Mended Teacups Molly and Helen

Are you in need of a restoring tonic when it comes to your home education? If so, then chapter 4 of “Another Way to Learn?” written by the lovely Sian is the one for you right now. With a career as a secondary school teacher behind her, Sian is now a home educating mum of three delightful girls. She and her husband and the girls live in rural Wales surrounded by green hills, a plentiful supply of rain and a characterful dog just in case there are not enough challenges in the day!

Sian writes candidly and with warm humour about their journey from school education to home education. Listen in to the podcast to find out the back story of how she and Molly met (and realised they had been living in the same shared house many moons before) and some of our own thoughts about how we “de school” both our children and ourselves.

What do you reckon are the top ten most asked home ed questions? It would be interesting to do a poll. However, queries around the socialisation of our children must be right up there at the top.

In the third chapter of "Another Way to Learn?", Juliet English dives straight into this topic. A social worker by training, Juliet is a mother of seven, grandmother, foster mum, director of Streams and co-ordinator of the Learn Free conference. She is a woman of extraordinary capacity and great depth of wisdom and experience. There could not be a better placed home educator to talk us through this hot potato of socialisation. Listen in as we consider the topic, connect with Juliet via the links below and get hold of a copy of “Another Way to Learn?”. It’s available from our website or any other book retailer or from your library. You could also join up with a few other home educators in your local area and form a book club to read it together.

I wonder what springs to your mind when someone mentions teens? And then home education and teens in the same sentence. Maybe it’s lengthy conversations as you discuss life, values, ideas, current affairs and faith around the dinner table, accompanied by good food, music and candle light. Maybe it’s standing for hours on a cold sports pitch showing up while your teen gets caked in mud; maybe it’s trying to block out loud and jarring music; maybe it’s a houseful of laughing young people, overflowing with interesting concepts, deep questions and quick quips. Or, maybe it’s battling with mental health concerns, trying to walk in dark places alongside your teen, determining to champion them even when the rest of the world doesn’t seem to understand.

Maybe you are living the highs and lows of the teen years now, or maybe they are yet to come. Whatever your point in this journey, Dr Kat Patrick, home educating mum of four, speaker, blogger, teacher and CEO of Dreaming Spires Home Learning has written a fantastic chapter inspiring us to explore delight-led learning during the teen years.

Join us as we chat through some of our own home educating experiences during the teen years, both past and present.

Over the next few months we’re going to be taking a gentle amble through “Another Way to Learn?” We’ll introduce you to each chapter and it’s author and reflect on our own home educating experiences around the topic.

This week we’ll introduce the lovely Jessica Girard, who writes beautifully on the early years of home educating. Grab a cuppa and listen in to how Molly’s and Jessica’s paths crossed, find out a little more about her life with little ones on the stunning and fascinating island of Guernsey and join our trip down memory lane as we remember those long ago times with little ones.

Welcome! Whether you’re a faithful listener or completely new to Mended Teacups Home Ed Podcast, we’re so glad you’re here and allocating a few minutes of your precious time to join us. Our hope is that as you listen in you’ll be encouraged to continue, day by day, in the profound work that you have undertaken to home educate your children.

In this episode we have a catch up of the summer holidays (doesn’t that seem a while ago now?) and offer a few tips for those of you who are just stepping out and beginning your home education journey.

We are hoping to record on a slightly more regular basis this year, so do let us know if there are any topics you’d like us to cover, or any other ways we could encourage you.

In the last of this season’s podcasts, we reminisce slightly on days gone by, but mostly look towards the summer and how we can most cherish our days.

We also share a little more about Another Way to Learn? our new book for home educators, which will be hitting the book shelves in September. Endorsed by Leah Boden (Modern Miss Mason), Lyn and Steve Richards (Making the Right Impression, 2007) and Jacqui Wakelam (Mum Heart UK) it’s had its first review which is everything we had hoped it might be. So, check out the website, follow along on social media and pre order your own copy.

We will be back in September and look forward to sharing some more of our home ed adventures with you then. In the meantime, have a wonderful summer; a different pace, time outside, adventures small and large, maybe seeing some new places and spending time with friends, maybe picnics or parties. Make time if you can to nurture and replenish your own body, soul and spirit to set you up afresh for this profound mission you have embarked upon - raising up the foundations of the next generation.