Tree-mendous

LA and Rich have been to "Tree-mendous", the local Wildlife Trust's annual event.
They certainly seem to have had a good time.

They made a tree hanging.............................................and hung it in a tree (obviously!)

They made willow wands.

and no day out would be complete without pretending to be a tiger... would it?

Why we Home Educate...

This post was inspired by the HE blog carnival.

I have 3 children, although the 2 oldest aren't strictly 'children' anymore. James is 20 this week and Kate is 17. They are both still studying full time at college. They both went through the entire school system, we had our ups and downs - but they got through it.
I didn't know about Home Education then, and even if I had I don't think I would have considered it as a viable option. I believed that school was the place for learning...oh my goodness how I resented the time it took away from my family, and the rules they imposed, and the useless teaching during the daytime which ended with piles of homework in the evening...which my children never did, because I never made them...because I didn't approve...but still, I continued to send them, unthinkingly, to school.
When LA was born, James was 14 and Kate was 12. We had already stepped someway outside of 'normal' society by becoming involved in Paganism. We remained unaware of Home Education, believing that we had to send children to school. However, as the time approached for LA to start school I became increasingly concerned about it. She seemed so young. I started investigating the law on the Internet and that's how we discovered that WE DIDN'T HAVE TO SEND HER TO SCHOOL!!!
We didn't have to let our family disintegrate and become absorbed by the routines of school, we didn't have to dance to that tune at all. We didn't have to return to the time where we failed to encourage our child to do homework as we felt that they had spent enough hours of their precious childhood on school work, then they would get told off for our failings... We didn't have to resent the fact that as parents we only had the tired grumpy times with our child as school demanded all the best parts of the day, every day. We didn't have to put up with the bad behaviour that was copied from classmates, or the bigoted teaching that had led our older children to come home with some decidedly odd ideas. Whats more, as intelligent caring parents - we knew we could do it better...
LA spent sometime at playschool and nursery, but didn't really like it so we took her out.
Last week was when LA should officially have started school. We just continued as usual.
We have a very vague structure to our days, we do spend time each day doing some reading, writing and maths. Everything else is optional, but we do have "topics" available and LA does enjoy them.
We haven't ruled school out for the future, we have said we will consider it when she is 7 if she requests to go, but we continue to believe that we can do better so it will depend on her ability to overcome the obstacles to learning and living that school places in children's way!

Grimes Graves

LA and I have just returned from a trip to Thetford (£9 travelodge bargain!!) to see Grimes Graves, as part of our current focus on Early Man. We went to the bottom of a flint mine which early man dug with stones and antlers. This is all the more amazing when you stand and look at the landscape, it looks as if its had a very bad case of acne! There is evidence of numerous mines here, well worth a visit if you are in the area. LA was very brave climbing down the vertical ladder with me into the darkness.

Then we spent some time walking in the forest, we were lucky enough to get very close to a deer grazing on a bank which didn't see us for some time. We also discussed adders and how humans fear of them had led us to destroy them and how they were now returning to the countryside. We talked about why dogs were at risk from them, but of the small risk they posed to humans and how we could get help if we were unlucky enough to be bitten by one.

Dinosaurs

We've been visiting the dinosaurs with our HE friends. We had a lovely time at the museum, learning about the dinosaurs (and loving the look of horror on LA's face when she discovered that she was holding fossilized dinosaur poo).
It was nice for both of us to catch up with old friends who we haven't seen all summer.
It was also a convenient time for us, as we are about to start looking at history. We planned to begin with the Stone Age and early man - but dinosaurs definitely fit right there, at the very beginning!!