There are a million social media accounts and blogs out there telling you how to worldschool your little kids! How to get all that family freedom you want! Inspiring you with the joy of lazy PJ days, museum trips, and exploring…… It used to be so easy – regular playground visits, baking days, and heading off to the nearest park or beach when the weather is good for extra “nature study”! But kids grow up, and suddenly they’re too big for swings and slides, they’re unimpressed with crazy kitchen science experiments, and they’re too busy with online classes and time-consuming hobbies to take off on a whim because there’s glorious weather. Noooooo!!!!
We’re in the UK, so the presence of GCSEs* is looming on the horizon, and with that, all the sit-down learning, workbooks, and homework that goes with it! (And all that we’ve avoided for so long! We’re not a teach-to-the-test kinda family!) It’s pretty clear any long-term travel plans we had are not going to materialise at this point. So how do you keep that sense of family freedom when your kids get older and enter the teen years?!
I’m sure there are others out there in the same boat as us, so I thought I’d share a few of the things we’re focusing on to keep that family freedom feeling alive and well!
1 – We’re still travelling!
Considering we class ourselves as worldschoolers, this one is hardly surprising! We’ve got a couple of big trips planned for this year, but on the whole our travel is being reduced to short breaks that fit in around the kids. That’s ok though – there’s so much to see in the UK that we won’t run out of places to go! And that’s before we even think about quick, short-haul plane trips. We’re still making travel a priority, but just in short bursts!!! The joy we get from these shared experiences means that travelling is still our number one go-to activity for getting that family freedom feeling.
2 – Family connection through gaming
We’re prioritizing family activities too! We’ve always been big gameschoolers, so we’re ramping that up. I love a good board game!!! Time spent together playing games is time well spent! And we’ve been looking at some outdoor games for the summer too. (Plus, we’ve got a shiny new firepit for toasting marshmallows! Yum!!!) We do family game nights too – but with computer games! There’s lots of co-operative games like Overcooked and Moving Out going on, and some classics like Mario Kart too. Our biggest gaming activity though is Pokemon Go! Our whole family plays, and family Pokemon Go walks are a regular occurrence. We love it, even if it stokes a little family rivalry!!!
3 – Shared Interests
We all bond over Disney stuff (there’s a number of Walt Disney World based posts on this little blog of mine already!), so I’ve been trying to tempt the kids with a bit of Disneyschooling when they’re not too busy – because who doesn’t want to have Disney fun while they’re learning?! (I might write about this if folks are interested? Let me know!) There’s just so much you can learn from Disney as a whole, and the fact that 2 out of 3 kids want to ultimately go into careers that align with things Disney do – and do well! – means that its super useful in multiple ways!
There’s all sorts of Lego collecting, and Funko Pop comparing going on too! And there’s obviously some shared interest overlap with the Pokemon Go rivalry, and Pokemon in general!!!
So there you have it – that’s our “recipe” for that family freedom feeling when you’re worldschooling or home educating busy teens! I’d love to hear what things you all do to keep that relaxed, easy, family connection too – do let me know if I’m missing out on anything!!!
*For those of you outside the UK, GCSEs are the exams taken at age 16 (or there abouts), and are usually needed to be able to move on to further study. They’re the first “big deal” step in our qualification system.
A Different Way To Go 