6 Tips For Foraging With Children

I am often surprised at this time of year at the amount of rotting fruit on trees and bushes. I don't just see it in wild places but in gardens too. Apple trees laden with fruit leaning over garden walls or pears scattered across the grass at the park that are mostly left untouched by humans. Why is this? Hundreds of us go strawberry picking at local farms during the summer but come autumn we have abandoned our hunter gatherer instincts in favour of the safety of the supermarkets.

8 Tips to Help you Prepare For the New Homeschool Year

Well it's been quite a while since I wrote my last blog post. Life has been full and hard and challenging this past year. We took a long trip to Turkey last summer to visit my husband's family, and while over there we caught scabies. On top of this, I discovered I was pregnant with baby number five and although this was a blessing, it was tough trying to deal with pregnancy nausea on top of the scabies symptoms. 

A Childhood Wild

I love nature. I live it and I breathe it. It calms me, inspires me and reaches deep into my soul. Outdoors is my happy place. With the grass under my feet and the sky overhead. With the sounds of my children's laughter and shrieks of delight when they stumble upon a minibeast they haven't seen before. 'Mum, come and look at this', they cry. Their excitement is catching and soon I am enthralled by a tiny moving creature and wonder at the beauty of nature.

Clear Speech: How to do Speech Therapy at Home - Online Course

Children learn to say sounds by listening to people talking to them and around them. Some children have difficulties acquiring one or more speech sounds and this makes their speech unclear to other people. It is important to remember that young children are not able to produce every sound. This is because speech is a complicated process and over 100 sets of muscles are used in the production of the vowels and consonants of English. It takes a lot of practise at coordinating these muscles before a child is able to produce intelligible speech. Furthermore, there is a process of speech sound acquisition which all children go through and each sound is acquired at a specific stage of development. Therefore, it is normal for children of certain ages to make errors in their speech.

Raising Talkers: How to Help Your Child to Talk - Online Course

Did you know that a child's vocabulary at age five is the strongest predictor of future academic success? Or that late talkers never really catch up completely with their peers? Early language skills are so important. They affect a child's ability to think, learn and be. Early language skills affect literacy ability and later academic achievements as well as a child's future prospects. The quality and quantity of language a child hears in their environment is the strongest predictor of their communication skills. Parents and carers have a huge impact on their child's ability to acquire language so it is important that they know the best way to achieve this.

Emergent Literacy and Beyond - Online Course

Literacy is one of the most important skills humans can learn. According to the National Literacy Trust, 'Lacking vital literacy skills holds a person back at every stage of their life.' Without the ability to read and write, children will struggle at school and in the work place. As parents, they will struggle to facilitate their own children's learning. The National Literacy Trust has carried out a lot of research into literacy and a person's ability to read and write has been shown to affect life outcomes and even life expectancy! The National Literacy Trust found that life expectancy can be shortened by 26 years for those living in areas with poorest literacy skills. So, having good literacy skills is highly important for learning throughout life and improving life chances.

The Big Garden Birdwatch

My children love watching birds. There is something so satisfying about being able to name a bird you spot out on a walk or in your garden. I didn't know much about birds when I was growing up so I wasn't very good at identifying them at first, but I'm getting increasingly better as time goes on. There is nothing better than seeing the excitement on your child's face as they spot a bird in the garden and call you to come and take a look. Birdwatching is something both adults and children can enjoy together so it's great fun for the whole family!