretty well and her Spanish teacher tells me her reading is good. Daniel has been getting to grips with comprehension and we have started some grammar type work too. His spelling continues to be really good, and I need to have a think about how we incorporate more creative writing into our weekly work come September – I have some ideas already which I need to flesh out a little more.

We also had our speaking and listening group this month, with the theme of Inventors and it was fabulous to see Emma present on her own for the first time – not needing me to prompt her to answer questions about her work.

There’s been swimming lessons, PE and Football classes, and Harry has started joining in the latter two as well, now that he has turned three. We have had walks and explored places and played endless games together.

Daniel continues to read book after book after book and he is enjoying his Beavers group, helping out at a coffee morning in June to raise funds for his colony. July will see him head off to his first camp which promises to be super exciting for him.

We have also completed two CREST sessions in June, and July will see us finish that off which I’m looking forward to – it’s been a fun activity to watch the children do these experiments together.

July is a really full month for us, and I have a couple of projects I want the children to finish up so we can enjoy the down time of August before the start of the next academic year when I’ll have a Year 1, a Year 2 and Pre-school aged children to plan for.