According to UN 

"Play is so important to optimal child development that it's been recognized by the United Nations as a basic right of every child" [source]

In my homeschool journey, I have found this to be true, with a mix of structured and unstructured activities play has been all we have engaged in my home and it's been 3 years and I don't regret it at all. I went through a bad patch at the end of 2020 dealing with loss and really trying to ensure my mental health didn't deteriorate, I had no energy for homeschooling so I let my son watch a lot of TV and free play and I first hand saw the benefits of free play. Before this, we only did unstructured play twice a week but seeing him engage in free play for about 3 months and I was convinced. 

What Experts Say 

In a special report on play, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) outlined a host of payoffs from free play, including that it:3

1. Allows kids to use their creativity and develop their imagination and other strengths
2. Encourages kids to interact with and explore the world around them
3. Helps children adjust to school and enhance their learning readiness, learning behavior, and problem-solving skills
4. Helps kids learn and practice self-regulation
5. Helps kids build decision-making skills
6. Teaches kids to work in groups so they learn to share and resolve conflicts
7. Helps Build Life Skills
8. Free play supports the physical development of children

Find below some of the benefits of free play that I found in my son; 

• Focus: My son has an attention span of like 2-5 mins for structured play but when he started free playing he can be with his activity for hours. I was amazed at the difference and all that changed was that he made the decision himself of the activity he wanted to engage in. 
• Creative thinking: I could see the display of his creative thinking in how he engaged in his play. 
• Opportunity to display his knowledge: He had a chance to put on display all the things he's been taking in. He's never had this much opportunity to really put on display all that he's taken in. 
• He was happier: While I still don't have the level of energy for his play all the time, I noticed how generally excited he was towards his activities and he probably wished I could continue to drive his police car behind him all day. 
• Imaginative play on steroids: I mean on steroids. He would have a full-on script of each of his imaginative play that was just so amazing to watch sometimes. 

I also recently saw a post from an unschooling mum on Instagram about freedom in homeschooling;

"...Experiences will ignite their awareness, repeated exposures will highlight interested areas, and freedom will show where their true happiness lies.
.
This life of childhood isn’t about teaching little bits about everything there is to know all because it may be questioned on an exam paper at age 16 and 18. It’s about giving freedom of experience and then allowing time for the children to live out the main areas which fill their hearts with joy.
.
That’s where the Einsteins come from. Not just from revision and stress. Not from pressure and memorization. But from a genuine interest and passion, and the time and space to let that passion grow until it’s expertise.
.
It isn’t about who is the most clever or intelligent. It’s simply about being free to find happiness and to live in that happiness for a lifetime.
.

That is homeschool!" - @living.the.homeschool.life

I am still looking forward to embracing so much more free play in our homeschool life, while I think through about how it would work I am greatly convienced of it's benefits and importance. 

Do you engage in free play in your homeschool? What has your experience been? 

Source: 

https://www.verywellfamily.com/the-importance-of-free-play-2633113#citation-1

https://myfirstyearspreschool.com/the-importance-of-free-play-for-kids/

So, our first outing in 2021 was Lufasi Park

Lufasi park is an acronym for Lekki Urban Forestry and Animal Shelter [source] located Majek 1st Gate, KM 41, Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lagos, Lekki - Epe expressway is fancy way for saying, it's after LBS, after Novare mall, so be aware of the distance. 

I've always wanted to to there because of nature, serene environment I have heard about and honestly it was exactly what it delivered. 

What I loved about the place; 

When you enter, you'd notice how clean it is. They must really pay so much attention to make it clean and maintianing in the environment and that is so commendable. They have a place for you to wash your hands. I loved that they assign you a guide, but I went when it wasn't a rush hour, so I don't know the dynamics when there are a lot of people. 

I loved the serenity of the lake and they have benches and tables around the park where people can just chill and have a picnic.  

Have you been to Lufasi Park? What do you think about the place?

Hi,

Happy New Year to you! 

It's 9 days into the new year and it's been a week of "Trying to balance" which has gone well so far. I took a one week break from my social media account, I just logged out and I felt so much relief. Running a social media account can be so tasking if we're being honest and it's really been a productive break. 

I am not even sure I know if it is wise at this point to make goals for this year but I do realize that having those goals will you stay focused through the year. I acknowledge that it is not about my plans or goals but for God is the ultimate one that has the reigns. 

In that light, I will still share what I hope my 2021 will look like (God willing) 

• I would love to create more valuable content - sharing more of what we do with homeschooling and encouraging other SAHMs 
• I would love to collaborate with more brands using my video skills and photography skills 
• I would love to get an assistant as soon as I can afford it. 
• I would love to finish the project I am working on 
• I would love to continue the work we are doing with Homeschooling conversations 
• I would love to update my Canva course and launch my blogging course on a decent platform to consolidate it

It's the end of the year and that time where I do a review of the goals I had for the blog at the beginning of the year.

We all know 2020 was different and I am not even going to beat myself up over not achieving my goals. I would say I had a good year growing the community "Cuddle Blog" and interacting with more mums which has been amazing. It might have not been one of my goals but it was the greatest things I achieved on this blog and I am super grateful for that. 

Here is the list of goal I hoped to achieve at the beginning of 2020 and let's review how I did. 

• Write more blog posts - 4 Posts a Month - That would have been a total of 48 Posts but I only have 38 articles on this blog but I have quite a number in draft. Does that count? Lol
•       Collaborate with brands; I did collaborate with about 3 brands but not on the level I really hoped it would be but I don't take it for granted
•       Do reviews of products and places; I did at the beginning of the year when we could go out but that came to a halt since March
•       Organize our 2nd edition of homeschooling conversations; Yay! We were able to achieve this
•       Do outings for our Homeschooling support group; Unfortunately, we couldn't do this at all
•       Grow and do offline events for our stay at home mums support group; We grew and had one offline event
•       Create resources for homeschooling and sahm mums; Created resources for homeschooling mums but not so much for stay at home mums. 

Top Post with over 300 Views in 2020 

Blog income report

Cheers to 2021!! I would be sharing my blog goals for 2021 in a couple of days but in the mean time, share with me your little win in 2020 below

I am not writing this post to tell you all that you can do when you have a burnout but this is just me sharing my experience with you mum to mum. 

This year I experienced a level of burn out I've not experienced before. I was not motivated to do a lot of the work I was supposed to be doing, I was constantly tired and you could tell by just looking at my eyes that I needed to sleep. It's been crazy. 

Between homeschooling and the increase in demand in my business, it was hard to keep up with everything but I still managed to scale through even sometimes I wonder "How in the world did I do that?" 

But I realised that all these work load comes with the territory of the early years of childhood. It is so easy to leave your child in front of the TV just because you can't come and die (and I did, ALOT) but one really does have to take time to really really be involved - which is part of the things that cause us to burn out. 

I did a video talking about this on my IG and different people gave comments on how they deal with burn out. I am still here trying to balance homeschooling, running a business and dealing with all the antics my toddler gets up to! 

It's not really been an easy journey.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Stay at home mum in Lagos (@thecuddleblog)

We all know that homeschooling is rather a choice than a mandatory obligation for us to choose for our kids. Our kids probably will have no saying in what we choose for them. But that choice will be profoundly consequential for them. It is important to remember that we are selecting the path to educate our children with which they will face the world when their time will come.

Homeschooling is exactly that heavy and far-reaching influential choice for our kids. There can be many factors prompting you to take that challenging route. And, if or when you finally get to the point of making your mind up that you are going to homeschool your children, costs associated with homeschooling will influence you in every step of the way.

That’s why whenever the thought of homeschooling starts taking shape in the minds of parents, the first thing that gets their undivided attention is how much the homeschooling is going to cost. The problem is there is no straightforward answer to that question. Another way of putting it simply is that it is going to cost the amount you are willing to spend for it. Of course, there are some fixed costs that you are going to incur, but there are also ways of making them reasonable without compromising the quality of education. 

Homeschooling Costs:

The first thing I would want you to do is to formulate a flexible year-round homeschool budget. In my opinion, the first draft should be based on loose assumptions having enough spaces for reconciliation. The reason for not going for strict control at first is that you probably do not have enough experience to be steadfast about allowing or disallowing expenses that may appear unannounced. Then with some experience, you will be prudent enough to know when to say ‘no’ to some seemingly necessary expenses. With that being said, let’s have a look at some of the main criteria that costs of homeschooling usually revolve around:

Curriculum

The curriculum for homeschooling will be the primary source that will cost you money. There are a number of ways you can get fixated on curriculum and likewise, you can make the expenses ranging from almost zero to many thousands. First, let me name a few ways by using any one of them or combining a few, you can select the best possible curriculum for your child:

• Online Tuition Providers
• Non-Profit Online Learning Centers
• Online Resource
• Buy The Previous Year’s or A Used One
• Look for A Rent
• Find A Co-Op and Join There
• Sharing the Cost with Another Family of A Friend or A Relative
• Make Most of Your Library

It is solely dependent on what you think is right for your children or how much time you are willing to put into research and accordingly how much you are ready to spend to get the most effective curriculum. Each of the above-mentioned mediums has its pros and cons and it is up to you to select any one of them or combine two or more to formulate the best possible strategy. If you are an expert at nitpicking, then chances are that you will be on a never-ending researching loop. And when the next best thing catches your eye, you abandon ship and run for it – this is a surefire way to run the costs through your roof. That’s why you are going to need some serious consideration before finalizing one or a combined method for the curriculum you are going to pick up.

You also should remember that there are some proficient tuition providers who can help you with homeschooling with excellent tuition rates whenever you feel the needs.

Extracurricular Necessities:

Let’s take a look at the list below:

• Sports Community like football, basketball or boxing
• Karate
• Lessons in Music like guitar, flute or violin
• Different Kinds of Dance including traditional and modern or salsa
• Scouting
• Chess
• Introduction in Art
• Multilingual Efforts

We all know that the truly challenging aspect of homeschooling is not to let the kids feel isolated. To become adept at socializing, kids need to interact with other kids. But for homeschooling kids, it sometimes would feel impossible to let the kids have that chance. The above-mentioned activities can provide that opportunity for the kids. Unlike the academic tutoring, extra-curricular activities may not be instructed by the parents whereas those activities play vital parts in unlocking a kid’s hidden potentials.

On the other hand, engaging the kids in extracurricular activities can be expensive and also might complicate an otherwise simple and effective routine for a homeschooling kid. That’s why the parents need through apprehension about whether they would engage them in any and consider the costs associated with it. Think about the questions given below and I hope careful screening of the answers those questions will guide you towards the right direction:

Will this activity be in accordance with the values that we hold sacred?

Will there be any long term benefits that can justify the present excess expenses? Or can we take the spending as an investment other than expenses?

Will the activity in any way reflect the child’s natural tendency or liking towards it or are you just pushing them because you want them to excel at it?

How is it going to influence day to day life?

How much time will it take to commute to the place where the activity will be taught?

Stationeries & Homeschool Supplies:

When you prepare your homeschool budget, you need to put appropriation for homeschooling.  But care should be given when the actual spending is going to happen. I have to admit that spending on supplies is kind of fun – globes, bight shiny highlighting pens, pink coloured post-it notes – what’s there not to like? But believe it or not, spending on them can be a rabbit hole and before long, you will find the gap between your budget and actual spending way too big to make any sense at all.

My suggestion would be to start spending with the bare minimums and then build on from there.

Trips To the Outside 

Remember our own trips during school time to the zoo to know the animals better! I am not sure what actual benefit it did but one thing I can vouch for is that going there and seeing those beautiful animals made me wonder about the big, beautiful world out there. It taught me that our lives aren’t limited to our home and school boundaries. And since you are homeschooling your kids, it is infinitely more important for them to go out and see things. It will certainly broaden their outlook and make them open-minded.

That’s all good and great but you also need to be careful about the cost as well. So plan only to visit those places where the entry fee would be minimum – like zoos, national museum, botanical gardens etc. Believe me, these places are enough to quench the thirst and the expenses of visiting these places are in complete agreement with your budgeting strategies.

Lost Income

When you plan on homeschooling, it means one of you has to leave the job and actively be engaged in homeschooling your kids. That also means you are going to be a single-income family and that can pose some challenges to overcome in the future. So, you should consider the monthly loss of income as another source that you are going to have to bear. 

The above are the main criteria that will be responsible for adding up homeschooling expenses. But every family is different and so is their spending habits. One absolutely necessary item might be considered wastage for another family. But still, I believe some guidelines would prove to be helpful in deciding what matters most in case of hard-earned money.

If only you feel the same way, my hardship will be aptly rewarded.

Thanks.

Author Bio

David A. Buhr has over fifteen years of experience in the field of Education.

He specializes in writing articles on Education-related topics on his blog.

He is presently working at smile tutor, a reputable presence in the education industry.

We had our homeschooling conversation last month and it was indeed an amazing event. We had a virtual event and it was so much more than I could've imagined. 

2019 homeschooling conversation 

The theme for this year's conversation is "Homeschool paths" and the idea was to bring homeschooling parents to share with us the paths they have chosen. We decided to make the event virtual and we had about 80+ that attended and over 100 people that have watched the replay. 

Watch the replay of the 2020 Homeschooling conversation;

Here are the slides from my presentation 

You can also watch the first edition from 2019 too;

You can send an email to info@thecuddleblog.com for your feedback or questions. Thank you!