Any nods to the ed of home ed then? There have been a few, albeit rather half-hearted. They're the sort of nods of acknowledgement you'd give a friend's son's friend's mum when you wheel past each other in the fruit aisle at Sainsbury's. We've plugged on with maths (almost) daily and our weekly literacy and Art/DT have remained mostly in tact.
Interesting developments though. W is doing fine but doesn't thrive on the lack of structure and is looking forward to a proper timetable in September.
K, on the other hand, has had a bit of a meltdown.
I've seen a lot of discussions on the forums about how essential many families find a de-schooling period when they leave mainstream schooling. For some it's a permanent state and defines their home education. The LA use the term as well; in the HE community I'm taking it to mean a complete departure from organised education and a focus on the child following their own interests at their own pace. So you could say that this summer holidays, we've de-schooled.
Picture a typical summer's day: playing in the garden, a bit of baking, writing a letter, making lego. Pick a minuscule, irrelevant trigger - anything will do: 'no' to the TV being on / W touched K's swing / assigning chores. Cue a highly-out-of-proportion tantrum from a 9 year old.
K goes off to his room to calm down and I head up after a cooling off period to see if we can get to the bottom of the episode. I just sat and listened and a lot of stuff came out. A volcano of hurt and upset:
Missing his friends desperately (the ones who have moved away). Being pushed out of the huddle at PE. Always being the one to step aside. Never being captain. Not fitting in. Being invisible. Having his hand up and not being picked.
I've been judgmental about a more relaxed approach to HE thinking we didn't need a de-schooling period. Longer term, our family will still need structure. But I'm feeling humble about the benefits of taking the pressure off completely.
My little boy needs a break.
