I travelled alone for the first time to Ipswich for the Children and Childhoods Conference, hosted by the University of Suffolk. The Open University provided me with a scholarship to attend. This post will provide a synopsis of Professor Helen Lomax's and Professor Alison Clark's keynote addresses for each day. Playful arts-based methods for child-centred research and knowledge exchange during times of global crisis Professor Helen Lomax's presentation, 'Playful arts-based methods for child-centred research and knowledge exchange during times of global crisis,' was discussed. Morgan Jones et al. (2020) suggested that policymaking is limited when children are excluded. When researching this topic, Helen came to the conclusion that using a creative method would allow children to express themselves and that their voices would be plural rather than singular, and that these voices would contain the experiences of those around them. Given the covid-19 pandemic, the ques

Home Education Making the decision to home educating your child can be a huge step for parents. The reasons can vary from family to family. with my own family, we got a taste of home education during the covid-19 lockdown and I found it to be fantastic and stressful at varying times. It was fantastic as I could monitor what my son learnt and could fully see the extent of his own knowledge. It was great seeing how he absorbed anything put in front of him, however, it was also stressful when work needed to be completed for the teacher by a certain deadline and Jamie didn't want to do it.  What is great about home education is that there are no deadlines you and your child can learn at your own pace and base your curriculum around their developing interests. This concept of following the child's interests is in line with the Montessori Method. What is the Montessori Method? The aim of the method is to enable you to raise your child as a whole person, not to develop one specific pa

 In Northern Ireland we are currently at the end of the Christmas break, my son was due to go back to p2 tomorrow (today was a development day). The schools are now closed for at least a week for all pupils except for vulnerable children and the children of key workers. Everyone is having to do online learning.  It's ok for me as I'm on maternity and so I don't need to worry about home educating while trying to get on with my own work. But not all parents have this luxury time to put in to their children's education and I really sympathise. Daily Routine At the moment the daily routine focuses on Rosie but while Jamie was in school it was all about getting him there on time. 6:00am- wake up to Rosie shouting at us from her cot (she is still in our room). We usually bring her into our bad and let her play with some toys between us while we take turns in dozing. 7.00am- Jamie wakes up and comes into our room. Some mornings it is sooner, it just depends on how loud Rosie i

 So I haven't posted in a while what with the Christmas holiday and everything.  Christmas 2020 was quieter than last year thanks to covid-19. We were still up early to see if Santa had been, he had, and Jamie was the best big brother and 'helped' Rosie open her presents.  After presents Scott had a quick nap and we got ready and went to visit family where more presents were opened. I had the meat in the oven on low as it was the first Christmas dinner I've made. I was so nervous that something would go wrong.  Luckily it didn't. By the time we got back from visiting it was dinner rather than lunch. We had our starter, lentil soup made by my mother in law and then Jamie was full and Rosie was tired so we decided to save the rest of dinner until boxing day!  It still worked out ok and to be honest I really enjoyed the quieter Christmas at home. There was no need to try and rush two tired kids home for a late bedtime. We were able to relax afterwards without being to