Capeoira

We’ve been trying out Buzz with various clubs, something he couldn’t do when he was at school because he was always so exhausted and stressed after school. It’s been really helpful to give him the opportunity to be more physically active and for him to discover his interests. We started with quite a few clubs, Capeoira being one of them, at Grupo Muzenza.

Capeoira is a Brazilian art form of fight, dance, rhythm and movement, and is a lot of fun, but we didn’t continue with it as it was too late in the day for us to manage. I thoroughly recommend it though, particularly for kids who need to let off some steam.

It Turns Out The Boy Loves Swimming

If we achieve nothing through homeschooling other than to discover just how much Buzz loves swimming then it has still been worth it. I have never seen this boy as happy and as confident and as determined as when he is in the water. We really had no idea this would be the case, I signed him up for swimming simply because it is important for kids to learn. When he was little and had severe reflux and asthma, the water always aggravated both issues and often made him sick. It wasn’t that he disliked it, but it just wasn’t possible for him to spend time in water.

Now that those issues are 95% resolved he finally has the opportunity to learn to swim, and in a matter of weeks he has gone from being scared to have water on his face, to swimming two different strokes, swimming under water, doing somersaults and handstands in the water, jumping in forwards, backwards, being thrown in, you name it! He has earned himself four badges within two months at his swimming class at Ockpool, Ocklynge School (I can’t recommend them high enough).

We also joined the membership for the open air pool at the Eastbourne DGH (private health club). It is £25 per person for May to September, and is so worth it for us as we go a couple of times per week (weather permitting). Though I’m a wimp and will only brave the cool water if the sun is shining brightly and that annoying south coast wind is on ceasefire!

If anyone local fancies joining us let us know, it’s not much for us to bring guests.

We spent five days on the Isle of Wight in July at a campsite with not just one pool, but two pools! We spent hours and hours in those pools, all three of us. Perfect!

He is weaning himself off the need to hold his nose!

Mario & Friends Pizza Party (De-Schooling)

Mario characters + pizza = fractions…. of course!! Buzz loved this. I wish I could always put this much effort into numeracy!

We are actually de-schooling at the moment, which is a period of time at the start of home-schooling taken to get school out of the system so that you can start afresh and work out your own teaching/learning style. Call it a sabbatical if you like! If you jump straight into doing school at home it doesn’t really work too well and the kids come to resent homeschooling. Homeschooling isn’t school at home, because we have so much more freedom and choice and flexibility; we can be a lot more practical; so we need to take the time to work into it gently and find what works for us. And Buzz needs time to rediscover himself.

Something we have noticed since Buzz finished school is that he has re-learned how to play for a long period of time. School is so busy, moving from one activity to the next so that teachers can fit in all aspects of the National Curriculum required, that Buzz was losing his ability to fully engage in an activity and keep his focus on it. He is now regaining this ability and getting into the swing of taking life more slowly. It’s been a difficult time to be honest, as if Buzz is going through some kind of detox, but we are coming out the other end now and finding our feet. I can absolutely understand why de-schooling is so important.

Saying this, Barnabas enjoyed school and enjoys learning. He also thrives on having structure. So we are incorporating some numeracy work into our weekly schedule, be it a fun and practical activity like this, or just 2 to 5 minutes from a workbook.