Well here's yet another blog

I wondered if I could blog this blog often as I have quite a few blog type things!

BTW I home educate - yep I teach my children at home which, at the moment, is perfectly legal. Why not school? We (I say we but my husband works, so really it's me at home) home educate for various reasons.

Withdrawing (two different withdrawings)

Originally we withdrew our youngest son out of school because he was moved to reception from nursery two terms too early and he couldn't cope. At the time we didn't realise he was autistic (we didn't know much about autism at the time). Looking back I can see now how he exhibited signs of it, but we were ignorant of such things. We met up with the head teacher who reassured us that every child is an individual - until we mentioned that we believed our son was moved up too early and couldn't cope with the work to which his response was - "Every other child is coping!" So much for each child being an individual. The head would also come up to me after school and say - "well your son is a bit weird isn't he?" Ummm very professional of him! The last straw came in May 2000 when we decided to withdraw him from school a week before half term - the response we got from the head? "That will be helpful because we have very important visitors coming to the school next week!" That guy sure needed a few lessons in tact and diplomacy! Well that was it - May 2000 we withdrew our youngest son from school and have never looked back! While our youngest was in school he wouldn't look at anybody, his speech and communication skills were poor and his behaviour was one of defiance. He was very withdrawn.

Changes

The changes were gradual, but they were noticable too! Our youngest started to give us eye contact and was less defiant. He began to be able to write his name and recognise words. One day while we were having lunch he turned to me and said - "Mummy I really love you!". Well, my heart could have melted - our little defiant boy who wouldn't talk to anyone, always looked at the floor could now look at me and say that! WOW progress - it was amazing! Over time he has become very sociable, he's 14 now and is trying out his 'wit' on everyone!

Objections

When we first said we were going to withdraw our son, a friend came up to us and said "I think you're doing the wrong thing!" After 6 months he had the humility to come up to me and say "I was wrong, it's the best thing you could have done!"

We still get objections and snide/poking comments off people but they are ignorant of what home education is!

Religion

A lot of people think that home educators are religious fundamentalists who want to brain-wash their children. Well, we originally withdrew our youngest son (and then our eldest after a year) not for religious reasons (although we are born again Christians), but really for practical reasons. As the years have passed I now believe that from a Biblical point of view Christ-centred Christian education is what God wants all of our children to have (if we're Christians I mean). I believe it is in obedience to His word and will that we home educate our children. If they choose to become Christians then that would be fab, if they don't - we have done our bit as parents and there comes a point where they have to choose their own paths in life! We leave it up to God!

Qualifications

We are following a curriculum which is in the process of being registered with the QCA - despite not being fully registered a wide range of universities accept the certificates for entry into their establishments.

Socialisation

I just had to comment on this because this is the first thing people say! When I was in college I studied sociology and in about 1976 Cotgrove wrote this (it is paraphrased a bit) "Socialisation is the way in which society builds itself into our thinking, acting and believing" Why do people mention socialisation as an attack on home educators? Well it's because communication and getting along with people are a huge part of life - you have to come across people in all walks of life! Just because a child is taught at home it doesn't mean they cannot communicate or build relationships with people. I wish I could hire a huge room and put 100 home educated children and 100 schooled children into it and see how they get along socially because I can guarantee that the home educated children will be as sociable if not have greater articulation verbally etc than their schooled counterparts. The socialisation argument is a fallacious one as schools only put their kids into peer groups whereas home educated children mix with diverse age ranges of people. When a home educated child leaves home they are far greater equipped to deal with people of all ages than those who have gone through a peer-centred system!

OK that's enough for now - watch this space for my thoughts etc in the future...