I've been subscribed to your blog for a few weeks now but finally had the time to read it today.
I'm Aimen from Pakistan. It's so nice to read your blog and connect with you here. :)
I have a four-year-old, and we are unschooling him. Our plans are to continue unschooling him until he reaches 6 or 7. I felt so good reading that your primary focus is on reading and numeracy, which aligns with our approach as well.
I believe that if a child knows how to read, they can learn anything they want. It's all about instilling a love of reading in them.
Thank you for sharing all these resources. Tiny Polka Dot looks very interesting, and I'll definitely get it for my son too.
Once again, I'm happy to connect with you, and I'm looking forward to reading more from you!
Hello Aimen! Great to have you here and I’m so pleased you’re enjoying the blog. When does school start in Pakistan, is it usual to homeschool/unschool until 6 or 7 or do most chidlren begin school before that point?
The school year begins in April and runs for three months before summer break. After two months of vacation coinciding with the monsoon season, school resumes in September and continues until winter break at the end of December (2 weeks).
Summers are too hot in Pakistan.
No, homeschooling is not common in Pakistan but it has gained popularity after Covid-19 pandemic.
Kids start school as early as 2.5 years or 3 but no later than 4. Too much academic pressure, competition, and unnecessary homework and assignments to kids as young as 5 or 6.
Unschooling is not a famous or well accepted concept here but things are changing slowly.
Hello Catherine, first time reader and subscriber here! I'm delving into your writings and resources. While I long to homeschool, my kids are currently in public school (albeit a highly-rated one) here in Boca Raton, FL. My daughter is 6 (turning 7 this December) and in Grade 1 and my son is just 4 and in pre-K. My daughter especially is very bored with school. She loves to read and is already writing songs, mini-books, and she makes her own pop-up cards which she is now showing her fellow classmates how to make. I think she would love to have a pen pal, if you could facilitate setting us up with one I'd be very grateful. Many thanks!
Welcome! I hope you’re finding the blog useful. I’ll add your daughter to the pen pal list - would she prefer someone overseas? At the moment I have more Americans than any other nationalities. I was trying to match up children from different countries but I might have to give up on that! Let me know if you’d rather wait or if US is ok.
I enjoyed reading this, Catherine! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and plans. I just purchased Tiny Polka Dot and am looking forward to incorporating it into our math studies this school year. I myself struggled with math growing up and do not enjoy teaching it. Reading? absolutely any time. But math -- I have to will myself to do it. I found a curriculum workbook and flashcards I used last year that I will continue using, but I'd like to incorporate more play into math time - and I resolve to find ways to enjoy the process more with my sons this year. Maybe per Ruth's comment, I should look into Right Start Math Games.
Yes Right Start looks interesting. I’m tempted…! I was terrible at maths at school. I vividly remember getting a fraction question wrong in front of the whole class, aged 6 or 7, and the confusion and embarrassment. I love that my two don’t have to go through that. I always say to my daughter, when she panics over a tricky-seeming question, that the numbers don’t bite and if she gets it wrong, nothing will happen! Oddly (or perhaps not) I find myself really enjoying maths now, second time around. I understand it so much more thoroughly. It makes real, concrete sense to me in a way it never did at school. Have you read the book ‘Math Without Numbers’? It looks great and is on my list. Might be a nice way for you to re establish your relationship with maths!
Thank you for this inspiring newsletter, Catherine!
I would love to setup a penpal for my daughter Rosie who will turn 6 in September. We live in Vanuatu (a small South Pacific island nation) but are relocating to Australia later this year.
Ah! We know all about Vanuatu because it is the location for one of the children’s favourite books, The Secret Explorers and The Smoking Volcano, in which the explorers have to slide down Mount Yasur on a surfboard!
Thanks for sharing your plans for the coming year Catherine (makes me long for the simpler days of homeschooling younger kids:) I would often use the last weeks of summer to connect with various homeschooling friends, from creative unschoolers to very strict classical education adherents, and would always find encouragement and new ideas to add to my plans. I had always used the Well-Trained Mind as a backbone and have added, changed, and dropped things over the years. With regard to numeracy I can highly recommend the Right Start Math games kit (see the summary on my site here https://humanitasfamily.net/teaching-math/) It has over 300 card games that build solid mental math skills for elementary all the way up to the end of middle school. I have used these card games for over ten years with my own kids and in my homeschool co-ops they were a huge hit (and yes I am a rep because it's the best math practice I have come across :)
Time to get into the details of my own planning next week!
Thank you Ruth, Right Start looks really interesting. I’m feeling very daunted at the implication that as they get older it gets more complicated! I keep telling myself that as they get older my role will get smaller as they take more responsibility for their own work… Don’t disillusion me!
In my experience (and from what I have witnessed in other homeschooling families) both the children and the parents grow into the changing needs of their roles. Children definitely do become much more independent, and the parent takes on more of a guiding/supervisory role (thus no disillusionment necessary:).
When it comes to homeschooling high school the complicated part is deciding on the route to take (self-directed, online, taking college-credit courses early, following provincial guidelines or carving a direct path to university) and working on social connections. Thus it is less the role as teacher that becomes challenging, but preparing them for university entrance or other life path ahead of them. In contrast, thinking back to mornings spent simply reading together and working on history projects definitely seems less complicated :)
Wonderful to read this and think through planning alongside you. I’m in the same stage, while savoring summer, so I really enjoyed this. I was just thinking through what my priorities are for our 7yr old so this was useful as well!
Ah I’m so glad it was useful! I like the idea of priorities. Yes, there’s so much to learn/teach, but it feels so much more manageable when we focus on a small number of essentials, like putting the big rocks in the jar first. By the way I am eagerly awaiting the next piece from A Window in the Country!
Again, such a generous account of how you and your family approach learning and education at-large, and hopefully, a useful example/model for others who may be exploring/navigating some of these learning opportunities and challenges as well. It sounds as if your day, and your children’s days, while indeed challenging at times, is simply so full of such beautiful delight, and that makes me happy for you, Katherine. Oh what a world it would be if more children had these uniquely formative learning experiences--an even more beautiful one full of young minds brimming with a capacity for and a genuine desire to learn that serves not just themselves but the broader world/planet as well, I imagine. 🌱✨ Thanks again for writing and sharing. 🙏🤓
Hi Catherine,
I've been subscribed to your blog for a few weeks now but finally had the time to read it today.
I'm Aimen from Pakistan. It's so nice to read your blog and connect with you here. :)
I have a four-year-old, and we are unschooling him. Our plans are to continue unschooling him until he reaches 6 or 7. I felt so good reading that your primary focus is on reading and numeracy, which aligns with our approach as well.
I believe that if a child knows how to read, they can learn anything they want. It's all about instilling a love of reading in them.
Thank you for sharing all these resources. Tiny Polka Dot looks very interesting, and I'll definitely get it for my son too.
Once again, I'm happy to connect with you, and I'm looking forward to reading more from you!
Hello Aimen! Great to have you here and I’m so pleased you’re enjoying the blog. When does school start in Pakistan, is it usual to homeschool/unschool until 6 or 7 or do most chidlren begin school before that point?
Hi Catherine,
The school year begins in April and runs for three months before summer break. After two months of vacation coinciding with the monsoon season, school resumes in September and continues until winter break at the end of December (2 weeks).
Summers are too hot in Pakistan.
No, homeschooling is not common in Pakistan but it has gained popularity after Covid-19 pandemic.
Kids start school as early as 2.5 years or 3 but no later than 4. Too much academic pressure, competition, and unnecessary homework and assignments to kids as young as 5 or 6.
Unschooling is not a famous or well accepted concept here but things are changing slowly.
Hello Catherine, first time reader and subscriber here! I'm delving into your writings and resources. While I long to homeschool, my kids are currently in public school (albeit a highly-rated one) here in Boca Raton, FL. My daughter is 6 (turning 7 this December) and in Grade 1 and my son is just 4 and in pre-K. My daughter especially is very bored with school. She loves to read and is already writing songs, mini-books, and she makes her own pop-up cards which she is now showing her fellow classmates how to make. I think she would love to have a pen pal, if you could facilitate setting us up with one I'd be very grateful. Many thanks!
Welcome! I hope you’re finding the blog useful. I’ll add your daughter to the pen pal list - would she prefer someone overseas? At the moment I have more Americans than any other nationalities. I was trying to match up children from different countries but I might have to give up on that! Let me know if you’d rather wait or if US is ok.
I enjoyed reading this, Catherine! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and plans. I just purchased Tiny Polka Dot and am looking forward to incorporating it into our math studies this school year. I myself struggled with math growing up and do not enjoy teaching it. Reading? absolutely any time. But math -- I have to will myself to do it. I found a curriculum workbook and flashcards I used last year that I will continue using, but I'd like to incorporate more play into math time - and I resolve to find ways to enjoy the process more with my sons this year. Maybe per Ruth's comment, I should look into Right Start Math Games.
Yes Right Start looks interesting. I’m tempted…! I was terrible at maths at school. I vividly remember getting a fraction question wrong in front of the whole class, aged 6 or 7, and the confusion and embarrassment. I love that my two don’t have to go through that. I always say to my daughter, when she panics over a tricky-seeming question, that the numbers don’t bite and if she gets it wrong, nothing will happen! Oddly (or perhaps not) I find myself really enjoying maths now, second time around. I understand it so much more thoroughly. It makes real, concrete sense to me in a way it never did at school. Have you read the book ‘Math Without Numbers’? It looks great and is on my list. Might be a nice way for you to re establish your relationship with maths!
I struggled with math as well growing up! I'll look into Math Without Numbers. Thanks!
Thank you for this inspiring newsletter, Catherine!
I would love to setup a penpal for my daughter Rosie who will turn 6 in September. We live in Vanuatu (a small South Pacific island nation) but are relocating to Australia later this year.
Ah! We know all about Vanuatu because it is the location for one of the children’s favourite books, The Secret Explorers and The Smoking Volcano, in which the explorers have to slide down Mount Yasur on a surfboard!
Brilliant!! I will have to find that one 😊
Thanks for sharing your plans for the coming year Catherine (makes me long for the simpler days of homeschooling younger kids:) I would often use the last weeks of summer to connect with various homeschooling friends, from creative unschoolers to very strict classical education adherents, and would always find encouragement and new ideas to add to my plans. I had always used the Well-Trained Mind as a backbone and have added, changed, and dropped things over the years. With regard to numeracy I can highly recommend the Right Start Math games kit (see the summary on my site here https://humanitasfamily.net/teaching-math/) It has over 300 card games that build solid mental math skills for elementary all the way up to the end of middle school. I have used these card games for over ten years with my own kids and in my homeschool co-ops they were a huge hit (and yes I am a rep because it's the best math practice I have come across :)
Time to get into the details of my own planning next week!
Thank you Ruth, Right Start looks really interesting. I’m feeling very daunted at the implication that as they get older it gets more complicated! I keep telling myself that as they get older my role will get smaller as they take more responsibility for their own work… Don’t disillusion me!
In my experience (and from what I have witnessed in other homeschooling families) both the children and the parents grow into the changing needs of their roles. Children definitely do become much more independent, and the parent takes on more of a guiding/supervisory role (thus no disillusionment necessary:).
When it comes to homeschooling high school the complicated part is deciding on the route to take (self-directed, online, taking college-credit courses early, following provincial guidelines or carving a direct path to university) and working on social connections. Thus it is less the role as teacher that becomes challenging, but preparing them for university entrance or other life path ahead of them. In contrast, thinking back to mornings spent simply reading together and working on history projects definitely seems less complicated :)
Wonderful to read this and think through planning alongside you. I’m in the same stage, while savoring summer, so I really enjoyed this. I was just thinking through what my priorities are for our 7yr old so this was useful as well!
Ah I’m so glad it was useful! I like the idea of priorities. Yes, there’s so much to learn/teach, but it feels so much more manageable when we focus on a small number of essentials, like putting the big rocks in the jar first. By the way I am eagerly awaiting the next piece from A Window in the Country!
Again, such a generous account of how you and your family approach learning and education at-large, and hopefully, a useful example/model for others who may be exploring/navigating some of these learning opportunities and challenges as well. It sounds as if your day, and your children’s days, while indeed challenging at times, is simply so full of such beautiful delight, and that makes me happy for you, Katherine. Oh what a world it would be if more children had these uniquely formative learning experiences--an even more beautiful one full of young minds brimming with a capacity for and a genuine desire to learn that serves not just themselves but the broader world/planet as well, I imagine. 🌱✨ Thanks again for writing and sharing. 🙏🤓
*Catherine*, with a “C”--correcting myself re the above error, my apologies. 🧐🤓
With comments like yours you can spell it any way you want! Every substacker should have a Veronica! Thank you so much, I truly appreciate it 🙏