New Article for the Link Magazine

My latest article for our local magazine has been published. I've written an article each year for the last three years. Its great that they ask me to write again as it is delivered to groups all around our area and I have had fantastic response from it. I've even had people say past articles helped them to see Home ed as a real option.

It has been a learning experience for my children and I since we 'officially' started home educating nearly 2 years ago. Approaching September then I was a little nervous and had some doubts about my decision and now here I am with my second child heading to her official start date feeling full of confidence and assured that the decision to home educate is absolutely right for us.

I feel extremely lucky to be able to educate my girls. I have the support of my family and friends who are are all so wonderfully encouraging and generally people we meet out and about are positive too. Most are curious just wanting to know the 'hows?' and 'whys?' I covered the why's in my last article for link. The 'how' is harder to pinpoint and it can be difficult for people to understand why I feel we don't need to follow the national curriculum. I really believe that we do know our children best, their personality, what they like and dislike, their hopes and fears and how they like to learn and parents who allow themselves to trust in that can really grow as a family.

I don't have a teaching qualification I have common sense and an intrinsic knowledge of my children. I don't have an expensive collection of resources, I do have access to the world wide web and a library card and I know that in this information rich society you can find out all you need to know about anything. I also have a great network of friends who home educate and their advice and support is so valuable, meeting up regularly with other families keeps me inspired

The most encouraging thing is that I can see my children learning every day; they learn through conversation, observation, play, experimenting and by making mistakes. We learn when visiting family and friends, and everyday trips to shops, museums, parks and organised trips and events. We don't always record things except in our memories and we enjoy our time together.



How can I be with my children all day every day, I must have lots of patience? Well I do have patience but like anyone I can lose it there isn't a parent who hasn't or won't at some point get angry with their children but I think that because I'm with them most of the time we work things out and try to find solutions to any problems because we've got the time to do it. Its good for me too because I look for ways to improve my teaching and become a better parent too.


so how do I do it practically? I think because I am with them all day the learning is not intense we may look at a book for 5 minutes then be off doing practical things either separately or together then we might have 5 minutes writing or drawing. I don't follow a curriculum my only clear intention is to teach them to read and write as I believe once these basic skills are learned then anything else can be. At the moment our days are not fully structured there are activities we go to: a singing group, a play centre meet, ice skating, swimming, regular home ed group meet, voluntary work gardening project, yoga, climbing, football, dancing and a few more we opt in and out of. Some are weekly and some are monthly so our week can be as full as we feel. We have a lot of flexibility to decide on the day on how we feel, what the weather is doing!etc


My husband and I have managed to tailor our jobs to fit around our family needs so there can be that flexibility. we've always felt that family comes first although we may not always have the finances we have found that this style of educating requires a certain amount of resourcefulness anyway so more often than not we find, make, swap, or borrow the things we need.

For us home based education works because we learn better at a steady pace, exploring an interest over months or minutes. I don't believe that learning starts at school and finishes when you leave we are all life long learners and I'm not rushing my children to learn in a time scale, they have everything they need to learn all they want and my children and I are learning all the time. We live together, share our space and learn how to do both with respect for each other. I know my children and as I walk with them privileged to share so deeply in their education I become a better parent and teacher, learning from mistakes and successes, following their lead often and trusting my instincts more and more.