This is a very interesting topic. I am just starting to plan my CM-homeschooling for my 4,5 yo (and 3 yo) with a little one of 1 and a baby about to arrive. (My 7yo has to go to school, living in Germany). I´ve read through all the messages and would like to ask another question to it. Are there methods you use to motivate (or kindly ´force´) your little ones to play outside? My children can all play outside by themselves (even the 1yo if I leave the door open so he doesnt feel locked out does it for some time), but beside the 7yo the children want to play inside MUCH MORE. They are very creative in their playing, love puzzles, drawing etc. etc. They play indipendently very well. I would love to have them outside more. I think a problem is that our house is much ´too big´: there is too much work to do for me inside and the children find too much play-place in it.
A hard thing about letting very little ones play outside is that the ´getting dressed´ almost takes longer than the minutes they play outside – of course especially if the weather is bad (that´s quite a bit over here, only not during some rare summer weeks) and after ´undressing´ those want to go out again and it repeats itself sometimes so I don´t get my work done as quickly, so I rather don´t allow them to play outside during quite some time a day…
Thank you for any tips, Yvette Berg