Our First Year of Home Education (Charlotte Mason in the UK)

There's a certain magic to homeschooling. The way a child's eyes light up when they finally grasp a concept, the way they run wild on walks on nature, the way they snuggle into your lap for story time. The journey hasn’t always been easy, but it has blessed us richly.

As I reflect on our first year of homeschooling, I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude. I’m so thankful for the opportunity we’ve had to learn and grow together as a family. Of course, it hasn't always been easy. There have been moments of frustration, doubt, and utter exhaustion. But there have also been moments of pure joy, deep connection, and wonder upon wonder.

In this blog post, I'd like to share some of our homeschool journey with you. We'll talk about how we prepared for the school year, the various curricula we're using, our daily schedule, and some of our favourite activities and lessons so far. I'll also be honest about the challenges we've faced and the solutions we've found. Above all, I hope to encourage you on your own homeschool journey, whatever that may look like.

Why We Chose to Home Educate

For many, the choice to homeschool is an effortless one, and the path ahead seems clear. But for us, the decision was not so straightforward. Though I loved the idea of schooling my children at home, the reality of having all three little ones with me, all day, every day, felt daunting. Yet, amidst the uncertainty, there were some principles that kept calling me back, and that eventually won us over.

Firstly, for us, sending our children to school at age 4 felt too early. Here in the UK, most children go to school aged 4, though school isn’t compulsory until age 5. By contrast, most countries in the rest of Europe start schooling age 6 or over. In Finland, which is widely regarded as one of the most effective school systems in the world, children don’t start school until 7.

In our family we cherish these precious formative years and wanted to be there for our little ones while they are still making sense of the world. While there are surely children who go on to be well-rounded and secure even if they go to school at a young age, we felt able to enjoy a few more years together. Above all, we hoped to be able to share our Christian faith with our children day-to-day, to show them how Jesus is a key foundation to a life well-lived, and to foster a joy in following him in every moment.

Secondly, there is abundant research showing that children need plenty of time outdoors to connect with nature and the world around them. This is something that can be difficult to achieve if little ones are in school five days a week. By homeschooling, we have the freedom to step outside and explore whenever we want, and the children are developing a sense of independence that can’t always be found in a school playground.

Thirdly, we knew that our children would be able to form relationships with other children without being in school. My husband is currently studying at theological college here in the UK, training to be a pastor. We live on the college campus, where there are around 20 other families with children ranging from birth up to age 18. Children are regularly out playing in the grounds, and play dates are very easy to arrange. In fact, while I love the community feel, sometimes it feels like we are living in each others’ pockets!

Our wonderful college community is a blessing to us in other ways too. Several of our neighbours are homeschooling families and we have plenty of willing hands to turn to if we need emergency help or someone to look after the children. This beautiful support network makes all the difference to us as we home educate day-to-day. But friends, I do appreciate that we’re in a very blessed situation, and that this is certainly not the case for everyone.

We have the freedom to step outside and explore whenever we want

Our Approach to Homeschooling & the Charlotte Mason Philosophy

When I was first making the decision on whether to home educate Clem, I delved into the many different approaches others take to homeschooling. I explored the classical approach, with it’s emphasis on memorisation and order. I looked into Waldorf and Montessori, with their beautiful child-led approaches. But the philosophy that sung to me out of it all was the approach of one Miss Charlotte Mason.

Charlotte Mason was a British educator whose work has inspired countless families to embrace a rich, meaningful education. Born in 1842, Miss Mason was a woman ahead of her time. She believed in the power of young minds, and she saw the potential for children to learn and grow in ways that were often overlooked by traditional schooling methods.

In her writings and lectures, Mason proposed an approach to education that valued the whole child - mind, body, and spirit. She encouraged parents and educators to embrace a lifestyle of learning, one that was rooted in beauty, goodness, and truth. She believed that children were born persons, with a natural curiosity and a desire to learn, and that it was the role of the educator to provide rich, meaningful experiences that would nurture that curiosity and love of learning.

The best place to start if you’d like to learn more about the Charlotte Mason method is to read one of many excellent books. Charlotte Mason herself wrote six volumes about her method and philosophy, the first of which, Home Education is essential reading for anyone considering Charlotte Mason schooling. There are also wonderful books by authors experienced in using her methods - I would particularly recommend Modern Miss Mason by Leah Boden and For The Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay.

Our Curricula & Materials

One of the core elements of the Charlotte Mason method is that formal lessons should wait until age 6. I very much appreciate the value in waiting on starting formal lessons - one of the main reasons we chose to home educate was that sending children to school age 4 seems incredibly young.

Consequently, our days look very similar to how they did before Clem was school age. We try to spend plenty of time outdoors, we read widely and often, and we try to be immersed in the arts, music and culture throughout our day. Our hope is to root all of these things in our Christian faith, and as far as possible, we enjoy doing these things with our local homeschooling friends, to help foster friendships and encourage the formation of important social skills.

Maths & Phonics

That being said, we do spend a short time each morning doing some gentle Maths and phonics. We don’t want to rule out mainstream schooling when we leave theological college, so we have had to compromise by loosely keeping step with the UK National Curriculum in these core subjects. We spend around 30-40 minutes each morning practicing reading, writing and maths, and that seems like the upper limit of Clem’s attention span.

For Maths, we have used the Mathematics Enhancement Programme, a free curriculum developed at the University of Plymouth based on the Hungarian method of teaching mathematics. My son enjoys it so much that we’ve raced through the Reception material and have moved onto Year 1. As a former mathematician, I find the approach of MEP really excellent. Desk-based activities are interspersed with play-based learning, and there is an emphasis on logic, pattern recognition and problem solving, which are the foundation of a creative approach to Maths. While the curriculum is free, you will need to print the worksheets and copymasters.

For reading and writing, we have been using a combination of Jolly Phonics and resources from an excellent free website called Teaching Children to Read & Write. TCRW was created by one of the authors of the Jolly Phonics material, so you can use both sets of material together. Within Jolly Phonics, there is a huge variety of different materials, and it’s possible to accidentally spend money on things you don’t end up using. Of the things we’ve bought, we’ve enjoyed the Finger Phonics series, the Jolly Phonics songs, the workbooks and the word cards. You can find most of these on Vinted for a fraction of the price.

By contrast, the information on TCRW is quite streamlined, but I’ve found it invaluable for supporting Clem through the parts of reading that he struggles with. While he has grasped the concepts quite easily, there are certain consonant pairs he finds confusing to blend, and TCRW has specific advice and resources for helping with such issues.

Bible, literature, art and music

We started the year following Gentle & Classical Primer - a kindergarten (or UK reception) level curriculum loosed based on Charlotte Mason principles. It’s a US based curriculum but translates well to the UK. You can buy a digital version and print the materials here through a copy shop (I like DoxZoo). I’ve enjoyed the weekly literature focus, art and music, and emphasis on Bible memorisation and good habits. However, we have found it a little repetitive and have had to work at making the same things fresh each week. I’d recommend Gentle & Classical as a starting point for intentionally teaching your children, but I suspect we will move away from it to a more Charlotte Mason-aligned curriculum next year.

Nature Study & Science

One of the most wonderful parts of our homeschool year has been a weekly nature walk with three or four other families that live in our community. We meet every Monday morning, and follow a beautiful curriculum called Exploring Nature with Children by Lynn Seddon.

Regardless of whether we continue homeschooling, I would love to continue using this curriculum for weekly nature walks at the weekend. The curriculum is designed to grow with children, so it can be used from preschoolers right through to teenagers. Most of all, I love that it weaves art and poetry into the study of the natural world.

Our Daily Home Education Schedule

With three little ones under the age of 6, our days are rarely predictable. But that's part of the beauty of homeschooling. We have the freedom to follow our children's interests, to take breaks when we need them, and to make space for the unexpected.

Our day begins with the Bible. Until recently we were (slowly!) reading through Genesis, and for the last two weeks we have been enjoying a wonderful devotional book called Meals with Jesus.

After breakfast we do morning time loosely following Gentle & Classical Primer, memorising a Bible verse, a catechism question and a manners song. Then with Clem I will do 10-15 minutes of Maths (using the Mathematics Enhancement Programme) and 10-15 minutes of reading/writing. This is usually while Jesse sleeps, and Margot will colour or draw while we’re working. Depending on our plans for the morning we may then read a few books together. We have a book for each week but the children also delight in choosing freely from the books on the shelves!

Although we spend less than an hour on this formal part of the day, by the end the little ones are quite ready to be outside. Once a week we do this with homeschooling friends and follow Exploring Nature with Children. Other days we might visit a museum, go to the Bible study and toddler group at our church or see friends at the park.

After lunch, the two littlest nap, and Clem will have a little downtime. He loves to listen to his Yoto, look at books and sometimes play an educational game like Reading Eggs. We then have a little TV time while I tidy the house and do life admin. After rest time we often start with a snack time while I read some poetry or a book to them. Then we’ll often see friends, do some sweet art or music study or head to the library.

And that’s just about it! Our days are simple and sweet, filled with the beauty of reading, the joy of the outdoors, and the truth of the gospel running through everything we do.

The Challenges of Homeschooling

I won’t pretend that our first year homeschooling has been easy. In the depths of winter, when we were all still finding our feet, I often wondered what had possessed me to commit to teaching a 5 year old with two younger siblings on my knee. Here are some of the things that have challenged me most.

Patience

I used to believe that there is nothing that grows your patience like having children. It turns out that homeschooling those children requires patience upon patience, and I have had to learn to regulate my emotions like never before. I won’t pretend to always have got this right, and at times our family relationships have been tested by spending so much time together. Yet, the joy of seeing the children grow and play together has outweighed the struggles, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work at loving them better.

Expectations

My hopes for teaching our children are often grander than I can manage in reality. In my mind, all our mornings run to plan, the little ones are well behaved and play independently at the right moments, and Clem is perfectly attentive. I don’t need to tell you this is not what most days look like!

In reality, I have had to reduce my expectations for what is achievable in some moments, and to hold things loosely on days where things don’t go to plan. Ultimately, how I behave and how I teach are more important than what we manage to cover, so it can be wise to let go of plans on the more challenging days.

Discipline

Discipline is a personal struggle of mine, and one of my biggest fears with committing to homeschooling was that I wouldn’t be disciplined enough to stick with my plans as the year progressed. We have certainly achieved a lot and I have been disciplined in ensuring we’re working when we can be, but some subjects have fallen by the wayside, particularly where I find them less interesting. As we continue to homeschool, my hope and prayer is that I grow in discipline so that the best laid plans make it to reality.

For more insight into our homeschool journey you might like to watch this video sharing the creation of homeschool space.

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