A typical day with Frances
A typical day with Frances
Each day is carefully structured based on the children's own fascinations to ensure that I provide an enabling environment for all the children, enabling them to explore and engage with a wide range of topics that help children know and understand the world around them. These topics frequently are based on a theme, whether a forthcoming celebration such as Christmas, or a seasonal theme, for example growing runner beans after reading Jasper's Beanstalk, or an event that has triggered the children’s' interest, maybe a new baby or a wedding.
To give you an idea of the structure for the day, I have drawn up the following time table. This is a guide only; activities and times may vary from day to day.
8:00am: I open my doors for the day.
The day is spent in a combination of my ‘home-from-home’ setting, which provides a positive atmosphere where the children feel calm, happy and secure, and the wider world, which ensures that the children are supported and nurtured, their learning and development is enhanced, and that they can participate in their local community. The EYFS offers structured learning through play, and my home and garden are equipped with a wide range of toys and books that connect with the children’s interests and inspire their learning. (Please refer to A Parent’s Guide to the EYFS, for the types of activities we do at home.) Regular visits to nearby parklands, woodland, moorland and beaches allow the children to simply 'be' children, run freely, play games, talk, observe, reflect, imagine in their own world or with friends and have adventures under an open sky. We have raised planters in the back garden and also have an allotment within walking distance, enabling the children to sow, tend and harvest their own fruit, vegetables and flowers, which in turn they share with their families; with some of the fruit and vegetables the children have grown being used in our weekly cookery and baking sessions, helping to foster the link between the earth and the plate.
5:00pm: (4:30pm on a Friday): Heralds the end of our day. The front door is closed, and it is turn for Lily dog to have her eagerly anticipated evening walk.
Currently we don't have a school run, however if we do, I integrate it into our day so that the younger children and babies also benefit from these regular walks to and from school.
8:20am: If we have children here with siblings of school age, we leave at 8:20am, usually walking to school, but sometimes we may use the car. Walking to school is healthier for children, helping them to become fitter and it helps combat the growing problem of childhood obesity. The walk to school is a pleasure that can be enjoyed with all the children, including the pre-schoolers, providing opportunities for the children and I to have high quality conversations whilst on our journeys to and from school, and an additional opportunity to be outside and observe seasonal changes and the weather; from spotting birds, cats, dogs and squirrels as we walk through the park, and engaging with the other adults and children on their school runs, to collecting seasonal treasures from daisies in the spring, fluffy dandelion clocks and blowing the seeds away in the summer, foraging for and collecting acorns and chestnuts in the autumn, and discovering lacy leaf skeletons, the first frosted leaves of winter and icy puddles. We are always home again by 9:20am.
2:30pm: Again if we have children with siblings of school age, we leave for the afternoon school run.
3:30pm: Home again: Most children look for a small snack once we are home. The children can then enjoy a range of activities, crafting, games or puzzles, or indeed curl up on the sofa and watch the children’s programmes on the television, if that is what they would prefer.
To give you an idea of the structure for the day, I have drawn up the following time table. This is a guide only; activities and times may vary from day to day.
8:00am: I open my doors for the day.
The day is spent in a combination of my ‘home-from-home’ setting, which provides a positive atmosphere where the children feel calm, happy and secure, and the wider world, which ensures that the children are supported and nurtured, their learning and development is enhanced, and that they can participate in their local community. The EYFS offers structured learning through play, and my home and garden are equipped with a wide range of toys and books that connect with the children’s interests and inspire their learning. (Please refer to A Parent’s Guide to the EYFS, for the types of activities we do at home.) Regular visits to nearby parklands, woodland, moorland and beaches allow the children to simply 'be' children, run freely, play games, talk, observe, reflect, imagine in their own world or with friends and have adventures under an open sky. We have raised planters in the back garden and also have an allotment within walking distance, enabling the children to sow, tend and harvest their own fruit, vegetables and flowers, which in turn they share with their families; with some of the fruit and vegetables the children have grown being used in our weekly cookery and baking sessions, helping to foster the link between the earth and the plate.
5:00pm: (4:30pm on a Friday): Heralds the end of our day. The front door is closed, and it is turn for Lily dog to have her eagerly anticipated evening walk.
Currently we don't have a school run, however if we do, I integrate it into our day so that the younger children and babies also benefit from these regular walks to and from school.
8:20am: If we have children here with siblings of school age, we leave at 8:20am, usually walking to school, but sometimes we may use the car. Walking to school is healthier for children, helping them to become fitter and it helps combat the growing problem of childhood obesity. The walk to school is a pleasure that can be enjoyed with all the children, including the pre-schoolers, providing opportunities for the children and I to have high quality conversations whilst on our journeys to and from school, and an additional opportunity to be outside and observe seasonal changes and the weather; from spotting birds, cats, dogs and squirrels as we walk through the park, and engaging with the other adults and children on their school runs, to collecting seasonal treasures from daisies in the spring, fluffy dandelion clocks and blowing the seeds away in the summer, foraging for and collecting acorns and chestnuts in the autumn, and discovering lacy leaf skeletons, the first frosted leaves of winter and icy puddles. We are always home again by 9:20am.
2:30pm: Again if we have children with siblings of school age, we leave for the afternoon school run.
3:30pm: Home again: Most children look for a small snack once we are home. The children can then enjoy a range of activities, crafting, games or puzzles, or indeed curl up on the sofa and watch the children’s programmes on the television, if that is what they would prefer.
~
As happy children learn well. With plenty of opportunities for play, exploration and creativity, my little acorns are soon ready to grow and start school!
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Contact
Where to find us:
3 Barons Pyke, Ivybridge, PL21 0BZ, UNITED KINGDOM
frances.rogers@btinternet.com
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