Reviewing this past 'school' year

Because we always spend our entire summer away, we almost follow regular school years - things finish up before the summer and it's time for a review, then summer is for me a time to consider options and think ahead to the next 'school' year. 

This year, the kids are almost 11 and 9 years old. If in school, they'd be going into Y7 and Y6 next September. 

Stopped at a cafe after shopping - I didn't ask or require them to read, they just do.

The year past

At Home

As we wrap up the 2024/25 school year, I see that some of my decisions for this year were at least partly driven by comparison and, with that, fear of missing out. I felt that it was time for them to have a regular discipline of work, as that's what their peers in school do, so we signed up for Kumon Maths.

Kumon is a programme coming out of Asia (Hong Kong? Japan? Korea?) which promises training in mental maths. The idea is that kids repeat, repeat, repeat - maths problems they are already somewhat familiar with, building slowly, mostly repeating daily what they already know. Speed, drilling it all in. My kids hated it, and I can't blame them. 

I quickly saw that this wasn't working for them, despite the praise and encouragement they received at the Kumon Centre. The people there were lovely, but the programme just didn't sit well with the kids and I was not willing to force them to get through those pages every single day.

What Kumon did accomplish for us however, was the concept of daily work no matter what. No matter if it's Sunday, or it's a holiday, or whatever: a small amount each day, but it would be done. So, even though we had previously had set work for the kids, Kumon was helpful in establishing this no-matter-what daily approach; but we quit Kumon and I established our own routine, consisting of two sessions of Touch Typing training and a maths lesson each day. For this maths, we went through various online programmes as well as paper books, but it was never more than 10 minutes a day. Basic arithmetic.

Again, the kids hate it. It doesn't feel like I'm asking a huge amount of them, but more often than not, there was great resistance and they never grew to enjoy or even just accept it as the chore part of life, like brushing teeth. Mostly, it was a daily battle.

But, we persevered. We went through all the levels of Synthesis Tutor, a very good AI platform; and later we used Khan Academy, which is less interactive but has more practice built in.

In all, I felt that requiring these things from the kids wasn't unreasonable and so we stuck with it throughout this year.

Music

Both kids continued with their instruments - N(10) plays guitar, D(9) piano. They both go to the same teacher, whom they really like and I'm particularly impressed with how he handles D, who generally resists any instruction! Neither kid will practice their instruments without encouragement, as they just don't think of it, but I feel they both are getting a bit of a handle on them and are beginning to feel some mastery. N loves playing worship music and will sing as she plays, which blesses my heart no end!

Outside Home

Apart from obviously talking about God with them, I want to include their faith formation here. N seems to really accept God and own her faith, praying on her own; but D has expressed doubt many times. He also asked, in Autumn, to become an altar server, and so he has been serving ever since. It's a wonderful way for him to stay engaged in the Mass, as he can't daydream; and he is being a real blessing to the church as he does it. We attend a mid-week Mass near us, which normally has just the priest there by himself, but D has begun serving there too and that enhances the experience not just for us, but also for the priest and the congregation. It's beautiful to see D becoming more and more self-assured as he becomes more familiar with the order of tasks.

Spot the youngest one!

The kids also attended a setting for home educated kids, which I wrote about here - they did this weekly when I had a regular job outside home for those days, but when that job finished, I had to pull them out for cost reasons. Since then, they have attended sporadically whenever I had jobs on those days. It's a very informal, easygoing setting where they enjoy crafting and playing around themes of the day.

Both kids also have their own group that they attend: for N, that is football, which she has played for years now and continues to love; particularly this year, since the club has started a girls team, so she is no longer in a mixed group. She loves the camaraderie and friendships there. D attends a weekly St John's Ambulance Badgers session, which is a bit like Scouts but more focused on teaching the kids First Aid.

Football Trophy

The year ahead

Summer is coming - one week and one day until we fly! - so I have time to think and plan. But I've already got a number of thoughts. Perhaps I'll post again in September to see how these have firmed up...

This week, we (Mr. and I) attended an information session about qualifications for home educated kids - specifically, the option of doing American qualifications (High School Diploma, SATs, APs) instead of British. I very much like that option, as it's a much broader approach... in the British system, GCSEs which are taken from around age 14 really determine what A-Levels can be taken, and that in turn determines where the young person can go in terms of further education. I feel setting these things in stone so young is limiting. So we're going to look deeper into going towards High School Diplomas, maybe throwing in a few GCSEs on the way (they can be taken anytime), depending on the kids' interests and aptitudes of course. These things are years away. But, it's still worth thinking about them - even as we are very aware that things are changing in the professional landscape with the AI revolution taking place as we speak: who knows, they might be best off as plumbers rather than lawyers! But, luckily for us, they are still young and these changes will take place in the next few years which gives us time to adjust and get our bearings.

These seismic shifts in society at large are something we can respond to quickly, much unlike schools, so this is another reason I'm glad we chose this option for our kids' education - along with the million other reasons! And they also mean that, to my mind, pressure is taken off us and off the kids, because it's clear that rote learning of anything will not prepare them for a future with AI. The skills they will need - negotiation, diplomacy, empathy, curiosity, mental agility, creativity, discernment, people skills - are naturally built into the way we raise them, and traditional academics are becoming increasingly obsolete.

So - the pressure comes off.

No more daily drills.

No more set work.

It's been so strange to deal with the resistance the kids put up to the small amount of 'work' I required from them, only to see them half an hour later collaborating on writing a book together. I'm drilling them in English 'work' which they hate, and next thing they are working on a book together without any forcing! So, the forcing simply seems superfluous. They learn, as they have always done, because they want to; that's what being freelearners is, after all, and I wrote about this years ago (before giving into the comparison and fear that led me to bring in forced learning last September).

There's just no need to mar their happy childhoods with drudgery like this. Which is not to say I don't want them to learn, of course! Just that learning is a natural part of growing up, and my key concern is to preserve their curiosity. To enable them to dig deep into the things they are interested in. That will be my task for the coming year: a much more creative, much more involved job of enabling them to explore, opening doors, making connections with experts and resources. That's much harder than setting out workbooks. But that's what feels right for them, right now.

Academics, High School Diplomas, yes these things are in their future - but High School doesn't start till 14, so why not have a happy childhood before that. I think society has largely lost the original point of education: to form well-rounded people who know themselves well, find their place in this world, and function fully and happily in it. That is where we're trying to go.