Littlies

Home Ed for Littlies
Thinking about home education with young children of "pre-school" age?

There is a Facebook group for people with children under 5 who are planning to home-educate, called London Home-Ed Pre-'Schoolers'

Some home-ed groups are well suited to younger children, and if all your friends are disappearing off to nursery, they can be a great place to make friends. Details of each session are posted weekly on SLHE (the South London Home Ed email group), or if you leave a comment on this page, we will put you in touch with the current organiser. There are groups in other areas which could be suitable too; again, if you leave a comment below with your area and contact details, we can ask other home-educators nearby to get in touch.

The following groups are ideal for young children and for those who are still considering whether home-ed is for them:

South​ ​London​ ​Parks​ ​Group

Tuesdays,​ ​rotating​ ​between​ ​CR0,​ ​SE19,​ ​SE23,​ ​SE25 This​ ​is​ ​a​ ​weekly​ ​park​ ​meet​ ​up​ ​for​ ​any​ ​home-edders​ ​in​ ​London​ ​that​ ​wish​ ​to​ ​join!​ ​All​ ​ages​ ​welcome​ ​ :-)  We​ ​meet​ ​at​ ​4​ ​different​ ​parks​ ​each​ ​Tuesday,​ ​around​ ​11.30am​ ​until​ ​3pm/4pm​ ​sometimes​ ​later,​ ​on​ ​the​ ​following rotation:   ● 1st​ ​Tues​ ​of​ ​the​ ​month:​ ​Crystal​ ​Palace​ ​Park​ ​(Play​ ​area) ● 2nd​ ​Tues​ ​of​ ​the​ ​month:​ ​South​ ​Norwood​ ​Country​ ​Park​ ​(Play​ ​area) ● 3rd​ ​Tues​ ​of​ ​the​ ​month:​ ​Horniman​ ​Play​ ​Park​ ​(Opposite​ ​side​ ​of​ ​the​ ​road​ ​to​ ​Horniman​ ​Museum,​ ​Play​ ​area)  ● 4th​ ​Tues​ ​of​ ​the​ ​month:​ ​Lloyd​ ​Park​ ​(Play​ ​area) ● And​ ​if​ ​there​ ​is​ ​a​ ​5th​ ​Tuesday​ ​of​ ​the​ ​month​ ​we​ ​meet​ ​at​ ​Kidspace,​ ​Croydon.  Contact​ ​via​ ​​Play​ ​In​ ​The​ ​Park​ ​-​ ​Facebook​ ​group

Oxleas Woods Nature play Group
Nature Play Greenwich - not strictly a home-ed group, but regular participants home-ed or plan to. People with young children getting together in Oxleas woods for free play and nature exploration. No fee. Nature Play Greenwich facebook group - find similar groups via http://www.nature-play.co.uk/

Nature Play meeting in Croydon
We are part of the same group as the one in Oxleas Wood and both host families are planning to home educate our children. There are a number of other families who attend also considering HE. My son is 4 in September and most of the children his age who attend will be off to school. It would be wonderful to have more HE families join us in Coombe Woods for a morning of child led play. We meet on Monday mornings at 10:30am. People can visit our Facebook page: Nature Play Croydon or website www.nature-play.co.uk for more information.

The Natural Childhood community group
some information from the organisers:

At the moment we are re-establishing the "Magic Circle" (all ages child led free nature play in Brockwell park on Wed. mornings) but our main activity at the moment is the  Natural Childhood Forest School Group  which runs at 57 The Lodge, SW16 3JF and in Streatham Common every Monday from 10.30 - 2 pm, facilitated by qualified Forest School Leader Douglas Saucedo.

This is not a strictly Home Education group but many are home educating, educating otherwise or seriously considering and we're all very happy to welcome and meet these families.

The average age of the children is 3 years old, going all the way from under 12months to 7 y.o. and sometimes older children.

Cost: £5 per family, £1 per extra child 18 months or older, donations suggested £10 per family.

If anyone would like more info about the Forest School sessions please email: saucedobriscioli@yahoo.co.uk or check website for the ethos of the group: www.naturalchildhood.co.uk.

Please see: http://www.naturalchildhood.co.uk/about-us/13-2/forest-school/

Greenwich Acorns group
This is attached to the Steiner school but is independent of it, and a few home edders go for sessions led by Steiner teachers. It's for up to 3 year olds. You can read about the group here: http://www.greenwichacorns.org.uk/