Or home educate. However you describe it, its the path we have chosen.
Elias turned 4 this April and, as with most children at this age, would be due to start school in September. But he wont be.
I'm not really sure what even made me consider home schooling him; we have no family members that do it, no friends - not even friends-of-friends that do. I just felt something that told me that he wasn't meant for traditional schooling.
He's too wild. Like many boys, I know. But I just didn't think he was the right fit for being confined to one space, 6 hours a day. I imagined him running through wooded areas, exploring his surroundings with his own eyes, ears and hands, rather than through the pages of a book. I saw us learning together as a family out in this wild world, not splitting off and becoming disconnected from one another. So I looked into home schooling, and liked what I found.
Dan wasn't on board at first. But he saw how much I put into learning about it, listened to the saddening facts I gave him about traditional schooling and the pressures it puts on children - even young ones, and he saw how much Elias was enjoying meeting new friends in the home schooling community and he eventually came around to the idea.
I still don't have a set plan for our journey, and that's okay. There are many routes you can take with home schooling; Montessori, Charlotte Mason, unschooling, world schooling - the list is so vast and, even though I don't know exactly where, our method is in there somewhere. But, for now, I'm happy for Elias (and Amelia) to learn through play and exploration.
As soon as the mention of home schooling spread around our friends and family, we were hit with a barrage of questions and opinions; '
what if he falls behind', 'he would love school', 'it'll give you a break', and then the biggest misconception of all
'how will he learn to socialise?' ... I say that as if I know what I'm talking about, but I already do! Elias has not formally started home schooling yet, but we have already buried ourselves in a fantastic local community. We've attended meet-ups, days out and joined more Facebook groups than you can shake a stick at (that's such a weird saying, isnt it?!). So, I have no doubt that Elias will have just as many (if not more!) friends as he would have done in school, and the bonus is that they are a variety of ages with a mix of interests and ways of doing things. I know that this will give him a better perception of the 'real' world and will encourage him to listen and learn about other families ways of life.
I often have worries and doubts. Of course I do, I'm a parent, and this is a big decision. Nothing is permanent I know, but this is a very 'out-of-the-box' way to go in our family so it hasn't been without its share of panics and
'should we be doing this?' moments. But, deep down, I am confident in our decision and I know we are incredibly lucky to even be able to consider it. I work from home and Dan earns a good wage enabling me to be at home everyday with our children. I am so grateful and immensely excited to share their childhood with them, every ounce of it. To experience more 'firsts' with them will be a privilege, and not one I intend to squander.
I also want to make it very clear that, although this was ultimately mine and Dan's choice, we did let Elias have his say in the matter too. A child his age doesn't really understand the concept of school, but I sat down with him on a number of occasions to try to present the ideas of both school and home school in a non-bias way and each time he told me he would like to 'explore school with mummy and Amelia'.
Fine by me!
So, where do we go from here?
As mentioned, we don't have anything set in stone. I have joined many groups and collected a few resources but we are in no hurry to have the children sat down doing worksheets and filling in paperwork.
Elias will be continuing on at nursery for the foreseeable future ; we are un-decided whether to let him stay until new year 2020, or his 5th birthday. He has friends there and enjoys his time there.
He only attends 2 mornings and 1 afternoon (11 hours) a week so we are able to do some light schooling alongside it, and I can continue to work for some time.
We have talked about some topics we might like to learn about from the Autumn; mostly nature studies but I'm sure other things will spark interest too, and so much is learned through play and every day activities that I have no doubt we will do more than our quota for his age without even realising it!
This post isn't to say that I think school is the devil, of course. I believe each child thrives better in different surroundings, suited to their personalities! I just think homeschooling is suited better to our children. I will be sharing our home school adventures and progress on the blog regularly so please come back and join us!
