Unit Studies/Project-Based Learning

Two Children - 5yrs, 17mths

The kids like to sleep till at least 7am so we slowly get up and have breakfast at around 8am then get dressed. My oldest likes to get dressed while listening to audio books. At around 9am we head out to her art class, or we go to my toddler’s Plunket playgroup. At other times we may go see a movie or go on a field trip. A couple of mornings a week I go to the gym while they play at the kids club.

At midday we come home for lunch. After lunch my toddler has a nap and this is when my daughter and I do our “work”. We start with five minutes meditation and then writing practice. We also do a variety of maths activities (worksheets, computer games, money and time games or other activities) which my daughter loves. We will usually then take some time to explore some other topic which has caught her interest during the day/week. This ranges from amphibians, the royal family, evolution, volcanoes, etc. We may read some stories together.

Then my youngest one wakes and we have afternoon tea followed by free play. After dinner and bath time, it’s story time. We read at least four books every night before bed - at the moment it’s lots of traditional and exotic fairy tales. The kids are in bed early, around 7pm. After that my husband and I catch up on some work, adult time, plan for the next day or just relax with a book.

Two Children - 10yrs, 8yrs

We homeschool using an eclectic approach (curricula for math, planned ‘school time’ for writing, but everything else learning through living and following interests). I am self-employed, my husband works overseas and is home one week per month.

I am usually up first and attend to dog, emails and some self-employed business tasks before the girls rise. Once the girls are up we all do morning chores and prepare for the day. We generally fit in a session of either maths or writing before leaving the house for activities. Math or writing ‘table work’ sessions typically last 20-30 minutes. We go out three or four days per week for activities and often add in swimming, a library visit or another unscheduled activity while we are out. Once we come home the other session (of either writing or maths) takes place, sometimes in the evening after dinner when the girls seem to work really well.

Monday to Friday I prioritise math, writing and exercise every day. Everything else happens as it comes up. We are all avid learners so there are typically dozens of books being read every month, plus many organic projects on the go at any one time. From time to time we use material such as The Press education papers to direct our learning, but mostly we follow interests and expand on them. I like to use my “three minute snatch” method at the library where I grab a dozen books in a few minutes that I think the girls will find interesting - these are typically non-fiction and cover a very wide range of subjects. From these we search out further resources on topics that really grab our attention. The girls are largely self-directed for much of their time and I fit my self-employed business work around the girls’ table work and activities, as well as working most evenings.