On 'Autonomous Home Education'-and then maps! · Tuesday January 30, 2007 by Ann
I have been looking at how people describe/define/explain Autonomous Home Education/Unschooling, in response to a post on our local list and one from a friend.
I have been enjoying Joyce Fetteroll’s Joyfully Rejoycing
She summarises by saying “”Put the relationship first and then figure out how to fit everything else around that.”
When asked what an day in the life of an ‘unschooler’ looks like she replies “To put it in a nutshell, unschooling days are like great days of summer vacation. They can be anywhere from filled to the brim with activities or they can be laid back leisurely days of watching clouds (or playing video games ;-)”
I will happily second all of that!
The question most often asked next is of course-well if you are not sitting down doing formal work-how do you know what they have learnt?
The answer is, it is immediately obvious whether a child has understood something, from their reaction and questions they may ask, in response say, to a TV programme we have been watching or a one to one ‘purposeful conversation’ we have been having. What is not always obvious is how much more learning is going on afterwards-inside the person.
In a recent edition of the Home Education Journal Jan Fortune-Wood said “Most of what autonomously home educated children will learn will remain in their private minds, not amenable to testing, perhaps not even articulated, but some of it will suddenly flourish in the world and blossoms can come out in quite unexpected shapes and colours.
An example of this happened after Lucy and I had had a discussion -early on in our HE time, when Lucy would have been about 9 years old, about vowels and vowel sounds in words. On the way home down the M42 in a storm, several weeks later, Lucy asked if all languages used words that had vowels in them in the same way that English does. She had been looking at some Welsh words on signposts during our holidays in the summer and and was wondering about their construction. Do the same rules apply in Chinese? in Arabic? This of course lead to long discussions with Welsh, Iraqi and Chinese friends in order to find out.
It leads me to think there might even be a possibility that our severely dyslexic daughter, might one day end up taking a course in the English language possibly to a high level or maybe just for the sheer pleasure of it – or perhaps she will be a crossword/Scrabble enthusiast to rival her father. So how can this be when she was effectively so left behind with reading and writing when she was in school (she was measured at aged 8 as having a reading level in the bottom 3%) and didn’t really start to read until the age of 13-and we are not making her sit and do work?
Because as Jan FW again says; “Anyone, with a real interest can plunge into any area of learning if they have the intrinsic motivation to do so, whether it is degree level physics or silversmithing”
David had done no formal work at all for the years he had been home educated-yes we had covered lots of subjects, yes we had been on lots of visits and he had spent his time enjoying his life, but not one bit of formal sit down and have a lesson sort of work. Then out of the blue it seemed, he declared one weekend that he had decided to go to college and do some qualifications and to get himself a Saturday job. He did both, enrolling in college within a couple of days and getting a job, both with great success.
Autonomous home education fascinates me-you never know where you are going to end up in any one day. I could be helping with sociology statistics, or with revising psychology theories. We could be involved in painting a Warhammer figure, doing a piece of ‘Batik’ or making a rag rug. We have taken long, long walks and talked and talked and talked. I have helped to write a poem on a beautiful hillside in Malvern and helped to Lucy to commit to memory to be performed at a Street Festival. I have learned to milk a goat. We helped to take down a tee pee in the valley of the river Wye. I have helped to make electrical circuits and bath bombs. We have curled up in bed, reading stories for hours on end, on wintry days and made igloos in the snow on a snowy day. We have been fossil hunting on a beach in the sun and the rain! In short all the wonderful things other parents of schooled children, get to do for very short periods between school, home work and bed, we get to do all day if we want ;o)
And as I have said before autonomously home educating in this way has allowed all three children, but especially Lucy’s, education to run ahead, whilst allowing their reading and writing ability to catch up in its own time, without the pressure stifling a love of learning and a thirst for knowledge.
Maps seem to be figuring in our HE days at the moment.
We have had a text message from Tom’s brother and his wife they have arrived safely in the Philippines-so we have had the globe out again, so that Lucy can see how far away they are now. We have discussed that they are flying to Dubai first and then on to Manila, followed by a local bus journey. Comparing how far they have to go and the time it takes has given Lucy some insight on how quickly planes travel, when compared to how long it takes us to drive to our favourite holiday haunt in north Wales for instance. This came back to the amount of fuel it takes to get the plane into the air, to stay there and to travel that distance in so short a time. Lucy realises what the energy costs of this are and is now considering her desire to travel the world compared to her desire not to waste energy and how she might address this in her lifetime.
A chance comment from Rich was that the island is directly below Hong Kong on the map, made it easy for us to imagine where it was. Lucy then asked if you look at a flat map of the world would it be the same as if you flattened out the map on a globe.
This lead us to looking up world maps on the Internet and then discussing the Peter’s map-and how some people think that it would be a better representation of land mass if you were to flatten out the globe.
Once we had the big world atlas out we began to look at all sorts of places. We have close HE friends who emigrated to Florida a year ago. We were looking up where they live on the atlas, compared to zoning in on their house plot on Google Earth David was surprised-he hadn’t realised that Florida stretched as far south as Texas did. He then told me a load of things he knows about the Texan and Mexican border-things he has learned from television and films. I noticed him studying the map of the world that is pinned to the wall in the bathroom, whilst he was brushing his teeth today. I wonder what else he is noticing.
We plotted our home, the homes of their half siblings (Bromsgrove, Nottingham and Wirksworth in Derbyshire), the site of the Okehampton EO gathering next month and all of the other camps and gatherings we go to, onto Google Earth. The we got out the OS maps we have of those areas that we have collected on previous visits. We looked at how hills/valleys/roads/railways etc are represented on the OS maps and talked about scale on the maps – taking us back to the difference the distance from here to the Philippines is compared to here to north Wales!
Then when it was time for Lucy to go off to join her friend, to go off to Explorer scouts, we needed to find out where her mom lived in the next town as that is where Penny was staying. We got the local map out and I showed Lucy how to use the index, to look up the page it was on and we traced the journey together.
I can’t believe another week has flown by and it is time for Explorers again! All three of the youngsters are out again tonight, staying with different friends, but three year old Nancy has been here today all day and is staying over night with her mom Louise-so the house isn’t as quiet tonight as it would otherwise be.
What next? · Wednesday January 31, 2007 by Ann
We spent some time today looking up courses at the Open University. We have been disappointed – again – with the state systems dealings with a dyslexic student. This time I’m talking about the local FE college.
They seem reasonably able to deal with mild dyslexia, but anything more they seem to really flounder and be unable to offer appropriate help.
Alice has run into all sorts of difficulties and broken promises about help. Whilst the reports we are getting back from the tutors are excellent for both David and Alice, Alice in particular has been let down by them over access to a laptop, software and course handouts for her As studies.
If they cannot cope with Alice’s degree of difficulty, there is no way it is going to be a suitable place for Lucy to go to. thank goodness once again for HE!
So today we have been looking at short courses at the Open University. Lucy has decided she would like to start with “Understanding Society”;
The course is designed to introduce you to selected key concepts and debates within the social sciences including families; culture; global markets; migrant labour; community; and social movements. It will help you develop learning skills that will provide a sound basis for further academic work. It will give you an opportunity, whatever your plans, to learn about what social scientists do and the kinds of questions they ask. It will also develop your understanding of some of the social issues and debates that dominate the news today, in the UK and elsewhere.
This will fit in well with stuff we have been covering of late at home, through Lucy’s natural interests-and she will be able to follow on with other relevant courses later if she wants to.
So all we have to do is get her accepted! We have several HE friends whose pre 16 year olds have done OU courses, but none in our immediate area. So that will be our first challenge ;o)
Lucy is quite happy that she will be able to manage the course-it is designed for someone who has done no academic studying at all, it has two assignments and an assessment at the end. She will have the software to support already on her computer at home and feels with that in place she will be able to structure her essays and complete the assignments.
When I mentioned this to Tom, he said “Well now I know how to structure an essay, I’ll help when if needed.” I asked whether he had learnt to do so in school (He too had stayed on to do A levels) He said “Hell no! I learnt that at the School of Nursing I attended.” Since Tom has since gone on to do a Msc this was surprise to me. But apparently all the relevant stuff he learnt when motivated, once he had left school. I have been trying to remember when I learnt how to properly structure an essay, I think it was whilst I was at school, but then essays in nursing must have helped me too. But then nursing was what Tom and I both had decided to do, and everything is so much easier when you are motivated and interested. Tom ended up as a Psychiatric Nurse Tutor and I was a Ward Manager on a Special Care Baby Unit. Funny how all of that seems like somebody else’s life now.
We spent some time this afternoon doing geometry-prompted by the OU courses needing to add up to a total of 360 points to make a whole degree. We began looking round the house and measuring angles as we could find them. Lucy took to this straight away and understood immediately. She recalled the afternoon we had helped take down a Tee pee that was located in the valley of the river Wye. She commented about how the poles had had to be set at the correct angles, to keep the tee pee strong and upright.
Maths in action, like this makes so much more sense to Lucy than when she has seen them written down on a worksheet. When we were looking at scales on maps on Monday she easily understood what I was talking about. She reflected that it was similar to when she had designed the interior of the bus she would one day like to travel round the world in. At the time, she had done that ‘to scale’ At that an earlier time still she had designed a village in Lego, that too had needed to be in scale to make sense. I had forgotten that. Comforting to know all the long hours she spent playing with Lego paid off!
When she comes home from dancing later she has decided to get out the workbooks and see if we can transfer what we worked out this afternoon to written problems. Lucy wants to be certain that she will be able to cope with any of the tables and graphs she has seen David and Alice doing for their course work.
I’m off to be creative in the kitchen now. David as the only meat eater in the house, has already cooked his meal before going off to meet friends. Yesterday Alice and I cooked a marvellous vegan meal. I think she and I are beginning to rival our friend Jon who has been a vegan for years. Jon and some of our HE friends who are vegan, have been a marvellous source of information about vegan cooking and nutrition. It has been so much easier becoming a vegan in the HE community, there seem to be so many more of them than there are in the outside community.
LOL! reminds me that the first course the college offered Alice, once they had seen the depth of the dysgraphia problem, contained a module on the importance of a balanced diet! I would pity the poor tutor who tried to teach that to Alice, a passionate vegan who is so interested in getting a proper balanced diet that she devours information on it!
And then there were eight! · Thursday February 1, 2007 by Ann
The second question folks ask, once they have got past “Is it legal?” is “What about socialisation?”
For us this has never been an issue – we were lucky to find there was a home education group that met weekly, locally. That group contained folks who were structured and folks who were autonomous educators, so straight away we began to discuss and see the merits of both methods.
The group also said “and we are going to HesFes in May, are you coming?” I had given away all of the camping equipment years before as Tom doesn’t camp and the folks I had camped with as a guide leader had stopped doing it. So I borrowed tent and equipment that first year and took the children to see if they would like it.
Like it? They loved it and so did I! To find themselves on a field with 1500 other people all educating their children at home was wonderful, suddenly we were not unusual, we were amongst hundreds of like minded souls.
Our children were excited to wake up every morning and to roll out of the tents and have friends surrounding them that wanted to play too. Over the week of our first HesFes David moved further to the social confident person he is now, rather than the one who hung around me whispering “let’s go home” into my ear the whole time.
All the workshops and activities and having friends who liked the same activities as they did was a revelation to our children.
We haven’t missed a Hesfes since.
Slowly we have joined in with more camps and gatherings all over the country, of different sizes but all being smaller than HesFes. Each camp has it’s own feel to it. I love ‘Peak camp’ too as it is is as unstructured as hesfes is organised. it takes place in the beautiful countryside of the Peak district and it is so relaxing.
Our children being taken to camps by other willing responsible adults, even when I couldn’t make it. We have done the same for other youngsters. These teens are a pleasure to be around.
I have replaced our camping equipment and enjoyed lots of holidays throughout the year, Tom still doesn’t camp but comes along if there is a cottage or caravan to stay in nearby.
And for the first time in six years I am actually going to an EO gathering next week. Each of the children have gone at different times with other people, but this is the first time I have attended one. This time it will be just Lucy and i going as the other two are constrained by their college time tables and Tom doesn’t like communal living. I’m really looking forward to it as we’ll be on the edges of the Dartmoor in Devon.
I know that camps and gatherings are not everyone’s cup of tea and some like the smaller gatherings but nothing as big and busy as Hesfes, but for us they have all, big or small, been marvellous and a very important part of our home education and how it works for us.
All these opportunities to attend camps and gatherings in the last six years has meant the children have made friends nationally as well as locally. As they have got old enough, each of them has had the opportunity to travel around, to stay with their home educated peers and their families. They have gained independence and self confidence with every successful trip. They have learnt different things from every family they have stayed with. Our children, I can confidently say can find their way across the country, travelling independently on buses and trains. Something i never imagined possible when David was refusing to catch the school bus home as he was frightened of not knowing where to get off.
When some of his schooled peers went off to university last year and he was still at college doing his second year of A levels, I asked if he regretted anything. He answered no as he had already spent a lot of time travelling independently all over the country and they were all just doing so for the first time and were quite worried about it. If he decides to go to uni at a later date it will be with more confidence in himself.
Sometimes their home educated peers come here to stay. As I have said before, sometimes this house is full of people and sometimes it is empty.
Tonight it is full- the teenagers of a family of friends of all of us have come to stay, unexpectedly. Lucy was trying to arrange for them to come stay before we went away to the EO gathering next week, but it looked like it was not going to happen. Then unexpectedly the parent of this family had to go away and so the teenagers have come here for a few days.
Once we knew they were coming Lucy and I busied ourselves tidying up-with that many people in the house-it is important to be reasonably tidy to begin with at least.
They arrived early afternoon and the house has been full of laughter ever since.
Whilst they are here, they will play lots of games together, go for lots of walks and do lots of talking. They spend lots of time on quite deep philosophical discussions on all sorts of subjects.
Alice and David arrived back from college and were delighted to find the others here. All are sitting together watching a television programme tonight.
This is another aspect that has impressed me with home ed youngsters. They are just friends without artificial boundaries of age or gender dividing them. These three extra teens are around Lucy’s age but the our older two are enjoying their company too without looking down on them as they are younger, as so often seems to happen in other communities. It would genuinely be the same even if the visitors had been much younger. I have seen children of all ages be friends at home ed meetings and gatherings.
Tomorrow Lucy and the three guests, will go off into Birmingham to meet another friend who has heard they are all here together and wants to join in – so tomorrow we will be nine!
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Seven teenagers in the house? It's been a pleasure. · Sunday February 4, 2007 by Ann
So what do five autonomously home educated teens do when they are here to stay for a few days?
Well seven of them if you count the older two coming and going and joining in at times.
They live life, that’s what and learn as they go along-well that and sleep if the truth be told. They sleep a lot!
So far they-and this is just what i know of;
Have met up in Birmingham and wondered round window shopping.
Had a ‘pyjama party’ last night and watched a couple of films.
Discussed racism and bullying in detail, in response to the articles written in a magazine about a recent “Big Brother” television series.
Washed up and tidied up after themselves-with a little encouragement.
Went on to discuss how children learn by example and what someone could do to change their own attitudes and reactions.
Played a variety of card games.
Listened to music and used the computers to research and find more music they liked.
Discussed why they liked each type of music.
They taught this old fogey how to transfer single files via MSN.
Discussed gender misrepresentation by the media.
Discussed Marxist theory on education.
Stayed up long after the parents in the household gave up and went to bed.
Today they;
Got up early to watch a favorite band on TV
Returned to bed for the rest of the morning to catch up in sleep.
Played with the diablo and taught each other tricks.
Been out in the sunshine for a picnic.
Made breakfast and later, lunch and cleared up afterwards.
Allowed three year old Nancy to join them when she came over for a visit. They didn’t complain and they let her involve them in her games, so she had fun and enjoyed herself.
Used the laptops to contact friends via MSN.
Updated their “My space” websites.
Played more card games.
Got out the atlas and found out where East Anglia, Norfolk and Suffolk are.
Discussed the ‘DaVinci code’ and what they each thought of the film and the book
Hired a couple of DVDs -one horror movie and one chick flick.
The horror movie to watch first followed by the chick flick so they don’t go to bed freaked out.
Made an apple crumble.
So lots of sleeping, eating and lots and lots of talking. Getting an education along the way. They are a nice bunch of people. Confident and mature. And daft as a brush and child like at times. They know how to access the information they need as they need it.
Strengthened the bonds of friendship further, that Lucy is confident enough to try out her hard earned ability to commute in written words to them when they go back home, without fear of ridicule.
Three of them will go home tomorrow and the other will stay a couple more days.
It’s been a pleasure.
On the merits and legalities of home education. · Tuesday February 6, 2007 by Ann
Well three of the visitors have gone home today-they actually ended up staying and extra night.
Jane will go home tomorrow after attending the local meeting that I organise.
She says she needs to go home to get herself packed and ready in time to go to the EO gathering on the edge of Dartmoor on Thursday!
What a lovely life.
The weather forecast is predicating another cold spell-so I’m definitely packing a hot water bottle-the teens are hoping for snow!!
Alice has come to schooling and education in her sociology course. Her teacher stated the unusual misunderstanding about school being compulsory and apparently was taken a back when Alice corrected her (politely she assures me). Alice quoted the 1996 Education Act, Section 7 to her and sparked a lively debate amongst the students who, like the lecturer, were completely unaware, that home education is a legal viable option. Alice has only just joined this group, being allowed to change as so many people in the other group she was formally assigned to, were disruptive to the class, chatting loudly all the way through. Hence this new group hadn’t had the chance to get to know her and were unaware of her previous schooling status.
Alice is going to use the conflict we meet as home educators as part of a presentation on ‘conflict’ for her General Studies course.
She has to do a power point presentation and was worried as her dyslexia can mean difficulties with words moving around on the page and seeming to ‘jump out’. Reading aloud from the power point presentation or from notes, when stressed can be very difficult indeed. However she knows all about Home Education and the law and the conflicts some home educators have with the LA and with truancy sweeps, for example, that she will be able to talk about this without having to rely on notes for more than a pointer ;o)
We have been talking about home education generally and whether they (our girls and our present visitors) will actually home educate their own children. The consensus from all, was a resounding yes, but they all intend to have a quite a life first! They all have such interesting plans for the future. I was glad to hear this, it sort of reaffirms that we have made the best choice, or at least they think we have, as one does still have panicking moments, even when they have reached teenage and are successful in what they are setting out to achieve!
We talked about different ways of home educating. As these teens are all autonomously home educated, by parents who all follow a Taking Children Seriously approach, unsurprisingly they are in favour of an interest led child centred approach, with structured work only when a child wishes. They were talking of a recent article in the EO newsletter and were able to debate the merits of the different ways to HE articulately, presenting their arguments well.
They are also aware of the up and coming Government consultations about Home Education in the UK and were interested to talk about the two new campaigning websites, the recently launched AHEd-Action for Home Education and, launched today the EO Campaign website,Freedom for Children to Grow Campaign for Home education
Our children are keen to help with the practicalities of arranging a regional workshop for EO to inform others of these matters, in the middle of next month, so were interested to see the content of this latest web page.
We have recently been writing to our MP about the subject and have been discussing how the system of having an MP as a representative in Government works. This has led to all sorts of discussions about power, democracy and justice.
We have recently become close friends with Iris and Geoff Harrison We, along with our daughters, are involved with the charity they are setting up to help dyslexics obtain all the computer software and hardware, help they need to succeed in their education. Interestingly Iris’s home education diary is featured on the new website. It is an inspiration for autonomous home educators/unschoolers everywhere -but is especially an inspiration for anyone wondering how that sort of unstructured autonomy can work for children who are severely dyslexic.
As it is Monday, Nancy has been here again today, she has had a ball, with all the attention she has received from the teenagers. She arrived clutching her play broom and when I asked if she had come to do some housework, she looked at me and said, “Don’t be silly Ann, Lucy and I are going to pay at being witches!” ;o)
Made me smile, what else would a broom be for?
She has joined in with almost everything the teenagers have done today, I have hardly got a look in with her, which is most unusual. When they went for a walk she happily went with them and they made sure to stop at the playground so she could have a go on the swings. One of the teenagers found a website with Angelina ballerina games to play and sat happily helping her with it. Nancy watched an old film with all of the teens, that our children love, that the others have never seen called “Drop Dead Fred”. It is about an imaginary friend. Lots of discussion ensued about child development after that. Nancy and I have made pancakes, one of her favourite activities and she proudly served them to her appreciative diners and this afternoon they have helped her put on a dancing show.
Nancy waved enthusiastically at them when the three of them left with their parent, shouting “Come and play again soon”
Alice came home from college in time to entertain Jane, as Lucy was off to Explorer’s again (another week gone!). Lucy needed to get to Explorers early as apparently they were going to play a life sized version of ‘Cluedo’ and she was helping to set it up.
Although Jane is technically Lucy’s friend and her older sister is Alice’s, in reality they are all just friends together. In fact Jane has spent some time with David this evening watching a television programme about teenagers practising adult lives by looking after other people’s babies. More discussion on society and the life education followed this. David had read in the paper that the Government has decided to Rip up the school timetable in order to make school education more relevant to real life for their pupils. He commented that is what home educators are doing already. David felt the teenagers in the programme would have been better equipped to cope if they had an education that equips them to live in their society. We discussed whether that sort of education was practical when in a classroom setting with 35 pupils and decided that it probably isn’t yet it is something that home educators can easily achieve.
Lucy is back from Explorers again now and stepdaughter Louise is staying over again with Nancy. They are all (except Nancy, who is fast asleep in Lucy’s room) up in Alice’s room now chatting and putting the world to rights. I definitely need a bigger house, with at least one more bathroom!!
Going back to what I said about writing to the MP, I am wondering whether to invite her to attend one of the home ed meetings locally, I am sure she would be impressed with how confident, well informed and articulate the local home educated children are. I think it would be an education for all involved.
Should be doing the packing! · Thursday February 8, 2007 by Ann
I actually blogged a long post last night, and then lost it before publishing it!
Yesterday was enjoyable but very tiring.
Took the older two to college and then went to the bank and post office to juggle money between accounts.
On my return I woke up Lucy and her friend to get then to eat and get ready for the HE meeting we run.
Just about got there in time, with everything except the milk and squash, which I discovered, I had left on the path at home! It didn’t get put into the car with everything else.
We have a meeting each month at a local activity centre. It used to be exclusively for guides and scouts and we couldn’t afford their prices, but they now have had to make themselves economically viable by opening up to other groups. We were very lucky in that the person they bought in, to over see this transition, just happened to be a home educating dad to two teens who lived on site!
The teens of course were confident, well spoken helpful and pleasant. They have made everyone in the centre very pro home ed!
We hire a group room for a general meeting and also have some sort of organised activity each month. So far we have had archery, orienteering, rock climbing, abseiling and the high ropes courses.
Yesterday we used the zip wire, which is the biggest in the country and next month we’ll be grass sledging ;o)
In the summer we hire the heated outdoor pool for the afternoon and have a BBQ afterwards.
Whilst we were there I organised to hire the venue for the EO regional workshop about the up and coming Government consultation on HE.
We also did an Encaustic Art activity and had painting and then indoor giant ‘Connect 4’ ‘jenga’ and giant chess. We have some footballs, rugby ball, skipping ropes etc from the Sainsbury sports voucher scheme.
Next month we are going to have a ‘Bring and Buy’ sale giving everyone a chance to off load some unwanted/unused resources and buy some more! We’ll also do the Hands up 4 Home Ed activity as Dawniy who is organising it will be coming to the meeting.
Lucy always helps me set up and tidy away and has the three hours in between to run around the 50 acres of lovely ground and hang out with her friends and do whatever organised activity we have.
We started this meeting to attract teens over this way. Often with home ed meetings there are younger children but no teenagers. It is a vicious circle in that, if there are no teens attending, no teens will come. And by the time they reach teenage most HE teenagers have had a go at every craft in the book, and literally have the T shirt, usually tie – dyed or hand printed!
So we felt it important to organise something that teens would be interested in. hence having an activity each month, that is suitable and attractive. Gradually the group has grown and we now have families with children of all ages attending.
Now we have a situation where as we have teens attending our meetings, we attract more teenagers to come.
I was so tired when we got home I completely forgot it was choir night for Lucy and happily allowed her to go off with Jane to meet Jane’s train home!
When I am tired my own dyslexia gets worse and my organisational abilities and short term memory can fall apart!
Lucy’s dyslexia means she never remembers what day it is and needs constant reminders of both the day and the activity that is planned. We discussed this and she has thought of a solution and found a ‘white board’ that we will use each evening to write the next days activity on and the things she will need to prepare for it.
For me, one of the big advantages of a diagnosis is that it has enabled us to accept the dyslexia, as being as real as my short sightedness and to be able to find our individual coping strategies.
Lucy was so tired when she after that, she went off to bed early after going on her laptop and ‘talking’ to her friends on MSN for a while.
Today we had a slow start. Lucy wanted to laze and read a magazine, a real achievement for someone with such severe dyslexia and she does it so often now. Lucy told me today that she still has a mental block about books and still feels “I can’t do that” when she looks at one. So we spent a while discussing that because she feels like that now, it doesn’t mean she always will. I reminded her how well she does now with reading and spelling on the pc and that she is reading all sorts of other things now.
We played card games this morning, a game that David taught me the other day, I can’t remember what he called it and also Crib. I spent a lot of time with my father playing card games when I was a child and I believe it helped with my mental maths no end.
Lucy has decided that she would like to learn more about Astrology but it is almost impossible to do living where we do-right next to the A38 and very, very close to the M42. There is so much light pollution. We talked about light pollution for a while and how it could be prevented and then we got out one of the many posters we have rolled up behind the settee. This one is an Astrology one and we looked at it for a while and decided to take it with us to Devon tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll be able to see more of the night sky there.
Lucy also commented that there is an Astrology workshop at HesFes this year, which she would like to attend, so went off to find her grandfathers binoculars.
We went shopping for food for the rest of the family, for the time we are away and for snacks for us to take with us.
On returning tonight, Lucy has gone back on her laptop and has been watching UK history before switching over for ‘Desperate housewives’ which she watched with Alice.
David and Alice both stayed over night with friends again last night
David was playing ‘fantasy role play’ games at his friends house again and Alice was out with a friend. They got up and went directly to college this morning.
Both have returned home this afternoon.
David went straight to bed to catch up on sleep and Alice has been reading her book before her saxophone teacher arrived. This has been the first sax lesson for a while as her teacher has been away. Alice decided she wanted to learn the saxophone and saved up the money to buy her own and we have funded the lessons.
David has done the same thing with the bass guitar and Lucy, of course, has singing lessons.
Alice and Lucy have decided to watch Jane Eyre now, now I have had it and am off to bed. I’ll have to get up and do my packing in the morning, before leaving to go to the EO gathering.
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Last post but will update after the Gathering. · Thursday February 8, 2007 by Ann
This will be my last post. Lucy and I are off to the EO Gathering near to Dartmoor a little later. Hopefully we’ll make it, there is snow here in Worcestershire but not down there apparently.
We are getting our gear together and will set off early and take it slowly. Tom thinks I am quite mad, but one of the advantages of living near the main roads and motorways is that I don’t have any minor roads to cope with in the snow. I’m pretty sure if we can get out of the drive and onto the main A38 we’ll be fine.
Bless him he has gone outside now to check the car over before I set off.
David and Alice are here, college is closed by the snow. Predictably David has started to do more work on his own Fantasy game, which he has written himself and is the Games Master (GM) for.
Alice is up, excited and hunting out the sledge!
She has been out already with her camera, taking lots of pictures of the snow. Photography has been one of her hobbies for a while and she has taught her self to be proficient with a ‘proper camera’ with help from another HE parent and from experience.
She has also been out with the digital camera too for instant gratification.
There is music coming from all directions in the house. I am so pleased we have neighbours who have had teenagers too! ;o)
Lucy is making a home made veg soup for us to take in a flask, to keep warm on the way. She is also in the middle of packing her clothes. Since the children are teenagers they have chosen to be responsible for packing their own clothes for trips away, making my life so much easier. They have learnt from their mistakes but Lucy still just runs through what she needs for a trip away, with me before we leave, to make sure she has remembered all the clothes she will be likely to need. I’ll gather up and pack the rest.
We live in a smallish house and packing for HE camps was a nightmare, as the gear was kept all over the house before. Now however we have a trailer tent and all the camping gear lives permanently in that.
Although we have been home educating for six years, this actually the first EO Gathering that I have been to! Our children have been to several, individually, attending with other lovely parents acting as their responsible adults. I have of course done the same thing for others at camps that I have attended.
It just usually happens that the EO Gatherings coincide with me working. I could have attended the Gathering at camp in Leicestershire last year, but all the rain and mud put me off (I had had enough of that at HesFes05!) Instead the girls went together, with friends.
I’m looking forward to this one, despite the snow. I have just talked to my cousin who lives down that way, on MSN and she assures me there is no snow there and none predicated. So if we can get past Bristol, we’ll be fine.
Since we live an autonomous lifestyle, with our teenagers choosing to make their own decisions about their lives and education, as far as is possible, this has over spilled into taking care of themselves in every day life. They know we are there to help and advise and facilitate, at any time they want us to. They each get themselves up, or they don’t, as they choose. They do their home work or they don’t, as they choose. My stepson questioned this at the beginning, “How can they possibly be ready for real life and having a job, if they are not made to do school?”
Our answer, was that they will get up when they need to, if they are interested enough to do it. They will do their home work, getting information and help where needed if they are motivated enough to do it. This is exactly how it has turned out. David and Alice sort themselves out for college-although they know we’ll help if asked at any time, with home work or with getting a lift if the alarm hasn’t gone off.
They both chose to get themselves a Saturday job and are conscientious about getting there on time and being organised for it, with little help from us. They go and do it because they choose to and are motivated to do so.
They each wash and care for their own clothes anyway now, along with their own bedding. This came about as they each got their own room. If they don’t want me to be in there (and they usually don’t) tidying etc, then they are responsible for keeping things clean and tidy. They each have their own bedding that they have chosen and they keep the spare set in their rooms.
They decorated their own rooms (with a little help when requested). They worked out how much paint they would need and chose the colours within the budget they had been given.
They have bought rugs and cushions to their chosen colour scheme and have made them very homely.
The rooms do get untidy sometimes, but we no longer do anything about it. It simply has nothing to do with me. We have all been very pleased with the results. Since they have each had their own rooms many arguments have stopped. Before the girls shared a room and if Alice had tidied up, she got very cross if Lucy left anything out and vice versa. And each has a regular clear out as they like the rooms looking nice.
This is so much better a way for us, than the way things used to be, especially when Thomas my stepson lived here. I would nag for him to tidy up and get so exasperated when he didn’t. When the children were small I would, to my shame now, threaten that anything left out on the floor would get put in the rubbish bag. This just caused distress and more arguments.
Nowadays Tom and I have a room, which is our sanctuary and each of the youngsters have theirs. They are welcome into our room, they choose to knock before coming in as they ask that we do when going to their rooms, but come and go as they want to. To be honest, it is still a real pleasure when one of our teenagers comes in and lies on the bed and shares something with us, maybe something about their life, or something they are interested in, or to ask a question or discuss a theory they have, because they want to ;o)
I wish I had known about this before, I would have embraced co sleeping, continuum parenting and TCS from the beginning and saved myself a lot of heartache. I thank goodness for finding out about home education and meeting people, who led me to question the way I do things and have helped me arrive in a place in my life, where we can do things differently.
Tom and I have been on as much of a journey as the children, in fact we have probably come a lot further!
Some one asked me the other day whether I ever felt “stuff TCS?”
I have thought about this since and can honestly say that I find that a ‘Taking Children Seriously’ philosophy and lifestyle using the concepts of Common Preferences and Non -coercion IS THE way that works best for our family. This way, we have teens who are take responsibility for themselves and also choose to make living in an environment of five (and sometimes more) people something that can be pleasurable for everyone.
There is no division between life and learning. Happy people live in our house. I have lived here when it was a place with stressed, anxious teens and young children, who have been schooled because that is what we thought was the only way. We made them conform to the ‘norm’ of our society and we argued and had a very stressful, often unhappy life.
We all prefer life here now.
Tom’s back now from sorting out the car, so we’ll set off.
I will update this entry on our return, so that I can blog about the actual Gathering, so look out for that after Tuesday.
In the meantime someone else will be taking over the blog next week and I wish her as much enjoyment as I have had and I look forward to reading how HE works for another family
;o)
See you after the Gathering.
UPDATE after Okehampton Gathering;
Lucy and I arrived home on Tuesday-separately as I had to go via Head Office and Lucy returned with a friend directly home.
We have had a really enjoyable time.
I have got to know a lot of new people and reacquaint myself with people I already knew. One of the ladies helping to organise the new EO campaign website, I discovered i already knew in real life!
She and I have met and chatted at several camps and Lucy is friends with her daughter. We have seen each other on various lists and had no idea that we knew each other in real life too as we have never swapped email addresses! LOL!
The gathering was held at Okehampton YHA a converted ‘railway goods shed’ It was immediately next to a Steam Railway Station and over the weekend we saw steam trains fired up, which greatly pleased several of the small children (and some dads)!
There were lots of individual family rooms, so Lucy and I had our own room, with just two beds in, which I was pleased about. It was warm and had good basic facilities.
The atmosphere was friendly and relaxed and the food was good. Either veggie or vegan food was provided, so we were both happy (even vegan chocolate cake!)
As predicted there was no snow down in Devon, but a few friends didn’t make it as they were snowed in at home. However enough of Lucy’s friends arrived there to keep her happy.
The YHA was a great base to set off and see something of Dartmoor, which is always fabulous, whatever the weather.
Lucy went off for several walks with her friends, but mostly they didn’t stray from the town as it rained on and off all weekend.
I attended the open council meeting but missed the AGM as I gave someone a lift to Exeter station.
The meeting was interesting but went on for rather a long time.
I attended the EO Consultation Campaign Regional Workshop on the Sunday. That was very helpful, a sort of basic guide on what home educators can do about the up and coming Government consultation on HE.
I am going to help organise the regional one in Worcestershire on 31st March (details will be posted on campaign website, when the venue is confirmed), so I wanted to be sure to attend this one, so I could just sit and listen.
I asked Lucy for her comments to post here and she said she “met friends old and new, enjoyed the atmosphere, facilities and surroundings and would definitely go again!”
I’d second all of that and look forward to the next time.
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Back again-and catching up. · Tuesday July 24, 2007 by Ann
I’m back again, I have blogged here for a month before, if you are new to the blog you can see my previous entries starting here
Since last I was here we have been very busy.
Lucy went to a week’s residential stay with the choir she sings with at Easter. They were singing all week and had a fabulous time and then played a couple of gigs on the way home. Whilst staying at Dunfield House the choir recorded a CD, details can be found on Stream of Sound
and the choir can be heard on their myspace
In May, Lucy and I went to a local home ed group holiday near to Monmouth, where we shared Biblins Youth Centre with about 34 other home educators-and some brave souls who camped there! It rained all week, but still we managed to do a fair old amount of canoeing and kayaking. Some adults laid a flour trail and we had a treasure hunt and there was also lots of walks, cycling and playing in the woods.
Despite the dreadful weather we had a wonderful time.
I think I will be saying that for every camp we went to!
In June we went to Peak Camp which is held in a very beautiful spot at Beresford Dale near to a village called Hartington We spent a week there with a crowd of home educating friends and had a good time. The weather was fabulous at the beginning of the week, with everyone passing the suntan cream but by midweek everything had changed to the weather we are beginning to expect for this summer.
We just about had time to wash all the mud off before we set of for HesFes 2007 part 1 As a family we love HesFes and this time, our whole family came, our three children plus my three stepchildren and my step grandchildren. We loved it from beginning to end-there is something for all ages every day.
And of course we enjoyed the music-but one of my highlights of the week was the children’s cabaret. Children get to put themselves down to perform if they want to. You end up with a wide cross section of people performing-from three year olds singing ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’, serious violin players, teenagers performing funny sketches and all sorts. It is fabulous!
Youngest daughter finally sang at the cabaret after four years of just watching-and got an enormous amount of support from the lovely audience. She did the same the following year and then last year the organisers gave her her own solo slot one of the evenings. The support she got from the crowd was fantastic and after that she started to appear in festivals elsewhere.
This year ‘Lucy’ sang again, but this time she had a solo spot and one with the band she sings with-and then they were asked to perform on Radio HesFes on the last night, which was broadcast live on the internet. Opportunities and support like this give confidence and change lives-it is now pretty certain that Lucy will make her living as a singer in some form or other.
And then the girls and I have just returned from the EO gathering here
A lovely campsite, where we pitched the tents in sheltered clearings in the woods-sheltered but muddy-and we were there all week last week so it got wetter and muddier as the week went by! Still it didn’t seem to dampen the girls enthusiasm though!
Apart from all of the trips away time has flown by at home. Alice quit FE college after they completely failed to provide her with the extra help for her specific learning difficulties- we were very disappointed with the level of support actually provided.
It seems that the college are well able to cope with David’s level of dyslexia, but seem to fail completely with anything more complex.
Still it has been lovely to have Alice at home again, with Lucy, dh and I. She has enjoyed the freedom to learn in your own way, that home education offers, again-as well as the freedom to come to camps!
Alice is reassessing her needs for the future and the choices available. Once again she is looking closely at the Open University, which is what Lucy will be using. They are both quite excited on looking up the choices of courses available.
David has completed his A levels at FE college now and we await the results in August. He has continued with his part time job throughout and intends now to get a full time job, move into a flat nearby with a friend, live a little and then consider going to university, when he has decided what course he would really like to study.
So it has been a very busy time -I have enjoyed all of the camps and gatherings, but they didn’t seem very relaxing!
Musical gig.......and THE Consultation · Wednesday July 25, 2007 by Ann
The girls have gone off to Manchester, where Lucy and the band she sings with have a gig tonight.
This is the second time the band has played at this place and she is really looking forward to it. The band is made up of three home educated and formally home educated lads, who Lucy joined just a few months ago. They are very talented musically and each play a number of instruments and they write their own songs. I am feeling a little funny as this is the first time I have ever missed an occasion where Lucy has been performing. Unfortunately this time the date has coincided with me having to work-still with her sister and friends there, Lucy will enjoy herself anyway.
This morning I have been looking at the Government’s consultation on home education guidelines. I know that many other home education blogs have been talking about this, but thought it was worth mentioning here, for everyone to make up their mind as to whether they want to make a personal response.
The Government have consulted on home education before-in 2005, but on that occasion would only allow responses from organisations and so there were many responses from LEA’s asking for more regulation of home education and pro home education responses from just three or four organisations.
This time however individuals and organisations can respond. Considering there are thought to be up to 40,000 home educators in this country the number of people responding so far totals only 370-and this probably includes all 150 or so local Authorities!!
More details on what to say, how to respond and example responses are to be found on Freedom for Children to Grow
The response to a FOI request from a veteran home educator to the DFES about correspondence on the subject of home education clearly show what the Government had in mind for us -this comment is representative of the content;
“I am working on a consultation, which will propose introducing compulsory registration and monitoring for home education (as well as clearer standards which home educators will have to meet)”.
The full results of the FOI requests are available to read on the AHEd wiki pages and are IMHO scary reading!
So the Government clearly intended that we should be registered, monitored and made to attain the standards they dictate.
For some reason they have held back from doing so at this time-BUT THAT MAY CHANGE, depending on the responses they get-and LA’S ARE DEMANDING THAT CHANGE!
If standards are bought in-how will we be made to fit?
Whilst one can only guess at what they mean by standards, I can imagine that my youngest child not starting to read until the age of 13, would not meet them!
What consideration of her very severe dyslexia, which the school had totally failed to recognise or the fact that she left school after just under 5 years of their standards and was completely unable to read or spell a single word, would be taken is not known and I don’t want to chance it.
Through autonomous home education that child’s education has run ahead, whilst waiting for reading and spelling to catch up-which it has done, now aged 14 she can do both well. She is bright, confident, well educated, happy and a completely different person from the scared child who had no self belief and who thought herself stupid and ugly and worthless. That is what LA standards did for Lucy.
With this kind of Government/LA interference would the outcomes we have achieved have been the same? I fear that many LA Inspectors are trained and experienced in schooling models and would not/do not understand autonomous home based education, practised by many families that we know personally. This type of education will simply not lend itself to any type of imposed monitoring and measurements of progress and standards.
I also noticed that one of the suggested regulations somewhere revealed with the FOI requests was ‘that children must be given opportunity to socialise with his or her peer group’. Now I know of families, with children who have special needs-some with an Asperger type diagnosis and some with health related conditions like CFS, for whom big meetings or other situations where they have the opportunity to socialise with peers would not suit their child.-and I think they need to ask, do you wish for some outside body to dictate when and where and how often your child be made to socialise?
I also am really concerned as to how my children would have reacted if they had been made to see an outside professional who was there to assess their progress, particularly in the early days when they first were deregistered from school and we were struggling to help them regain their self belief and self confidence.
Please think again if you have decided that these consultations do not affect you. They are not just for people who have chosen to HE they are also for people like my family, who were forced into this-even though it has now become a lifestyle choice. Every home educating family is doing this because for one reason or another the ‘standards’ set in the schooling systems do not fit with our families, for whatever reason!
If you do nothing else please fill in the box at the end and say this!
Please be clear, this present consultation on guidelines may only be the first step-the Government, in response to the LA insistence may yet say that this consultation led them to believe there IS a case for closer monitoring/regulation etc.
Many responses from the LA’s are in already-and we have evidence that the woman who is collating them is reading every single one as they come in- and we wonder how much she is influenced by them as she seems to have no real experience of home education or family life herself.
It is now up to everyone of us to respond-the consultation ends on 31st July.
Your children can respond-they are stakeholders and so can supportive family members-my mom has responded!
Don’t be put off by the form, fill in what you can but you can just tick the ‘not sure’ response if necessary but here is a additional comments box at the end and this is where you get a chance to say, why home education free from regulation and monitoring is vital for you and your family.
There are suggested responses for you to look at-but your personal words and stories-BY THE HUNDREDS-is what will make the difference here. We MUST counter and out number the response coming in from the LA’s-or we may have seemed to have won one battle but we will loose the war.
Numbered together we can make a difference -but we must each respond to make it effective.
Phew! · Monday July 30, 2007 by Ann
Have had a busy few days.
Whilst the girls were away Tom and I took the opportunity to go off to see DieHard4 at the cinema. We really enjoyed it and as we went on an Orange Wednesday we got two of us in for £6! A real bargain! The children and their HE friends often take advantage of this deal too-especially in term time. We saw the new Harry Potter film for the same price and the cinema was practically empty as went in the day before the schools broke up!
When we first started to home educate, nearly seven years ago, it seemed we would have little time alone together as a couple. It didn’t really matter, as the sacrifices to ensure the children are happy again, were worth it. We didn’t really think we would have much time to ourselves until we had finished home educating our youngest. The reality has been quite different though. As our children have mixed more and more with others in the HE community, they have spent time with their friends, at activities and at their friends houses. Then at other times, their friends come and spend time with us (more on this later). We find as they get older this is happening even more and we often find we have time alone together nowadays. Nowadays we seem to value the times when our family are actually all in one place as that is what is increasingly rare!
The girls came back from Manchester, the band did really well at their gig and were offered another-but can’t do it as they are all going to the Big Green Gathering later this week. Still they do have other dates coming up.
The girls are going to the gathering with another home educating family that we know and will meet with other friends there too.
Everything has to be carried in from the main entrance, there is no vehicular access, so we are busy cutting down on weight of their camping gear as much as possible. We managed to get a reasonably light 4 man tent off Ebay and they tried it out at the home ed camps. Today I managed to get a small ‘Billy Can” for them to cook with. They will be taking my single burner stove, spare gas cylinders and some dried food, so that I am sure that they can have a hot cooked vegan meal each day. There will apparently be a Farmers Market at the gathering, so they will be able to supplement their diet with plenty of fresh fruit, which they love.
We were rather concerned about spending money for this camp-as we seem to have been going through money like water lately. Then my lovely Granny died at the ripe old age of 98. She had been a very active independent woman for almost the whole of her life and she was very much loved by our children and involved in their lives. She didn’t have a lot to leave but there was a bequest of £200 each for each of her great grandchildren and the request that they should spend it having fun, in memory of her. Alice and Lucy are taking some of it to the gathering as spending money and saving the rest towards a trip abroad next year with friends. I am certain they will have enormous fun with it and think of Madge often.
Lucy’s friend Laura had come back with us from the Leicester EO camp, so that she could go up to the gig, as did Alice’s friend Fiona. Laura and Fiona stayed over another night and then returned home via train on Friday. The house has been very crowded again as one of David’s friends stayed over and Tom’s brother Richard is back on holiday from the Philippines and staying with us for a holiday!
I bet you all imagining that we have a huge house, but it isn’t like that at all- we live in a very modest sized semi! Fortunately since we rearranged the rooms a few months back, all the children have room for a friend to stay in their rooms. The queue for the bathroom does get a little long at times though!
On Saturday Lucy and I went over to my mothers and helped her paint her living room. Once again we discussed the surface area of the walls to be painted and worked out approximately how much paint to be used. Maths in real life seems to make so much more sense to Lucy, than problems written on a page. Needless to say we were covered in paint by the time we were finished, but we did feel we had done a good job.
Mom had sorted out a lot of my dad’s musical tapes and offered them to us to play in our car. Alice and Lucy have got a very eclectic taste in music and so Lucy kept some Country music, Sixties compilations, Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, Jazz, some classical music and some Johnnie Cash!! The rest we have taken to the local Oxfam music and book shop. We get a lot of books and music from that shop-it was nice to donate some back!
Alice went out on Saturday night to a party with her half sister Louise, but Lucy was glad to stay at home with us and recover from our hard work-and played a lot of the tapes!
David was off out at work and then he went on to a friends birthday party.
On Sunday i began work on our local home ed group’s response to the guidelines Consultation. Taking the views of other members of the group it took me a good few hours to compile, whilst cooking a Sunday lunch and advising the girls on organising the tent for the camp (we have only just got the mud washed off and dried it from the last camp!)
I was also on hand to help Lucy as she was playing on a maths website, after deciding she has to focus more on her maths. She was playing lots of geometrical games.
Then my brother in law Richard was taken ill and an he was advised by NHS direct to call an ambulance! Richard has the same blood clotting condition as Tom and the girls and has suffered a heart attack before. We had a initial response car arrive first and then an ambulance arrived and took Richard to hospital.
Apparently he has accumulated water on his lungs again-but after some treatment IV was discharged home-at nearly midnight!!
We had an impromptu Human Biology lesson again-all about circulation and the functions of the heart and lungs. The girls are always interested in human biology and that relates to blood clotting is very relevant to them.
My step granddaughter Nancy has been here all day today. We have been playing on the PC, on the Cbeebies site. Then Lucy and Nancy made some little sponge cakes and made a chocolate icing for them. We went off to our local town later on, to do a bit of shopping and to go to the bank to pay in some money before the end of the month. Lucy went all around the banks in our local town asking about interest rates and benefits of opening a children’s account. She finally chose a different bank to the one we use and opened an account (and put in the rest of the money from Great Granny Madge). Lucy actually wants to have a Co-op bank account as he main bank account, as she judges them to be more ethical in their investments-something that is very important to her. Unfortunately the nearest Co-op bank is in Birmingham and so not easily accessed. As she has begun to travel more, we need to be able to get to her bank easily and put money in-if she were to need more when she is away. We did this on a weekly basis for her sister Alice when she was away sailing for the whole summer, a couple of years ago. As the band Lucy sings with a ll live about 70 miles away, we know she will be away with them more often, as well as staying with home ed friends. There have been occasions in the past when she has needed money unexpectedly and has had to borrow some. Having a bank account will mean we can send money to her if necessary.
David has been home developing his Fantasy Role Playing Game where he is Games Master and tonight he has gone over to play through the night with some of his home educated and college mates. He’ll come back in time for work tomorrow.
Step daughter Louise has joined us overnight and she and Alice and Lucy are in the process of making some more cakes as they all have an urge to eat something very sweet!
I finally got the local group’s response to that Consultation completed and submitted, late this evening and we got a response number 641! We are getting there. If you still have not responded, please consider doing so before it ends tomorrow. Every response will count! I’ll be so pleased to see the back of this consultation, but do hope we have done enough as a community to make a difference!
