In the eyes of the uninitiated, the term home education may conjure up the vision of a child sat alone at a kitchen table, surrounded by workbooks. The reality for most home educating families is quite different. In the average week we spend more time out of the home than in it.
We can choose from multiple home ed meet ups less than half an hour drive from our house. Some are focussed on a particular topic or activity, while others are purely social. They can take place in halls or in the great outdoors. Some are regular, meeting once a week or fortnight, while others are arranged as one off events.
We also attend group classes, some run by home ed parents (including me), and others offered commercially by companies like Fab Science and community groups like Theatre Unboxed.
Many sessions are specifically for home educated children, but we also take advantage of local after-school and evening clubs, and a violin tutor.
Like most home educating families, we are part of multiple online home ed groups. Members arrange numerous trips, providing our children with a stunning range of opportunities, including workshops, museum based experience days, factory tours, theatre trips, and more. Some venues lay on special home education days. Rarely a week goes by when we do not take advantage of one or more of these fantastic opportunities.
We also go on family day trips, and holidays as part of our educational provision, and spend a good deal of time in country parks and other nature spots.
The amazing variety and sheer number of opportunties available makes it tempting to fill our whole week with back-to-back, action packed adventure. FOMO in the home ed community is a huge thing! We learnt pretty quickly however that it's important to turn some things down, leaving time in the week to explore, rest, and play at home. Nevertheless, there is still a lot more "away" than "home" in our home education.