The first seven months

To get Home Educating Lillie off the ground I needed to invest in some exercise books - I want to use the National Curriculum as a guideline for Lillie just in case secondary school is on the cards in 7 years time! I begun with 1 maths, 1 reading & 1 writing exercise book for her age group to see where the land lies in her wanting to attempt any of the exercises. Also on my shopping list were flashcards. I actually began learning to read with these so thought no harm can be done if I put them to Lillie!

Before any academic work was approached we carried on with some of our creative activities - Singing & dancing to a wide genre of music - R'n'B, Hip-Hop, Rock, Old-Skool Garage, Dance & an introduction to Classical music are just some of the 'sounds' that Lillie is familiar with! Other activities include cooking, painting, sketching, crayoning, & all other things messy! Oh, & of course our love for football! I used our fun time to talk to Lillie about how she loves me reading her stories & that one day I would love for her to read me one! This went down well & Lillie asked whether I could help her to do just this? I explained that we could have great fun with words, but first we needed to learn about letters - basically the alphabet! Within a month Lillie had grasped the alphabet with the help of my fine singing (not) of the alphabet song!!

The next stage was attempting to get her to write numbers 1 - 10. According to some theorists numbers are easier than letters when starting out with writing! However, we did not use any writing implement & paper, just our pointy finger and some sugar on a tray! Lillie thought this was so funny. Therefore, it was a success! We moved onto the alphabet after a week! Then pencil & paper were introduced once Lillie had grasped the flow of her hand movements regarding number & letter formation! This also unwittingly helped Lillie to begin reading each number & letter.

From here flashcards were introduced - starting out with the recommended curriculum 2 letter words then 3 letter words & so forth. Lillie is at the stage now where she can read 21 words. I also construct very short sentences that she can read. The great thing with these flashcards (Oxford Reading Tree) are that they come with characters, thus making it easier for Lillie to identify with the plot.

Lillie also has access to my computer, where she now knows how to set up & use the paint icon & wordpad! Better than me in fact! Ive downloaded some ICT activities - mainly maths ones & we find those quite amusing. Nothing like a disappearing & reappearing owl to make a 4 year old laugh, oh & to learn simple addition & subtraction! Lillie also gets to use websites designed for little people - Cbeebies & Fifi the flowertot are favs in this house!!!

To end on Lillie's introduction to the world of academics, she enjoys using the exercise books & I have since obtained more! In addition, a very large atlas book, hands-on science book & various children's encyclopedia.... The other evening, I caught Lillie writing her letters, in alphabetical order on one of those drawing boards that never need paper - I think they have kind of evolved on from those 'etch-a-sketch' toys from the 70s. I was standing there completely unable to talk - I felt so proud of her achievements & then I realised this kid is actually having fun with all this Home Education experience! I must admit I also felt proud of myself too - my decision to HE is obviously paying off.