Are you in need of a restoring tonic when it comes to your home education? If so, then chapter 4 of “Another Way to Learn?” written by the lovely Sian is the one for you right now. With a career as a secondary school teacher behind her, Sian is now a home educating mum of three delightful girls. She and her husband and the girls live in rural Wales surrounded by green hills, a plentiful supply of rain and a characterful dog just in case there are not enough challenges in the day! Sian writes...

What do you reckon are the top ten most asked home ed questions? It would be interesting to do a poll. However, queries around the socialisation of our children must be right up there at the top. In the third chapter of "Another Way to Learn?", Juliet English dives straight into this topic. A social worker by training, Juliet is a mother of seven, grandmother, foster mum, director of Streams and co-ordinator of the Learn Free conference. She is a woman of extraordinary capacity and great...

I wonder what springs to your mind when someone mentions teens? And then home education and teens in the same sentence. Maybe it’s lengthy conversations as you discuss life, values, ideas, current affairs and faith around the dinner table, accompanied by good food, music and candle light. Maybe it’s standing for hours on a cold sports pitch showing up while your teen gets caked in mud; maybe it’s trying to block out loud and jarring music; maybe it’s a houseful of laughing young people,...

Over the next few months we’re going to be taking a gentle amble through “Another Way to Learn?” We’ll introduce you to each chapter and it’s author and reflect on our own home educating experiences around the topic. This week we’ll introduce the lovely Jessica Girard, who writes beautifully on the early years of home educating. Grab a cuppa and listen in to how Molly’s and Jessica’s paths crossed, find out a little more about her life with little ones on the stunning and fascinating island...

Welcome! Whether you’re a faithful listener or completely new to Mended Teacups Home Ed Podcast, we’re so glad you’re here and allocating a few minutes of your precious time to join us. Our hope is that as you listen in you’ll be encouraged to continue, day by day, in the profound work that you have undertaken to home educate your children. In this episode we have a catch up of the summer holidays (doesn’t that seem a while ago now?) and offer a few tips for those of you who are just...

In the last of this season’s podcasts, we reminisce slightly on days gone by, but mostly look towards the summer and how we can most cherish our days. We also share a little more about Another Way to Learn? our new book for home educators, which will be hitting the book shelves in September. Endorsed by Leah Boden (Modern Miss Mason), Lyn and Steve Richards (Making the Right Impression, 2007) and Jacqui Wakelam (Mum Heart UK) it’s had its first review which is everything we had hoped it...

We once took a family ramble up a relatively small mountain. The weather was fine, the banter good humoured and the snacks plentiful. The view from the top was out of all proportion to the height we had climbed so the effort we put in was well worth it. However, there were parts which were hard for little legs, where our younger two needed help and when a rest was necessary. We all hope that this is a picture of home education; we know it will be tough at times, but when these seasons come...

Have you come across the Miss Read books? I’ve been a fan of hers for years, and her semi autobiographical novels chronicling the daily happenings in a small, rural, two teacher school during the 1950’s shaped my own vision for our “home school”. In “Village Diary” she writes, I, for one, am always glad to see the end of this most miserable of terms. In it we endure, each year, the worst weather, the darkest days, the poorest health and the lowest spirits. But now, with Easter in sight, and...

We’re recording in person again! It’s so much more fun chatting whilst sitting on the same sofa rather than in separate houses. So, we hope our enthusiasm for a subject which can cause consternation comes across today. Make yourself a cuppa and join us as we talk through how we’ve explored science in our homes, from toddlers and mess through to teens and iGCSEs.

A belated happy New Year to you all! We’ve been hibernating for most of January, but are just beginning to peek our noses out into the podcast world again. Helen and I planned to record this episode via zoom, and then, just as we were winding up some history reading, we heard a knock at the door. It was none other than Helen and one of her daughters, complete with flowers, waffles and big smiles! It was so lovely to see her and catch up in real life over a mug of hot tea and the last of the...

Advent has flown by; a daily mix of the reality of our present, broken world, gloriously interrupted by generous rays of light reminding us that we are indeed living in the tension of the now and the not yet. We’ve had some fabulous outings, enjoyed meeting up with friends, thrown ourselves into Christmas crafting and cooking and taken time out to sit and read aloud together. There are many things we’ve not done but we are celebrating our wins. So, dear home educating friends, how are you at...

Advent is upon us! This month of December can be like a helter-skelter, landing us in a exhausted, yet hopefully happy heap on the eve of Christmas. It is usually filled with delicious foods, much loved traditions, twinkly lights, and sparkly-eyed children. It can also be somewhat fraught with to-do lists, busyness and bustle ... or is that just us?! However, Advent is not merely a preparation for Christmas. It is a separate season in itself, a little like Lent is to Easter. It encompasses...

I’d love the fruits of what we pour into our children to metaphorically look like an abundant harvest! But it is hard work. As it happens, we’d both had hard days the week we recorded this. I’m sure we’re not the only ones! We hope we can encourage you as we share some of our home ed experiences both from the perspective of being in the trenches with our younger children, and as we look back from what we’ve learnt with our older ones. Find more links and encouragement in our blog -...

How has this first half of the autumn term been? Gentle walks through golden woods, blackberry picking under warm blue skies, hot chocolate and read alouds? We’ve had some wonderful moments like that, but also a lot of busyness and struggles to settle into the first “normal” term for a long while. Our calendars have been so full we’ve not even managed to co ordinate recording a podcast. However, last week we had a zoom chat and it felt good to catch up and share some of our home ed thoughts...

We got together in real life, to record the first podcast of this new season…season 5! Do join us as we look forward to the year ahead and share some of the ways we plan for and celebrate a new term. We’d love to know any special rituals you have. As always let us know via this site, or on Instagram or Facebook. It’s great to be chatting with you again… pour yourselves a cuppa and listen in!

Do you have any special traditions to mark the end of term? Or to mark specific days in your home ed year? Whatever your rhythms are, celebrations are the order of the day here. We’d love you to join us for this last episode of the academic year as we share how we celebrate our families’ achievements big and small. We hope you have a very good summer break, with times of rest and refreshment, fun and celebration.

Today we’re looking at how we get support for ourselves, as home educating parents. We’re aware that the rise in families deciding to home educate has coincided with a time of isolation for us all. This is not how it usually is, and for those of us who have been treading this path a while we have missed our network of friends, but know they are all there, waiting for us. However, for those of you at the beginning of the journey, it might feel quite lonely; it has been so much harder to meet...

Join us for an episode in our occasional series on the great and the good of the home ed world... Those that have gone before us, who have challenged conventional thinking and whose influence still lives on. John Holt was an American educator, writing such classics as “How Children Fail” and “How Children Learn” in the 1960s. After hoping for reform in the public school system, but seeing none, he became a leading advocate for the homeschool movement, and is arguably a founder of the...

I think we could all do with an infusion of joy and hope at the moment. Easter provides the perfect opportunity for this. For those with a Christian faith it is the highlight of the liturgical year, literally the crux of our faith. But for everyone, it is a festival associated with hope and new life. We’d love you to join us as we share some of our Easter family traditions, discuss how lent and Easter might look different for home educating families, and explore how we can help our children...

Have you ever thought of the difference between an inheritance and a legacy? While an inheritance is material in nature and may diminish over time, a legacy is a rich handing down of qualities and values which have been cultivated and reflected in a person’s life, and continue to influence following generations. Helen’s grandmother died recently, aged 103. We’d love you to join us for a truly uplifting conversation as Helen shares stories of the rich heritage her grandma left, and how this...

Teaching a child to read can seem daunting; some take to it like a duck to water, most fly when the time is right, but for a few it is an uphill struggle. One of the joys of home ed is that we can follow our child’s lead. Pour yourself a cup of tea and join us as we share some practical, fun tips we and others have used to help our kids learn to read and write. If it’s not an easy journey for you, we hope you’ll be encouraged and reassured as we share honestly about our journeys to reach this...

I wonder if the thought of teaching English to your child fills you with delight or with dread? Do you have language-loving children who are vociferous readers and copious writers? Or would your child far rather be outside, playing with Lego, doing just about anything else but reading a book? Is your child dyslexic? We’ve experienced just about all of these between us, so come and join us as we share some of our experiences as well as lots of practical tips on teaching English to our children.

As we look ahead to an unusual Christmas, Molly and Helen discuss some of their family traditions and think about how and whether to review the year that's past. Check out our blog - www.mendedteacups.wordpress.com - for more information and links to the books and movies we reference.

This year Christmas will be different. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it will not be as good. While there are many things we will miss, especially all those fun parties and spending time with family and friends, can we redeem Christmas 2020? Join us as we share our joint love of the season of Advent and how an understanding of this might help us to not only make the most of, but also be thankful for a 2020 Christmas.