Yes, home education can be tiring

And it some days it feels like you don't get anywhere.


But exploring the places we find uncomfortable can mean we learn more, grow wiser, have more perspective, become better at managing change and difficulty, than if we just sat and did nothing.

School can be a big source of tension

If it is, remove it. You'll find many different ways become possible.

Everyday we can try something new

I want to make a wooden horse.
OK.

We have time to make the little things

We have a passion for learning

Because learning and life are inseparable. What joy to live both flamboyantly.

Does an education happen to a child?

Or do they go out and get it?

Our children have time to think

And what a precious time that is.

Imagine a world, where we do not question what we're told

How many school rules translate to an adult life? Walk on the left? Enter by this door only? Sit here? Maybe one rule: Do not question authority. Maybe we should question it more often.

Waiting for class to begin

Normal behaviour, wouldn't you say? (And our class size here is twelve, thanks.)

We spend a lot of time not judging ourselves

Oh go on then. I give myself 10 out of 10. And all my kids too. They get 10 out of 10 as well.

There's not one 'right' way to do something

Find your own way. And if it goes wrong?


If you never make mistakes, you never make anything.

Really, who'd say no to a classroom like this?

We keep our minds open

Better to catch those new ideas.

When we're engaged and involved, we learn best

We do stuff. We get involved. We become actors in the event. However you want to say it, we participate. We engage our bodies and minds. How interactive can a whiteboard get?

So much time is wasted in school

There's the administration, the waiting, the collation of materials, the waiting, the distribution of materials, the waiting, the announcements, the waiting, the preparation of 30 people, the waiting, the clearing up from 30 people, the waiting. And then there's the disciplining of the one child in the class who takes all the teacher time. Quite frankly, why bother?

Positive lessons do not always come in positive ways

Sometimes we have to think through what it is we'd like to learn.

A child can learn more in five minutes than five hours

Wouldn't you say that's the same as an adult? If you want to learn it, need to know it, take the trouble and go find it out for yourself, then it stays with you.


More than can be said for my memory of Mrs Davies' Maths class.

Life lessons come in all shapes and sizes

We can't predict what those lessons will be, nor when they will come at us. We stay open minded, alive to all possibility. That's an exciting way to live a life.

At the end of the workshop, no assessment

Instead, let's have that thoughtful discussion, over ice cream.

We expect our education...

...never to be over.


I'd say that's a healthy attitude to learning.

The education we wanted wasn't there...

So we made it.

Dirt was made for kids to play in

I'm not saying I want to get rid of the washing machine, mind.

You don't have to be rich or privileged to home educate

But imaginative, yes, to think differently.

Cost?

Second-hand, third-hand, home-made, resourceful, recycled, imaginative, borrowed, loaned from the library, eligible for group rate, student rate, educational discount. And we can always find an outdoor science lesson for free.

No ban on conkers, cycling, climbing trees, or running in the playground

We believe it's healthier to assess the risks, think through the scenarios, plan ahead, then take the jump.

Outdoor the sun shines, the birds sing

No stuffy, crowded classrooms for us, thanks.

'What did you do at school today?'

Lunchtimes are civilized

We don't ask permission to do what we do, or go where we go

No school hours, no school timetable, no school days, no school terms. Just living, and learning.

Thank goodness we don't follow the National Curriculum

Because I bet nowhere in that tombstone does it say, Play with repeating parrot for six hours.