I'm a 30-something married mum of two
and I have a confession to make -
I home educate.
I fully admit this wasn't at all where
I saw our family heading four and a half years ago when EB was born
and we were thrown headfirst into the wonderfully confusing world of
parenthood. I could say the same about pretty much everything we've
done since then though, and this, like everything else, just feels
Right.
A lot of people have expressed an
interest in this latest decision, so I'm finally taking the plunge
and starting this blog to answer the questions that come up and
record our journey through this new stage of our lives. For those of
you who don't know me very well, I have a very Live and Let Live
approach to life. Everything written here is representative only of
our experiences and thoughts; as with everything else where parenting
is concerned there is no one “Right” way of doing things, just
the best fit for each individual family. We've chosen this way, you
might well have chosen another – variety and diversity are indeed
the spice of life, and I'm just fine with that if you are ;-)
We have two Little People – EB who is
four and a half and AJ who is two and a half. Currently the decision
is that we are home edding for a year and then seeing where we go
from there; in theory we don't have to worry about educational input
of any form anyway until a year from now, i.e. the term after EB
turns five. We've experienced a bit of everything so far – standard
pre-school, Steiner, and now seeing how things go at home. One thing
I've learnt a lot over the last few years is that nothing remains the
same for long; situations, people, Life, all evolve and change on a
regular basis, and what worked at one point might no longer be the
best fit further down the line. Where will we be in twelve months
time? I have no idea. But I do know we will have a lot of great
experiences and fun in getting there.
One of the big questions we get asked
about our choice to educate at home is “Why?” There are as many
reasons for choosing home ed as there are families out there doing
it, but here are some of the reasons we have taken this path.
1) The ability to follow and work with
our children's interests. If we want to, we can spend a few days or
even weeks looking at something that has grabbed their fancy; with no
fixed timetable to work around or a classroom full of children to
take into consideration, we can look at things in as much depth as
they want and follow their lead.
2) The greater freedom to structure our
days and weeks to fit our own rhythms and needs. I'm a fairly
routine-based sort of person, so a week without any sort of structure
would not be a productive way of doing things for me, but we've been
able to work out what suits us all best as a family and as a result
there is a greater deal of harmony to our days. I'm happier. The kids
are definitely a lot happier and get along better, and there's no
sense of pressure or stress to fit into a fixed daily pattern - we
have found our own.
3) Children are learning from the
moment they are born; think of everything they learn from birth until
four years of age without sitting down at a table or having a
curriculum. That doesn't have to change just because they turn five.
School is a valid and popular method of educating our children, but
that doesn't mean it is the only or even necessarily the best way for
every child.
4) I want to be there when my children
learn things and share all the experiences and excitement that comes
with that. I want to share that passion for learning and knowledge,
to be the one who has to find an answer to “Mummy, why do we have
bones?” or “What's a scarab beetle?” Does that make me selfish
or a clingy mother? No, I don't believe it does.
5) It's possible to cover things more
quickly than in a classroom setting when working 1:1 or 1:2. This
means we have a lot of time to devote to the non-academic side of
things. Currently EB does ballet and gymnastics; we spend time with
friends; we have park trips and museum visits; we go to the library;
we do baking and craft and sometimes just veg out for an afternoon –
in between and during that we do reading, writing, maths, science
etc, but we can slot it in around what we are doing and the general
flexibility suits us well.
6) And a final perk -
museums/libraries/places of interest are a lot less crowded during
term time!
