Facebook has had a slow momentum with the question “Did you get in?”.
It started last week, with a slow dribble of parents posting “Hope <Insertnamehere> (child) gets into the school, can’t wait to find out next week!”
A few more parents have had a trickier time with several children being split between different schools, and even one friend who has all 4 children at 4 different schools – drop offs and pick ups are a nightmare, for which friends help out.
I find myself watching the results come in and am filled with a certain nervousness.
Depending on which way you look at it, we didn’t get into a school. We didn’t get our approval reviewed and our child deemed worthy or otherwise of attending a school.
We got into our choice – no school? No. Home school!
I have absolutely no idea how we are going to do this, but do this we will. The eldest little one and her parents, along with her brother (when he’s old enough) are already embarking on our home schooling journey.
Yes it’s daunting. No, we don’t get “down time” when child is at school. Yes we do have to juggle working around the children. But we will do it. We are already doing it.
As the beginning of this year dawned and passed, along with the deadline for applications to “3 schools of your choice”, I have been asking myself what my reasons are for choosing this path for my children.
I remember my Mum talking to me about my own school time, and the fact that I got very bored, very quickly. My imagination took over and that was far more entertaining and engaging than anything that school, classwork, teachers or other students could provide. I was lost!
Being completely honest, I can’t deny that a part of the decision has to do with my own reaction to anything “school” related.
Just recently a friend and I took our children to a farm park. We thought we’d been clever and missed the school holidays – which we did, however, there were no less than 5 coaches in the coach park. All from schools! As we walked around for the day we bumped into the groups of children often. And my reaction to the groups of children, and being shepherded by the responsible adults / teachers caused me question my motives for homeschooling.
In that moment that seemingly lasted forever (whilst waiting for the eldest to feed the pigs), I witnessed something by one of the teachers that just made me feel that our decision was right for us. One teacher talking to a group of students stood in front of me, being marshalled to pet a goat, the group of students was constantly changing, new people coming, those who had petted the goat leaving… after saying more than twice “Only 4 to pet the goat at once” one lad who had just recently joined the group and hadn’t heard the instruction was asked “ARE YOU STUPID???” by said teacher.
I wouldn’t be a teacher if you paid me. Having responsibility for that many “other peoples kids” just is not something that I feel I would want to do, much less wondering whether one had the skills for crowd control.
But our children? There’s no-one more qualified than their parents and other adults in their family and social circle to educate them. We can be proactive and reactive. We know their moods. We know when we can push for concentration and when we need to walk away and direct the energy outside for a bit.
And we can keep their boredom to times when it is useful to them. All children need to be bored – it helps them to learn about and discover their own imaginations. And this is a good thing. It’s just not so useful if that time is between the times of 9 and 3, Monday to Friday!
And now – please excuse me, we have some construction projects to undertake.
Megablocks for the win!
And well done Daddy for sorting!