socialization – Page 2

Giving and sharing

Home Schooling is all about giving and sharing. Sharing knowledge with your children. Teaching them that when you give to the universe it comes back to you. The best way to create friendships is through being a giving person. Sharing knowledge is the way to a better world. Creating a community comes through everyone giving what they can and know. Sharing knowledge.

When we started out Home Schooling, I very early decided, that to create our own community, we had to be very active towards arranging meetings, events and play dates. I also wanted to strengthen the children’s feeling of normality by seeking out like-minded people.

So right from the start we went on with arranging meetings at out house, general meetings, meetings with a subject, seasonal events and playdates. All the skills we have, we have shared with other home schoolers. I have had guest students, taught sewing, acting, dancing, biology, natural science, geography and much more to those who have been interested.

We have been so lucky to meet a lot of wonderful people who has done the same for us. We are grateful.

We love the Library

We love going to the library. We go to the library at least once a week. We visit different libraries. Have favorite ones. Our oldest daughter even has asked to have her birthday in one particular library a few times, which is her favorite. A library is a place with peace, where time stands still and you can indulge in all the knowledge available. Danish libraries often are just so much more than books, so if a child is more into playing with toys or at the playground, the libraries we go to even have those options. So everyone is happy. You can sit and read a book aloud for a child. Examine a subject together. Sit and write a story on your computer. Go listen to music. Often they also have plays, lectures and much more. Sometimes we meet up with friends in libraries and rest and talk together. We really love libraries.

Living out the Viking Age in Sagnlandet Lejre 2017-07-24 to 2017-07-28

After having lived out the Iron Age two times (Our Iron Age experience). The children started talking about wanting to try living as Vikings in Sagnlandet Lejre. It was a bit more expensive than the Iron Age trip, but included a bit more survival luxury, like having trips arranged for us and more staff to help us. We even sometimes had help cooking our food over the fire. Included, was also a trip on a vikingship in Roskilde Inlet. Also a 1½ hour horse carriage trip around Lejre. In the mornings the staff did story telling around the fire, and that was so much fun. There was also many craft opportunities. We did tin jewellery over the fire, Straw dolls, carved spoons and knives, dyed wool and spun yarn with it, forged kitchen equipment and knives.

The whole family were equipped with Viking outfits, which we wore the whole week.

We sleept 6 people in this tent. It was very little space, but waterproof.

Our youngest son enjoyed the outdoor freedom.

Every day, we had 1 hour fighting strategy training.

There was time to chill out with a knitting project.

There were goats right by our tent, and the children liked to drop by and feed and pad them.

There were blacksmith facilities and you had to work together to make a knife.

One evening we were attacked by the nearby Iron Age inhabitants and challenged to a burping duel. We lost. But the next evening we took revenge! We had a bulls horn that we had gotten quite good at blowing in. So we won, this time.

Sailing in a Viking Ship in Roskilde .

Our oldest daughter is very fond of languages and particular Antiquity and the Viking Age. So when one of the employees said he could teach her runes, she was very exited.

That is the horn we won over the Iron Age people with 🙂

The main difference we experienced between the Iron Age and the Viking Age, was the improvement in the cut of the clothes, better weapon, better knives in the kitchen and it seemed that they generally had become better trade Merchants.

Home School gathering with Children Christmas Market and Dakota Fire Pitt Project 2018-11-03

We like fire. All sorts of fire. As long as it is real old fashioned fire. We attended scouts for 5 years with the kids, in reflection, I think just to sit at a bonfire and stare into the flames. We love starring into a bonfire and feeling the warmth. No thoughts in our brains. It is relaxing. Meditative. It is so lovely simple and primitive. Still so fascinating and magic. A chemical reaction and pure energy.

When we suddenly realized that we could just make a bonfire in our garden, we stopped being scouts and continued the fire love in our garden. The smell is also wonderful. When you have made any kind of food over the fire or just sat next to a bonfire you smell wonderfully of bonfire. For many days. Your clothes keep the smell for weeks.

We have done a lot of cooking experiments over fire and other things too, but lets try to focus on the food things for now. Our favorite is pancakes and fried bacon.

Today we held a gathering for Home Schoolers in the celebration of Christmas. We had a market for the kids to sell their home made crafts and our oldest daughter had been given the job of selling and frying pancakes over the large bonfire. We held the event at a Nature Cottage owned by the borough. They have 2 large bonfire places.

Then my husband had been reading about how soldiers can make a Dakota Fire Pitt, which is a bonfire buried in the ground. The effectiveness of this fire is that you dig 2 holes next to each other and make an air canal between the two to make a ventilation duct. That reduces the smoke and visibility from afar of the bonfire. You can then get heat and cook food without being found by the enemy.

So today was the day and he made one. It turned out really fine and worked.

Home School Mentor Function

When starting out Home Schooling, it can be hard to find your own feet. When we started out Home Schooling, we had a lot of resistance from some people around us. People asked many critical questions. Some people find it very hard to accept, when you choose to live your life in a way that is lived by a minority of people. In an ideal world, everyone would be supportive and offer their help and positive curiosity. But unfortunately that is not reality.

At the beginning you also have so many questions and for some the fear of taking responsibility for your own children learning. What should a day look like? Is there a wrong and a right way to do it? We have gotten so far away from taking responsibility and relying on our own gut feeling, that some people feel like floating and near drowning, when taking the step to Home School.

When we started out Home Schooling, our greatest fear was not being able to manage economically. So I also started out teaching 2-4 evenings a week, seasonally. This was pretty tough with a 1, 2 and 5-year old at home. But our new free life just felt so good and the children were thriving.

But there were very few Home Schoolers in Denmark in 2009, so it was hard getting play dates and the current friends quickly left us, as they started in the local School. So we slowly had to rebuild our social life. We enrolled in a weekly play group and started contacting the other home schoolers we could find on the internet and met up with them.

But our first year was hard. Actually the first few years were hard finding our feet. But I had tried major changes in my life before, so I just fought my way through it, as we had such a great every day life.

Through the years, the number of Home Schoolers has increased and I have played a mentor role for many of them. I have invited them into our house and talked to them about all their concerns and helped them as well as I could. If I could avoid them having to go through the feeling of being all on your own with these many questions, I would see it as a great way to spend my time. I often also would acquire new great friends and play mates for my children.

Home School meeting 2018-08-12 at Streyf Nature Cabine.

We have, and still do, arrange meetings and activities where old and new Home Schoolers can meet, ask questions and make friends. This is also one of the main reasons why I have set up this website – to help new Home Schoolers, not feel so alone.

Home School meeting at our house 2018-10-18.

Home School meeting 2016-07-02.