About Us & Socialisation | sparrowhomeschool

About Us

We are a home schooling family in Australia and I, (the mum), write this website and blog.

When my eldest was little, it was time to start thinking about his 'formal' education. Though I knew about home schooling and the benefits that it brings (from knowing some families who were home schooling), I was not in a place where I felt I could do that myself at that time. In hindsight, this was really just a lack of confidence.

I learnt about Montessori schooling and it seemed the best fit for our family at the time. Though there were lots of tears (from my eldest and I) that first week, things soon seemed to settle down and our new routine was formed.

At age 6, my eldest moved from Cycle 1 to Cycle 2 with the 6 to 9 yr olds at the same Montessori school. It felt like his first day at school all over again.

I saw myself really noticing his style of learning (and really to remind myself what I had always known and could relate to as I knew this about myself). My eldest is a child who really enjoys learning and flourishes if he is in a 'hands on' environment. Instead of learning about most things from a workbook (mainstream can still sneak into some Montessori schools), he likes to see it, smell it, touch it and experience it first hand. He also likes to learn about stuff he is interested in and when given this opportunity, throws himself at the subject with great curiosity. Like all kids, he needs opportunities to learn about what he needs to learn and what he wants to learn in a way that suits him best (suits the way he is wired) giving him time to consolidate that learning, not in a pre-determined time-frame that simply cannot suit each child in a classroom full of wonderful, individual, amazing children.

Both my children love to read and from a range of sources. They learn a lot through reading, many subjects and topics have been learnt and continue to be learnt very successfully through mainly reading about them, though they learn about these areas in many other ways too.

I'm continually learning that there is no such thing as a child who does not want to learn. You just have to observe them and talk with them to discover how they need to learn and give them plenty of opportunity, space and time to discover in that way.

After lots of research, discussions and sleepless nights, as a family, we decided that home schooling was something we wanted to explore, discover and try. So, at the beginning of 2011 the boys and I started. My eldest was 7 and my youngest was 3. For someone who likes to be highly organised (just search the house for calendars, my lists and more), on that first day I did not know how or where to start (despite well over 12 months of research on top of my observations of home schooled families I knew at the time), so I just did exactly that, I started.

We used some workbooks left over from my eldest's school year in 2010 to use as a segue from school to home school (thankfully we did not do that for long, workbooks don't really work for us) and started to go out on excursions, joined a science group, met like-minded families, started regular art gallery excursions, workshops, science fairs, and the list goes on and happily and thankfully never ends.

I kind of did 'school at home' (for about 1 to 2 school terms) until we started to find our feet, giving me time to really see how my children like to learn, where they were at, what resources and opportunities would facilitate and underpin that learning style and away we went from there. How I home schooled then, since then and now is so different. We are spoilt with awesome resources, you really can tailor your child's learning experience.

The boys and I just know as a family that this has been an effective decision for us. Kids are happy, I am happy. Sure we have our days (don't we all) but I know that it's the best one for most importantly, my sons. It's a feeling and an observation that sometimes is hard to explain. If I were starting again, I'd home school from the start.

That first year was very up and down as we continued to find our feet but that's the beauty of home schooling; we can adjust resources and opportunities to what suits us at any time and we do while still maintaining stability, some routine with plenty of time and space to discover that stuff that just comes up.

Socialisation (it ALWAYS comes up)

I will say something about socialisation. That seems to be the first question people ask about. Socialisation is not about being around 30 kids your own age 5 days a week. Socialisation is "the activity of mixing socially with others." Who said it means it has to be done and can only be done via school? Socialisation is learning how to be with all people of all ages, from a range of backgrounds in a range of situations. It's learning how to liaise with the librarian, the person at the checkout, your family, and yes friends - these are life skills that are learnt just by living your life and it's limiting to believe it can only be done through a school environment.

The children have wonderful home schooled friends (and great friends who don't home school) and really, it's not often they don't see their friends and other people in the community. They get to experience what I believe to be a rich life. They get to be with people because they want to, not because they have to. Friends are special because they are chosen, not forced upon them.

I am learning along with the kids, learning to be more patient, learning to stop treating children like mini adults and just let them be kids, learn through play and trust the process and relax a little. Learning to do what feels the most effective and not feel like we have to follow the pack. We've all heard 'life is a journey, not a destination' but how many of us really live like that? As I learn and develop myself, I try to flow that learning on to my children so that they can find new, more effective ways now and take that into their own adult lives.

The children and I love the freedom to stretch out our arms and fly free with our way of living, learning and being.