Would it be different?

I was sat the other night wrapping presents for a boy about to turn 12.
His brother, almost 14, had spent most of the day creating a comic and birthday card to give him as his gift. And it made me think about how different things might have been.

Obviously David would not have been able to spend the whole day up in his room beavering away drawing and writing a comic book had he been at school, stopping only to play some guitar, eat food and out of choice do some maths. But would he have wanted to if he had still been at school?

I doubt he would have stayed up late into the night or given up his Saturday, I'm not sure he would have cared enough. The bond with his siblings would be very different I suspect. Now I'm not saying its all rosy in the land of home educating. On a daily basis I mediate between waring parties, break up fights and comfort someone who has been upset or hurt.

 But what I do know, having watched the changes that happened when they all went to school and the changes that have happened since they all came out again, that they don't put on a front anymore. They are who they are, which is lots of different things! And best of all its okay to be themselves. They can be affectionate, grumpy, moody, happy or sad. They can be all sorts of things with all the different people they meet and interact with. They have groups of friends at different places they go. And they wear their different hats when they meet up with them, be it art group, brownies, home-ed group or music centre. It strikes me as a much more adult way of learning about people and how society works. How you talk to people at the library or workshops, how you manage different friends and family.

Most of all, wether any of the above is down to home educating or not (and as I very wise person once told me "whatever system you choose to use you wont find out until they're all grown up") a birthday boy was chuffed to pieces by his brothers thoughtfulness and hard work. And we were too!!