One of the questions I get asked alot

Is why do we home educate our children

The truth is that it is not something I ever thought I would do

I loved school as a child

I loved my primary schools

As a military child I went to lots of them!

And I LOVED secondary school

I loved my lessons

I loved my social life

I loved my teachers

I loved school

I did well at school

Without really having to try

And my school experiences led me to becoming a teacher myself

I got a first class honours degree in primary education

And then became a hardworking, passionate and creative teacher

And I continued to love learning as a teacher

Getting as much further training as I could

Before my children were born

I was excited for their school journey

I wanted them to go to a small village school

Where I would volunteer on the PTA and in the classroom

Just like my mum did when I was a child

I would be a Governor

And perhaps even teach at the school part time

As a student teacher in Cumbria

I worked in a tiny village school

With two classrooms

Each morning villagers could buy local papers, eggs and milk from the reception

The school was the hub of the community

The heart of the village

I wanted my children to go somewhere like that

I wanted them to have creative teachers

Who would transform classrooms as I had done

Into magical lands of themed learning

But by the time my children were ready to go to school

The educational landscape was much changed

From the one I once knew

And though Esther and William started school

Twice

They did not once finish a whole school year

The education system

And our village school

Were not meeting our children’s needs

I was teaching at the school

And could see that going forward the school

Was not what we wanted for our children

And so we decided

That I would teach the children at home

We left the education system in April 2016

And we have honestly not looked back

This September

Bea, aged 4 years and 1 month

Would be starting school

But instead she will be staying at home with the rest of us

Her birthday and this milestone

Provide a time to reflect

Take stock

And remember how blessed we are

To have one another

To have these wonderful opportunities

To be able to take this time together

To do the things that we want to do

And to be proud of the life we have chosen

Because I am

Proud

But often scared to say so

And never seem to be able to put in words

The passion that I have for what we do

And the belief that this is the best way for us

Because I know this is right

We may not get it right everyday

But the choices we make are made after careful thought

Lots of discussion and deliberation

I am proud to teach my children at home

I am honoured to learn alongside them

And though we may trip and stumble along the way

I know that this is the path for us

If the children were at school

Esther and William would be starting Year 3 this year

And Bea would be Year R

Because at the moment the idea is to feed back into the school system

At some point in the future

I am very aware of a need to cover the primary curriculum

We have not had a set routine for our homeschooling thus far

But from September we plan to have more structure

The children will all have one to one time with me

4 days a week

For maths, reading and writing

This is necessary as they are all working at different levels

We will be doing a weekly creative writing project all together

I am hosting weekly History Through Theatre workshops

For home educated children at our house

And coordinating trips, visits and further workshops

All linked to a weekly topic

Such as The Great Fire of London

I am really excited about this

And know that having this in place

Will give me focus and motivation

And give the children opportunity to work regularly alongside others

Esther, William and Bea all attend lots of classes

Including dance, gymnastics, piano, guitar, swimming Spanish and horse riding

We also use private tutors for some subjects

This can be one to one teaching or together with a small group

It is important to know as home educators that we do not have to do everything ourselves

It is sometimes good to attend classes or invite teachers to your home

We also want to have more family educational time this year

So David is going to sometimes work a 4 day week

So that we can go on some family ‘ed’ventures

I think it has taken us to this point to find our way with home education

At first I was trying to create school at home

Which just did not work

Then with a newborn Edie on the scene

We became a lot more workbook led than I would have liked

And now we are ready to throw ourselves into immersive imaginative learning

With lots of art and drama and practical outdoor learning

I am very excited about it

I am also aware that there is still the issue of schools going forward

David and I have a lot of talking and thinking to do

We once thought that we would send Esther and William

Back to a local primary school from Year 3

We then talked about sending them in Year 5

But to a private school that would better prepare them for secondary school

At 11 or 13

Perhaps somewhere like Rossall School in Lancashire

That follows The Primary Years Programme (PYP)

Creative, collaborative, inquiry led learning

Sounds like something me and mine would love!

Getting Esther and William into the KS3 schools best suited to each of them

Is going to involve a lot of talk with schools about their prematurity

And most likely a house move for us

Something that none of us really want to do

At the moment I think we are thinking to send them to secondary school at 13

Giving us more time to explore our options

And to ensure we fully understand all the children’s needs

Social, emotional, physical and academical

There is a lot to consider and discuss

It may be that as a family we decide the children will go to school at all

But I think that is the most unlikely scenario

Though some days it is SO tempting

Whatever we do

David and I will decide together

With the children

What to do next

Right now our aim is to give our children the best education we can

And a childhood filled with wonder, magic, adventure and dreams

This is a collaborative post