10 Home Education Social Activities

Sometimes, people have the misconception that home educated children don’t have the same opportunities to socialise as often as those in school. I know, because I used to be one of those people.

The last twelve months have opened my eyes to many things – and one of them is the sheer volume of social activity going on each day for home educated children. To give you an idea, I’ve listed just a few.

Trampolining

There are many trampoline parks dotted around these days, and they are usually pretty quiet during school hours! My boys and their friends really enjoy bouncing off some energy.

Ice skating

Not something either of mine have shown an interest in, but kids can go ice skating just for the enjoyment of it or they can partake in lessons and make it more of a hobby than a social. Either way the children joining in always seem to enjoy the ice skating sessions.

Forest school

This is something we do most weeks. The boys just love to climb trees, get muddy, paddle in the river and just generally play outside. My children are actually working towards the John Muir Award through forest school too.

Athletics

This is such a popular group that we were on the waiting list for an age! We now have a different schedule so can’t attend anyway but many children in the area go each week and have a fantastic time.

Film Club

This is something we haven’t started attending yet but my middle son especially enjoys films and so I think this will be a great thing. Watching, analysing and discussing different films will develop many of their skills across the board.

Skate park meets

Another very popular meet up is at the skate park. Children can use scooters or skateboards within the enclosed, staffed skate park – and there’s a cafe too which is a tick ih the box for me! You can use their equipment or take your own scooter or skateboard along.

Park meets

As soon as the weather starts warming up, we’re outside every day. There is always a meet up in some park or another and we can spend all day there on a good day. We’re fortunate enough to live somewhere there are a lot of parks so no two days are the same.

Volunteer work

There aren’t many opportunities for volunteer work for children of primary school age – but there are some! The boys have done litter picking and have spent the day at a local bird sanctuary, helping out where they can. Voluntary work is very rewarding and goes some way to helping prepare them for adult life.

Day trips

Possibly one of the best perks of home ed is the fact that visiting tourist attractions during term time often means those places are much less busy. We went to Drayton Manor recently on a day when most children were in school and the boys just went straight on to every ride without any queues!

Snowboarding

We are approximately half an hour away from both a dry ski slope and a real snow slope, both of which offer kids’ lessons. We haven’t gone to any of these yet but I think it could be something we look at during the winter months once the park meets quieten down.

So with all of these things to do, and all the social goings-on, it’s a wonder we even manage to fit any work in!