Life with the Lowthers

Last updated December 2011

We have now been home educating for nearly 6 years.  Our oldest children, Joel and Toby, went to school to begin with, but left when they were in Years 2 and 3.  At the time it was for a variety of reasons: we had a baby and toddler at home, and I was finding that I was constantly hassling the children, especially in the morning, to get out of the house on time, which is not what I wanted for my relationship with them.  The competitive nature and hierarchical nature of school was setting the boys against each other, each was wanting to outdo the other instead of working together as a team, and the competitiveness at times had a distinctly unfriendly air about it.  Also I was finding that they were increasingly disinterested in learning for themselves, and they were at a bit of a loss for how to entertain themselves when no-one was telling them what to do.  All in all these did not seem to fit with how I wanted our family life to be, even though they would be considered "normal" for most people.

So we started to home educate, and although we have let the children know that they always have the option to go back to school (or go for the first time in the case of the girls), they have never wanted to take us up on that.  Certainly, I have never looked back, atlhough it has been very hard work at times.

My aim in this page is to explain how we do things, for anyone interested in home education, and also to give some examples of our recent work.  All home ed families have different reasons for what they do, and work in very different ways.  I would never want to suggest that our way is particularly good - it's just what works for us at this time in our lives, and maybe someone reading this may find something that they could adapt so that it works for them.

Exploring caves at Durdle Door, Dorset, as part of our Coasts topic.

Topic work

Two days a week we work with our great friends the Lewises.  Nicky and I take it in turns to plan work for the 9 children (ranging from Coralie and Jocelyn who are Reception age,  to Joel in Year 9), based around history, geography and science topics, with an emphasis on trips and hands-on work that would be difficult to do in a school setting.  We use primary and secondary school National Curriculum resources but don't rely on them entirely, following our own and the children's interests and abilities wherever possible.

This year our topics have been ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, THE ENVIRONMENT and COASTS.  

Please click here to read more about what we did in our topics and for further resources.

Other work

Doing topic 2 days a week leaves plenty of time for other learning, both formal and informal.  We fit in the usual maths, English and Science, together with other curriculum subjects, as well as practical skills such as cooking, washing and growing their own vegetables.  In theory I give the children one day a week to have as "their" day, where they can plan anything they like as long as it is educational.  Unfortunately this day sometimes gets crowded out by life in general, but when we do have it the children thoroughly enjoy it.  We have been on trips and walks in the countryside, sampled foods from different cultures, and they have pursued their own interests such as learning computer programming in C++ (Joel) and Ruby (Toby), cookery, sewing their own teddy bears, art, carpentry and all sorts of other activities.  Many home educators work in this way all the time, which I think is great, but I have found that a mixed approach of topics, adult-led learning and child-led learning works best for us, although getting the balance right is not always easy.

Sports

Often people ask us what the children do for PE.  Obviously we don't do "PE" lesson like they would in school, but our lives are full of sport, and I'm hoping that because of this the children will find things that they love and will help them be active way beyond their childhood.  Once a month I organise a watersports group for about 6 home ed families.  We use two different local Outdoor Education Centres, and do a mixture of windsurfing, canoeing, kayaking and sailing, and in the winter add in bushcraft, climbing, archery and ropes courses.  They work towards awards in these sports, as well as having a lot of fun with their friends.

Elsa starts sailing with the watersports group

Thanks to their involvement in the watersports group, Joel and Kirsten have started windsurfing regularly on a Sunday, and Joel has his own windsurf rig now.  Joel, Toby and Kirsten are also part of a canoe and kayak club, and Joel is hoping to start going on more adventurous river trips with them next summer.

We also ride regularly; Joel, Toby and Kirsten have been riding for 3 years now and are becoming very proficient, Elsa and I have just started lessons, and are somewhat less impressive(!) but we are enjoying the challenge.

In addition we enjoy walking, bike riding, swimming, ice skating and tennis together as a family, and Joel and Toby have started using a gym as well.

Other children

Another question that is always asked of home educators is: "What about social interaction?"  Personally I'm not at all convinced that school is a good place to learn social interaction - you tend to mix only with children who are within a few months of your age, either in a farily tightly controlled and structured way in the classroom, or in a free-for-all in the playground.  I've found in being home educated, many of the age-related barriers of school break down, and the children mix freely and appropriately across a wide range of ages.  For example in our watersports group we have 6 year olds and 17 year olds and just about every age in between, and yet there is a great sense of teamwork and camaraderie.

As well as the watersports group, we go to a home ed group of about 8-10 families, that meets twice a month, we work two days a week with our very good friends the Lewises, and the children frequently play with and have sleepovers with friends, both home and school educated.  The boys also are part of the church youth group, and other clubs provide chances for them to meet with other children, and sometimes to learn skills of dealing with kids who are not as "nice" as those they usually spend time with. 

Kirsten building a model shaduf with her friend Jared

Exams

This is the last of the: "three most commonly asked questions of home educators", and the one that I am least confident about as we are only just starting to tackle this issue with Joel.

Birmingham city council has lately made huge strides in negotiating with home educators, and as a result there is now a school that is willing to take external candidates to sit GCSE and iGCSE exams.  Joel has been thinking through which subjects he would like to do, and we are now looking at the best way to tackle each one.  I think that with Joel we will end up with a mixture of him self-teaching, me teaching him from the syllabus, distance learning and maybe some tutoring for subjects such as French that I am really not up do helping him with.  Obviously it's all a bit trial-and -error at the moment, and I hope that when it comes to Toby and the girls I will feel a bit more confident.

Hopefully I will get some chance to update this page as we go along, and I can keep you updated on our progress and what we are finding works for us.

Home educating is definitely not an easy option in many ways.  I work many evenings a week to make sure that we have a good variety of interesting work prepared, although not all home educating parents do this, as some will allow the children complete freedom to choose what they do, and others will work through prepared curricula and workbooks.  There are times when I would relish a bit more 'space', although I love spending so much time with my children, and Iove it when we all learn or adventure together.  I don't know of any home ed parent who doesn't doubt themselves, often; but then maybe that just applies to any parent.   However I would happily encourage anyone considering home ed to "give it a go" - after all the schools are always there if it doesn't work out!

If you are interested in home ed or want to ask any more about our work then please feel free to email me at sally@lowthers.net and I will try to reply to the best of my ability (and available time).  Sally.