Home Education

Home Education

Fun Development offer home-based educational sessions and support.

We aim to create a bespoke and individualised program for your child, tailored to their interests, wants and needs. Initially, creating a trusted bond is paramount before beginning our learning  journey. From our time already supporting families with home schooling we have become distinctly aware of how let down and dubious children and young people can be, based on their previous experiences of education and of some professionals.

 

Mental health and wellbeing activities are always a feature of our sessions, as in order for learning to take place a child/young person needs to be emotionally ready. This is how they gain the most value from our experiences. 

 

Our Home School Sessions 

We talk with you about what it is you and your child/young person are looking for in terms of an educational learning journey. This is often based on the National Curriculum for legal entitlement however it does not mean that we deliver lessons in the same way a school would do. Many sessions can be and are child led, meaning that whatever input your child would like to have we can take and create a whole series of activities or experiences based on something as small as just a word, a picture or a smell, for example.

 

For some families we are asked to focus on Maths and Literacy skills to aid functional skills. This is always looked at creatively, whether its learning times tables or practicing writing/fine motor skills or ordering weighs and lengths, we try to make everything as fun and multi-sensory as possible to create that love of learning.

 

Our whole aim to find out the way in which your child learns best, that may be under a table , through sensory exploration or through song and dance. Whatever it is, we will find and create a program to reflect this. 

 

What do our home school Sessions look like?

Each session, frequency and content will differ from family to family. We can offer daily sessions, weekly or fortnightly sessions and length is dependent on your family’s requirements – usually 1-3 hours. We can also be named as an education provider through a local authority’s EOTAS package.

 

We usually use a variety of areas in the building where the session takes place, such as table, kitchen, outside etc. It is important for lots of children and young people to be fluid in their learning and by keeping an awareness of our body position, we strengthen our learning memories. We may use the kitchen for cooking and using different materials and the outside for larger scale models and movement etc. 

 

Many of our children have a range of sensory differences and requirements and we are hugely conscious of this, often making sure that we have changes of clothes, calming smells, water, fidget toys and other accessories as to minimise the sensory impact we may have on their learning. 

 

Working in partnership with parents, teachers and other professionals. 

At Fun Development we work alongside a wide range of other professionals who may be involved in your child’s educational journey, including the NHS, Local Authority and those whom are independent such as Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Health Therapists, Physio Therapists, Flexible Learning Mentors, CAHMS, Social Services, Dyslexia/Dyscalculia Therapists, Play Therapists and Councillors.

 

We regularly work alongside educational settings and can support transitions in to school settings. We offer support and advice to parents to help them to get the support and services they need from outside agencies. We will always to use our growing network of contacts to signpost parents to where best can meet each separate requirement. 

 

Helping all children

Many of the children who we have worked with and are still working with do have a special educational need or disability. However, some of our children are neurotypical and carers/parents have simply decided to home school or would like to boost their in-school learning. We, of course, welcome all children and would apply all of the above-mentioned philosophies in our sessions with them.

 

Where do we provide home school sessions?

We provide many of the sessions in your own home, however we know learning can take place anywhere. We are always planning in-community and outdoor learning experiences to develop further the sessions we do at home. For example, when looking at money, we would always look to go and use money, find out where it comes from, identify banks and look at different currencies etc (all where appropriate). This leads in to budgeting, percentages, tax etc for older pupils and also gives them practice at the essential life skills which they will need in whatever capacity they end up living independently. We also have access to a local farm, where outdoor learning takes place through exploration, camp fire, bush craft and lots more (see Nature Based Learning).

 

Which areas do we cover?

We currently cover, Solihull, Warwickshire and some Worcester areas. We are looking to extend our team and therefore it is always best to ask to see if we can work flexibly around your request.