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We’re back to home schooling after a week off for half‑term. If you want to catch-up from our previous weeks you can read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6, here.
This week, however, I suspected the first lesson would be hard. I didn’t expect quite how hard.
We follow a semi‑structured plan — though “semi” might be generous. Our approach blends routine and freedom through different styles: literacy and numeracy from different resource sites on Monday and Tuesday follow a schooled rhythm, Wednesday and Fridays are open for free thinking and creative activities that unschool set structures Will was pushing against, while Thursdays are for ICT.
That mix of structure and freedom suits us most weeks, but today William simply wasn’t motivated. I know that’s normal — even children in school struggle after a break — yet it felt unusually tedious. It took over an hour to form a few sentences and another thirty minutes to finish one numeracy sheet, even though I’d planned a light workload.
I still believe keeping a small element of formal routine helps him stay level with his peers. It’s the same principle behind our different styles of home education — finding what works for the child, not forcing what doesn’t.
On the bright side, some things have continued, though they’re William’s bad habits— the kind all boys his age share, like guessing rather than concluding.
The rest of the day was far better. We switched to non‑schooling activities, surrounded by arts and crafts, like creating a stone cactus. Tomorrow looks promising too: our first home‑educators meet‑up, Lego club, and a fireworks party with family and neighbours. All of it counts as learning — social, creative, and practical. (You can see how we use Lego and creative play as part of learning in earlier posts.)
In the meantime, I’m researching motivation techniques teaching strategies for home‑educated children, like 10‑minute lessons as ways to keep focus, or using WALT and WILF structures.
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| [Image 2. William is sitting at a small white desk in front of a cupboards, wearing a red, yellow, white and blue knitted jumper, while working on his literacy and numeracy school work. Word cards are stuck to the cupboard] |
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| [Image 3. William is sitting at a small white desk in front of a cupboards, wearing a red, yellow, white and blue knitted jumper, while working on his literacy and numeracy school work. Word cards are stuck to the cupboard] |
2026 Reflection
This post captures the moment I realised home education isn’t just about teaching — it’s about energy and teaching a child where they are, not where teachers want them to be. Recovery, unschooling and being flexible to their needs after breaks all matter as much as the lessons themselves, which made me start engaging with fun topics after each break, like exploring and making puppets.
Looking back, this week was the start of my deeper interest in how children learn through rhythm and rest. Later posts on planning and teaching, learning through cooking, which grew into our My Little Chef series, and maps, weather, and seasonal geography grew from this same idea: learning happens best when life feels balanced.
It also reminds me how far we’ve come since those early weeks. The frustration I felt with William turned into understanding and experience which prepared me for when James joined our home ed journey. William’s “I don’t want to” moments taught me patience — and that sometimes the best lesson is knowing when to stop.
If you would like to see more about our home education story, click here.
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