Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Cowardy custard

Well, I've decided - I'm going to do as much as I can to make sure my children do stuff I can recognise as school-type learning (literacy, numeracy) without actually coercing them. I had a look at the local government website Education section recently and it's nothing like as friendly as it used to be; in places it is outright hostile to home ed and I just don't have the courage to keep going as we were.

Luckily this coincides with a newfound willingness on the part of the school-age child to do work which is recognisably work. And a sudden interest in tick-lists and sticker charts.

But I don't want to get into the fight. I am very conscious that if we are inspected and found wanting, I have very little formal education of my own to wave at people - just a (readily accessible to the relevant authorities) history of mental illness and dysfunctional family. The website actually claims that there are studies and research showing that children not in school are at greater risk of abuse, so presumably they are working from the Badman recommendations, which is where that information lurks (unless there ARE such studies? anyone?) and advises people on what signs to look for and how to anonymously report someone for not having their children in school.

I wish I had the kind of background that made me confident I could just speak my piece about my motivations and abilities and my children's well-being and best interests clearly and be actually heard, but I don't. I'm not in a very low position here, but I'm not in as strong a position as a lot of people I know, and I'm conscious of that.

So I'm record-keeping, instead. Which isn't something I wanted to feel obliged to do.

Yay, fear.

Still, so far I don't think the children are wise to me...

11 comments:

Classroomfree said...

There are many of us feeling exactly the same :(

Merry said...

Have courage. Don't be afraid. And know that, despite how pertinent to the moment this feels, many of us have gone through much the same processes even years and years ago, long before any of this horrible Badman stuff occurred. It isn't such an unusual hoop to put yourself through at all. i know my blog from ooooh, about 2003/4/5 has me doing much the same.

Hugs.

Louisa said...

May I offer an excellent alternative to the National Curriculum - the QI curriculum. Its seven navigation points offer an alternative framwork for structuring your provision, or just your reports, a framework I would suggest is much better suited to what most home educators are providing. Try not to be panicked into restricting your provision to the NC. I think any LA or court would be hard pressed to find the QI curriculum deficient. The QI curriculum isn't online except in Google reader here http://www.exacteditions.com/exact/browsePages.do?issue=5406&size=2&pageLabel=107

Ria said...

*hugs*

I have home educated for 11 years this year, and I would be lying if I said that it gets easier.

Merry, is right these things come in waves and just when you think that you have a chance to breath again someone else starts up.

The way it does get easier is the longer you do it, the stronger you become in your conviction and the less you tend to wear the 'crap' that society tends to fling at you.

We are all dysfunctional in some way, EVEN those parents who send their children to school. School attendance is not a prerequisite for parental sanity.

Your post touches me, because I think as home educators we are often scared to talk about how things really are. Personally I have had bouts of depression, and I found it difficult to tell people, because the automatic reflex response from others is to put the kids in school.

I hope that some how, some where you find the strength to go on and follow your heart beat.

Please know you are not alone and know that many others have and do feel the same.


"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power."~Alan Cohen

"Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today I dare to win."Bernadette Devlin

suzywoozy said...

I Have started keeping more records more photos etc of what we do as I can work out what is educational in just about anything we do. So I could make a HUGE report of what we have done if necessary. What scares me is the thought of having to produce a plan in advance - if that becomes necessary we are stuffed really - but my aim at that point will be to hand in the previous years stuff and say - it'll carry on in the same vain and hope for the best. Failing that I'm going to tell them what we will likely do in the broadest possible terms - eg. we will do do arts and crafts related to feasts and festivals (well we always paint eggs and make Christmas cards).

herbgarden said...

Hey there

If you're looking for some reassurances that you are following a very rational path, then I would like to recommend watching Sir Ken Robinson's speech 'Do schools kill creativity? (on TED.com or youtube), or read Prof. Guy Claxton's book 'What's the point of school?" (incidentally he isn't even especially pro-home-ed so is totally objective). You can quote these guys in any reports you submit to the authorities and prove that it is not just a handful of crazy home edder's who think learning by books/projects is over-rated - there are some present-day 'experts' think academic learning has been given too much credit and hold over society, and if anyone would know it's these guys.

Have courage, you're not alone.

"Tie yourself to the mast my friend and the storm will end" - Verve

Paula :-)

liz said...

just to echo Julia I've been feeling exactly the same and blogged about it here:
http://lizcabinfever.blogspot.com/2010/02/where-to-go-next.html

Ailbhe said...

Thanks, people. I don't doubt my chosen path at all, and I have lots of good reasons, well-backed-up, for taking it... but I worry that it won't be enough, if push comes to knuckleduster.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and insights it helps to hear different viewpoints and reactions.
Do you have links for the education website making these claims I'd like to read what is being said.

Anonymous said...

We have also been keeping more records since way back when the Badman review was announced, and getting more anxious by the day. All the anxiety and the preoccupation with "having something to show" has sucked all the joy and imagination out of home ed, both for me and my child, and she has decided that school would be preferable. So we went off to look at schools, 4 months ago, and she chose one she was positive about and would really like to go to. We applied and were brushed off dismissively. The school has a long waiting list and it could be years before there is a place for her. She is adamant she wants no other school. So we plod on, trying to salvage the remnants of our motivation and enjoyment on a day-to-day basis, and feeling as if we are waiting for the final hammer blow to fall on us. The government's attack on home education has blighted our lives.

leaf said...

Thank you so much for writing this.

When my daughter decided on school at secondary, although I was sad that I would lose the opportunity to learn with her, I was glad that she felt able to 'go forth' as it were. Now about to take GCSEs, she has stayed home all term, I am having to teach her, or at least help her learn, and we have all had to rethink values and virtues of a school/exam approach again.

There's a great bit in Hansard for yesterday about 84 objectives for primary school textual analysis http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm/cmtoday/cmdebate/19.htm time 9.52

Looking at comparisons of A grade to C grade work in various GCSE subjects revision books, the main difference is that A grade answer authors are obviously enjoying themselves with the words.

You could use it in an interview. if you just change the suggested 'learn to read by' ages.

Hope this helps. You do know as well as the so-called experts. It's just hard to remember this.

Leaf oooo


"To compound matters, clause 10 tries to put on to the statute book the recommendations of the Rose review into the primary curriculum—the highly prescriptive six areas of learning, each with a multitude of objectives. The English programme of study alone contains 84 objectives, such as

“to recognise how authors of moving-image and multimodal texts use different combinations of words, images and sounds to create effects and make meaning”.

That textual analysis approach to English in primary schools is killing the love of reading. What we need to do is to make sure that every child can decode and read. We must ensure that they have acquired the basic skills of reading by the age of six or seven at the latest and then encourage them to read as many books as possible just for the enjoyment of it. We must make sure that they understand what they are reading but not kill that joy with 84 deadening objectives that have very little to do with reading."

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