27th August 2008

Bit of an update,we have now been home educating for 2 years and its been a ride to say the least! Alexander is now just shy of his 14th birthday and growing up far too fast! In our first year of HE,he turned out a phenomenal amount of written work (we think part of the whole de-schooling process in hindsight) and then stopped altogether for a good few months.  We learnt that it is hard as hell to trust  and go with that leap of faith that is needed to get through that particularly worrying stage,and we also learned that you keep on going through phases where nothing or near to nothing happens. 'Blame My Brain' by Nicola Morgan was an interesting read for us that increased our understanding and was educational for all of us.

We had been considering Alexander returning to flexi-schooling but have pretty much decided that this would probably be more detrimental than helpful and so we will continue focussing on where he wants to go and ignore  those who think they know better. Why should a child have to "dumb it down" at school just so they dont get bullied? Two wrongs do not make a right,just because a person was themselves bullied at school doesnt mean their children or those of their friends should suffer the same.

I'll get off of my soapbox. One thing we have all learned in the past 2 years is that everyone else thinks their opinion is one we should listen to.Nope,it doesnt work like that,the only people that matter live right here in my house.

I just thought I would update this page to say that we are still here,we're all happily muddling along,and things are currently very doughy around here,oooooh the joys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anna and co

Hi and Welcome!

I'm Anna, I'm a bit of a novice at this webpage lark, not having attempted it since uni....

We decided to do this for many reasons; partly so family can look in on us, but also because we are at a crossroads.  For 2/3 years we've been considering home ed for our eldest Alexander (whose poem 'Socks' is below) because quite simply, the system is failing him and so many others like him, its like their feet really, one size does not fit all!!!

Our family are as follows; me (Anna), dad Liam, Alexander aged 11, Toby who's now 1, a cat called Ari who barks... another cat called Gobby for obvious reaons and a rabbit.  Thats us in a sentence!

So, we're gonna use this just to have fun and to keep a record of what we're up to. Alexanders garden diary, Tobys' misdemeanours and the day to day dopey things that we (Liam and Anna) do intentionally or otherwise!  Evenntually photos will start appearing in our Rogues Gallery but that requires me to pull out the proverbial finger and show Alexander what to do!!!!

 11th October 2006

A decision has been made torturous it has been in the making!!  Tomorrow morning we are visiting the school to make it official.  Alexander will officially become a Home Educated child.  In the past couple of weeks he's been home unwell, he's relaxed, regained a sense of humour and has been doing work of his own accord.  In the face of this, how can we send him back?!!

25th October 2006

Alexander has really adjusted well, we are all much happier, today he made a stuffed mouse (see photos for the mouse and more) which we're sure he wouldnt have been able to do in mainstream!!  So far so good...