I’m not fed up of school.
I love school.
I am excited by all that learning. I love learning, even now. Most days
I get up & start planning what I can squeeze in. I am literally desperate to
learn most things; playing the ukulele, speaking Spanish, drawing, I’d love to
learn to paint or sail a boat...oh my goodness I could go on & on & on.
We finally received a letter this morning telling us they’ve offered
him a place in a school in exactly the opposite direction from Ed’s, so that’s
helped me make up my mind about what to do with him next year.
We only started thinking about this because Bean didn’t get the school
place we’d applied for at Ed’s school. The thought of stretching ourselves
between two schools made me think it would be easier, and far more fun to home
school him for his reception year until a place could be found for him at Ed’s
school. But the more I research home education, the more interesting it is. And
it’s something we spoke about before we had children, having both had rubbish
experiences at school ourselves.
I constantly find myself looking around Ed’s classroom, checking out their latest projects & feeling massively inspired & slightly jealous. As I look around I always think to myself; I want to make my home like that, I want to put that on the wall, I want to spend time with my kids doing that project. They must have so much fun in there.
Am I just a massive nerd?
I'm so jealous that the teachers get to do all these awesome things with my kids and when I
try on a weekend, they seem all ‘schooled out’.
When we were planning our children I never envisaged someone else
teaching them this cool stuff, I thought I’d have at least a part time role in
it, but at the moment there’s nothing left for me to do aside from feed them, wash
them, clothe them & put them to bed. All massively important jobs obviously!
But I want to do fun stuff with them too. I want to teach them how to swim, how
to ride a bike, speak another language, how to sew, I want to read with them
all the time & I can’t wait to introduce them to my favourite novels!
Am I just being über
selfish?
Is it selfish to want to spend time with your kids?
I’m tired of getting the dregs of Ed’s childhood. By the time he’s done
at school he’s so shattered and even on Saturdays all he wants to do is chill
out. Understandably.
Everyone who knows us well, knows I’ve always had problems
with Ed’s behaviour. He’s stubborn & feisty, like things his own way, but is very
thorough in everything he does, sponges up information and keeps it in his
little noggin. Home schooling him would either kill us or cure us. I would love
our relationship to feel less negative. At the moment 90% of our life is me
trying to keep him clean dressed and fed, I’d love more positive moments
I’d love to have more time with them. I’d love to have the pleasure of
teaching them. I’d love them to have more time just being children, and all the
running, hopping & yelling that involves.
Yes, it would be hard work, and yes, sometimes we’d have baaaaad days.
But I trust myself that in the long run I would never fail my kids. I’d never
let them be ‘behind’ or social misfits. I will always fight for what I think
they need. I will always to my best.
I’m not sure how Ed feels about school. He’s happy when we get there;
happy to see his friends & have a good run around in the playground but when
the bell goes he often turns a bit sulky.
At home, Ed tells me it’s too noisy, that the teacher doesn’t notice
him. I know it’s because he’s so well behaved there & all I can tell him is
that she’d sure as hell notice if he was naughty. I tell him I’m sure she’s
noticed that she’s not telling him off all the time, but it doesn’t seem to
help.
From his accounts, he seems to spend a lot of time waiting his turn – a
valuable lesson but surely not one he has to learn for half the day, every day.
Of course he tells me good things too, occasionally I get passionate
accounts of what they’re working on & the games they’ve played that day. Once
he flew the whole class to Spain and back!
I asked him what his favourite bit about school was & he replied;
“After lunch we play in the playground”.
That seems an awful shame, especially since he’s still on the EYFS
curriculum, which from what I understand is mostly play. How will he react to
KS1?
Anyone who’s ever met Ed knows he’s a very physical boy, who communicates
with his whole body, so I would presume he learns best using his whole body. The
role-play activities at school are definitely the ones that hit home the
closest. I don’t get much out of him when it
comes to what he’s been doing all day, but they’re the ones I hear about. If that’s how he learns best, what is
sitting at a desk going to do to him?
And Bean, an entirely different boy, learns in an entirely different way.
Bean is a flitter. As his mum I can tell you he will never cope with sitting
and learning for a length of time. If he goes to school, I predict in a few years he will be prescribed
ADHD drugs, when all he needs is a different method of learning. I can get him
to concentrate, but it has to be done in really short intervals. As he gets
older, I’m sure those intervals will get longer, but he needs the speed that a
45 minute lesson will never provide.
No-one could say they needed the same kind of learning system. If I could
provide them both with their own programme of learning, as it were, they could
learn at their own pace & in their own way, without having to tick anyone’s
boxes (except mine). And I’ll keep them up to date with the national curriculum
so that if they ever chose to go back to school, or if it just wasn’t working
out, they can. They’re both very confident & outgoing,
so I’m sure they would cope.
I’ve searched online for support groups, found a few families in our
town who home educate & found learning resources. There are even museum days
for HE groups where they can see those awesome chemistry experiments I was
worried about them missing out on.
And since no-one wants to be with their Mum day in day out, so I’ve
made provisions for them to have time at a regular sports/social club so they
can socialise & have someone else be in charge.
I know its crazy idealistic, and I’m often far too romantic in the way
I view my life but I figure, as with most things in my life, the old adage (old
as in, 80’s pop) applies;
‘If you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?’
And my dream is to have kids who are happy, eager to learn and well
behaved.
We haven’t fully decided our plan of action, we’ll use these two weeks
off school to experiment with school work & make a decision as to the if’s
and when’s.
But what if it turns out to be the best decision we ever made?
What if they love wearing red shoes every day?
What if they learn loads & have a great time doing so?
What if it makes them happy, well-adjusted young gentlemen?
