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I’m so glad you resonate and it’s giving you encouragement! It’s so hard to find things from the UK that’s pretty much why we did this, thinking of us 18 months ago! How did he find his first year? Actually we have the men as our planned episode 8 so the one after the next one! 😄🫶🏻 hopefully that can help!

Honestly it's amazing! There's hardly any content in the uk! And I'm researching the hell out of it as it's such a big decision to make 🤦‍♂️ Well it's been a rollarcoster, he's really struggled to settle in! It's now almost end of the year he's happy to go! In September he has a new teacher and class so it will all begin again! My middle son is 3 and he's not going till he has his 3rd surgery.... We've had bullying already, he comes home exhausted which then turns into explosive behaviour... which I'm told is normal.. basically it's been a whirlwind 🤦‍♂️

Thanks so much for your comment! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed listening and some stuff resonates ☺️ yes that’s a great idea, we’ve got that as our next planned episode! Tried to record last night but my wifi is terrible at the moment so hopefully recording and uploading tomorrow 🤞🏼

My photography one is @aimee.captures and personal is @aimeemorris_x 🤗

Totally understand, my kids are also very shy and find it hard to integrate at first. Honestly we went to meet ups and they played by themselves for the first few times, I just let them find their own confidence at their own pace and had faith that they would find their own way of making friends and that’s exactly what they did! Home Ed kids are pretty accepting, understanding and inviting from our experience, just like most of the parents. No matter how long the big group has been meeting (judging from my experience joining others as well as the group we have formed) they will more than likely be happy to invite new families in as they know what it’s like to need friends! Don’t let it put you off, sometimes it can take quite a few consistent meets for any integration to happen, just takes time for everyone to get familiar 🙂

So glad you can relate and enjoy listening 🫶 I know, we’re so underrepresented over here aren’t we! Everything’s American and although it’s interesting it can be very unrelatable can’t it, so nice to hear people close to home having the same experiences 🧡✨

Came here to say the same thing. Starting with my 3 year old, already dipping my toes in to see what styles he might like. These podcasts are really helpful. Thankyou :)

@CharlieeLou so glad you find them helpful! We’re still learning every day so don’t think that we’ve got it all sorted either 😂 it’s encouraging and insightful to hear others’ experiences though isn’t it! Love to hear that you’ve already made that decision for your three year old! 🫶

Thank you! We plan to, have already recorded ep 2 so that will be out next week 🤗 so glad you have made that decision for your family and it’s working out! It can be a really nerve wracking thing to do but so worth it 🧡✨

Love this! Planning to home educating my nearly 3 year old and i am still torn whether to send her to pre school for 1 or 2 days per week or not. Single mama needs a break sometimes haha. X

Oh totally!! I can imagine being a single mom and choosing to home ed is an even tougher decision in a way but I have a few friends who are single parents and I think the main thing is to get a good network and social group because that does give you a break and the support system around you really helps!

Thank you ☺️ to be honest I just go with them and what they want to do each day. They each have non-negotiable things they do every day such as a maths app, reading and my 8 year old is doing Spanish on Duolingo but other than that they just get on with life, I don’t direct their learning. They each have their own interests and have their own clubs they go to each week which helps them have a bit of independence. We also have social groups a couple of times a week at which they each have their own different friends. Then when they’re at home they’re mostly happy to play with each other or separately. I don’t have a structure or a set way of making sure each of them learns according to their age, if one of them asks a question we explore it until they’re satisfied and sometimes one of them will want to explore it in much more depth than the other so we go with it. Hopefully that’s a bit helpful although I realise I’ve not given you a set answer!

@@athomewiththeabbeys thanks! No I get what your saying and it’s seems like the easiest approach 👍🏽

Thanks so much, that means a lot! I felt the same to be honest, it’s really scary! But a few things I found made it easier: 1. Reading as much as I could about the ways children learn 2. Reflecting on my own life and the things that I’ve learnt by myself vs in formal education 3. Listening to interviews with adults who have been unschooled 4. Looking for the learning where I wouldn’t necessarily have expected it Also, once you’ve committed it gets so much easier because your kids show you that they’re learning and thriving and you can trust the process a bit more. But yes, finding your people definitely helps! Not even necessarily those that categorise themselves as unschoolers, just those families that aren’t putting their kids in mainstream education I’ve found is enough. Not all of our friends are unschoolers, everyone does it so differently according to their own families needs, so finding your own rhythm will take time but you will find it, I promise!

Thanks so much Aide! 🫶 I hope to have captured the “us against them” feeling you have at the beginning 😂

Thank you so much that really means a lot! I hope to fill the gap for us over here in the UK because this is what I’ve been looking for but can’t really find it like the Americans. 🫶✨

Thank you 🤗✨🫶 aw I know exactly how you feel! It’s such a heartbreaking feeling! I took my eldest to the settling in days at his local reception and everything about it was just off for me I came out crying 😭 and I don’t really cry very often 😄 if you have the ability to give it a try i would, I just think that school will always be there if it doesn’t work out at home but once they’re in the system then it seems harder to pull them out x

Yes, I'm hoping to post at least a couple of times a month :) Honestly, at the beginning I found it really hard to slow down too, as I talked about in this video! From what you've said, I can imagine you've been running on adrenaline for a while and it takes time to decompress from that! But, two weeks is such a short amount of time, you're still adjusting and don't be too hard on yourself or put too much pressure on getting it "right" because there really isn't a right way, only the right way for your family. At the beginning if I were to go back, I'd make the main priority reestablishing the connection to each other, taking time getting to know each other and just having fun. It's going to be just as much (if not much more!) of a learning curve for you as it is for your 6 year old, so I would focus on becoming more of a model for how you'd like them to see healthy lifestyle than trying to teach it. I really hope that helps! 6 is so young too, my eldest was in Steiner school and didn't start "formal" learning until he was 7, as is the way in a lot of European countries. Are you in the UK?

Ah thank you so much, that's what I hope to do here! How long have you been home educating?

Almost 6 years now :) I have 5 kids so we have a busy household and it’s refreshing to see someone just be honest about what homeschool looks like with one mama and many kids 😅

Oh wow you’re way more qualified than me to be sharing experience and advice then 😆 amazing, I think sometimes it’s almost easier with more kids because they can play with each other and tell each other their new found information rather than bombarding me with it because frankly sometimes I get tired of new facts 😂

@@athomewiththeabbeys totally agree! But even with more experience you still have the same worries I’m afraid… or at least I do… I keep going but I also keep doubting myself 🤣

Oh it’s good to know it’s not just me then! But I was hoping that it would go away after a certain amount of time 😆😫

Ah thank you so much 🥰 I'm so glad you resonate, I'm also glad I'm not alone with these sorts of thoughts too! 😄 I hope to share my thoughts as well as some insights into how we do things but just to show that everyone does it differently really!

Aw thank you so much, that means a lot! 🥹 Don't think my kids would say the same about us 😂 I hope its inspiring to you! Are you in the UK?

@@athomewiththeabbeys yes we’re in the south east off England about 45 mins outside London… not a huge Home Ed community near us! I have found a lot off family’s have chosen this route due to their child having SEN or struggles in school as opposed to us who just prefer this lifestyle ! Lol

@paigepizzey6030 honestly that’s what we found in the beginning. We kept finding people that just weren’t our people (I might do a video on it actually!) that also had pulled out due to SEN and it just wasn’t the same for us or our kids to connect. It took a good 6 months or longer of us keep trying new meets, joining groups, FB groups, WhatsApp groups to really find our people and now we have a decent community with likeminded families who are just like us. Sometimes they’re all just hiding under the radar and you have to hunt them down 😂

Once you deregister, the LA get in touch to see what provisions you're providing and to ensure you're providing a suitable education. Then they usually make contact once a year to see how your child has "progressed" during that year, which is in the form of a report. But, you don't have to follow a curriculum or anything just as long as it's an age and developementally appropriate education. Hope that helps!

Thank you so much 😊

😂 turns out not many adults do have it figured out, do they?! 😆

@@athomewiththeabbeysnope 😂

My parents aren't really on board either, to be honest! They made school the most important thing in my life when I was growing up so their views on it are very different to mine. But ultimately, my kids aren't theirs so although they can have their opinion it's not up to them to choose, and that's what I try to remember when they are planting those seeds of doubt or casting their judgment. I know that I've done enough research and know my kids well enough to know what I think is best. So, hopefully any of these thoughts can help you too!

Ah thank you, I do plan to do more! Just life and businesses have got in the way but I absolutely love making the videos so I hope to be more consistent from now on :) Amazing, you're like a veteran home edder then! You'll have a lot more advice and experience than me 🙈😄 I just enjoy sharing our journey and so we can look back on it too, so it's so nice to hear you don't think we'll regret it! Are you in the UK too?

@@athomewiththeabbeys Oh that's great to hear! Will look forward to it! Yes, we're just over the Border in Scotland!

Hi Carys, thank you so much! 😊 well, to be honest that's the main reason I started this channel because I couldn't find anyone like us making videos in this way that also live in the UK, so I'm really glad you resonate too! How come you're moving back to the UK? Oh I don't do anything conventionally either, and honestly the more I get connected to what really matters and detach myself from societal "norms" the happier I am too! So you definitely won't regret it and also, I just look at it that school will always be there if for any reason it doesn't work out, but why not give it a go!

Ah thank you so much… Its such a compliment to hear when others find it inspiring, that’s exactly what I hope for in these videos because I couldn’t find this sort of thing when we first started. It’s interesting that you asked that about my eldest response because I’d not thought of sharing anything like that but might be an interesting video! I don’t share on Instagram at the moment but honestly been thinking about it a lot recently because I’ve been asked quite a few times. I just find social media a bit overwhelming 🥴 might just give it a go though and I do I’ll be sure to let you know! If there’s anything you want help of advice with just reach out, I know what it’s like!

Thank you so much, glad you liked it 🥰

Thank you so much, big compliment coming from you 🥰