My first home ed graduate :-)

I am pleased to say that the stress of exams (IGCSE's) is now a distant memory. My darling daughter has survived and more to the point, so have her siblings and I!
It struck me the other day that actually the completion of these exams marks the end of our Home ed journey. My first guinea pig has crossed the line and survived unscathed (I like to think), the experiment of an education far from the norm. In September my beautiful and talented daughter will take her next step in the world towards her future career. As yet she is still undecided as to exactly what that next step will be (A levels or a vocational course at college). She is excited about the freedom and new skills she will gain and the fresh opportunities that she will be faced with.

Eleven years of home education has been a huge amount of fun. Of course there have been some ups and downs (more ups than downs thankfully!) it has been an amazing journey and one that in hindsight, I am eternally grateful that I took. It was a path unknown, a path barely trodden that over the past decade has become a true lifesaver and real option to so many. The home ed community is more than just a gathering of add balls, it's a family of people who share similar values and many differences. It's a real choice for those who for whatever reason decide that 'the system' is not for them. It's a fun existence, an existence of real courage and determination.

We were sitting out having a picnic along side a gated road earlier this week; a gathering of five families. We sheltered under the shade of the trees chatting, laughing and making merry whilst our young people happily created their own adventures of life in the wilds of the British countryside; paddling in the stream, catching crayfish, smothering each other in mud whilst reinforcing friendships and socialising. Two children came back that night to stay over; a house full of children, just how it should be. Sometimes sleepovers can be riots but this one worked well, it was peaceful and joyous. The boys took to the sofas whilst the girls slept out under the stars on the trampoline. They're so lucky to be able to live as children have in years gone by.

So as summer rolls into being we are enjoying the long lazy days. Work seems to rapidly be grinding to a halt; it seems silly not to take full advantage of the glorious weather that we have seen this week. Plans for short camping trips are in the pot. No long expeditions this year!

With talk of guinea pigs, I should finish with an introduction to our latest family addition. Meet April....



The little Lady has wanted piggies for the past two years or so and finally we have one. Little April is just 8 weeks old and came from a litter of three. Piggies are sociable creatures so we are hoping to find her a friend really soon but for now she is enjoying cuddles all around!

All change September.....SCHOOL

Arrr September!
Isn't it odd, the month changes and it seems that almost overnight the nights start drawing in and the start and finishes of each day seem to have a dewy crispiness about them.
Hello early autumn!

Life in our domain has experienced a rather significant change this week. The Little Lady has for the first time EVER, just started school. It's a shock to say the least! It all came about way back this time last year when I was in the depths of helping Miss P with her IGCSE studies and decided that I'd rather not go through all the stress  and torture that comes with the responsibility of educating your own (and that was with the help of tutors who provided most of the direction and input!) I just had that moment of thinking how much easier life would be if I handed over the responsibility to the state. Hmmm!
So we called up the school and arranged a viewing etc etc and here we are at the beginning of the term with the whole idea now a firm reality.

This is all very different........

Of course I went to school (in body) and so know how the system works, but this is a small school and I got a really good feel about it.

It's tricky when you know that there are very positive and fun alternatives..........

The beginning of the first week started off well. We were both enthusiastic about the change and embraced the idea of the opportunities that being part of an organisation/institution present. The realisation is a very different story. Suddenly the Little Lady and are are faced with early mornings and early nights. Turning your routine around is not easy, especially after the loveliness of the loooonngggg lazy summer days that we have become accustomed to. I could feel myself age rapidly as my body was rudely awoken from it's peaceful slumber to drive the 9 mile hike to reach the place.

We have to give this a go..........

The first few days were a novelty, a period of adjustment and finding your way. Then the reality of the situation sets in and you begin to question your decision and the reason why you have steered clear of this route for so long.

Why are we actually doing this?...........

We want to be educated right.....and make lots of friends........and have amazing opportunities.........and this is the way it's done.
Hmmm.....those of you who question the system as I do will know all too well that this is not the only way.
The comments flow....'This is boring......, I already know that......., why does it take 5 hour long lessons to learn how to use a Bunsen burner?'

The light bulb is on........questioning?????

Contemplating

Hello!

I've not had the desire to blog much recently. That usually means that I actually haven't had time to leave the ho hum of daily life to do so.
I've been very much reminded recently of the need to make the most of life, to be kind and thoughtful towards others, to savour time with friends and family and to really appreciate the little things. I've also been trying to remind myself to slow down a little. Life is not a race, there's no prize for reaching the pearly gates first!

Apple days seem to be really popular these days. This one was at our community orchard. Twice a year they host a shared lunch, singing, apple pressing, live music, games for the children and an opportunity to socialise.

Hanging strips of toast soaked in apple juice from the branches of an apple tree was an unusual activity!

December- How did we arrive back here so fast? It feels like Christmas but it certainly doesn't feel like December! Some of the trees on my regular little drives haven't even shed their autumn leaves yet. What is going on?
Wasn't Autumn beautiful this year! I sooo loved the colours and the way the light presented itself. I took quite a few lovely photos back in October that I haven't got around to sharing as yet. I do hope they look as beautiful on here as they do on my little phone camera!

The Little Lady and her friend.....babies!

We finally found a sweet chestnut tree!

The fungi this Autumn were stunning. We found so many different varieties.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend a permaculture course in November. I have to admit that 'permaculture' kept cropping up and although I thought it was something I should know about, I had never really looked into it. Not until now that is.....As always, I was probably the only student on the course that didn't really know what I was about to learn....but that makes it all the more exciting!
For those who are not in the know, as I wasn't, permaculture can be summarised by me as the interconnectedness and working together of 'things' to produce greater effects. An easy example to understand would be a garden setting where by you would plant in sunny positions against south facing walls and make the most of your growing space by 'stacking' crops. You could also grow your own salad near to your kitchen in a sunny spot and encourage insects into your garden to pollinate and aid production. A wormery or compost converter could make use of kitchen/garden scraps which when well rotted could then be added to the beds to improve soil quality.
That's a pretty brief summary but this idea of permaculture can be applied to all areas of life. It was pretty interesting!
What I realised though was that what I learnt was really stuff that I already know and do, I just hadn't thought about all things as being interconnected (not sure why as it was something I also learned during my Montessori training 10 years ago!) and hadn't given my way of life a label of 'permaculture'. So, lovely garden field space...next year will be your year!

The children gathered essential items and gifts for their Christmas Child boxes to be sent to children in need.

Miss P turned 15.......

.......and gained her Baden Powell award!

Other than that I've been very busy in the sewing room. I realise it is now two years since that moment of thought that I should indeed try and make a living out of the (mainly) self taught sewing skills I somehow acquired. If I look back, I am not quite sure how such a decision came into being other than at a moment of despair at having become 'without work' unexpectedly. I drafted a little note and popped it in a local newsagents window and 'the rest' as they say 'is history!' I feel very fortunate that I have managed to continue to make 'just enough' and remain at a steady pace. I've met some lovely people along the way too. Always a bonus!

Sissy dear painted our nails. Not sure that red is really my colour neither is nail polish my thing for that matter! It was rather a novelty in the beginning and to say I 'chipped a nail' on day one, felt somewhat vain. It wasn't long before they began to annoy me. Said sister took five weeks to visit again and these gel things don't come off with regular NP remover. I managed to chip the damn things off with some force and perseverance.  Never again!

November marked the fourth anniversary of my soul mate's passing. It seems, in so many ways like yesterday yet at the same time I have come so far on my journey. Grief is a strange thing. I still miss him greatly but this year the anxiety of that anniversary was so much less painful than previous years. I'm ready to write my story now and have been gathering thoughts and notes in order to do so. It's going to be a story of my survival....Early on I was told that we are not victims any longer but 'survivors'. I like that!

Have a peaceful December :-)

Fresh outlook

It never ceases to amaze me how much we take for granted in  our daily lives; the things we have, the friends that surround us and our general feeling of safety and security.

We've just returned from our annual pilgrimage to HESFES our home ed festival which this year happened to be located in South Wales. There was much excitement in anticipation of this years festival as the site was literally located right next to a beautiful eight mile stretch of the softest sandiest beach you could imagine.
I work at the festival so intended to 'be there' regardless of the location, but many were drawn to the idea of the beach and the delights that brings. The event this year was an early sell out, however, no one could predicted the weather. I suppose I should be grateful in many ways; arrival day was perfect for tent pitching; the few days that followed were less impressive and to me more of a campers nightmare!

HOME

FOOD

Having looked at the forecast ahead of time, I thought I was well prepared for all eventualities; and in many ways I suppose I was. I remembered our wellies and raincoats, I even thought ahead and planned a 'cooking station' as my tent isn't really suitable for cooking in.

FRIENDS

The kids made willow lanterns which we carried around the site to the beat of drums.....

WARMTH

When you are there in the midst of things, you do the best you can under the circumstances. We wore our warm clothes many more times then we normally would. When the showers spit, go off mid flow and spurt freezing cold water at you, you learn that baby wipes work as a jolly decent alternative for washing your bits!
When you are freezing cold, you don't worry about what people think as you wander around in your rather funky odd hotch potch mix of clothing.
When you wake up in the morning and your tent is still standing, you are eternally grateful that you survived the night under shelter!

LEISURE

Final day 'tug of war'.

It wasn't all doom and gloom. We shared some wonderful time with friends and met some fantastic and truly inspiring people and we laughed and played as we always do. We went to the beach and felt the soft sand spill through our toes and the warm rays of sun on our skin; we even developed a warm glow to our faces!

Practicing circus skills 

FUNHesfes

What I realised upon our return home was how much we take things for granted. After the usual drudgery of unpacking and finding home again that concludes 'going away', we relaxed in our warm/hot bath and snuggled into our cosy beds happy (and fairly certain) in the knowledge that the shelter we call 'home' would still be there supporting us and protecting us in the morning :-)

Grubby feet!

Friendship :-)

The Boy

                                   'Boy'

 
It has a funny sort of ring to it that word!

I was looking at my Small Boy today and marvelling at the wonder of him. One average seven year old boy, one bundle of mischief wrapped in a covering of innocence.

Everyday I am confronted with new challenges with regards to my boy. But his charm and cheeky nature shine through and make the challenges....memorable, bearable. Mostly!

Sticks......they seem to be all over the house

Today was just an average sort of day in the life of one Small Boy, another everyday adventure waiting to uncurl. 

The morning started with the usual session of 'aggravation of sisters', that happens most mornings and can last anything from one little teeny incident to the entire day. During this period the house is filled with the sound of screeching and complaining.....'Muuuum'.....grrrrr!

Lunch presented the usual.....'Muuuum, Fenton has tipped half the bottle of ketchup on his plate!' Hmmmm......

An after lunch walk along the canal was an enjoyable experience. The Boy is totally in his comfort zone when in the big wide world surrounded by nature. He shares a love of wildlife with the rest of us and a fascination of fishing like his father. He always insists on creeping up on unsuspecting fishermen and insisting on finding out the state of the catch for the day. 
The ducks sat happily on the bank sunning themselves in the afternoon sunshine, but only for a short while. We watched sympathetically as the poor birds jumped in fear of their lives, plunging into the chilled water below and shaking their tails in a state of discontent at the sudden awakening.
The boy cannot help himself!

Stopping off at the local shop on the way home. The Boy very happily trundled off by himself to buy bread and sugar whilst we waited in the car. He isn't phased by the need for independence, and is more than capable of locating the goods and going through the motions of paying for the items as needed. I wonder in hindsight whether he lay down on the shop floor and looked under the shelving units. He's always on lookout for money and frequently finds quite a bit. (Much to my embarrassment).

Racking up at a friends house on the way home for a brief visit, The Boy, fiddles and searches out all the gadgety things. 'Can I have a look in your camper van?, can I take this truck home, where's the loo'.....we set off for home with a number of large batteries for his electric scooter.........the list goes on!

Mess!

Old fuse board, partially dismantled and abandoned.....

Attempts at making a Go-Cart

Upon arriving home, The Boy happily tinkered with his new/second hand scooter, changing the batteries and forming a pile of those that were flat. I stood back and looked at my front garden; which increasingly seems to be resembling a 'scrap yard'. Items outgrown and further bits of treasure/junk discarded randomly.
'Stig of the dump' sprung to mind. He'd like that story, would he relate more to Stig or Barney?

A leisurely walk this evening brought out further excitement in the the life of the Boy. A family stroll down to the lake, (which is just five minutes from our house). A month or so back, the excitement centred around the mating of the toads. Concern was expressed for the females who often had up to ten males squashing them at one time. Of course the Boy rescued several back then from suffocation and doom. Tonight the excitement was more focused towards the large number of tadpoles swimming around and then.......a dead fish. 'Noooooo, Noooooo.......Yes', the fish (identified as a perch) was hooked out and wrapped up in his coat ready for the journey home. I expressed my disgust and offence being vegetarian at the nasty nature of this act. 'You must understand that I do not eat meat and it is important for me to learn about these things. Besides, I want to dissect it and then watch it decompose so that I can add the bones to my collection!' Ewwww yuck!!!

Arrrr (sigh.......)



  

9 years of home education

Easter marks the ninth anniversary of our home ed journey. I can't believe it, nine whole years of educational freedom :-)

My official journey began when my eldest daughter Miss P was five. She had completed two terms of full time primary education at the sweet little village primary school in our parish. Unofficially our journey began when she was just nine months old and I furthered my study into the Montessori method for children aged 6-12 years. Having already trained to teach Montessori in the nursery years, learning about the primary (or elementary as it is known) enlightened me to a very special and more natural method of educating the child. It was to be an enlightenment that would shape the future education for all of my children.

The parish primary school was lovely and friendly and I do not doubt that it delivered a great education. Certainly the time Miss P spent there she enjoyed tremendously. But what spoilt it for me were the limitations of the National Curriculum which most schools tend to opt to sign in to. There are reasons of course. It is supposed to provide the child with a very 'rounded' education, a little knowledge about many different curriculum areas. What is doesn't take into account and what really mattered to me, were the actual interests of the child. The Montessori method on the other hand, recognises that not all children learn at the same rate and that they all have very different educational needs and interests and we all know that we learn best when something is of interest to us.

So after two terms of my beautiful daughter enduring institutional based education I removed her in order to educate her 'otherwise'.

Removing my child from what is considered 'the norm' and going against the grain of what all my friends were doing was daunting to say the least. Luckily I had developed a thirst for researching home education and had found a few local contacts and activities happening locally, so there was an element of support out there. My family thought I was mad!!!

The first few months were a learning curve as I tried to establish a method and break away from the idea of 'school'. It's a tough habit to break when it's all you've really known, but it is possible. Initially we did 'school' at home. I made an effort to make sure we covered all the topics on the National Curriculum and we worked to the hours of a typical school day. It didn't take me long to realise that you can actually achieve all the work outcomes of a school day in just an hour when you're working on a one to one basis. So we suddenly had vast amounts of wonderful free time to spend playing freely - it's been idyllic!
Everyone who home educates does things differently and even within a single family, what works one year doesn't always work the next. Even the needs of individual children are different. So it's a constant game of trial and error; swap and change.

Back in those early days I didn't know where our journey would take us. I told people it was a short term measure, perhaps just the Primary years, but we've had so much fun that it's continued into the secondary years too! :-)
Miss P will be sitting her first iGCSE exam in a week.............

When people learn that you home educate they look on in pity.....'Oh poor darling, I guess you don't have any friends'. WRONG!! We all have amazing friends. There is a fantastic community of people worldwide that now home educate and the numbers are growing rapidly. It is a very real option. With regards to friends, we have many many friends. Socialising is not a problem at all. Our children go to clubs, visit museums, volunteer in local shops and organisations and much more besides. They mix with people of all ages all of the time. When you think about it, in school children are all grouped according to age. In the outside world that doesn't ever really happen.
We also have a huge amount of fun and enjoy the time that we have together. As we're not following any strick guidelines and have a huge amount of freedom to do what we want, we do just that! Bliss!!

Science overdose

We've recently come to the end of Oxfordshire's science festival where organisations across the county have hosted a wide variety of science activities for folk of all ages. I have to confess that although I studied science at school waaaaayyyyyy back, it's not really a subject that is of much interest to me. I'm more of the airy fairy creative type me.

In previous years anything remotely science related has usually come to my attention after the event and I have always sighed a small sigh of relief that I haven't been involved.

This year somehow (not sure how?), I did actually take note of the fact that it was science festival week. Perhaps it was due to the fact that we had a guest attend our Home Ed group who ran a laser workshop? Maybe it was the recent solar eclipse? Or maybe the fact my sister pointed out the event? Who knows?? Whatever it was, this year I decided that perhaps the children might like some of the activities on offer. So we pootled off to the Natural History Museum in the first week and to the Science bazaar at Brookes University in the second.
Well, I'll be honest and say there we loads of really cool and interesting things on offer to do and see. I was proud to witness a familiar home ed father and son leading two demonstrations too :-)
We even got to solve a murder....how cool is that!

Here are a few piccies:-

Spaceman....

No fear!

Runner beans on soggy tissue in a plastic bag- makes for a perfect mini green house which can be stuck onto the inside of a window and observed.

We've got a race going now.....!

Cornflour goo....( it was actually custard powder)

                         Watching the solar eclipse....this blacked out car                 window worked well.....

Amateur astronomers at work....all eyes on that tiny light dot!

The action viewed with the naked eye...

Taking part in scientific research...

What's happening here?