Why we home educate

It's no great secret, we actually enjoy and value the time spent with our children. As for the physical act of educating them, well we've been doing that since the moment they entered the world. We taught them to speak their first language, recognise plants, colours, numbers and letters. We shared books together, sang rhymes answered their questions (yes we even took the time to help them research the answers to questions we didn't know) and what's more, we cherished the experience.

Far from pacing the floors in anticipation of the day we would 'get our lives back', we looked forward to each new experience we would share with our children. For us the prospect of handing over responsibility for the remainder of their education to strangers, always felt somewhat alien if not a little cruel. This was highlighted to me when, at just four years old, my eldest son embarked upon his first school day. The experience was not unlike a documentary I once viewed regarding the plight of evacuees during the war. We were surrounded by parents and children alike, sobbing uncontrollably at the prospect of being separated. When it came to the point when the class room had to be entered, my precious child clung tightly to my leg, begging me not to make him go. Then to my horror, unable to allow such delay, his teacher physically prised us apart and dragged him screaming into the building, turning only briefly to remind me that this was in his best interests! This I seriously doubted, but having no idea there were other options, I wandered home to clock watch and await the moment I could once more offer my son a reassuring hug.

The truth is that parents in the UK have always had the right to determine how and where their children will be educated, despite this, even now countless people do not yet realise that British home education is legal. The laws governing this increasingly popular choice do contain some variations, depending upon which country within the United Kingdom you reside, but the act of home educating remains perfectly legal in all of them.

According to the 1996 education act in England and Wales, the responsibility for educating children 'in school or otherwise', lies with the parents. Also such education must be suitable for the age, ability and aptitude of the individual child. The same applies to Northern Ireland, whereas Scottish law says that 'every child has a right to an education, and it is the duty of the parent of every school age child to provide that education, either by sending the child to school, or by other means.'

Traditional schooling, overwhelmed by results, rankings and Ofsted reports, often seems more concerned with crowd control and overall achievement than the needs of the individual. For us it quickly became apparent that the education system and most definately our local school, could not necessarily offer that which we as parents were legally bound to provide. What's more, there was every likelyhood it might stifle and even emotionally scar our precious children. Within months of my son entering into the system, the school he attended was closed, deemed to have failed in its duty to the children. With all the remaining primary schools in our area over subscribed, we half expected our family to be closed down too. After all, if qualified teachers couldn't provide the education demanded by law, how could we as untrained parents? Basically, fromour perspective we had nothing to lose and everything to gain. fourteen years later Im still home educating at primary school level and loving every minute. ( Might I add that my older children who have chosen to enter higher education are taking A-levels so I cant have done that bad a job at the end of the day).

Anyway, Id love to connect with other home schoolers if you're about :)