just another morning here

Can’t quite believe that I’m only the 99th person to respond to the consultation online; it wasn’t half as difficult as the last one! Also pleased to find Spiked Online which puts into words how I feel about the review (as a non-home-educating-at-the-moment parent) far more eloquently than I could ever write it.

Have had wildly differing days today. Anna and Josiah were at school as normal. Abbie was sick during the night (not quite sure why) so she had the day off, and Steve worked mainly from home to accommodate that. He also tidied up the utility area which was a very useful job to have done, even if it did mean that he happened upon my secret stash of snacks – and ate them, the ratbag!! Abbie’s been doing lots of painting

I, meanwhile, had the pleasure of visiting the home of one of the children in my class, as one of our ‘Bus Day’ trips. The mum had invited us ages ago and it was lovely to finally see their house, which I’d heard lots about, and today I saw why. They have a small garden centre and a fair bit of land, on which they’ve designed, built and landscaped their own house and garden, in a totally child centred and disability aware way, as they have two children with the same genetic disability (and then two more children who don’t have the condition). She’d baked delicious cake, and was totally welcoming to us all – we all looked very tempted when she offered beer to drink at lunchtime! It was a beautiful day weather wise, and a real treat to be able to let our children free as the house and garden were all completely safe. They have chickens, too, so the kids fed the chickens and collected eggs as well

Also had a lovely chat about home education – she’s the kind of mum who keeps her kids off school if they need a lie in (gets raised eyebrows all the time!), and obviously loves having them at home with her – just the type of person who understands the premise of home ed without needing it explained. Interesting. In their case I suspect that the respite of school is much needed, however, especially as the two children who are at my school don’t tend to sleep very much at all!

Home for piano/cello lessons, tae kwon do, trying to cook omelettes for tea, I am rubbish with omelettes though.

I think Joe enjoyed his birthday The boys dragged us out of bed early to go and open presents, then we had a leisurely morning playing with them, making pancakes for breakfast, and lazing around before Josiah’s friend went home at 11ish (they went to sleep shortly after 1am so not *too* bad!).

Afterwards we went out for a walk in Steve’s teenage stomping ground, to hide a couple of geocaches. We’ve set them up as a multi – not published yet but when it is, it’ll be here. Hope the co-ords are ok! We had fun doing it, there were a couple of streams to cross on the way so that made it exciting

Spent the afternoon playing games and then having a general tidy up before early nights all round.

Today’s Home Ed review links: What the Home Education Review will really mean, and Start Here – a really good explanation of the pertinent issues for all parents, not just home educators.

It’s been a busy yet lovely day in the main (Steve’s grumpiness excepted). The girls and I set out early this morning to set up for an orchestra concert outside the Cathedral in town, part of the Lammas Fair; the Cathedral Green was taken over with a craft fair this weekend too, so there were loads of people milling around.

Abbie really enjoyed looking after Richard (the DM/conductor)’s dog, and had the lead attached to her chair all the way through! Unfortunately she ended up with really itchy eyes afterwards, not sure if it was hayfever, dog allergy, or something else random, but there we go. I ended up being official photographer as the usual people who take photos had forgotten their cameras, hence the overload of photographs on flickr!

Anyway, as well as it being a lovely day for a concert (and they played really well as usual), we also had secret plans to celebrate the director of music’s 60th birthday with party poppers and a huge cake – that all went off really well, and Richard didn’t even look *too* embarrassed!

Steve and Josiah had joined us by this time, better late than never We stayed in town for a while after that, had coffee with my sister, then shopped for a bit – geocache loot – we may yet get around to hiding one tomorrow.

Home for a bit of relaxation and preparation for Josiah’s birthday ‘do’. He’s just got one friend over for a sleepover – his first ever! When his friend arrived, Steve whisked them off to Sainsbury’s to choose their pizza (Pizza Hut dinner here again, think that might turn into a tradition!), while Abbie, her friend and I set out to put clues around the area, for a treasure hunt that Abbie had designed.

The boys loved the treasure hunt and literally ran around the route after all the clues The prize was a box of food for a midnight feast – not sure it will last until midnight but we’ll see.

They’ve played on a car racing game on the playstation, watched Inkheart again, and shock horror, Josiah even got his violin out to play the James Bond theme to his friend – a jaw drop moment!!

Anyway, they are sleeping in the tent, so that’s a treat as far as they’re concerned, and they’re being relatively quiet at the moment! Planning pancakes for breakfast tomorrow

When I’ve had a moment to myself, I’m reading a lot around the reaction to the Home Education Badman report, and despite not being an active home educator at the moment I still believe in choice in education, and am therefore also outraged at some of the recommendations in the report. There are a lot of better blogs than mine with more eloquent authors than me writing about the subject – so many that I don’t really know which one to link to first! In particular today: Renegade Parent and Dare to Know. I’m guessing that the average Joe Public may not even realise that the review exists, or the implications of it – but it *does* matter to everyone, not just home educators. It’s a question of choice in education being removed, privacy and individuality being eroded, and it’s unacceptable.

I was most disgruntled, last night, to get home from an evening with friends to find that Steve had eaten ALL of the rest of our ice cream! I thought that was seriously unfair! Still, better for my waistline I suppose.

Being cross, I decided to stay up late breaking (and then fixing) the church website that I look after – finally went to sleep about 1.30am which is very late for me!

Woke up at 6am as I have every morning this week, to the sound of piano practice. Taking music seriously is good of course but it’s getting a little too serious even for me! Bit tired as a result, early night tonight.

Have been thinking all day about the Home Education consultation report due out today – haven’t been home yet so haven’t managed to read it, but I’ve read enough tweets etc. to know that I’m going to be almost as cross about it as most of the HEors that I know.
Still, I do wonder whether it will actually become legislation. But until that point it’s worth standing up and fighting the intrusion on privacy *as a parent*, never mind what educational provision our family has chosen.

Meanwhile mad Thursday evening continues. After school I dashed to drop Anna at choir with the others. Then took her to her piano lesson (date of G5 – 30th June) and the rest of us mooched in the park. Thankfully met a friend from work along with a 9yo sibling of a child at my school (friend has his sister for respite for her – great idea as I’m sure it’s much needed!) so it was nice to see them.
Then on to swimming lessons for all 3. Blogging by iPhone before I fall asleep while waiting for them to reappear!