All of these groups or meetups are organised by or for home ed families. Some cost money, some are free.
- Skating once a month at the Nottingham rink, age range toddlers to adults, group discount.
- Climbing once a month at the climbing centre (the old Noel Street baths), separate groups for teens and younger ones.
- Maths group.
- Sign language class (fortnightly).
- Aikido, Tuesdays and Thursdays, run by Shudokan Black Belt Academy.
- GCSE and NVQ courses for age 14 to 16 run by Central College.
- History Project, based around a WW1-era document at St Stephen’s Church in Hyson Green. Research, art, presentations etc. Participation is free because supported by Heritage Lottery fund.
- Arts Award dance group run by Moving Together.
- Gymnastics on Tuesday afternoons, run by Nottingham City Gymnastics Club.
- Pottery classes at Hands On Pottery. Potters’ wheel & variety of other skills, ages 5 to adult.
- Home Ed Debating Society, age 12+. “We play games, debate topical (and not so topical) issues and discuss famous speeches. The atmosphere is friendly, respectful and fun.”
- Pushchair-friendly walks once or twice a month at various parks round the area, inc Wollaton Park, Shipley Country Park, Attenborough Nature Reserve etc. Children’s age typically 0 to 10. Slowish pace, with time for enjoying chat and puddle-splashing!
- Longer-distance walks once a month for the older age group. “Hiking off road, up hill and down dale, 3 to 4 hours plus, taking packed lunches/hot flasks etc, out whatever the weather.”
- East Midlands Christian Home Educators’ Group (a.k.a. Fun Club). Activities, speakers, workshops, for 3-4 years up to about 13.
- “Forest School” – time in woodland, learning about nature, roasting marshmallows etc.
- Over 150 people have already booked to go to the panto together at Christmas.
- Talk of setting up a new Spanish group for beginners…
- Here’s an extra page for info about Mansfield, Leicestershire, Derbyshire & nearby places.
Things can change, so this is only a snapshot, Autumn 2015! For the latest, get onto the East Midlands Home Education email list.
P.S. Non-school families do like to stay home sometimes too! We might be playing, cooking, coding, making music, studying for an exam or for the enjoyment of it, watching something cool on TV or the net, or just relaxing with a book.
I took my child out of school due to bullying and his mental state we have searched for a new school but all are fully allocated at the minute so need another way to keep him active and still learning he is 7 years old I have a 2 year old as well any ideas.
Thank you
Hi Lucy
Take a look around the blog posts on this site and you will find quite a few Nottingham activities suitable for 7-year-olds, inc some where 2-year-olds can tag along! There are informal park/playground meetups from time to time as well, which don’t really have an age limit.
You might want to look at the page about email, Facebook and Twitter connections for the local home ed scene. That’s here: http://www.non-school-nottingham.org.uk/email-facebook-twitter/ A lot of ideas get swopped on the East Midlands Home Ed Yahoo group and the various Facebook groups.
Often when people first get onto a list or a group they’ll write a little “hello & intro” type post. If you’re doing that, a good tip is to put your geographical area in the subject line or early on in the post, and you might find that people will answer from nearby to you. Or you can look in the “category index” on this site for area names that might be near you, where activities are taking place.
Hope that helps 🙂