Could Home Education be an option?

I have been researching the possibility of Home Education for Miss 7 and Master 5, and eventually Master 2, for several months now. Countless searches on the internet have shown me an amass of varying views. But the blogs and sites from people that follow this path, and are successful, leave me wanting to follow Home Education even more.

Just this morning I left Miss 7 crying at the school gate. Her teacher took her away from me as she was refusing to go into school. As a Mum this breaks my heart. I know she’ll be fine once she’s in and in the flow of her day. I was able to feel and hear the support from other mums around me, other Mum’s who have left their little one’s upset. Deep down I know they are trying to comfort me but my baby girl has been taken away from me. All she wants is her Mummy.

I’m shackled by the rules and regulations of the education system where my baby cannot have some down time with Mummy when she is in need of it. But instead she has been forced away from the person she wants most in the world. What is she able to learn in her day at school when something is troubling her? When she is in need of my support? What does this situation teach her? That her emotions and feelings are not being respected?

I know the counter argument would be that children have to deal with their emotions and that we cannot pamper to their every whim. But this doesn’t feel right. Surly she could learn to regulate her emotions in her safe, home environment.

Don’t get me wrong I love my children’s school where Miss 7 and Master 4 attend. Our school has a nurturing environment and the teachers genuinely care. But how can they give each individual child the attention and time that they need and deserve? It’s just not possible.

Along with this, it’s the changes in the National Curriculum. Our Government have upped the level at which our children are to achieve. I can clearly see how this is affecting my children. Particularly Miss 7 who has recently sat her Year 2 SATS. How ridiculous my 7 year old sitting tests. It just does not sit well with me and even more so after experiencing the effects they have had on my daughter. These children are 6 and 7 years old.

Instead they should be playing, exploring the world, exploring nature, imagining, getting dirty and just having fun. What a child is able to achieve from these fundamental rights of childhood is unreal. What really is drumming our children with facts and figures so that they can achieve well on a test really going to achieve? I fear for my daughter who is so conscientious and just wants to please everyone that at some point in her schooling years she will rebel.

To take the route of home education in England is relatively easy. But it’s not such an easy step for a parent to take. All of the structure and routine that we have grown up with, what society expects of us, what our family and friends will think of us. The list could go on as to why we would shy away from the whole concept. Unfortunately many of these are about going against the grain and are we truly brave enough for that? I would like to think that one day I will have the strength and courage to do this for my children.

Home Education for me would be about giving my children the opportunity to learn naturally. To learn what really inspires them, to be able to find that path in life that ignites passion and commitment. But most importantly to me, my children being able to find true happiness for themselves.

Do you Home Educate? What are your experiences?

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