Happy holidays

Perks of home educating include not scrambling to get up every morning, teaching fractions with cereal and cake and holidaying whenever we want. There are plenty others of course but these are some of our favourites.

Having just come back from a lovely, sunny, warm and out of season trip to Turkey I appreciate just how lucky we are. Lucky that we have been able to achieve this sort of holiday for the very first time. That we were able to be with all of our children. That we have our own business that now lets us make these choices and allows us to work on the beach!!

But coming back and wading through the washing and settling back to normality has my head thinking in a "oooo, but what are we doing, learning, planning" way. Struggling with supporting the teen with exams we don't quite believe in and thinking we must do SOMETHING because we've been doing NOTHING for months.

We must have learnt something on holiday? A trip to a new country. Well there's a new language we've all been trying to get our heads around. And staying with our new Turkish in-laws means we get the full submersion technique! Learning with pointing and hand gestures is fun. But we also learn also about the history of the language and the country. What it means to live in a country straddling east and west. While there the news grew much more serious for the people living along the border with Syria and thoughts turn to the young men that now form a part of our family as well as theirs that have yet to complete the required national service. Of course we have not written these things down. What they have seen and heard will vary with their ages. What they retain will be different too.













I'm hoping their memories will be as happy as mine full of sunshine, history, food and the warmth of people only too happy to share their home, family and time.


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Oh, I don't know.

So I bought the text books, set books, York notes, paper, pens.

The teen requested them. He has a plan.

We've made ourselves available to support and encourage.

We shall attend open evenings, meet with teachers and check out Alevel syllabuses.

But I really don't know about these bloody GCSEs.

It seems that now he HAS to read The Great Gatsby he doesn't really want to. Instead of enjoying where the story might go he's looking at every single passage waiting for the next metaphor to show itself and trying squirrel away minute details in case it's important later. While away on holiday he read every other book he'd taken and a couple of his brothers too. He read approximately 40pages of Gatsby. This is the boy who has happily read Dickens for fun, waded through Hardy for kicks and would spend hours and lots of cash in a secondhand bookstore coming out arms full of old poetry books.

And it's not just the English lit course. The maths is fine, it's a case of working through it, he finds it easy and it gets done. But it's not fun. It already feels like a waste of time. We know it's just for show. He doesn't want to study maths and he knows all he is likely to need to be able to live. The geography too, picked because of all the restrictive courses the GCSEs provide it looked quite interesting. He's now not so sure. He really can see for himself the "learn this bit, remember this bit, regurgitate this bit in exam" nature of them.  But he needs to make up the numbers. Or so he thinks. And we don't know really. Local anecdotal evidence says that some tutors welcome students who are interested, studious, enquiring and enthusiastic. Others look at you blankly as if they'd never ever heard of such a thing as home educating and now they do know are wondering why on earth you'd do such a thing to your child and also why do you think you could possibly think you'd get on their Alevel course without 15 GCSEs.


And so we're playing the game for now. Talking to colleges, going along and hoping to find that one person who will actually talk to him and ask what's he's reading, writing, doing and then listen. Hoping that maybe just four GCSE results,  a portfolio of work and recommendations from music centre teachers might just swing it.

But right now I'd like to say stuff the exams! Take a chance on a kid who just likes to read. Because in the end no one cares how many bloody GCSEs are on your CV.

Summer memories

We are sat at the table. Maths worksheets in front of two, conquer maths in front of another and the teen squirrelled away in his room hopefully working out what we shall be reading first from his igcse syllabus.

We've got that September feeling.

Well, I've got that September feeling. But they're humouring me! We are making a concerted effort with getting our maths skills to a better level. I still struggle with my own confidence where maths is concerned and I don't want to pass the fear on. We do lots of practical skills, measuring, baking, DIY and games but we think we should make a bigger effort getting our mental maths and times table skills. Our grown up girlie has been telling them how she doesn't know hers and she almost took A level maths!

But we won't be here for long. Half an hour and they'll be off. Or maybe not. We're researching for a trip to Turkey in a couple of weeks and we've been looking at where we are heading and basic information about Turkey as a country. We've never taken a holiday like this, on a plane! Always camping or staying in a cottage here or maybe France or Germany. It's exciting!

And For us this is how home ed seems to work best. Focusing on things we feel need a bit of attention, be it because of an exam, a show or even because we as the parents feel its important or because they just really want to. And then we also have the space to explore, to play, to rest. To head to the park or read a new book.

And this is what our summer has been like really.Just without the added maths. We've been lucky to have some time away camping and meeting up with friends. We've chilled out at home. Celebrated some birthdays. Home ed for us doesn't really start or stop, as adults we know we can learn something new at anytime we need or choose to and choosing to educate otherwise as a family is much the same for us.

So although I have that September feeling and the days are getting shorter, I'm embracing it! It's giving us the impetus to try new ways, think about new topics to learn about and new challenges to tackle. The room of doom has been given a once over and books changed around. And we're sitting at the table doing maths!

Now to encourage a bit of writing and my head will definitely feel like it's winning!!!

Also, a few photos. So we don't forget the fun we've had.























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Summer holidays? Never!

It may well be the summer holidays for those of a schooly inclination, for us us it's always about the learning. Well, apart from when we're not. So forgetting for a moment the days where everyone is so happily engrossed in something I can practically ignore the children and read or sew or crochet or whatever and call it autonomous learning, remember that life is learning and we can squeeze educational benefit from our everyday tasks and challenges.

For instance the topic of this weeks learning shall be wholly relating to our annual trip to the fabulous Camp Bestival. We can tick off all our learning boxes and they (kids) won't have a clue!

I give you the following examples.

Q1, How will family Phillips manage to transport 4 adults, 4 children (varying sizes and ages), 1 baby to Camp Bestival, with 2 cars and 1 roof box, stopping on route to pick up 2 more children?

Q2, How many pairs of pants can each person take to cover 4 festival days and 6 more camping in Cornwall, taking into consideration the above information?

Q3, How long will it take family Phillips to reach its Lulworth Castle destination? Factor in baby feeding, changing, crying, wee stops, coffee stops, traffic jams and Somerset detour.

Q4, How much fuel will that be? (second thoughts don't answer that *gulp*)

Q5, Can you program the Sat Nav so that it does not always want to take us round the M25 or through a field? Please, anybody?

Q6, Can you estimate how many portions of cheesy chips Mia will eat whilst being surrounded by fabulous food options?

Q7, Research the likelihood of precipitation, providing detailed water cycle and jet stream mapping. (okay so they might not do this but they can use multiple apps and get the info on an hourly basis)

Q8, How many different ways can you fold a 5m Bell tent? And then fit it back into its bag with all the poles?

Q9, You have £9.56 left in your bank account after feeding everyone at the festival for 4 days, how will you feed everyone for the next week in Cornwall?

Q10, It's Monday can you rustle up costumes appropriate to the theme "silly Olympics" in 3 days without buying more supplies?

And the list could (will) go on and on until we are wedged into the cars and heading down the road. We will have faced all manner of problems, including how we sit through another of Oliver's James Bond theme CD mixes. But it will have been worth it and who could argue with the educational validity of those questions?!!!


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So, yes, we too saw the torch.

Did it fill our minds with thoughts of athletic prowess? Community spirit? What it takes for a young person to fulfil their dream?

Sadly no.

We waited an hour, saw a huge convoy of advertising trucks, police outriders and a cheer bus with, as the teen described, the smiliest Morrisey lookalike trying to whoop the crowd into torch frenzy. It was drizzling, that didn't happen.

Our torch bearer ran. Ran like the wind past us all. Past the young school children with their hand made torches. Past gaggles of mums, toddlers in pushchairs waving damp flags happily. Older school kids let off so that they might witness the spectacle for themselves. Office workers, old folk and of course us.



We ate our sandwiches while waiting. Chatting about what we might see. We'd been expecting huge crowds, but at the top of the high street we found a spot.





We learned valuable lessons of hold that spot and jump up and down if you're feeling chilly. We talked properly about people who'd been picked to participate in the relay and what it might mean to them.





Davy had his camera and went into covert picture taking mode, making the most of the different people out on the streets. Surely adding something to his portfolio, see, time well spent. He wasn't convinced.





And we brought a baby along for the ride too. Multi generational experiences. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. It's nearly time. Look here are the police.





And a sponsor truck. Cause it's important, the money, you know.
















And more police. Come on, come on.





And oooo yes, here it is, oh, it's gone.

Our only shot. No idea who the super fast young man was. And here is the problem. We all saw the soft drink sponsor, the phone Sponsor, the support crews, security teams and police officers. We saw the singing and dancing bus asking if we're ready. And we were, properly ready to witness something that could bring this strange community together along the desolate high street of a struggling town. But we don't know why the man had the honour of running for his community, county, country. Educationally we were able to talk about flags, patriotism, sponsorship deals, why we needed security and all sorts of other questions. But the young minds in my educational care were bemused and disappointed. I couldn't answer all of their questions. I had no idea of this persons great deed. He could have been a hero to them, he may have already given much to his community or overcome great hurdles in his life.

I know that not everyone's experience has been like this. We know of a lady in a neighbouring town given the honour because of her services to teaching and running music services. She walked, waved, smiled, hugged and posed her way through her walk. Students and families she had touched for 20+ years came out to support her and share in the moment. As for us, well perhaps the poor chap was playing catch up! All we know is the games favourite drink.

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I blame the rain.

Well we all are aren't we?

The lack of informative blog updates.
The general malaise.
The slugs eating half my salad veg (and the rest the next day)
The depressing light that makes me feel like its still March.
The way none of us is up for a jaunt further than the local library or a mates house.

Or maybe it's not. Perhaps I jinxed myself so badly with my last post that not only have I been unable to write, I've been unable to motivate those around me into action either. Blogging totally gone!

As a record for home educating it's not so full of the day to days. However, I know this is okay! Truly it is.

Because I've got a secret. I go to other places. I post photos on instagram and follow interesting people on twitter. Our life spilling further into the crazy Internet world where it can mingle with others doing the same. Where, I can sneak a peak at other peoples lives, different and yet alike. Struggling, thinking, laughing and sharing all the different things I'm/we're interested in. You can find us all around, those enjoying this "alternative" lifestyle. Not just blogging away the minutiae of our days in the hope our records are enough to keep us from the grip of the local LA. But posting how damn lovely or bloody awful our day has been. Or look at this picture of sun, rain, dog, little Johnny (insert anything) isnt it/he/she great.

I'm a bad blog reader, twitter follower and instagram watcher really. Not commenting often enough when something touches me. Not always responding with a few immediate words. Not liking every photo that's made me smile with a knowing nod or laugh out loud. But I'm there. I'm here too, just not as often as i have been. And maybe there's someone like me out there too, dipping in and out quietly and occasionally sharing a snippet of their day, their life. Perhaps this space helps them like others help me.

And of course I really know we've not been sitting on our bums doing nothing at all. I've got the photos to prove it if I want. But today it's good to just write*, to let myself off the hook.

This is my education too!


*obviously the next post will be a mammoth photo montage of all the most excellent educational stuff, you know, just in case.





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Blogging comes and blogging goes

And life goes on!

Because mostly the blogging has gone. I've no idea where! The thoughts are still in my head, whirring and wondering and worrying. Ideas solidifying and then slipping out before I've pinned them down into the magic that is the Internet.

So for those looking in it seems we've been giving home education a stuff ignoring. Nothing on the blog, nothing going on. You may be right!

Bugger.

Certainly the shelves are dusty and the workbooks would be creaky and stiff should you try to open them. We don't bother now, they're deathly dull. But never fear this morning prompted by a need to send thank you letters and a wish to watch a DVD writing and times table practice has been achieved.

Hurrah and phew you cry.

Still quite dull though, so we are going to send a video thank you aswell. Ticks another box and we've done media/computery stuff too. Quite the Monday morning.

After all the excitement we shall definitely need a break. I'm thinking walking, planting, sewing and cooking. Much more fun!!!

And a Monday montage to go with it
all.

Sometimes all it takes is a nice walk.

To make you appreciate the time you have, the things you can see and the conversations you have along the way.

Walking the dogs for an hour along a lane we've spotted interesting creatures, amazing birds, played musical grass, checked we like butter and talked science and nature all along the way.

And the sun came out!

No photos of the Buzzard or Red Kite, but what we think is a type of mite (and amazingly red), a butterfly with amazing camouflage in the cow parsley and us happy to be out in the sunshine.

Monday Morning

The house is quiet. One of us gone off to work, a couple of littles up and pottering. The two bigs asleep in bed teenagery hormones dictating their sleeping rythmns. And as I think about getting up and organised someone hops into my bed and starts playing with my iPad.

It all makes me think about how different our life is from how it used to be. And I feel very grateful that we have been able to make this decision and that it works for our family. I hear cars going off, a loud beep off an impatient parent waiting in a car. And look down at my little companion making cartoons and choosing the music to go with her pictures. I smile.

In many ways i think we must look like a crazy version of a Judith Kerr picture book to lots of people. We are a mummy and daddy! Even to our 20yr old daughter (I'm not sure how that happened). Daddy goes out to work and Mummy stays at home cooks, cleans and home educates the children.

Of course nothing is that simple. I rarely clean for starters. And we run our own company which means its most often Daddy that has to get up and get out of the house. There are days where he is the one working in bed having just read a story to someone with another doing something alongside him. They know that I also have work to do and sometimes we all sit together or we have a meeting at our home.

When the niggles of worry about examples of good behaviour and modelling and suchlike pop into my head (especially when still lying in bed!) I remember that we are encouraging our children to follow their dreams, passions and interests. That there are days when we all have to be up and out of the house early and ready for a long day, but there are others when you can relax. Where you can absolutely work in your PJ's, all day long if you want to. That nearly everyday can be different and when you want something you work hard to achieve it no matter how tough it feels at the time. Like playing your instrument and the same piece over and over to pass an exam or cracking telling the time so you can play out with friends.

That's a pretty good message to give and an excellent start to a Monday morning. So thats my message from bed kids, writing and French practice has been happening here. That's not lazy, right!!!

: : This Moment : :

A single moment, no words, captured from our week.
Joining up with soulemama.com

Am I learning?

Nope don't think I am. I think I'm in a slump. And the weather is surely not helping. We should be perky and picnicking and heading to the park. I am not feeling perky at all. I am fretting. I am internalising. I am on the verge of an almighty "oh my goodness will someone just write something in a stupid workbook before I get arrested " rant.

I have a house full of kids completely happy to ignore all the lovely educational goodness strewn (though not purposefully!) about our home. Ready to inspire and inform them, maybe help with a project idea. Completely happy to ignore educational subscriptions to online worlds ready to help them with their maths and magazines designed to encourage their writing and the books piled everywhere.

But then, they have the tree.

Only recently realising it's climbing potential it now has them in its leafy grip. Walking the dogs? in the rain mummy? No thank you. A walk to the library? I'm good thanks. But a clamber in the hotel for twigs, yes please, especially if it's tipping it down and super slippery.

So are they learning?

Well, we can but hope! Surely negotiating wet branches and balancing over a brook is real P.E in a Ray Mears style. Whittling is woodwork and you need to understand forces and trajectory to make your arrows fly so well. Also the booking system, guest management and receptionist skills needed for the hotel would definitely see you on your way to a travel and tourism degree, though I've yet to work out who is staying there. Snails probably or as its name suggests just the twigs!

As with all these phases where I feel we're doing nothing, recording nothing, achieving nothing, they've happily built themselves a whole world of wonder in which they can push boundaries that feel good to them.

When I look the younger two are really filling their time outside and what's not to love about that. Aware of all the things growing and the birds, animals and insects emerging around them. Friends can come and play in a world the adults cannot enter. Mr 12 1/2 and not hitting puberty ever but showing all the signs, is able to dip in and out. Play when he feels like playing, sleep a little longer when needed and step away to read or work quietly. In the tree he can be whatever his imagination desires for 20 minutes or 2 hours and he's allowed. Of course, Mr big can come and inspect, admire and offer building advice in his biggest brotherly way. Taking the opportunity to come and chat with me while the others are out in the tree. Knowing that his choice of 20minutes math followed by a day of guitar playing or poetry writing or documentary watching with not be frowned upon.

So, maybe I am learning. Because I'm letting it happen. Without fuss or fretting to them. And well, I guess this just enforces those who believe me to be a crazy hippy mama. Now I'm a crazy tree hugger too. I'm embracing the tree!!!

Yes, we have "done" St George!

But what do I have to show for this? No pictures of a Saint or a Dragon, but discussion aplenty about what the dragon was a metaphor for. Because there wasn't really a dragon Mummy. Doh!

Much rummaging in the dressing up box and a realisation that were are pretty low on roman soldier gear! Concluding in a rant about how little the cub scout leaders actually knew about St George last year and how that led to Ollie's deciding it wasn't for him.

Okay that's maybe the simplified version but in essence that's what's happened over the last two hours. And now they're done and I know plenty more about St George. I did also mention that on this day Shakespeare was born and died but they weren't really bothered. In fact they've decided that for now they'd just like to have a snack and listen to some Harry potter in my bed.

I'm happy to oblige!

Feeling gratitude

Because sometimes its crappy.
Because everyday there are moments when you forget to hold your tongue.
Because you get tired and overwhelmed.
Because it is hard to find space and time for quiet and for you.

But I'm grateful for the choices. To be able to make this decision and have the time with my children. To have a family life so filled up with love and laughter and shouting and sharing.

It's good to write it down and remember that our table often looks like this and it's good!

But now we're going out because it's not really about "home" education and we need to go to the library.

Bothering to Blog.

It's true, I haven't been.

I have been thinking about it though. Wondering why I haven't, working out if I should. I try not to ramble for the sake of it! Though I know in the past I have. So perhaps now I feel the pressure less to record and recite our days.

It's been three years. Three whole years now of jumping off the normal train and hiking off into the wilderness of unknown home Ed territory. Only it's not really a wilderness at all, there are lots of people out there doing just the same as me. And we haven't got lost or been pulled back on the tracks by the hand of "proper" education. We've zigzagged on a path of individualism and child led learning. Climbed up and down mountains of worry and doubt. To reach a point of trust and calmness from which we will continue to explore.

If the giant head in the sky, who bothers me less now, came to call, we would chat happily about our choices. Secure in the knowledge our children are happy and articulate. Knowing we have good days and bad but that it is no different to any home, any child, being educated any way.

So today I am blogging with a reason. To celebrate our choices. This is who we are loving our life. Loving our children's choices to pursue exams or T.V marathons or crafting for days on end. Loving them waking in the morning with a barrage of questions and finishing the day in just the same way. We are supporting them every step of their way, it's a different way but it feels good. Definitely worth blogging about.

Spring u like

Well it's warmer.

We've spent a fortune on seeds.

Cleared hidden winter poop from the garden.

And started clearing and sorting veg beds.

We can hear lambs in the fields nearby.

But the biggest indicator of spring is made from blankets, tape, pegs and canes! While I sit outside and feel warm in my sunny sheltered spot busy feet are to-ing and fro-ing across still soft and squishy grass, weather warn deck and banging up and down stairs to fetch and carry all the rings needed to create a special space that will, for an hour or two, be a tent, a castle or a den filled with laughter.

It does feel like spring is here.