Hello friends! It's been a while since I last checked in with you all. I hope you're well and have had a happy August. My plans for an August newsletter, and a series of Math-themed posts for September, have all been flung out of the window because our builder has surprised us at the very last minute, and we are having our extension built! The builders start next week! As you can imagine, everything has been a bit chaotic here, as we work on clearing the spaces, negotiating w

This Autumn we are learning about the continent of North America. We started at the beginning of September with a focus on Canada, which you can read more about in my September newsletter here. Why Gentle? We have now moved on to a gentle introduction to Native America. I say gentle, because my daughter is just 9, and not yet ready to learn in great detail about the horrors of North America's past. I'm only just getting to grips with the extent of the loss at age 40, and it's

Do you have back to school (or not back to school) traditions in your family? Perhaps you prepare a special breakfast, or take a photograph of your child in their new school uniform? Do you gift your child new school supplies, or ditch the school work and head out on a celebratory field trip? Or do you have a sorting ceremony, like on the first day of Hogwarts?! Back to School Family Traditions Back to school family traditions are not something that I've given much thought to

Hello, and welcome to my monthly newsletter! This is a place to document and share a few monthly highlights, along with book recommendations, recipes, interesting articles, links to other blog posts, free resources etc. If you have a specific request, please drop me a message at contact@invitationstoplay.org Holiday Club August has been such a busy month for us, because at the end of July I reopened my childminding setting, offering holiday club sessions to a few of my existi

A few weeks ago, Bean was browsing in our home library and was super excited to discover that we have a book about making stop motion animation, LEGO Make Your Own Movie. She was introduced to stop motion at our local science museum, We The Curious, where they have a hands-on stop motion exhibit, and on discovering the book, she immediately wanted to have a go at making her own. I came across this book while researching for our building project. It is one of a series of Lego

We are starting our new school year with a Harry Potter topic, using a ready made curriculum called 'Waldock's Wizards and Wands', written by Jessica from The Waldock Way. Bean has already received her acceptance letter in the post, and term will be starting on Monday 2nd September with a welcome feast. You can join us on our adventure by following our stories on Instagram here. This is not a curriculum that I have tried before. It wasn't gifted, and I haven't been paid to ta

What does extracurricular mean? Simply put, extracurricular is all the activities that take place outside of a regular academic curriculum. These are often the subjects that are not considered to be as important, but that are often the ones that fill a child's heart with joy! Sport, art and craft, music, drama, dance, cookery, gardening, socialising and playing, are some examples. Of course, with home education, there is no legal requirement to follow a regular academic curri

History History is not a subject that I particularly enjoyed during my own schooling. I honestly don't remember learning anything about history at all at primary school, and at secondary school our teacher was literally a walking corpse who didn't inspire any interest in the subject for me. An outstanding teacher has the power to bring a subject alive and make it relevant and interesting for children, so I do think I was just unlucky there. The Story of the World Last year we

Here is my daughter, playing on the beach, on a family holiday to America. This was taken the September that she could have started school. She had just turned 4 years old. The new school year is fast approaching and I've received a lot of messages about home education. Many have asked what led to my decision to home educate. It was a personal decision, based on the best interests of my child and our little family. This post is not intended as advice or judgement, but reading