All posts by Katherine
‘My’ child
In debate with a Lord home educators have been told off for claiming possession of their children. A few thoughts.
Of course my child is MY child. Just as I am HER mother. Not that I own her like a thing, but on a far more fundamental level we belong together, are part of each other.
My husband and I created our child. She is a mixing of our genes. She grew in my body for 9 months – fed and enclosed by my body. Then when she was born I gave her warmth, safety love and breastmilk. At the age of 6 months every fibre of her being had been provided by me and the air around her. Her environment was determined by my body – a newborn baby’s natural habitat is afterall its mother’s body. That connection is powerful, primeval and all encompassing. Far more so than simple possession. As her parents we love her wholeheartedly – we shape her genes, her environment, her very experiences of the world around her.
And as she is MY child, I am HER mother, we are HER parents and family. Just as we have created and shaped her by our very presence and our love, she has transformed us. As parents we are different people to those we were before. She has taught us, and we have taught her. She shapes our family, remodelling my relationship with MY own mother and father and grandmother. I have changed from the child, to the parent.
This relationship is powerful – one full of love and connections. A powerful relationship, with it comes mind blowing responsibility.
As she becomes less dependent those links lengthen, but they don’t vanish. Just as I am still my mother’s child and my mother is still my grandmother’s. We shape each other, support each other and create OUR family in the process.
As we grow into adults the links lengthen, and as adults we move away from our parents in many ways. But one thing having a child yourself does is bring you back to your parents. It demonstrates the intensity of the mother-child relationship, usually long submerged in an adult’s life – it shows us how much we are shaped by our parents and how as our child transforms us, we once had that effect upon our parents.
Animal tails t-shirts
I’ve fallen in love with these organic cotten t-shirts. Gorgeous animal prints. Browsig the website this morning has brough a huge smile to my face.
http://www.animaltails.co.uk/animals/
Well they would say that wouldn’t they
No surprises in DCSF’s report on the responses to the home education consultation. The report of the consultation largely dismisses the reponses of home educators to the consultation. Response after response is dismissed on the grounds that home educators would say that wouldn’t they.
What DCSF fail to grasp is the home educators and home educated children are the stakeholders and the experts here. We are the experts in education outside school, in the welfare of own children and the children in our community. We are the people who live this life and know how the proposed changes will impact on our children and community.
We are also people with an interest in education, often with a broad knowledge of different educational philosophies and practices.
The few areas where responses have been taken into consideration have just replaced one rock with another hard place. So rather than criminalise parents for not registering, or doing what they say at every turn LA will punish them and their children by forcing them into school. Hardly a better outcome for children removed from school because school cannot meet their educational and welfare needs, or because of bullying. Where is the child’s welfare in this?
Home educators will in turn say – well the DCSF would say that wouldn’t they. They wouldn’t want their actual stakeholders to get in the way of decisions they have already made. However articulate and logical an argument may be it is incredibly difficult to persuade somone with a widespread preconceived cultural idea – in this case that school = education that they don’t understand or know enough about something to pass judgement on it. In other words those with a pro-school prejudice are hardly independent when it comes to making decisions about a way of life that calls their own educational choices into question.
Diversity in Education is precious in a democracy … Open Letter
Brighton and Hove Home Educators have drafted and open letter to The Guardian and The Times, intended for publication on January 11th 2010, which is the date of the second reading of the Children, Schools and Families Bill in the House of Commons.
Please read and sign the letter at http://bhhe.wordpress.com/diversity/.
Responsibility
As the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Christmas sermon bemoaned children’s lack of childhood Philip Johnston in the telegraph asks why adults are treated like children?
But Mr Johnston – both are true, and are two sides of the same coin – a lack of individual independence and increasing dependence on the state.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/philipjohnston/6898604/Why-are-todays-adults-treated-like-children.html?state=target#postacomment&postingId=6915144
Children are not allowed to be children anymore – they are rushed into school and away from families. Learning to read and write and formal learning generally happens far too soon. But it isn’t a step towards independence – rather a step towards dependence on schools and being told what to do away from parents. A step towards accepting what others tell them about the world, rather than discovering it for yourself. Children aren’t allowed to play freely and develop in their own personal way – in much the same way that adults are continually bombarded with instructions and fears.
If more children were left to play and spent more time with their families many would end up more independent in the long run, but also more involved in their own family life. The problem for those who see themselves as responsible for us all it that then people are less susceptible to being told what to do and how to live their lives. Those in authority are then perpetually afraid that something will go wrong and they will be blamed.
Those of us who want to take responsibility for our own lives and our families are increasingly pressurised to do things the state way, usually regardless of any scientific evidence for or against any lifestyle choice.
There is a growing body of evidence that bedsharing is as safe as a baby sleeping in a cot given certain safety requirements – but fears of SIDs distorts the evidence and cosleeping is seen by many as unsafe and by some as abusive.
Those of us who take full responsiblity for our children’s education are also seen by some as irresponsible despite decades of evidence from the US that shows above average outcomes for home ecucated children. We wish to provide an education that is personalised for our children, and may use a variety of approaches outside the experience of those educated and working in schools. As a result we have endured a year of accusations of child abuse, mental illness and huge pressures to conform. We face an uncertain future, with legislation pending that will mean that parents are no longer responsible for their own children’s education and require an annual license to maintain responsibility for their own children.
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to uphold that parents have the primary responsibility for the upbringing and development of their child
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to uphold that parents have the primary responsibility for the upbringing and development of their child, to not undermine parents legitimately fulfilling their fundamental duties, and to assume that the best interests of their child is the basic concern of parents unless there is specific evidence to the contrary
In particular, the government should ensure :-
• No right of access to the family home without evidence of a crime
• No right to interview a child alone without evidence of risk of serious harm
• No CRB checks or registration for parents to look after their own children, or to informally look after those of their friends, family etc
• No licensing / registration / assessment / monitoring of methods by which parents fulfil their duties without evidence that they are failing to do so, and with specific recognition that education “otherwise†than at school is a perfectly legal option to fulfil their duty regarding education
• No undermining of parents as being in the best position to determine how to meet their child’s needs, according to their age, ability, aptitude, and any special needs they may have
• Greater focus on applying existing resources and procedures to cases of children known to be at risk, rather than dilution of these resources by routinely monitoring whole sections of the community
• Compliance with the fundamental presumption of innocence unless there is specific evidence to the contrary
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Home-ed-families/ – Sign this petition
You do need to be British citizen to sign, but you do not need to be of voting age – children can sign too as long as they have their own email address. REMEMBER TO CLICK ON THE LINK IN THE CONFIRMATION EMAIL YOU WILL RECEIVE FROM NUMBER 10, OR YOUR SIGNATURE WILL NOT BE ADDED
The Daily Groove –
I’ve been getting the daily groove email for a while now. And have been finding it a refreshing way to think about how I deal with situations with the girls. As with so much about parenting and relationships in general so much is in the eye of the beholder. These daily emails help focus that attention on my own assumptions, expectations and reactions.
The P.A.T.H. Program helps leading-edge parents harness the power of creative partnership. See: h
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Cognitive science and maths education
Interesting article in the New York Times on application of cognitive science on education.
Suggesting that children are better at maths than is often assumed. Talks about a method where numbers are learnt by recognising how many there are by sight rather than counting. Also preschool ability for simple division (sharing).
Also of note â€A study published in March by neuroscientists at Maastricht University in the Netherlands suggested that the brain does not fully fuse letters and sounds until about age 11â€
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/health/research/21brain.html?_r=1
Home educated adults more socially engaged, have higher incomes and are happier than average
A new study released today by the Canadian Centre for Home Education reveals
that home-educated adults excel in all measured areas of adult life.
The study surveyed adults whose parents responded to a 1994 study on home
education. Ranging in age from 15 to 34, they answered questions on a
variety of topics with comparable data from Statistics Canada. The results
were astounding.
When measured against the Canadian average, home-educated adults were more
socially engaged and almost twice as likely to have voted in a federal
election. Average income was higher with more sources of investment income
and self employment, and no cases of government support as the primary
source of income. They were happier in their work and their lives in
general. When reflecting on the value of being home educated, most felt that
it was an advantage in their adult life.
“In terms of income, education, entrepreneurial endeavours, involvement in
their community, and all the other characteristics measured, home-educated
adults not only excel, but also make meaningful contributions to their
communities. They are the type of neighbours we all want,” says president
Paul Faris.
The study Fifteen Years Later: Home-Educated Canadian Adults is available in
full form and as a synopsis at www.hslda.ca/cche.