And so September rumbles on

And the grumbles of teachers and parents in education

Grow louder

Facebook throws up my memories daily

And I see my own groans and grumbles

When my own children were in school

When I was teaching

Our education system is not in a good state

And more and more families are choosing to leave

Or not start a school journey at all

Instead they are choosing

As we do

To educate our children at home

What I find very telling

Is the number of teachers

Choosing to leave the profession

And educate their own

That is what happened to me

And a number of other families I know

I am not ruling out school forever

Only for now

Until I feel confident that a school

Can offer what my children want and need

We tried school twice

And twice decided to leave

And a huge part of me does think

We should have made the decision to home school from the start

At least throughout these precious early years

Ex Nursery Nurse Louise at Squished Blueberries

Has done just that

Chosen to learn together at home

From the start

Can you describe your family?
Well I’m Louise, I’m 28 years old and I’ve been married to Carl who is 32 for 6 years. We have three children, Mabel who is 4 and a half and would have started school this month, Greta who is 2 years 9 months and was due to start preschool soon and Ernest who is 9 months old.

How long have you been home educating? Do you home educate all your children? Have any of your children ever been to school?
Mabel is the only one who has ‘not started school’ so far, although she has an April birthday so she isn’t actually at compulsory school age until next year. We are planning to home educate all three of the kids, but we are also keeping an open mind and taking one year at a time.

What made you decide to educate your children at home? Do you ever doubt your decision?
Mabel started Preschool and although she seemed to like going to start with and the teachers told me that she had settled really well and was a lovely quiet member of the group, after a few months she just started refusing to go. She would get really upset if I tried to persuade her to go, she just said she wanted to stay with me and that there were ‘too many kids’ at preschool. We decided to take her out of preschool, well the alternative was dragging her there and leaving her crying and that just wasn’t an option to me. We had already applied to schools so we waited to see which on we would get and whether Mabel would come around to the idea. But as I got more used to having the three of them at home, I began to enjoy it and I started questioning whether going to school would be the best thing for Mabel anyway. There just didn’t seem to be any reason to rush her into being ready when she quite clearly wasn’t yet. The only time I doubt my decision is when I think about the potential friendships she is missing out on. But we are meeting up with the local home ed group tomorrow so hopefully she will find some little friends there that we can see regularly and she has such a strong bond with her sister and brother because she spends so much time with them.

Do you have a particular style of home education? Do you have a philosophy of education?
I don’t subscribe to any one particular style at the moment, if anything I would call us semi-structured. I believe that in the early years all you really need to do is give them lots and lots of opportunities for their own unstructured self-led play, involve them in everyday life, talk about everything and answer all their questions, provide lots of opportunities to be creative and read, read, read, read, read, read, read. Because I like to feel like I’m doing something, and to be honest it stops me from getting bored, I like to set a loose topic to follow for a few weeks at a time and I set up a few activities based on that theme. At the moment we’re doing bugs so we’re going on bug hunts, I made a ladybird counting game, we’re making bugs out of shapes, that sort of thing.

Do you follow a structured curriculum?
No, not at all. Although as an ex nursery nurse I suppose I do have the EYFS in the back of my mind.

What are your most used resources for home education?
Probably our bookcase and the library, we read so many books! Also the colouring pencils and paint get used pretty much daily, and the iPad for Reading Eggs, Maths Seeds, Teach Your Monster to Read, and YouTube videos about anything from chemistry to Shopkins.

Do you have any favourite educational websites?
We have a Twinkl subscription so I love going on there for inspiration and to print resources, I also find the CBeebies website really good for my children’s age group and Pinterest for activity and craft ideas.

How are your children taught and by whom?
I wouldn’t say that we really ‘teach’ them, they are still so young. I’m the one that plans activities to do with them and is at home all week, but really anyone the come into contact with can be their teacher when you are learning through life.

Do you assess and record learning?
Just by watching and observing what they can do and what they are trying to do but not quite managing yet, then I make a mental note to try to gently incorporate developing those skills into our daily lives.

How do you organise your time?
Erm.. badly? All three of them are still really young, and we’re tryng to ease into a loose routine that suits everyone. Sometimes we get it right and sometimes we get it really really wrong, life with kids is just like that sometimes. Generally I try to do some sort of ‘focussed activity’ with the girls in the morning while Ernie is having his first nap. It can be anything from junk modelling to a game, to a magazine we’ve got from the shop, nothing too serious and I never make them do it if they don’t feel like it. Then we have a snack that we all prepare and then sit at the table to eat together while I read some books. At some point after snack I like to go out if we can, for a walk, to the park, to a meet or just in the garden if that’s all we can manage. Then the afternoon is a very chilled time where the girls can just play freely with whatever they want and use the iPad or watch tv if they want to. We do any cleaning or washing in the evenings and if I want to work on my blog then it usually means getting up early and doing a couple of hours writing before Carl goes to work.

Do you ever have any time without your children? Do you think ‘me time’ is important?
Sometimes my Mum or Carl’s Mum and Dad will take the girls out for the day or for a sleepover. I’m lucky that Carl understands how much I need a break so he will often take them out for a few hours at the weekend so I can remember what it’s like to hear silence and sit down without someone jumping on my lap. I do think it’s really important that I have a couple of hours ‘me time’ most weeks. Well, I know what happens when I don’t get it and I’m just not as nice a person to be around. I need a little time to recharge my batteries and a chance to miss them, then I can carry on giving them my best for the rest of the week.

Are your friends and family supportive of your decision to home educate. Do you ever get any negative comments from people?
Yes, so far everyone has been really supportive and I haven’t heard anything negative from anyone, not aimed at us or to our faces anyway. I think everyone can see that the kids are happy and thriving so there’s no reason to be negative about anything.

Do your children get the opportunity to socialise with other children? When and how does this happen?
We go to parks often, and whenever we do Mabel makes a friend. We have kids the same age as neighbours and they chat over the fence to each other, which makes me giggle. We also have our friends that we’ve known since Mabel was a baby, although obviously it’s going to get a bit harder to see them now they are starting school. Starting from this week we will be going to regular meet ups with other home educated children, so that will hopefully be really nice for all of us.

What is the best thing about home educating and what is the worst?
The best thing is getting to spend so much time with my children and the worst thing is having to spend so much time with my children! I love them all to absolute pieces and I adore the fact that I get to be so heavily involved in their lives and their learning, their little developing characters… witnessing them growing into themselves and being there for all of it. But… I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t challenging and there weren’t days when I’m tearing my hair out before we’ve even got past breakfast. Most days have a little bit of amazing and a little bit of awful in them, still I’d never change it.

Do you see school in your future? Do you talk to your children about the possibility of school?
I have a completely open mind about school and ultimately we will let the children decide. We talk about school because her friends are starting school and we all went to visit the school that Mabel had a place at so she knows what schools are and what goes on there. I don’t like to second guess and predict the future because I honestly have no idea what will happen, like I said we are taking one year at a time and school we always be there if we feel like we want/need it.

What are your hopes and dreams for your home educating family?
The same as anyone’s I guess, I just hope that the children are happy, healthy and fulfilled and to be kind people that do good in the world. I also want them to have a love of learning and be self motivated and I want them to embrace their creativity. My ultimate dream when the children are a bit older would be to travel with them as much as possible so they can learn about the Romans in Rome etc. and really appreciate other cultures.

What would be your advice for anyone considering educating their children at home? Is there anything you wish that somebody had told you?
I would say to just try it, take it one day at a time, don’t expect everything to be perfect because life is messy. Think about why you are doing it and let that be your guide, it will be different for everyone so don’t think you have to do things the same as anyone else because we all have different family values and that’s fine. And look after yourself because the most likely reason that home ed wont work is if you burn out or get bored, so start building a support network as soon as you can.

If you are thinking about home educating

Or you looking for ideas for craft and play

If you are looking for a good read with a cuppa

Then Squished Blueberries is for you

Blog: www.SquishedBlueberries.com
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Instagram: www.instagram.com/squishedblueberries

For more #notbacktoschool posts follow the links below

https://www.edspire.co.uk/year_2016/09/06/not-back-to-school-with-kai-blackley/
https://www.edspire.co.uk/year_2016/09/16/not-back-to-school-with-happy-handley/
https://www.edspire.co.uk/year_2016/09/02/not-back-to-school-with-jan-croucher/

If you are home educator who would like to share your story

Please do get in touch