Happy Kitchen-table homeschooling

Day four- Kitchen Table Homeschooling

In my younger days, I read a great deal about different methods of homeschooling and home-education philosophies. Because even to a qualified teacher like me- the idea of teaching her own children at home was terrifying. So, I was constantly searching and reading to make sure I was doing the right thing. I tried the Montessori method and combined all multi-sensory learning elements into our daily activities. I tried the Glenn Doman method and used various flashcards to teach early literacy and numeracy skills. I learned about the Charlotte Mason method and adopted many of her teaching principles such as Narration, Dictation and the use of Living Books. I benefitted from all. However, nowadays with six children and a full-time job, I settled down with my very own method- Kitchen Table Homeschooling.

Kitchen Table Homeschooling is quite simple and cost-effective. You don’t need boxed curriculums, workbooks and textbooks, at least for under sevens anyways. Kitchen Table Homeschooling especially works for you if you are a busy parent juggling full time/part-time work and home-educating your children. It’s named as such because most of the learning takes place informally in your kitchen. All you have to do is seek out for an opportunity to “teach”. There is plenty of “learning materials” all around.

Here are some ideas to get you going:

• How many of us are there? Ten? Take 10 spoons out
• Put the dry bowls back in the cupboard, count them while you do
• Get me the can that says “TUNA”. Look which letter is T? It’s also in this small jar that says TOMATO PASTE
• Write the list for grocery shopping in alphabetical order
• Bring the receipt from last week’s shopping. Break the cost down into hundreds, tens and ones
• Work out the difference between last week and this week’s shopping cost
• How much did we save in offers this week? Work out the percentage compared to a total
• If you load the washing machine at 90C, it takes 3 hours 40 mins. If you choose 40C, it takes less time to do the washing. How much less time does it take? Go on try

You can teach most of the early literacy and numeracy skills informally in the kitchen. You can also teach about fractions, decimals, ratios and percentages when cooking, baking and serving food.

Just to clarify, I have a daughter who will turn seven in two months and three older ones who are already over seven. And these four do use textbooks and workbooks. Well, guess where the children complete their “schoolwork”? Hahaha, you are right. In the kitchen- Kitchen Table Homeschooling all the way through!!!