6 Tips For Foraging With Children

I am often surprised at this time of year at the amount of rotting fruit on trees and bushes. I don't just see it in wild places but in gardens too. Apple trees laden with fruit leaning over garden walls or pears scattered across the grass at the park that are mostly left untouched by humans. Why is this? Hundreds of us go strawberry picking at local farms during the summer but come autumn we have abandoned our hunter gatherer instincts in favour of the safety of the supermarkets.

8 Tips to Help you Prepare For the New Homeschool Year

Well it's been quite a while since I wrote my last blog post. Life has been full and hard and challenging this past year. We took a long trip to Turkey last summer to visit my husband's family, and while over there we caught scabies. On top of this, I discovered I was pregnant with baby number five and although this was a blessing, it was tough trying to deal with pregnancy nausea on top of the scabies symptoms. 

A Childhood Wild

I love nature. I live it and I breathe it. It calms me, inspires me and reaches deep into my soul. Outdoors is my happy place. With the grass under my feet and the sky overhead. With the sounds of my children's laughter and shrieks of delight when they stumble upon a minibeast they haven't seen before. 'Mum, come and look at this', they cry. Their excitement is catching and soon I am enthralled by a tiny moving creature and wonder at the beauty of nature.

The Big Garden Birdwatch

My children love watching birds. There is something so satisfying about being able to name a bird you spot out on a walk or in your garden. I didn't know much about birds when I was growing up so I wasn't very good at identifying them at first, but I'm getting increasingly better as time goes on. There is nothing better than seeing the excitement on your child's face as they spot a bird in the garden and call you to come and take a look. Birdwatching is something both adults and children can enjoy together so it's great fun for the whole family!

10 Ways to Raise Environmentally Conscious kids

A new year always gets people thinking about goals and resolutions. One thing that I hope to improve on this year is being more eco-friendly. I feel like I was doing well pre-Covid and then the pandemic came along and I started to question things. There seemed to be little point in trying to be plastic free when millions of single-use plastics were being used every single day in the form of Covid tests and face masks. It made it all seem like an impossible task to me. On the other hand, perhaps this just means we need to be more environmentally conscious than ever.  Afterall, no matter what others do, we can still do our bit for the planet and one of the most important things we can do is encourage our children to be environmentally conscious too.

Prioritising Children: Time Management Tips For Busy Mums

Time management is a common issue for busy mums. There always seems to be something to do whether it be running around after the children, cooking the dinner or ironing your husband's shirts. There is so much to do that sometimes it can become overwhelming. More tasks creep onto the never-ending pile of jobs and you wonder how any of them will ever get done. Do you sit there at the end of the day thinking about where the day has gone? It went by a in a flash and you have not got half the things done that you wanted to.

How Your Presence Boosts Early Language Skills

Language is arguably the most important skill your child must acquire. Language is the basis of everything. It is not only our means of communicating with others, but also, it is due to language that we are able to think, learn and remember. Without it we would not be the intelligent beings we are, for language and intelligence go hand in hand. 

How to Use Narration in Your Homeschool

We narrate all the time. When you tell someone something that happened to you yesterday; that's narration. When you talk about something you saw at the park; that's narration. When you tell a story your father used to tell you when you were a child; that's narration. We do it as part of our everyday conversations, without even thinking about it. So, why not use this skill for learning as well?

How to Homeschool Multiple Age Groups

Making the decision to homeschool is not always easy. One thing that people often have to consider is whether they will be able to homeschool children of different ages at the same time. When you are homeschooling one child, it is all about them. However, if you have more than one child you will have to think about how you can meet all of their different needs.

Meet the Artists Curriculum Review

I am a very creative person so I love to do arts and crafts with my children but one thing that was missing from my own education was an appreciation and knowledge of great works of art. I know of a few artists, but not many, and I don't know much about their lives and inspiration. Because of my lack of knowledge, I wasn't sure how to start teaching my own children about this subject. Therefore, I was delighted to be sent a copy of this brand new art curriculum, Meet the Artists, to review.

The Importance of Play

The start of a new homeschool year normally causes me to reflect. I reflect on the last year and I also reflect on the year to come, thinking about how I want it to be. I ponder our homeschool environment and what I want learning to look like. One thing I always come back to is play. I am truly grateful that homeschooling allows my children to play, both indoor and out, and learn as they go. Play is such an important part of early childhood that Sue Palmer, states in her latest book, 'Upstart', "Love and play are the greatest gifts any generation can hand on to the next". Furthermore, she claims that there is no doubt that play is a vital factor in childhood health and wellbeing, but why is that?

A Liturgy of Love Morning Time Curriculum Review

Morning Time is a concept developed by homeschool mum of 9, Cindy Rollins over the last 30 years. It is a time for the family to come together and connect while reading, singing, learning and worshipping. It is the gentle way to start the day before moving on to more structured lessons or learning activities.

Is Screen Time the Biggest Cause of Speech and Language Delay?

Early language skills are so important and research studies have shown how language ability at two years of age predicts later life outcomes. You may wonder how this is possible but we know that the first two years of a child's life is extremely important. Over the course of the first two years, the brain grows rapidly, more rapidly than at any other stage of life. In the first year it doubles in size and by the age of two, it is 85% of adult size. During this time, a child's brain is building structural and functional connections, wiring up the neural networks as the child experiences new things and gains new skills and abilities. Screens can impact on this early development, often in a negative way. In this article I describe the ways screen time can affect speech and language development.

How Husbands Can Support Breastfeeding

I am a huge advocate of breastfeeding. I breastfed all four of my babies; the eldest for about a year and the other three for about 2 years. I loved it. I loved the bond it created between my babies and I, I loved how convenient it was and I loved how it gave my babies the best nutrition that was just right for them at each stage of their early development. According to WHO, "Breastfeeding provides every child with the best possible start in life. It delivers health, nutritional and emotional benefits to both children and mothers. And it forms part of a sustainable food system. But while breastfeeding is a natural process, it is not always easy. Mothers need support – both to get started and to sustain breastfeeding." Now that isn't to say that it will be right for every family. I know that it is not possible for every baby to be breastfed, but if you are able to, it is wonderful.

Top 50+ Hajj Activities For Kids

Today was the start of Dhul al-Hijjah, the twelfth and final month of the Islamic year. It is a special time of year for Muslims and is marked by the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. This pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam so every Muslim must aim to go on Hajj at least once in their lifetime, if they are able to. 

Homeschooling Tips and Resources for EAL Families

School closures mean that everyone is now temporarily homeschooling and many parents are anxious about this. It is perhaps even more worrying for families who have English as an additional language. Parents may be feeling overwhelmed with the workload being sent to their children and with the thought that they may have to help their children complete it in English.

Which Language Should I Homeschool in?

The coronavirus pandemic has caused many countries to go into lockdown and this means that schools have closed. Because of this, a lot of families are finding themselves homeschooling for the first time. This raises a dilemma for multilingual families: which language should they homeschool in?

Why You Don't Need to Replicate School at Home During the Coronavirus Crisis

We are living in uncertain times due to the coronavirus pandemic. The world is going into lockdown to try to prevent the spread of the virus. Schools are closing and that means that many parents are having to think about homeschooling their children for the first time.

I look on social media and I see many parents panicking about how to teach their children at home. They worry that they will not be able to teach their children and that their children will be missing out on their education. Well, as a homeschooling mother, let me reassure you that you do NOT have to replicate school at home. Here’s why:

We're Going on a Bear Hunt Sensory Story Time

World Book Day 2020 is just around the corner so we have been spending lots of time reading books and doing activities related to our favourites. One of our favourite children's books is 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' by Michael Rosen. This is a story that has enchanted children for generations. I was read it by my parents when I was small and now I read it to my own children, in Turkish as well as English! The book has been translated into many languages and it can be really fun to learn the vocabulary, especially the sound words (swishy, squelch, hoo woo etc.) in another language!

Raising Bilingual Kids When OPOL Doesn't Work

         
The one parent, one language approach is one of the most widely used language strategies for bilingual families. I have previously written about different bilingual language strategies and how it is best to speak to your child in the language you are most proficient in. This may not necessarily be your first language, or mother tongue. For example, you may have stopped speaking your first language once you started school and not picked it back up again. You may have moved to another country and started speaking a different language and now you feel more comfortable speaking, and are more proficient in, this new language. There may be other reasons for it too. You may be equally proficient in more than one language and, therefore, you can choose which language you would like to speak to your child.