Why I decided to home educate..
- Jess Newton
- Dec 13, 2017
- 3 min read
A little bit of a new direction on today's blog, however making the decision to home educate my children full time has been a natural progression whilst on my journey through spirituality.
About a year ago, my children were being targeted by not just other pupils but members of staff too. After going through many channels, meetings, and anything else I could try to help the situation, I decided to remove them temporarily from school until I could find a more suitable setting.
The next school was pretty perfect, especially in comparison to their last, the staff were welcoming, children were inviting and warm.. even the parents in the yard had a smile for anyone who walked past. FINALLY, a school that my munchkins could settle into and continue on their schooling career.
Pretty soon after, it started to become clear that no matter what school I placed my children in, there would always be the same issue. They were not thriving! They spent everyday tired, grouchy, upset, stressed and fed up. Now, I want to make it extremely clear that both teachers at this particular school who were educating each of my older 2, were very much on board with trying to help them both as much as their work load allowed them. However with Summer needing extra support and Jackson struggling with certain things and many other children who were in the same class needing the same amount of attention, it just wasn't possible for the teachers to spread themselves so thinly.
I know many other parents who home educate their children, and we all have certain things in common, 1 being that the school system just doesn't work for every child. The government place children in a small box, and are expected to work with the one approach suits all attitude, when in reality, every single child is different, they learn different, have different abilities with some SEN. Yet teachers hands are tied with limited options as to how they can connect with every child in the class in a way which is in alignment and their own individual learning style.
In my opinion, the education system needs a shake up, those in charge need to take a good look at the amount of testing children are put through. Cramming in extreme amounts of information to be tested on, only to simply forget it all so they can cram new information ready for yet another test. Can we all be in agreement that children DO NOT need to be tested quite that much at such a young age! My children have always been told to try their best, no matter what the outcome I will always be proud. I have tried my best to keep the pressure off from my side, but seeing them and their mental health dipping from the relentless amount of work (which In their words is not fun or interesting), I felt compelled to take matters into my own hands.
Today was our first day of home ed. We woke up, got dressed and had breakfast as normal, progressed onto reading their latest books (Tom Gates & Diary of a Whimpy Kid), followed by science which went down a treat! Who knew Photosynthesis could be so much fun to learn? We did some winter themed art, maths, English and looked at some winter poetry. Finally we printed off a 2018 big life journal and they filled out their hopes and aspirations for the next year. A day of all major topics covered, 1 on 1 explanations and 2 happy children who felt confident in themselves to be able to complete the work set.
The evening came, I left them to their own devices whilst I started on tea and then something magical happened. Something I haven't seen for such a long time. My children behaved like children. They grabbed out the huge box of Lego and created. They played, they laughed, they imagined and invented and it completely warmed my heart to see the magic of childhood back in my home again. Long gone were the few hours after school where I had what seemed like two pre teens who were so tired and fed up I could barely get a word out of them. In that exact moment I knew the leap of faith I had taken in not just myself, but in my children had paid off. We were onto a winner.

J
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