Go easy with autonomy

When I was about 15 years old, and freed at last from the schooling system, I met and was very much inspired by my first home-ed family. Some time later, and expecting my first child, I was very keen to home-educate but plagued by self-doubt, believing that I would be the ‘source’ of all my child’s knowledge and learning.

Years later, and prompted by friends opting to send their children to school, I made one of the most important decisions of my life:

Home-education, Day One: I introduce a little bit of ‘structure’, which is immediately and dramatically rejected.

Home-education, Day Two: The real beginning! I find it amusing that so much effort is put into ‘force-feeding’ children what they will consume twice as quickly, and in a much shorter time, if left to their own devices.

My son is now seven, loves reading and filling forms, playing, exploring and listening to protest songs (where did he get that from, I wonder?) and composing tunes on the piano. He is witty, wise and compassionate and has quite a nice-sized vocabulary (I’m pleased to say that the word ‘bored’ has not yet been admitted!). When chatting to people my son will usually be asked about school; to which he replies that he is home-educated. “Oh………. so your mummy teaches you at home, does she?” they say, followed by a swift top-to-toe visual evaluation of myself. “No, I teach myself” he replies.

I get on with my life pretty much unaffected by my son’s status as a home-educated child. I liken home-education to breastfeeding: It’s 100% natural, totally adapted to the needs of the child, utterly convenient and …….. EASY. But you do have to want to be there!