Further information
There are a growing number of companies providing a wonderful selection of beautiful playthings for children. Toys made from wood and fabric that do not harm the environment and can be passed down through the generations.
Arujo, Hejhog,
Holz Toys
Kinetics,
Myriad, Pocomundo,
Seesaw Toys, Spirit of Nature Woolly Mammoth Toys
Looking for a toy for a special birthday? Let us help you choose. We have recommendations for beautiful toys from our online shop.
Birth
Birthstone rattle with semi precious stone corresponding to baby's astrological sign.
Amber necklace which radiates light and warmth and soothes teething pains
First birthday
Set of coloured wooden cups that offer lots of play possibilities
Geometric square puzzle, beautifully hand dyed using vegetable inks
Second birthday
Coloured geometric blocks in cotton bag for building and knocking down!
Animal castanets colourful chunky wooden castanets for music making
Third birthday
Coloured geometric blocks in cotton bag for building and knocking down!
Bright wooden handled tools for gardening
Fourth birthday
Large octagon puzzle which can be enjoyed into adulthood!
Animal compass, an ideal child's first compass
Fifth birthday
Beautifully decorated balancing butterflies which will rest almost anywhere
Wooden rainbow pencil which writes in four different hues.
Sixth birthday
Flower press - well designed and perfect for taking on country walks
Seventh birthday
Twelve precious stones with magical properties inside a velvet pouch.
Sun print paper that can be used to produce unusual light sensitive pictures.
Eighth birthday
Easy to use knitting doll with wooden needle and coloured wool.
Tin whistle to create a merry tune.
Ninth or tenth birthday
Build and paint your very own birdhouse kit Environmental box kit containing simple experiments and instructions
For more information on alternative education try these websites:
Education Otherwise
Freedom in Education
Home Education Advisory Service,
Home Education in Scotland
Home Education in Northern Ireland
Human Scale Education
Montessori Schools
Steiner Waldorf Schools
Learning - Home Education
Did you know that school is not compulsory?
Or that you don't need any special training or equipment to educate your child at home?
Home Education is certainly a growing phenomenon with figures from Education Otherwise suggesting that there are now 150,000 home educating families in the UK. So what is compelling families up and down the country to take their children out of school or never enrol them in the first place? For some the decision is for religious reasons and the concern that their customs and beliefs will not be dealt with sensitively, if at all, by the school. Others choose to create a school environment in their own homes with structured lessons and a curriculum that their children follow. The school from home may even include a blackboard and desks for authenticity.
Autonomous Learning is a phrase coined by other home educators who believe that in the right environment the child will be his own teacher.
Many families are somewhere on the scale between curriculum based and completely autonomous learning.
There are organisations who can provide information on how to start home educating. Whether it's a case of deregistering your child from school or just continuing what you already do at home.
As the process of education works differently for every individual and I cannot begin to explain how it works for everyone, we will look at family centred learning.
As it sounds, this encompasses the learning needs of the whole family. Each member learns alongside the others, not necessarily all working on the same subject. Rather than being a method of education it becomes more a way of life.
A great deal of the knowledge we acquire in school is memorised in order to pass exams. After the examination process the information is no longer required and in many instances, quickly forgotten.
When you are not being constantly tested on your ability to describe your health in French or recall the elements of the periodic table for example, that knowledge very quickly becomes irretrievable in the brain.
However if you are approaching a subject about which you are very interested and you are able to learn at your own pace and for your own sake, the intake of knowledge becomes something quite different. If this knowledge will improve your understanding of the world around you (think of the skills children learn in their first years without anyone showing them how to move their legs so they can walk and testing them to check their level of ability) your brain pays more attention and files the information in a more accessible long-term memory space.
Learning as a family gives you a chance to introduce your passions to your children, be they Fibronaci numbers or knitting. It also encourages your child(ren) to show toy what they love and want to understand better so that you can help them find the answers. Seeing you engaged in your own learning teaches them that learning is an enjoyable and lifelong process
And it gives you a chance to revisit al that lost knowledge from childhood and rediscover how much painting relaxes you or electronics fascinate you.
Family centred learning can also work really well with a group of adults and kids of mixed ages all discovering things together.
These experiences are also rich social experiences for kids, youngsters who, according to many are missing out on friendships because they are not at school.
This is a limited viewpoint that friends can only be made within the confines of the school arena.
Many home-educated children enjoy friendships that span a wide age range including adults. Surely this is a more natural way to socialise. When we leave school we very rarely find ourselves in a group consisting only our people our own age.
Also from the shocking reports on the bullying that takes place in many schools, the opinion that healthy socialization only occurs at school should maybe be under scrutiny.
Marketplace