Homeschooler Meme
I’ve been tagged by Katy on this meme. I think it is more for the ‘Home Schooler’ than the ‘Home Educator’ and for someone with a bit more structure than me but here goes:
ONE HOMESCHOOLING BOOK YOU HAVE ENJOYED
I have a whole shelf on a bookcase groaning with a variety of Home Educating books. I have some John Holt, some Montessori, plenty of US curriculum-y type manuals, infact a whole host of the books listed by Merry on her reading page from Muddlepuddle. I bought them all, along with various other perceived Home Ed essentials in a first flush of spending frenzy shortly after making the decision to Home Educate. And they are pretty much all in pristine, pages never touched by a human hand, words never viewed by my eye condition. 
Probably the only Home Ed book I read much of is Free Range Education. I dipped into it rather than sat and read it cover to cover but it contains lots of anecdotal Home Ed life stories rather than any defintive ‘this is how to do it’ text and I now know, in real life, a couple of the contributing families. I like it’s realism, it’s not glossing over the crappy bits and it’s honesty. I have misplaced my own copy and currently have Ali’s on a borrow nestled up there with the rest of my Home Ed library.
The other book which I have on that shelf is not specifically Home Education themed but contains some of the wisest and most inspirational words I have ever read, many of which have shaped my parenting and educational style. I stumbled across Leo Buscaglia’s writing in a Home Ed magazine (probably EO newsletter) and was moved to track down a copy of Living, Loving and Learning. His lecture about an Animal School remains my most quoted reading to anyone when explaining why we do what we do.
ONE RESOURCE YOU COULD NOT BE WITHOUT
Slightly torn here as personally I couldn’t manage day to day life without my computer with internet access. But we make huge use of the local library too. And then there are all the children’s toys which help unlock their imagination, give them wings to fly on, dragons to snare and adventures to go on. And of course their friends. And the TV - I think the TV is a huge resource. But actually I think I’m going to say our freedom. Our freedom to choose to Home Educate rather than send our children to school, our freedom to decide not to follow the National Curriculum, or indeed any curriculum and our freedom to decide what to do with our time today.
ONE RESOURCE YOU WISH YOU HAD NEVER BOUGHT
Hmmm. Despite just how much money I have spent on various essential ‘Home Ed kit’ I can’t think of any single thing I plowed money into which has not been used at all. I’ve never invested in a reading scheme or a curriculum and even the various workbooks I’ve bought and which have not been used remain on the shelves as something we could still dig out at a future point. I think I would have regretted buying curriculums, maths or reading schemes though so I guess I’m just glad I stopped myself from doing so.
ONE RESOURCE YOU ENJOYED LAST YEAR
I guess our most used educational toy is geomags without a doubt. They are played with two or three times a week, I have watched the way they are played with evolve over the last year or so and see how they appeal on so many levels as a toy, all the while teaching mathematical ideas, magnetic properties and posing challenges about structure that are overcome and dealt with in the scope of simply playing. We have used them to demonstrate ideas, create towns, cities, creatures and people, make patterns using shapes and colours, challenge ourselves with how many balls a rod can hold, how many rods stretch end to end across our lounge and estimate how many pieces we’ll need for various creations.
Geomags. Get some! 
ONE RESOURCE YOU WILL BE USING NEXT YEAR
Tricky to say really. I don’t have any big plans to add anything new to our already groaning supply of toys and books. I guess I’ll continue getting the most out of free resources such as the library, the museums and the world around us generally.
ONE RESOURCE YOU WOULD LIKE TO BUY
Ha! If money were no object and I had a spare two rooms to house it all then of course I could come up with a list! I like construction toys which have scientific elements like Gears Gears Gears! There are huge amounts of places I would like to visit to get every last drop of educational value out of. I’d love to have properties scattered across the globe to spend time in honing geography and understanding other cultures. I’d love a really well stocked craft cupboard with scrap and junk to make stuff with, paints, glitter and glue and someone to clear up all the mess afterwards. Yeah, you’re right, this should be in the category below really.
ONE RESOURCE YOU WISH EXISTED
Well I don’t have dreams of education centres or on tap tutors to cover all the stuff I can’t. I’d love more space really, and maybe some sort of Tardis to spirit us all off to wherever in time the children have a question about, or whichever part of the world they want more information on, or so we could learn what it’s like to be a fish by actually being one for a day.
ONE HOMESCHOOLING CATALOGUE YOU ENJOY READING
Well I don’t actually browse any more. When you can’t afford to even look at what’s out there let alone buy it sometimes it’s better to stick the catalogues straight in the recycling! But I did used to love getting Baker Ross, Bright Minds and Book People catalogues.
ONE HOMESCHOOLING WEBSITE YOU USE REGULARLY
I don’t really. I have various blogs I read which have undoubtedly given me the most support and confidence in embarking on the Home Ed journey and I have found individuals - many of whom I am lucky to count as friends now - by far more inspirational and amazing than any of the websites, manuals or curriculums I have seen. A specific educational website would be Enchanted Learning but actually google is probably the best online resource around!
TAG FIVE OTHER HOMESCHOOLERS
Dani & Allie
Ali
Alison
Lucy
Ros
