A little on our educational philosophy

I believe very strongly that (neurotypical) children need to play as much as possible during childhood.

We wake up between 8 and 9 am and either sing a little, tell a story or just talk about something in bed. In the summer and on bright days we bounce up and have our breakfast. We may do a story then, or again sing a few rhymes or songs. We play board and card games a lot - Top Trumps to Max the Cat or Memory. At the moment we are playing a lot of Ludo (I use 2 dice as it means the numbers are a little more of a stretch in terms of learning). Dolls come out to play - they go on adventures in the wooden train or climb up mountains (the sofa).

We do a bit of arts and crafts - today for instance, we made a clock using a brass paper clip, a round pizza base card (no - not home-made pizza - naughty us!) and then we did some cutting out of the cardboard clockhands. We do a lot of watercolour painting (wet-on-wet technique), beewax modelling and drawing (mainly pencil crayon or wax crayon). For some reason, glitter and glue is more of a winter activity.

In terms of reading and writing - we don't do anything formal or instructive in this. I believe strongly that later emphasis on academics is better than the early system in place in mainstream schools. Reading and writing depends on so many areas and I think it's better to wait before formal instruction begins. Eye tracking, co-ordination, phonemic awareness and so many other things are best naturally developed/learnt through having free play rather than formal reading schemes. We have lots of stories and songs in our house. I'd rather wait for a child to naturally develop into reading and writing, even if they are 7 years or above. I love the creativity of facilitating learning without using textbook instruction.