Last Saturday the boys were guests of a friend of ours at the pantomime in Greenwich. They saw Mother Goose and it seems that they enjoyed themselves. Jonathan and I stayed here and caught up on some cuddles :-)
In the evening Roarke and I were very pleased to be able to join 140 other guests at the M66 Christmas Ball in Chislehurst. It was nice to have the chance to see friends from church in such a relaxed social setting, and great to have a chance to dress up! Sadly, I have some way to go before I've lost enough weight to get back into my glad rags from the height of our World Team Herbalife days, but I did at least manage to wear the shoes and accessories!
Roarke has lost a lot of weight, enough that people are really noticing so I need to catch up fast!
On Sunday our church is hosting a carol service in Orpington and all this week Roarke has been putting leaflets out. I'm hoping we have a lovely turn out. So if you are around Orpington and free at 6pm on Sunday 13th, please come along to Perry Hall School and join us.
Roarke and I finally managed to get out and door a very small amount of Christmas shopping. We always focus on the meaning and message of Christmas rather than the commercial side but this year we will be aided by it not being possible with budgets to do anything else.
Instead, we are making the most of family and friends, and sharing. As part of this we've got four Christmas social events coming up. Tomorrow William and Jonathan have a few friends over during the day, and I'm putting on party food for them. On Saturday we are having over some families - I think if everyone comes there will be just short of 40 adults and children. Then next weekend we are having an evening do for those people we know who can come without children, or who are single etc. Then the following week Josh and Samuel are having a small party for some of their teenage friends.
We would like to have done more as we actually for once seem to have more people to invite than we can accomodate, which is a nice feeling! Or rather, nice to know so many people we want to socialise with, but not nice to not be able to host them all.
These parties are a joint family present from ourselves to ourselves (and our friends!) but it has meant scouring my recipe books and digging for ideas on budget-style canape/buffet catering! I'm not sure I'm going to be able to pull it off, especially as three out of the four events include catering for gluten free guests, but I'm going to go down fighting at least!
Today I finished icing a gluten free Christmas cake, and made and iced a gluten free clementine cake. I also made some fairy cakes. Tomorrow I will be making gluten free sausage rolls, mince pies, star biscuits, savoury straws, and sausage balls along with the other gluten food. I think I may need to get up early... oh and chocolate gluten free pizza, inspired by my friends at Limoncello.
If it works, you'll get the recipes!
Other than baking and cleaning, this week I did get the chance finally to get back to another ladies event at BCC, and I was able to join them for a relaxing morning on Wednesday. We were looking at the verse(s) that have sustained us during 2009 and looking ahead to what God has in store for us in 2010.
As well as the party tomorrow, Josh and Samuel are out bowling with the 11+ home ed young people in Orpington, and then off to the Baseline Christmas party in the evening. All in all a VERY busy day! Roarke was at a training day all day today and didn't get in till late only to go straight out again for rehearsals for the carol service, so I've done all the cleaning and cooking on my own today. At least he is around tomorrow, and then Saturday!
Mind you, having said that, he might be out delivering Christmas hampers for Hope Foundation, so maybe I won't have his help!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Home Educators' Vigil Tonight
On Tuesday 8th December from 6.00p.m. home educators are holding a vigil in Old Palace Yard opposite the Houses of Parliament.
Inside, history is being made as home educators begin to petition the House of Commons to get rid of Clause 26 of the Children, Schools and Families bill. More than 120 petitions will be presented in a mass presentation with 10% of MPs in the Chamber, smashing the record for petitions in one day.
In total more than 250 identical petitions from constituencies all over England, an overwhelming record in parliamentary history, are to be presented to Parliament over the next few weeks.
Home Educators: if you are planning on coming, please bring any placards left over after the mass lobby although there’ll be some stuff to wave provided and some masks that were used at the mass lobby demo. As it’ll be dark we thought it might be fun for everyone to bring torches. Also anything loud like whistles would be good as MPs might be able to hear us as well as hopefully some passing traffic honking their support. Bubbles in torchlight might work too.
If you can't be there, but you are on twitter, please tweet! Join the P Party at 8.30 by searching and tweeting with the tag #HEPP.
Try to get media coverage please call BBC London, Radio 5 live, LBC etc or send a press release to your local paper.
BBC London’s news desk on 020 776 50935 or text them on 07786 200 949
It is likely to be covered on Five Live Drive Time - http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/get-in-touch/
Call: 0500 909 693
SMS/MMS: 85058
Email:5live@bbc.co.uk
Twitter: @bbc5live
Inside, history is being made as home educators begin to petition the House of Commons to get rid of Clause 26 of the Children, Schools and Families bill. More than 120 petitions will be presented in a mass presentation with 10% of MPs in the Chamber, smashing the record for petitions in one day.
In total more than 250 identical petitions from constituencies all over England, an overwhelming record in parliamentary history, are to be presented to Parliament over the next few weeks.
Under existing law, Local Authorities have powers to take action if they have reason to believe home educated children in their area are not receiving a suitable education, according to their age, aptitude and ability. Under section 47 of the Children Act 1989 they also have the power to intervene and gain access to the home where there is evidence that a child is at risk of significant harm.
However, under clause 26, the Government is seeking to dramatically extend State powers.
Currently home educating parents take full responsibility for their children's learning, at no cost to the taxpayer. They are sensitive to the shifting developmental needs of their children. However, the proposed legislation threatens this educational approach, as parents who diverge from the enforced plan will have their children forcibly sent to school.
The Government is proposing to spend £1000 per child per annum on just monitoring each home educated child (no funds are earmarked for providing support or improving access to services for home educated children). As there is no evidence that this monitoring will improve educational outcomes for children, this is an unwarranted additional expense at a time when massive cut backs in existing services are necessary to stem
Government debt.
However, under clause 26, the Government is seeking to dramatically extend State powers.
- The Bill requires that all home educators apply annually for permission to continue home educating.
- Local authorities will also to have the right to enter the residence "where the education takes place" and potentially to interview children without the parent present.
- Home educating parents will be required to formulate an annual educational plan, which must be approved by the Local Authority. Parents will then be assessed in accordance with the plan.
- Non-compliance with the demands of the Local Authority will result in a Statutory School Order being issued.
Currently home educating parents take full responsibility for their children's learning, at no cost to the taxpayer. They are sensitive to the shifting developmental needs of their children. However, the proposed legislation threatens this educational approach, as parents who diverge from the enforced plan will have their children forcibly sent to school.
The Government is proposing to spend £1000 per child per annum on just monitoring each home educated child (no funds are earmarked for providing support or improving access to services for home educated children). As there is no evidence that this monitoring will improve educational outcomes for children, this is an unwarranted additional expense at a time when massive cut backs in existing services are necessary to stem
Government debt.
Home Educators: if you are planning on coming, please bring any placards left over after the mass lobby although there’ll be some stuff to wave provided and some masks that were used at the mass lobby demo. As it’ll be dark we thought it might be fun for everyone to bring torches. Also anything loud like whistles would be good as MPs might be able to hear us as well as hopefully some passing traffic honking their support. Bubbles in torchlight might work too.
If you can't be there, but you are on twitter, please tweet! Join the P Party at 8.30 by searching and tweeting with the tag #HEPP.
Try to get media coverage please call BBC London, Radio 5 live, LBC etc or send a press release to your local paper.
BBC London’s news desk on 020 776 50935 or text them on 07786 200 949
It is likely to be covered on Five Live Drive Time - http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/
Call: 0500 909 693
SMS/MMS: 85058
Email:5live@bbc.co.uk
Twitter: @bbc5live
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
And so on to December
Jonathan went to his dietician appointment last week. She was very impressed with his overall diet but concerned at the sudden constipation that he started with a few months ago so she recommended that I made an appointment with my GP.
Typically, since booking that appointment it appears to have cleared up, more or less overnight, on its own, no change of diet or anything, stopping as suddenly as it started!
On Thursday Roarke took the three older boys to a home education trip to... a chocolate factory! As you can imagine, a great time was had by all:
and they enjoyed eating their produce :-)
Friday was a busy day. Samuel was collected in the morning by friends and went to the home ed skating at Gillingham. Roarke drove Josh over to Sutton to meet up with Theo for his birthday trip to the cinema. William and Jonathan went over to their Nan's whilst Roarke and I went for a business meeting. Then we collected everyone together again, had a very quick dinner, then Josh and Samuel went to Baseline with their friend Aron.
Saturday morning I had the chance to go out and share a breakfast with some of the women from church, at someone's flat, which made a really nice change. I'm really bad at making friends, especially with women, so it was A Good Thing for me to make myself do.
In the afternoon Roarke took Josh over to Carshalton to the theatre ready for his show. Roarke, myself and Samuel went to see it in the evening. The whole show was excellent. Once again the Young SAVVY Company produced some amazing performances under the direction of Sheree Vickers and the play DAGS (by Debra Oswald) was really enjoyable. As Roarke said, it wasn't some end of term young people's play - it was a real performance that was enjoyable and would have been impressive from a bunch of adults let alone 13-19 year olds! Josh was A STAR of course and we were excited to see how he has grown in his acting. He had one line that relied 100% on comic timing - something not all grown actors can do - and he delivered it absolutely perfectly and it was really funny.
DAGS is about the culture of school/youth, bullies, fitting in, being fat, teen relationships... it was quite unsettling to see Josh in a school uniform to play his part - shocking actually - and hugely ironic that he would be in such a show. I actually found the play upsetting in so far as it could have been written about me in my secondary schools years...
Defiinately made me come out thanking God for home education!
Sunday was community day at church, with an italian themed meal after the second service.
Over the course of the weekend we started putting up our Christmas decorations. Regular readers will know that we make the whole of December a special month, rather than focusing on just the two days of Christmas, because otherwise our aspie and asd lads just can't handle it. Yesterday (Monday) we finished putting up the outside lights on the house and had a grand switch on in the evening much to the amusement of the rush hour queued traffic outside our house!
Typically, since booking that appointment it appears to have cleared up, more or less overnight, on its own, no change of diet or anything, stopping as suddenly as it started!
On Thursday Roarke took the three older boys to a home education trip to... a chocolate factory! As you can imagine, a great time was had by all:
and they enjoyed eating their produce :-)Friday was a busy day. Samuel was collected in the morning by friends and went to the home ed skating at Gillingham. Roarke drove Josh over to Sutton to meet up with Theo for his birthday trip to the cinema. William and Jonathan went over to their Nan's whilst Roarke and I went for a business meeting. Then we collected everyone together again, had a very quick dinner, then Josh and Samuel went to Baseline with their friend Aron.
Saturday morning I had the chance to go out and share a breakfast with some of the women from church, at someone's flat, which made a really nice change. I'm really bad at making friends, especially with women, so it was A Good Thing for me to make myself do.
In the afternoon Roarke took Josh over to Carshalton to the theatre ready for his show. Roarke, myself and Samuel went to see it in the evening. The whole show was excellent. Once again the Young SAVVY Company produced some amazing performances under the direction of Sheree Vickers and the play DAGS (by Debra Oswald) was really enjoyable. As Roarke said, it wasn't some end of term young people's play - it was a real performance that was enjoyable and would have been impressive from a bunch of adults let alone 13-19 year olds! Josh was A STAR of course and we were excited to see how he has grown in his acting. He had one line that relied 100% on comic timing - something not all grown actors can do - and he delivered it absolutely perfectly and it was really funny.
DAGS is about the culture of school/youth, bullies, fitting in, being fat, teen relationships... it was quite unsettling to see Josh in a school uniform to play his part - shocking actually - and hugely ironic that he would be in such a show. I actually found the play upsetting in so far as it could have been written about me in my secondary schools years...
Defiinately made me come out thanking God for home education!
Sunday was community day at church, with an italian themed meal after the second service.
Over the course of the weekend we started putting up our Christmas decorations. Regular readers will know that we make the whole of December a special month, rather than focusing on just the two days of Christmas, because otherwise our aspie and asd lads just can't handle it. Yesterday (Monday) we finished putting up the outside lights on the house and had a grand switch on in the evening much to the amusement of the rush hour queued traffic outside our house!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
A brief round up
Joshua is nervously approaching his Show on Saturday, with just the tech rehearsal on Thursday before the performance. He's also finished the website for his Bronze Arts Award "My Hero" project which you can view here.
Samuel is in turn working on his next venture, which is his own gluten free hand made shortbread service! He's designing a website and some leaflets and wants to then leaflet the local area. He's been doing a lot of research and costing it all out, including deciding the best packaging to use.
William seems to be doing increasingly well despite not being able to read properly still. He's even managed to create a movie, drawn in Paint and put together in Movie Maker! As soon as I've got it off of his laptop I will share it.
Jonathan is continuing to shine. As an example, view his latest "performance" on Youtube!
He's also been introduced to the potty, aged 2 1/2, and managed this evening to use it for the first time. He recognises lots of letters, all his numbers up to 10, can count up to 20 in English and 10 in Spanish and is generally scaring the living daylights out of us!
Finally he's allowed someone else other than me to put him to bed. All last week Roarke did it, and then on Friday we were out and my Mum put him to bed.
Roarke and I have been busy, but there have been some highlights. We reviewed a restaurant in Sevenoaks which turned out to be one of the best meals I've had in a very long time. Then, this week, we attended the Gala Reopening Dinner for Limoncello Restaurant in Sidcup. It was a lovely evening (we hosted the Deputy Mayor at our table), including opera by Aspects of Opera, and their new chef proved he was more than up to the task of a four course banquet for around 80 guests. If you live near Sidcup, please go and visit. This weekend they have an Italian Market at the restaurant and you can sign up here to get a voucher for a free cappuccino when you buy a cornetto pastry (yes, it's an Italian pastry - like a croissant - and NOT an ice cream!)
Roarke has actually been quite unwell and is awaiting an appointment with the rheumatologist to try and get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, we're picking back up our Herbalife business and thankfully the nutrition products are working their usual magic and his health is picking back up.
Christmas is a busy time for our church, especially for our community arm, the Hope Foundation. With a Christmas meal for the elderly of the borough, and a Christmas Hamper give away to those in need in the area, it is a very busy time. If you live in the BR, CR, DA or ME postcodes and have any white goods - especially coookers - that are in good condition and full working order, PLEASE contact me as we have many families in dire need who would be very grateful for them. I can collect from any of those areas. Leave a comment on this post with your contact details - all comments are moderated so I will not publish those details but just make a note and use them to get hold of you. Thanks!
Samuel is in turn working on his next venture, which is his own gluten free hand made shortbread service! He's designing a website and some leaflets and wants to then leaflet the local area. He's been doing a lot of research and costing it all out, including deciding the best packaging to use.
William seems to be doing increasingly well despite not being able to read properly still. He's even managed to create a movie, drawn in Paint and put together in Movie Maker! As soon as I've got it off of his laptop I will share it.
Jonathan is continuing to shine. As an example, view his latest "performance" on Youtube!
He's also been introduced to the potty, aged 2 1/2, and managed this evening to use it for the first time. He recognises lots of letters, all his numbers up to 10, can count up to 20 in English and 10 in Spanish and is generally scaring the living daylights out of us!
Finally he's allowed someone else other than me to put him to bed. All last week Roarke did it, and then on Friday we were out and my Mum put him to bed.
Roarke and I have been busy, but there have been some highlights. We reviewed a restaurant in Sevenoaks which turned out to be one of the best meals I've had in a very long time. Then, this week, we attended the Gala Reopening Dinner for Limoncello Restaurant in Sidcup. It was a lovely evening (we hosted the Deputy Mayor at our table), including opera by Aspects of Opera, and their new chef proved he was more than up to the task of a four course banquet for around 80 guests. If you live near Sidcup, please go and visit. This weekend they have an Italian Market at the restaurant and you can sign up here to get a voucher for a free cappuccino when you buy a cornetto pastry (yes, it's an Italian pastry - like a croissant - and NOT an ice cream!)
Roarke has actually been quite unwell and is awaiting an appointment with the rheumatologist to try and get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, we're picking back up our Herbalife business and thankfully the nutrition products are working their usual magic and his health is picking back up.
Christmas is a busy time for our church, especially for our community arm, the Hope Foundation. With a Christmas meal for the elderly of the borough, and a Christmas Hamper give away to those in need in the area, it is a very busy time. If you live in the BR, CR, DA or ME postcodes and have any white goods - especially coookers - that are in good condition and full working order, PLEASE contact me as we have many families in dire need who would be very grateful for them. I can collect from any of those areas. Leave a comment on this post with your contact details - all comments are moderated so I will not publish those details but just make a note and use them to get hold of you. Thanks!
I don't want to talk about it
Added to the long list of debt owed to me by DCSF is the loss of the time to blog regularly.
It isn't just time though. My life is revolving around the battle to save home education as we know it, I live, sleep, eat, dream it. It has felt that to blog means to write about that fight and, to be honest, I don't want to. I feel enough words and space has been given over to the travesty that is the Badman Report and I don't want to add to it. I just wish I could dig a hole big enough to bury it all in once and for all.
So, I'm going to blog about what is REAL, what matters, which is MY FAMILY.
It isn't just time though. My life is revolving around the battle to save home education as we know it, I live, sleep, eat, dream it. It has felt that to blog means to write about that fight and, to be honest, I don't want to. I feel enough words and space has been given over to the travesty that is the Badman Report and I don't want to add to it. I just wish I could dig a hole big enough to bury it all in once and for all.
So, I'm going to blog about what is REAL, what matters, which is MY FAMILY.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
I'm Having a Day Off. Honest.
They say a week is a long time in politics... well the past 10 days have been a very long time!
The fight that home educators are engaged in at the moment has really consumed those days. Monday 12th saw Graham Badman and DCSF up in front of the Select Committee (if you watched online, that was my head in the bottom right corner of the screen!). I went along and made copious shorthand notes which thankfully I haven't had to try and transcribe as the official transcript is available online!
The next day was the mass lobby. Roarke went up to this and helped out as a steward. Some 450 home educating parents, children and young people attended and it took over 2 1/2 hours for them to get through security and in to lobby their MPs.
It was such a massive acheivement and it is a shame that there was only one bit of TV coverage.
Well done to everyone who took part.
The next day Autism in Mind, Education Otherwise, Home Education Advisory Service, Home Education Centre, and a pro-Badman home educating parent, gave evidence followed by the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, National Children’s Bureau, NSPCC, and West Sussex County Council. Again, you could watch it online and read the transcript.
Families were beginning to feel some stirings of hope at the way in which some on the Committee appear to have got their heads around the issues and begun to understand the concerns and outrage of home educators. An indication of this was the Chair's decision to hold an informal session on Monday 19th at which a number of home educating parents, their children, and home educated young people were invited to attend. By all accounts, it was a positive experience with the children and young people as always being the one piece of evidence you just can't ignore - home education WORKS.
That same evening, the consultation on the monitoring and registration of home educators closed with at least 5342 submissions made. The e-petition also closed, with 4,884 signatories.
We will NOT be bullied!
Tuesday evening, Education Otherwise's Government Policy Group took the battle into the heart of Westminster by holding a briefing event for MPs. A team of twenty eight people had formed a working party to arrange the event. Speakers included Ian Dowty, and Dr Alan Thomas. I need to get my head around writing the event up properly, but it was certainly a positive event.
Now today I'm meant to be taking a day off... so I'm not really online, writing this...
The fight that home educators are engaged in at the moment has really consumed those days. Monday 12th saw Graham Badman and DCSF up in front of the Select Committee (if you watched online, that was my head in the bottom right corner of the screen!). I went along and made copious shorthand notes which thankfully I haven't had to try and transcribe as the official transcript is available online!
The next day was the mass lobby. Roarke went up to this and helped out as a steward. Some 450 home educating parents, children and young people attended and it took over 2 1/2 hours for them to get through security and in to lobby their MPs.
It was such a massive acheivement and it is a shame that there was only one bit of TV coverage.
Well done to everyone who took part.
The next day Autism in Mind, Education Otherwise, Home Education Advisory Service, Home Education Centre, and a pro-Badman home educating parent, gave evidence followed by the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, National Children’s Bureau, NSPCC, and West Sussex County Council. Again, you could watch it online and read the transcript.
Families were beginning to feel some stirings of hope at the way in which some on the Committee appear to have got their heads around the issues and begun to understand the concerns and outrage of home educators. An indication of this was the Chair's decision to hold an informal session on Monday 19th at which a number of home educating parents, their children, and home educated young people were invited to attend. By all accounts, it was a positive experience with the children and young people as always being the one piece of evidence you just can't ignore - home education WORKS.
That same evening, the consultation on the monitoring and registration of home educators closed with at least 5342 submissions made. The e-petition also closed, with 4,884 signatories.
We will NOT be bullied!
Tuesday evening, Education Otherwise's Government Policy Group took the battle into the heart of Westminster by holding a briefing event for MPs. A team of twenty eight people had formed a working party to arrange the event. Speakers included Ian Dowty, and Dr Alan Thomas. I need to get my head around writing the event up properly, but it was certainly a positive event.
Now today I'm meant to be taking a day off... so I'm not really online, writing this...
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Mass Lobby of Parliament on Tuesday 13 October 2009
Press Release from the Badman Review Action Group:
PARENTS and their children will be attending a mass lobby of Parliament next week to protest about planned changes to the law on home education that will strip them of their rights and intrude into family life.
Nearly 200 adult supporters have confirmed with the organisers that they will be attending the rally on Tuesday 13 October, bringing with them 190 children. Many of them have firm appointments to see their MPs.
The mass lobby has been organised in the wake of a Government review into home education.
Graham Badman, former Director of Education at Kent County Council, who carried out the study, recommended that local councils should have the right to enter family homes and question children alone.
He also said that parents who home educate should be forced to register every year and gave local authorities carte blanche to refuse registration.
The Review of Elective Home Education in England was accepted in full by the Government, which wants to change the law as soon as possible.
It intends to use its Improving Schools and Safeguarding Bill to introduce home education registration and monitoring legislation as early as next month.
The Badman report and the Government’s eagerness to accept it has brought an angry response from home educators.
Mass lobby organiser Claire Blades, 45, from Aylesbury, said: “No longer are parents being trusted to make decisions about their own children.
“First we had the news that 11.3 million people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - close to one in four of the adult population – would have to have Criminal Record Bureau checks.
“Then we had the case of the two policewomen who were accused of illegal childminding because they took care of each other’s children on their days off.
“Now parents who home educate are to be forced to undergo intrusive monitoring in their own homes because they are not trusted with their own children.
“By ignoring the onward march of legislation that intrudes into family life, we are allowing ourselves to sleepwalk into a nightmare. It is time to wake up and call a halt to the ever-growing band of officials who think they know what is best for our children and our families.”
Home educators claim that the Badman report, published in June, is inaccurate and shows little understanding of the home educating community.
So many home educators complained that the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee ordered a short inquiry into the report.
There were more than 200 written submissions to that inquiry and home educators are awaiting notification of when the Select Committee hearing will be.
Mrs Blades said: “Mr Badman claimed that the ratio of home-educated children who were “known to social care” was twice that of the population at large.
“It turns out that that vague statistic came from a small sample of 25 local authorities.
“The group, Action for Home Education, has carried out its own research using Freedom of Information requests to all local education authorities in England and the picture painted is quite the reverse.
“Interestingly, even Mr Badman has come to realise that his statistics are flawed.
“On 17 September 2009, he wrote to all local authority Directors of Children’s Services to say: ‘I would like to strengthen my statistical evidence in advance of the Select Committee hearing so that it is more extensive and statistically robust.’
“He practically begged the Directors of Children’s Services to help him ‘make the strongest possible case to the Select Committee’.”
“The picture painted of home education in the Badman report is unrecognisable to the thousands of families in this country who exercise their legal right to educate their children without sending them to school.
“It is unrecognisable to the thousands of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends who share the lives of home educated children. It is unrecognisable to the children themselves.
“The mass lobby is an opportunity for us to show our MPs what home education is really about and to bring important issues like inaccuracies and bias in the Badman report to their attention.”
Saturday, September 26, 2009
2007 Home Education Guidelines
For some odd reason the DCSF 2007 Elective Home Education Guidelines for Local Authorities has disappeared from their website.
EO have asked them when it will be back...
In the meantime, a number of people and groups have helpfully put a copy online for ease of reference. So if you are looking for it, you can find the DCSF 2007 Elective Home Education Guidelines for Local Authorities here!
EO have asked them when it will be back...
In the meantime, a number of people and groups have helpfully put a copy online for ease of reference. So if you are looking for it, you can find the DCSF 2007 Elective Home Education Guidelines for Local Authorities here!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Arts, Rocks, Reading and Chaos
Josh is now back at SAVVY. His arts award stuff is coming along, but very slowly. He's running out of time to get it completed before the end of the period (November). Its very hard trying to get the balance between autonomous learning - not interfering or taking over - and encouraging him and keeping him on target.
William has made some amazing progress this week with his reading. In true autonomous style, he's done it via Club Penguin! It seems that on Club Penguin, if you go to the Town, and into the Cafe, upstairs there is a Library where you can "take a book out" and read it. The idea is that you type the words to turn them from grey to black, and every now and again you can select one of two words to go into the story. Despite not being able to read, he has been trying to do this. He sits and tries every key on the keyboard until he finds the right one.
Now, his keyboard on the laptop of course is in capitals, so hardly any of them look like the letters on the screen. This means he's having to learn his capitals at the same time.
We decided a few weeks ago that we would stop focusing on the alphabet; why does he need to know the alphabet? I don't mean why does he need to know the letters, but why does he need to know the order?
Think about it.
Other than being able to recite it, or use it for codes, why do you need to know it?
Surely today it is more relevant to know the order of the keys on a keyboard!
Anyway, this means that we are more than happy for him to have found this way, that is relevant to him, of learning his letters. It has really worked! He watched an episode of SuperWhy with Jonathan in the evening and successfully called out every one of the "super letters" on the screen - which are all in capitals. That's the first time we've ever heard him get them right.
There's that autonomous learning again :-)
Today we had a nice morning out in Tunbridge Wells. We went to Wellington Rocks. Jonathan proved once again that he has no fear, and every confidence in himself, by charging off to climb straight up the rocks after his brothers. Poor old Roarke was kept on his toes trying to keep up with him, let alone one step in front!
We then got a portion of chips for everyone and drove home, because Roarke was expecting to have to go into London for a costume fitting for an advert that he is short listed for. The call never came, but we spent the rest of the afternoon not sure what was happening from one minute to the next!
I've almost finished our new family website. It is mainly so that I have someone to tell our home ed story, and also somewhere to put our gluten free recipes that people ask me about. Let me know what you think :-)
Tomorrow we are, to say the least, over booked. I am meant to be doing the shopping then going to the home ed meeting. Roarke is meant to be working in Orpington. However if he gets his call, he'll have to go to London. We are also meant to be meeting our MP in the evening (he kindly gave us 24 hours notice).
The weekend is equally as busy. Again, Roarke is either working in Orpington or, if he gets this part, filming somewhere on Saturday. Sunday is our church Community Day with a hog roast for the adults and a barbeque for the kids, then straight across to my brother's for his birthday party!
Oh and we had a house guest overnight Saturday!
William has made some amazing progress this week with his reading. In true autonomous style, he's done it via Club Penguin! It seems that on Club Penguin, if you go to the Town, and into the Cafe, upstairs there is a Library where you can "take a book out" and read it. The idea is that you type the words to turn them from grey to black, and every now and again you can select one of two words to go into the story. Despite not being able to read, he has been trying to do this. He sits and tries every key on the keyboard until he finds the right one.
Now, his keyboard on the laptop of course is in capitals, so hardly any of them look like the letters on the screen. This means he's having to learn his capitals at the same time.
We decided a few weeks ago that we would stop focusing on the alphabet; why does he need to know the alphabet? I don't mean why does he need to know the letters, but why does he need to know the order?
Think about it.
Other than being able to recite it, or use it for codes, why do you need to know it?
Surely today it is more relevant to know the order of the keys on a keyboard!
Anyway, this means that we are more than happy for him to have found this way, that is relevant to him, of learning his letters. It has really worked! He watched an episode of SuperWhy with Jonathan in the evening and successfully called out every one of the "super letters" on the screen - which are all in capitals. That's the first time we've ever heard him get them right.
There's that autonomous learning again :-)
Today we had a nice morning out in Tunbridge Wells. We went to Wellington Rocks. Jonathan proved once again that he has no fear, and every confidence in himself, by charging off to climb straight up the rocks after his brothers. Poor old Roarke was kept on his toes trying to keep up with him, let alone one step in front!
We then got a portion of chips for everyone and drove home, because Roarke was expecting to have to go into London for a costume fitting for an advert that he is short listed for. The call never came, but we spent the rest of the afternoon not sure what was happening from one minute to the next!
I've almost finished our new family website. It is mainly so that I have someone to tell our home ed story, and also somewhere to put our gluten free recipes that people ask me about. Let me know what you think :-)
Tomorrow we are, to say the least, over booked. I am meant to be doing the shopping then going to the home ed meeting. Roarke is meant to be working in Orpington. However if he gets his call, he'll have to go to London. We are also meant to be meeting our MP in the evening (he kindly gave us 24 hours notice).
The weekend is equally as busy. Again, Roarke is either working in Orpington or, if he gets this part, filming somewhere on Saturday. Sunday is our church Community Day with a hog roast for the adults and a barbeque for the kids, then straight across to my brother's for his birthday party!
Oh and we had a house guest overnight Saturday!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Picnics and Hairy Bikers
Sunday saw our church moving to two morning services in order to make room for growth. I got to go to both services, one after the other which was just amazing.
I'd been highly organised in the morning and had put a curry into the slow cooker at 7.30am so we got a hot midday dinner before Roarke and Josh went off to the O2 in order to take part in Hillsong's 10th Anniversary celebrations up there. By all accounts that was pretty awesome too!
Monday was a busy day with Roarke in and out, and us trying to catch up on various things.
Tuesday evening was a logistical nightmare! We took Josh and Samuel to their life group for 6am, collected Mum to babysit William and Jonathan here, then left to get to church for 7.30pm for a meal and then the start of the DNA2 course that we are doing. Josh and Samuel therefore had to get a bus back to our house. It was the first time they'd got the bus together, only the second time Josh had got a bus without us, and the first time either of them had done it in the dark. They missed the first bus and had to wait quite a while.
I am SO proud of Samuel yet again. Even a few months back that would have destroyed him, as he would have been so anxious about being in the dark, being out "on the streets", feeling vulnerable. I really do have God (via Rock Camp and BCC!) to thank for that, as well as the time and space that home ed has allowed him. He is maturing so quickly!
Anyway, they texted us to let us know they were home, and we could relax for the rest of the evening!
Today was Not Back to School Picnic Day! We went to Gravesend and handed out leaflets and balloons in the high street, then on to the park for a picnic. About 43 children and adults attended and all had a great time. The highlight was that someone we'd given a leaflet to came along with his two young daughters to share the picnic and find out more about home education!
It definately made it all worth while.
Jonathan had a fabulous time. The longest time he'd spent outside at a park, safe and secure and able to play away to his heart's content on all the equipment.
He feel asleep in the car, and stayed asleep when we carried him in, and then slept like this for another hour and a half:
Very cute!
I've been watching the Hairy Biker's Food Tour of Britain and loving it! Mixing two of my favourite things - cooking and motorbikes - is a definate winner for me. It has really inspired me to get cooking properly and the family have definately benefited ;0)
We've had daube of beef and herb crusted pork tenderloin so far this week! Roarke says I'm not helping his diet...
I'd been highly organised in the morning and had put a curry into the slow cooker at 7.30am so we got a hot midday dinner before Roarke and Josh went off to the O2 in order to take part in Hillsong's 10th Anniversary celebrations up there. By all accounts that was pretty awesome too!
Monday was a busy day with Roarke in and out, and us trying to catch up on various things.
Tuesday evening was a logistical nightmare! We took Josh and Samuel to their life group for 6am, collected Mum to babysit William and Jonathan here, then left to get to church for 7.30pm for a meal and then the start of the DNA2 course that we are doing. Josh and Samuel therefore had to get a bus back to our house. It was the first time they'd got the bus together, only the second time Josh had got a bus without us, and the first time either of them had done it in the dark. They missed the first bus and had to wait quite a while.
I am SO proud of Samuel yet again. Even a few months back that would have destroyed him, as he would have been so anxious about being in the dark, being out "on the streets", feeling vulnerable. I really do have God (via Rock Camp and BCC!) to thank for that, as well as the time and space that home ed has allowed him. He is maturing so quickly!
Anyway, they texted us to let us know they were home, and we could relax for the rest of the evening!
Today was Not Back to School Picnic Day! We went to Gravesend and handed out leaflets and balloons in the high street, then on to the park for a picnic. About 43 children and adults attended and all had a great time. The highlight was that someone we'd given a leaflet to came along with his two young daughters to share the picnic and find out more about home education!
It definately made it all worth while.
Jonathan had a fabulous time. The longest time he'd spent outside at a park, safe and secure and able to play away to his heart's content on all the equipment.
He feel asleep in the car, and stayed asleep when we carried him in, and then slept like this for another hour and a half:
Very cute!
I've been watching the Hairy Biker's Food Tour of Britain and loving it! Mixing two of my favourite things - cooking and motorbikes - is a definate winner for me. It has really inspired me to get cooking properly and the family have definately benefited ;0)
We've had daube of beef and herb crusted pork tenderloin so far this week! Roarke says I'm not helping his diet...
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Wedding Anniversary
This week we celebrated 16th years of a most marvellous marriage.
I dug out the wedding photos and posted a few on facebook, managing to seriously embarass several people who were there at the time and I've hooked up with on facebook!
Here are two of us from that beautiful day:
We look shockingly young!
To prove how much we have changed, here's a similar pose taken on our anniversary:
Even allowing for the poor quality photo, squashed noses, and the fact that Josh took the picture, I think we are looking a bit the worse for wear :0)
We had a nice day though. A friend from church took me shopping (as we didn't have a car at the time - see next item!), then I came back and packed some snacks to take to the Bromley home ed regular meeting. Roarke met us there half way through and we took the boys to McDonalds for a change. In the evening Mum came over to baby sit Jonathan and William and we got a lift to Bromley so that Josh and Samuel could go to Baseline. It was Samuel's first time and he was nervous and excited. The pastor and the youth leaders kept an eye out for him though and he had a great time.
Whilst they were there (3 hours) Roarke and I went for a tapas meal in Bromley, then onto a pub. We both felt very old watching the goings on in the pub! Actually some of it was shocking, to see that the stuff on the news about binge culture, and girls in particular, is totally real.
Neither Roarke nor I were saints in our teens (he became a Christian in his early twenties, and I calmed down around then too) and I certainly had my fair share of outrageous behaviour, but still this just felt different. Not nice.
Anyway, praise God that through being part of BCC, our lads have the opportunity to be involved in Baseline, and through home education too they are able to have a much more positive teen experience than I fear many of their schooled peers are able to.
I'm in the process of sorting out our new, revamped family website. The old one was very popular, especially the gluten free recipes, so its well overdue for me to get another one up (after loosing the free hosting we used to have for it). That's in my spare time ;0)
We spent the afternoon today in the garden clearing up and getting it ready for autumn. Now we've finally got the housing benefit sorted I think we both feel more that this is home - rather than expecting to be thrown out any minute - which is why we've both felt the need to attack the garden. I dug up the strawberry plants to clear out the bindweed coming under from next door, and took the opportunity to split up lots of new plants before replanting. I also got the chance to replant the crocosmia. Roarke took out two shrubs that were in the way, and we moved a tea rose too that had been covered by the shrubs and was looking very sorry for itself.
All the time a small rodent was runny around that appears to be a mouse that lives in the other neighbour's shed :0(
Roarke is already starting to go into hibernation mode; he's not a winter person and as soon as it starts getting dark of an evening, and cool, he starts to struggle.
Time to dig out all the soup recipes....
This week has been a rollercoaster week. The car broke down on Monday night and we went from thinking it was a small thing to fix it, to being told the car was a right off as it would cost more to fix than it was worth (and than we could afford) to the garage ringing us back saying it was a "miracle" but they'd found some tiny thing that was causing it all and had fixed it for £80! God definately had it all in Hand.
Next week our group is planning a Not Back to School Picnic along with more than 30 other groups across the country, as part of an effort to raise the positive profile of home education. The deadline for the written submissions to the Select Committee Inquiry is also approaching so I've got to get around to sorting my personal submission.
The phone has been very busy with new home ed enquiries, mainly from people who have not been able to get their child into the school that they want and so they are needing to home educate whilst going through the appeal process and/or waiting for a place to come up.
I dug out the wedding photos and posted a few on facebook, managing to seriously embarass several people who were there at the time and I've hooked up with on facebook!
Here are two of us from that beautiful day:
We look shockingly young!To prove how much we have changed, here's a similar pose taken on our anniversary:
Even allowing for the poor quality photo, squashed noses, and the fact that Josh took the picture, I think we are looking a bit the worse for wear :0)We had a nice day though. A friend from church took me shopping (as we didn't have a car at the time - see next item!), then I came back and packed some snacks to take to the Bromley home ed regular meeting. Roarke met us there half way through and we took the boys to McDonalds for a change. In the evening Mum came over to baby sit Jonathan and William and we got a lift to Bromley so that Josh and Samuel could go to Baseline. It was Samuel's first time and he was nervous and excited. The pastor and the youth leaders kept an eye out for him though and he had a great time.
Whilst they were there (3 hours) Roarke and I went for a tapas meal in Bromley, then onto a pub. We both felt very old watching the goings on in the pub! Actually some of it was shocking, to see that the stuff on the news about binge culture, and girls in particular, is totally real.
Neither Roarke nor I were saints in our teens (he became a Christian in his early twenties, and I calmed down around then too) and I certainly had my fair share of outrageous behaviour, but still this just felt different. Not nice.
Anyway, praise God that through being part of BCC, our lads have the opportunity to be involved in Baseline, and through home education too they are able to have a much more positive teen experience than I fear many of their schooled peers are able to.
I'm in the process of sorting out our new, revamped family website. The old one was very popular, especially the gluten free recipes, so its well overdue for me to get another one up (after loosing the free hosting we used to have for it). That's in my spare time ;0)
We spent the afternoon today in the garden clearing up and getting it ready for autumn. Now we've finally got the housing benefit sorted I think we both feel more that this is home - rather than expecting to be thrown out any minute - which is why we've both felt the need to attack the garden. I dug up the strawberry plants to clear out the bindweed coming under from next door, and took the opportunity to split up lots of new plants before replanting. I also got the chance to replant the crocosmia. Roarke took out two shrubs that were in the way, and we moved a tea rose too that had been covered by the shrubs and was looking very sorry for itself.
All the time a small rodent was runny around that appears to be a mouse that lives in the other neighbour's shed :0(
Roarke is already starting to go into hibernation mode; he's not a winter person and as soon as it starts getting dark of an evening, and cool, he starts to struggle.
Time to dig out all the soup recipes....
This week has been a rollercoaster week. The car broke down on Monday night and we went from thinking it was a small thing to fix it, to being told the car was a right off as it would cost more to fix than it was worth (and than we could afford) to the garage ringing us back saying it was a "miracle" but they'd found some tiny thing that was causing it all and had fixed it for £80! God definately had it all in Hand.
Next week our group is planning a Not Back to School Picnic along with more than 30 other groups across the country, as part of an effort to raise the positive profile of home education. The deadline for the written submissions to the Select Committee Inquiry is also approaching so I've got to get around to sorting my personal submission.
The phone has been very busy with new home ed enquiries, mainly from people who have not been able to get their child into the school that they want and so they are needing to home educate whilst going through the appeal process and/or waiting for a place to come up.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
For all my non-home educating friends
The Government's main plans for home educators focuses on several areas:
Many finer minds than mine and more eloquent writers have already put into the public domain explainations of the issues in order to raise awareness and to gather support. However this is just my attempt to get some of the stuff rattling around in my mind OUT - in the hope that perhaps some of my non-home educating friends might better understand what is consuming me at the moment.
Compulsory Registration
This is a point that I think most members of the public have the biggest problem with, in terms of understanding why many home educators are against this. What everyone needs to understand - including home educators who are already to known to their Local Authority and/or who don't have a problem with the concept of registration - is that this is NOT about "being known". This is NOT the "we're doing it to protect the children" measure that it claims to be. Being registered will not save the life of even one child. I am convinced of that.
One thing that it is about is numbers, statistics; the fodder for government departments to use, manipulate and chose to focus on - or ignore - as it suits them. Knowing just how many home educating families there are is important if you are wanting to win votes, or bring in unpopular measures. Knowing how many children are home educated is a useful figure to know for budgeting purposes. It would also help them know if more people were turning to home ed (though sadly, I doubt any increase would drive them to examine the reasons why and improve schools - instead it would just lead to more restrictions).
If it was just a matter of your name being on a list of home educators, held by your local authority, then it is true that some home educators would not have a problem with the idea of being known. However, not only do many more home educators have real issues with the idea of registration even if it was something straight forward (for a variety of reasons, ranging from lack of trust - with good reason - of the authorities, social services, and other services right through to a belief that the state does not have any right or need to have such a list), but also we take issue with the sort of registration proposed by the Badman Report.
One recommendations states:
I am not a conspiracy theorist. I think I'm a fairly open minded, fairly rational person. The fact remains however that we live in a world where governments - western governments - regularly use laws to their own ends regardless of the original meaning or motivation behind the law makers. I think the Terrorism Act is one prime current example.
On top of which, lets just examine the rest of that recommendation. Of course it might seem on reading it through that it was reasonable to think that someone with a history of, say, drug abuse, shouldn't be allowed to home educate.
Can I ask you to stop and think WHY? WHY shouldn't they be allowed?
"Safeguarding", you say, "the child isn't safe there".
Now think that through logically.
The child is considered safe to be in the care of its parents - otherwise it would have been removed. Yet it isn't safe to be educated at home. That is illogical - Mr Spock or Tuvok could see straight through that one! Either a child is safe, or not. Either a child is under social services care, or not. To suggest that a child is safe with their parents as long as they are at school during the day, is ludicrous. Even to say ah well its because the parent couldn't cope with them home all the time - er, excuse me, what about the summer holidays?
If a child is not safe enough to be educated at home by its parents, then presumably if the local authority deny permission to educate the child at home then the same local authority will pay for that child to attend some kind of school club in every single school holiday - because the child is "not safe" to be with its parents between the hours of 9 and 3.
Absolutely complete RUBBISH. It is so ridiculous I repeatedly have to reread the Report to believe that someone actually wrote this down without thinking it through.
The fact that the DCSF and government have come out 100% in support of the Report either means they haven't read it, or they are equally ridiculous.
Statement of Education Approach
This is an area where there are a number of opinions, it has to be said, amongst home educators, but nearly everyone can see that particularly for those of us who are child led, autonomous learners, informal learners, unschoolers - whatever label you want to use - this is a disaster.
It also has to be said that many who home educate for religious or philosophical reasons also will have issues with this, regardless of whether they are structured or not, because it has the potential of your view being judged by the LA as "not being suitable".
This has already happened in Sweden where you can no longer, in effect, home educate for religious reasons as to provide an education based on one world view is apparently not suitable.
The detail of this recommendation is truly ridiculous, but possibly only of interest to a home educator - things like the LA being the one to help a new home educator draw up such a statement, which is like saying that a GP should get help from a herbalist in drawing up a plan of medication for a patient. The GP and the herbalist share little in common other than (supposedly) both wanting the best for the patient and for them to get better. However, their belief as to what constitutes "the best" and "getting better" and how to acheive that will most likely be completely different. For every GP who is open to alternative therapies, or every herbalist willing to work alongside a GP, there will be many more who wouldn't even want to give each other the time of day because they each believe that the other is doing more harm than good.
That's what it is like to say that an LA employee should help a family who have just deregistered to draft a plan - even worse, that they should have a say in whether or not MY PLAN is suitable.
I don't have a plan! There, I've said it. I have no educational goals for my children.
I certainly have hopes and desires. As a parent, and as a Christian parent, I have very firm idea as to where I hope my children will be - as people - by the time they are 18 or 19. I know what I would like them to have learnt and understood by then. Not one of those involve anything to do with maths or english.
I want them to be secure in themselves. I want them to love life, love God, love learning. To have open hearts and minds. To be able to see the beauty around them. To be able to see the beauty inside everyone they meet. I want them to have a willingness to help, to teach, and to be helped and to be teachable. I want them to believe that they can have, do, be anything that they want to. I want them to have chosen for themselves to always walk within the will of God.
I want us as a family to have had the chance to explore each other, to build bonds, to store up precious memories, to be able to rely upon each other. I want them to continue to see their parents and their siblings as their friends.
I don't think that my LA will take that as my "statement of educational approach" - though I will certainly be submitting it as one should it come to that.
Annual Inspections/Right of Access
I would hope that most people could understand for themselves that for the Government to be bringing in powers that give a local government employee automatic, legal right of access to the home of someone who choses to home educate, is, well, downright scary.
Remember, the law already exists to give them legal right of access to the home - and the child away from it's parents - if they have safeguarding concerns. They had right of access to the child in Birmingham who was taken out of school and starved to death. For some indefensible reason, they didn't exercise that law. Instead, that case is now being thrown in the faces of home educators as justification for this change of the law. I can barely type that sentence because of the rage that I feel whenever I think about it.
This is an automatic standard right. It can only be seen as "prevention" - our children are, because they are home educated, "at risk of being at risk" of not receiving a suitable education and/or of being harmed without anyone knowing. Apparently.
Anyone who believes in human rights, civil liberties, should be horrified at this and campaigning alongside us to get it thrown out. I cannot understand how any MP, once made aware of these facts, could consider voting this through. Anyone who doesn't believe that the State knows best, should be against this.
Actually, I may come back to this point, because I am genuinely now so upset writing about this that I think I need to go away and come back to it.
I need to think how I can make my friends understand the seriousness of this.
If you are a friend of mine/ours reading this, regardless of your personal feelings about home education, please please consider supporting us in fighting these proposals. Please add your name to the petition against the recommendations which you can find here.
Please also consider writing to your MP to ask them to vote against the proposals to be contained in the Improving Schools and Safeguarding Children Bill due to be announced in the Queen's Speech in November. You can either read more about this here or contact me personally to find out more.
You can also watch a short video about it here.
If you are still reading this, please consider if these proposals were applied to whatever is dear to you. Whatever is precious to you.
Consider replacing the word with any other minority.
What if it was right of access to the home of any Muslim? Any Socialist? A disabled person?
There is no evidence that supports this attitude of "guilty unless proven innocent" being directed towards home educators. Trust me on this. I am living and breathing this at the moment, and am part of many different groups of people who are doing an incredible amount of work to find the statistics, the information, the detail, the evidence, the research, and are gradually building up the picture as to what evidence is (or actually isn't) available that could form any basis for any of these recommendations (something that was severley lacking in the actual Review/Report).
If you are the sort of person who needs proof, evidence, that's fine - contact me. I can talk detail!
- compulsory registration
- the parent providing a statement of educational approach against which the child's "performance" will be assessed
- annual inspections, with right of access to the home and
- right of access (alone if necessary) with the child
Many finer minds than mine and more eloquent writers have already put into the public domain explainations of the issues in order to raise awareness and to gather support. However this is just my attempt to get some of the stuff rattling around in my mind OUT - in the hope that perhaps some of my non-home educating friends might better understand what is consuming me at the moment.
Compulsory Registration
This is a point that I think most members of the public have the biggest problem with, in terms of understanding why many home educators are against this. What everyone needs to understand - including home educators who are already to known to their Local Authority and/or who don't have a problem with the concept of registration - is that this is NOT about "being known". This is NOT the "we're doing it to protect the children" measure that it claims to be. Being registered will not save the life of even one child. I am convinced of that.
One thing that it is about is numbers, statistics; the fodder for government departments to use, manipulate and chose to focus on - or ignore - as it suits them. Knowing just how many home educating families there are is important if you are wanting to win votes, or bring in unpopular measures. Knowing how many children are home educated is a useful figure to know for budgeting purposes. It would also help them know if more people were turning to home ed (though sadly, I doubt any increase would drive them to examine the reasons why and improve schools - instead it would just lead to more restrictions).
If it was just a matter of your name being on a list of home educators, held by your local authority, then it is true that some home educators would not have a problem with the idea of being known. However, not only do many more home educators have real issues with the idea of registration even if it was something straight forward (for a variety of reasons, ranging from lack of trust - with good reason - of the authorities, social services, and other services right through to a belief that the state does not have any right or need to have such a list), but also we take issue with the sort of registration proposed by the Badman Report.
One recommendations states:
That local authority adult services and other agencies be required to inform those charged with the monitoring and support of home education of any properly evidenced concerns that they have of parents’ or carers’ ability to provide a suitable education irrespective of whether or not they are known to children’s social care, on such grounds asDoes not the phrase "anything else" not frighten you? Maybe you have been fortunate enough to never have experienced depression, or post natal depression. Or have any long term illness, disability or condition. Maybe you do not have strongly held Christian, Muslim, Pagan, or any other religious or political views that you know often sets you apart from others. But, if you do, then you are well aware of the potential abuse of such a dangerous phrase.And in addition:
- alcohol or drug abuse
- incidents of domestic violence
- previous offences against children
- anything else which may affect their ability to provide a suitable and efficient education
I am not a conspiracy theorist. I think I'm a fairly open minded, fairly rational person. The fact remains however that we live in a world where governments - western governments - regularly use laws to their own ends regardless of the original meaning or motivation behind the law makers. I think the Terrorism Act is one prime current example.
On top of which, lets just examine the rest of that recommendation. Of course it might seem on reading it through that it was reasonable to think that someone with a history of, say, drug abuse, shouldn't be allowed to home educate.
Can I ask you to stop and think WHY? WHY shouldn't they be allowed?
"Safeguarding", you say, "the child isn't safe there".
Now think that through logically.
The child is considered safe to be in the care of its parents - otherwise it would have been removed. Yet it isn't safe to be educated at home. That is illogical - Mr Spock or Tuvok could see straight through that one! Either a child is safe, or not. Either a child is under social services care, or not. To suggest that a child is safe with their parents as long as they are at school during the day, is ludicrous. Even to say ah well its because the parent couldn't cope with them home all the time - er, excuse me, what about the summer holidays?
If a child is not safe enough to be educated at home by its parents, then presumably if the local authority deny permission to educate the child at home then the same local authority will pay for that child to attend some kind of school club in every single school holiday - because the child is "not safe" to be with its parents between the hours of 9 and 3.
Absolutely complete RUBBISH. It is so ridiculous I repeatedly have to reread the Report to believe that someone actually wrote this down without thinking it through.
The fact that the DCSF and government have come out 100% in support of the Report either means they haven't read it, or they are equally ridiculous.
Statement of Education Approach
This is an area where there are a number of opinions, it has to be said, amongst home educators, but nearly everyone can see that particularly for those of us who are child led, autonomous learners, informal learners, unschoolers - whatever label you want to use - this is a disaster.
It also has to be said that many who home educate for religious or philosophical reasons also will have issues with this, regardless of whether they are structured or not, because it has the potential of your view being judged by the LA as "not being suitable".
This has already happened in Sweden where you can no longer, in effect, home educate for religious reasons as to provide an education based on one world view is apparently not suitable.
The detail of this recommendation is truly ridiculous, but possibly only of interest to a home educator - things like the LA being the one to help a new home educator draw up such a statement, which is like saying that a GP should get help from a herbalist in drawing up a plan of medication for a patient. The GP and the herbalist share little in common other than (supposedly) both wanting the best for the patient and for them to get better. However, their belief as to what constitutes "the best" and "getting better" and how to acheive that will most likely be completely different. For every GP who is open to alternative therapies, or every herbalist willing to work alongside a GP, there will be many more who wouldn't even want to give each other the time of day because they each believe that the other is doing more harm than good.
That's what it is like to say that an LA employee should help a family who have just deregistered to draft a plan - even worse, that they should have a say in whether or not MY PLAN is suitable.
I don't have a plan! There, I've said it. I have no educational goals for my children.
I certainly have hopes and desires. As a parent, and as a Christian parent, I have very firm idea as to where I hope my children will be - as people - by the time they are 18 or 19. I know what I would like them to have learnt and understood by then. Not one of those involve anything to do with maths or english.
I want them to be secure in themselves. I want them to love life, love God, love learning. To have open hearts and minds. To be able to see the beauty around them. To be able to see the beauty inside everyone they meet. I want them to have a willingness to help, to teach, and to be helped and to be teachable. I want them to believe that they can have, do, be anything that they want to. I want them to have chosen for themselves to always walk within the will of God.
I want us as a family to have had the chance to explore each other, to build bonds, to store up precious memories, to be able to rely upon each other. I want them to continue to see their parents and their siblings as their friends.
I don't think that my LA will take that as my "statement of educational approach" - though I will certainly be submitting it as one should it come to that.
Annual Inspections/Right of Access
I would hope that most people could understand for themselves that for the Government to be bringing in powers that give a local government employee automatic, legal right of access to the home of someone who choses to home educate, is, well, downright scary.
Remember, the law already exists to give them legal right of access to the home - and the child away from it's parents - if they have safeguarding concerns. They had right of access to the child in Birmingham who was taken out of school and starved to death. For some indefensible reason, they didn't exercise that law. Instead, that case is now being thrown in the faces of home educators as justification for this change of the law. I can barely type that sentence because of the rage that I feel whenever I think about it.
This is an automatic standard right. It can only be seen as "prevention" - our children are, because they are home educated, "at risk of being at risk" of not receiving a suitable education and/or of being harmed without anyone knowing. Apparently.
Anyone who believes in human rights, civil liberties, should be horrified at this and campaigning alongside us to get it thrown out. I cannot understand how any MP, once made aware of these facts, could consider voting this through. Anyone who doesn't believe that the State knows best, should be against this.
Actually, I may come back to this point, because I am genuinely now so upset writing about this that I think I need to go away and come back to it.
I need to think how I can make my friends understand the seriousness of this.
If you are a friend of mine/ours reading this, regardless of your personal feelings about home education, please please consider supporting us in fighting these proposals. Please add your name to the petition against the recommendations which you can find here.
Please also consider writing to your MP to ask them to vote against the proposals to be contained in the Improving Schools and Safeguarding Children Bill due to be announced in the Queen's Speech in November. You can either read more about this here or contact me personally to find out more.
You can also watch a short video about it here.
If you are still reading this, please consider if these proposals were applied to whatever is dear to you. Whatever is precious to you.
Consider replacing the word with any other minority.
What if it was right of access to the home of any Muslim? Any Socialist? A disabled person?
First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me."
There is no evidence that supports this attitude of "guilty unless proven innocent" being directed towards home educators. Trust me on this. I am living and breathing this at the moment, and am part of many different groups of people who are doing an incredible amount of work to find the statistics, the information, the detail, the evidence, the research, and are gradually building up the picture as to what evidence is (or actually isn't) available that could form any basis for any of these recommendations (something that was severley lacking in the actual Review/Report).
If you are the sort of person who needs proof, evidence, that's fine - contact me. I can talk detail!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
GRrrrr
I'm seriously stressed over a few things at the moment, not least of all Bromley Council's Housing Benefit department.
We moved in here around 25th May, and only this week did we get a "temporary" award. They have mucked around with our earning figure. We don't earn enough to need an accountant, but the Council wouldn't accept our submission to the Inland Revenue - apparently it may be sufficient for the tax man but not for Bromley. Today we had no less that 6 letters through the door at the same time, dated between 22nd and 25th of August, some contained 4 duplicated pages, another one wasn't even on headed paper but we'd obviously been sent the blank file copy... incompetent doesn't begin to describe it.
The breakdown of our figures that they put in the letter shows us as having "capital" which consists of the balances of two accounts. Now one account contains this month's money for bills, and the other contains next month's rent that we set aside as we go. So we rang to ask them to not include this as "capital". The woman on the phone was very rude saying "we don't include that sort of [low] figure as capital" and when Roarke said "but the letter here includes the figure" she kept saying "you're not listening to me - we don't include it" with Roarke saying "you're not listening to me - I'm asking why then it is in the letter!". It would be laughable if it wasn't so sickeningly important.
Needless to say this award doesn't include our DLA which we submitted to them last week (we've just got the middle award for care and lower for mobility for William).
Other frustrations are too irritating to go into or bore you with!
On a more positive note, Josh is happy because his laptop has been fixed, thanks to a wonderful friend, so he's back online properly. Samuel has started blogging again which is really cool - do stop by his blog and encourage him if you can. I think it's awesome to see how good his spelling is now and I'm not correcting it like I did before. That's all down to autonomous education: up until about 5 months ago I'd say his spelling was poor and certainly not "up to his age expected standard". We do no formal academic learning and nothing has changed. His spends his day playing on the computer, on Star Wars, Club Penguin, Binweevil and others, whilst listening to music on Youtube. Somehow this has led to him learning to spell!
Jonathan has stopped limping finally and seems to be walking properly which is a relief. His speech is really advancing quickly and is something that most people comment on. To all intents and purposes, he is talking "properly" and fully now (at 26 months) because he can express himself fully and in quite complicated sentances. "Mummy, I hurt my foot on toy", "Josh, pick up me", "Daddy, bounce bounce [trampoline] in garden with me please". On top of all that, he has a wicked sense of humour which we are all enjoying. At the dinner table the other day the boys were calling Roarke Winnie the Pooh (or something) and Jonathan piped up "no, Daddy is Minnie Mouse!" and then burst out laughing.
The best thing is that he has started coming up to us independently, giving people a hug, and saying "I love you" :0)
Our tomatoes are cropping regularly and heavily and we've had some lovely meals as a result, including a roasted cherry tomato soup. We are still getting several courgettes a week too.
We moved in here around 25th May, and only this week did we get a "temporary" award. They have mucked around with our earning figure. We don't earn enough to need an accountant, but the Council wouldn't accept our submission to the Inland Revenue - apparently it may be sufficient for the tax man but not for Bromley. Today we had no less that 6 letters through the door at the same time, dated between 22nd and 25th of August, some contained 4 duplicated pages, another one wasn't even on headed paper but we'd obviously been sent the blank file copy... incompetent doesn't begin to describe it.
The breakdown of our figures that they put in the letter shows us as having "capital" which consists of the balances of two accounts. Now one account contains this month's money for bills, and the other contains next month's rent that we set aside as we go. So we rang to ask them to not include this as "capital". The woman on the phone was very rude saying "we don't include that sort of [low] figure as capital" and when Roarke said "but the letter here includes the figure" she kept saying "you're not listening to me - we don't include it" with Roarke saying "you're not listening to me - I'm asking why then it is in the letter!". It would be laughable if it wasn't so sickeningly important.
Needless to say this award doesn't include our DLA which we submitted to them last week (we've just got the middle award for care and lower for mobility for William).
Other frustrations are too irritating to go into or bore you with!
On a more positive note, Josh is happy because his laptop has been fixed, thanks to a wonderful friend, so he's back online properly. Samuel has started blogging again which is really cool - do stop by his blog and encourage him if you can. I think it's awesome to see how good his spelling is now and I'm not correcting it like I did before. That's all down to autonomous education: up until about 5 months ago I'd say his spelling was poor and certainly not "up to his age expected standard". We do no formal academic learning and nothing has changed. His spends his day playing on the computer, on Star Wars, Club Penguin, Binweevil and others, whilst listening to music on Youtube. Somehow this has led to him learning to spell!
Jonathan has stopped limping finally and seems to be walking properly which is a relief. His speech is really advancing quickly and is something that most people comment on. To all intents and purposes, he is talking "properly" and fully now (at 26 months) because he can express himself fully and in quite complicated sentances. "Mummy, I hurt my foot on toy", "Josh, pick up me", "Daddy, bounce bounce [trampoline] in garden with me please". On top of all that, he has a wicked sense of humour which we are all enjoying. At the dinner table the other day the boys were calling Roarke Winnie the Pooh (or something) and Jonathan piped up "no, Daddy is Minnie Mouse!" and then burst out laughing.
The best thing is that he has started coming up to us independently, giving people a hug, and saying "I love you" :0)
Our tomatoes are cropping regularly and heavily and we've had some lovely meals as a result, including a roasted cherry tomato soup. We are still getting several courgettes a week too.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Photos
Jonathan being very cute the other evening, as he carefully tucked his "babies" in before he went up to bed.
Jonathan running away quick in the vain hope that I would not realise it was him who had been digging in the flower pots and spreading compost all over the patio...
Today's home ed lesson was building. So I made a chair out of duplo :0)
a fully working model chair, as demonstrated by Jonathan:
My garden seems to be taking after my free range autonomous children and following its own path. Or in the case of the courgettes, following the patio. The word triffid springs to mind...
The tomatoes are cropping so heavily that they are now not only tied up, tied to the neighbours fence, but also supported by three planks!
Friends who came over for dinner last weekend, being instructed in the art of kid knex by William and Jonathan. Actually in true home ed style there was a serious lesson about balance going on; at least Chris learnt something ;0)
Jonathan running away quick in the vain hope that I would not realise it was him who had been digging in the flower pots and spreading compost all over the patio...
Today's home ed lesson was building. So I made a chair out of duplo :0)
a fully working model chair, as demonstrated by Jonathan:
My garden seems to be taking after my free range autonomous children and following its own path. Or in the case of the courgettes, following the patio. The word triffid springs to mind...
The tomatoes are cropping so heavily that they are now not only tied up, tied to the neighbours fence, but also supported by three planks!
Friends who came over for dinner last weekend, being instructed in the art of kid knex by William and Jonathan. Actually in true home ed style there was a serious lesson about balance going on; at least Chris learnt something ;0)
Monday, August 10, 2009
More Sleep Needed
SO much has been happening that I rarely get time to think let alone blog!
I've been really busy working on this video for Education Otherwise.
On top of that, there has been some pretty cool family stuff going on.
Samuel decided to go to Rock Camp, the 5 day youth camp for 7-11 year olds that our church runs every year. For a child with aspergers this was such a BIG deal. Going away from home for the first time, new people, new environment, crowds, noise, no privacy, shared sleeping, games, activities, constant stimulation... the list is endless.
I am achingly proud of him for not only making the decision to go, but going, seeing it through, and coming home so proud of himself too.
I have to give huge credit to our church, BCC, for being such an awesome place and to the youth workers for being such amazing people that we could entrust Samuel to them for such an important step.
Joshua then got the chance to go with the teen group from church, Baseline, to the amazing 5 day experience that is Rocknations. He had an AWESOME time and my child of God who went away has come back a young Man of God.
Jonathan had his second ever casting for a Huggies advert and we should know by midday tomorrow if he has got through to the next round or not.
Roarke has been busy, several days filming for a new film coming out next year, plus several auditions.
We all need more sleep!
I've been really busy working on this video for Education Otherwise.
On top of that, there has been some pretty cool family stuff going on.
Samuel decided to go to Rock Camp, the 5 day youth camp for 7-11 year olds that our church runs every year. For a child with aspergers this was such a BIG deal. Going away from home for the first time, new people, new environment, crowds, noise, no privacy, shared sleeping, games, activities, constant stimulation... the list is endless.
I am achingly proud of him for not only making the decision to go, but going, seeing it through, and coming home so proud of himself too.
I have to give huge credit to our church, BCC, for being such an awesome place and to the youth workers for being such amazing people that we could entrust Samuel to them for such an important step.
Joshua then got the chance to go with the teen group from church, Baseline, to the amazing 5 day experience that is Rocknations. He had an AWESOME time and my child of God who went away has come back a young Man of God.
Jonathan had his second ever casting for a Huggies advert and we should know by midday tomorrow if he has got through to the next round or not.
Roarke has been busy, several days filming for a new film coming out next year, plus several auditions.
We all need more sleep!
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