Sunday 29 March 2009

Of course all my plans could come to nought

The daylight hour has changed, so evening flicks me into a different time. I think it's time for tea but the clock says bath. Strange. British Summer Time. All my coordinates are awry. I'll make the best of this displacement, probably by stopping to stare at the clock, wondering where the hours went. Then I'll reflect on the last few days and weeks and slowly plan ahead for the days and weeks to come.

Evaluation, assessment, planning, strewing, call it what you want, isn't seen by everyone in this home ed world as a good thing to do. In fact, it's the sort of activity I never knew could stir up so many hornet's nest politics. Not surprisingly, it's taken me a while to confess. I'm a planner, an evaluator.

Hey, I may lose friends. But really, I have to lay down heavily on the side of the strewer. In fact, for this job, you may need to equip me with a clip board and biro. And here's why.

Because I don't feel I could educate my kids at home without jotting down what each has done, is doing, wants to do. By routinely rounding it all up I know what books they're read, the art they've created, the places they've been enthused by, the interests they're exploring.

For one, I have a terrible memory. And am depressed, easily. So when the month ends and begins, I'll look around and think What the heck have we done? Nothing. We've done nothing.

I'll think that partly because I genuinely can't remember. Also because unless I write it down, record it and think about it, then it won't count. Call that an oddball psychology, but don't shoot me. Because without it, I might throw in the towel and get Squirrel, Tiger and Shark in black and white and down the local school.

Apart from my own sanity, then there's that education thing. I need to keep track of where Squirrel, Tiger and Shark have been in their thinkings, askings, wonderings. I need to think next what I can put in their path to extend their ideas, encourage them to look at old knowledges anew, find out something in a place we haven't been before, and push us all out on a limb into a strange new territory. I believe that's my job. Both to encourage them in the areas they're interested in, and to challenge them, poke them with sticks to go on into new places, because the adventure and the risk might be rewarded with new insights and knowledges.

But does anyone else need to be involved? Anyone outside this family, do they need to be a part of the achievements, interests, goals and ideas of Squirrel, Tiger and Shark?

Now I'm genuinely torn and in my head is a ragbag of thoughts which possibly don't much hold together.

I believe the evaluation, reflection and plans for the future should come entirely from Squirrel, Tiger, Shark, Dig and me. If Shark is interested in marine biology, then that's what she should tell the world, and if anyone wants to know how well she's doing in English, with her consent I'd list the books she reads about fictional fish, real shipwrecks, study guides to oceanography and every book she can lay her hands on with a passing reference to water. And it's not my problem to nail that huge enthusiasm down to National Curriculum attainment targets, and neither should it be. Part of me says No, no-one needs to set the terms but us for our achievements, and No. You don't need to know.

But like every other sane parent out there who believes their child is the most wonderful creature that ever stepped foot on this planet, I am so mightily proud, that it's all I can do to restrain myself from taking out a full page ad in The Independent telling you that today Shark just finished reading Ibbotson's Journey to the River Sea.

So I naturally want to involve you and everybody in our home education. I want home education to be shared everywhere, understood everywhere. Get this. I want to shout out the successes of it from the rooftops, ask you all to consider it, make everyone wonder why, really, why schools in their present guise exist, what are they here for, what are children doing there, term after term, year after year? And I feel I can do this job better if I can state out clearly how home education here works. What are its troubles, successes, achievements, drawbacks, how it can chuck you face down into a pit and progress so astonishingly well that you wonder why isn't everyone drawing out their kids from schools right now to take a part of this amazing opportunity?

So my thinking, planning, evaluation - did the month go well, did Squirrel, Tiger and Shark find anything new, did they learn exciting stuff and how best can I push all that on - all spills out of my displaced hour.

Because of it, I feel on safer ground. And with the achievements I can see round here in this home ed thing, I might even carry on, as far as our plans can go.

8 comments:

sharon said...

I think I would do just the same thing too.

Gill said...

"Strange. British Summer Time. All my coordinates are awry."

Bah. It's a government conspiracy to remind us who's in charge of our coordinates!

"Evaluation, assessment, planning, strewing, call it what you want, isn't seen by everyone in this home ed world as a good thing to do."

Can't speak for the rest of the home ed world, but I evaluate and assess, sort of. As much as I can, though it might not get written down very often. I find it very difficult - or perhaps pointless - to plan though, perhaps because of the same thing that inspired your post title!

And I'm just rubbish at strewing. If I leave anything in the children's paths they just give it as wide a berth as possible and carry on with whatever they were doing before. Perhaps I wasn't doing it right! (Are you supposed to tie bits of string between doorposts, to actually trip them up near the objects in question? I suppose it might work, with a bit of concussion involved!)

"It's the sort of activity I never knew could stir up so many hornet's nest politics"

Flippin eck, you're reading more interesting debates than I am, then! Point me at them please!

"Hey, I may lose friends. But really, I have to lay down heavily on the side of the strewer. In fact, for this job, you may need to equip me with a clip board and biro. And here's why. Because I don't feel I could educate my kids at home without jotting down what each has done, is doing, wants to do. By routinely rounding it all up I know what books they're read, the art they've created, the places they've been enthused by, the interests they're exploring. For one, I have a terrible memory. And am depressed, easily. So when the month ends and begins, I'll look around and think What the heck have we done? Nothing. We've done nothing."

If that loses you friends, they weren't worth keeping :-) It sounds like a great plan to me. Inspiring! And I've always had the "We've done nothing!" wail from time to time. It's only when you're looking back over a period of, say, ten years and you've suddenly got a set of non-alcoholic, solvent, intelligent and capable young adults in your house and you're thinking "WTF?!! Where did they come from??", that you realise that you (yes, you!) did produce them and raise them and - the biggest surprise - educate them. Or at least enable them to educate themselves, and you wonder when you managed to fit it all in.

"I believe that's my job. Both to encourage them in the areas they're interested in, and to challenge them, poke them with sticks to go on into new places, because the adventure and the risk might be rewarded with new insights and knowledges."

LOL, I believe my children see it as their job to do that to me. Sigh.

"But like every other sane parent out there who believes their child is the most wonderful creature that ever stepped foot on this planet, I am so mightily proud, that it's all I can do to restrain myself from taking out a full page ad in The Independent telling you that today Shark just finished reading Ibbotson's Journey to the River Sea."

That is brilliant. It's a great story but it's not exactly simple narrative, is it? Hurray for Shark! :-)

"So I naturally want to involve you and everybody in our home education. I want home education to be shared everywhere, understood everywhere. Get this. I want to shout out the successes of it from the rooftops, ask you all to consider it, make everyone wonder why, really, why schools in their present guise exist, what are they here for, what are children doing there, term after term, year after year? And I feel I can do this job better if I can state out clearly how home education here works. What are its troubles, successes, achievements, drawbacks, how it can chuck you face down into a pit and progress so astonishingly well that you wonder why isn't everyone drawing out their kids from schools right now to take a part of this amazing opportunity?"

Same here, hence all the blogging I think! Will look forward to more reading of yours :-)

Ruth said...

I record HE. No one here knows I do but I blog it so that is the same thing really. I only do cos I have a bad memory, 7 kids to HE ( or did until 3 grew up) and would look like a rabbit caught in headlights if a LA person asked for evidence if I didn't have my record of HE lol Even then I forget the hundreds of conversation we have on a daily basis.

Ruth said...

Oh forgot to say strewing here means that the boys gather up the strewed stuff and politely pile it into a corner to be ignored forever...or worse ask me to give to the other lol

mamacrow said...

thank you thank you thank you Grit for this post. I too am a planner and a reviewer/evaluator - and was long before we realised our dream of EHE'ing. I'm a librarian and a records manager and proud of it.

I too have been a little scared of raising my head above the parapet lately and admitting it!

We also have a great relationship with our current health visitor (we've been through a couple mind you) and our current LEA visitor whatever you call them and are enjoying visits, so far... also something that seems increasingly hazardess to own up too!

I also have a large optomistic pollyannaish streak in my make up and and getting... to be honest, a little tired and dragged down by the amount of negative posts at the mo, out there in the blogging either.

I understand the frustration and anger - felt and blogged about them myself - but I've had enough now and just want to get on with nuturing my family and homeschooling...

yes I probably am being frogboiled and no one will be left to speak up when 'they' come for us, but the desicion has always been simple for me.

When living in this country becomes untennable we will emegrate.

I would just like to say I mean absolutely no offense to anyone or their opinions, I mean no inferance that anyone's opinion is invalid. i just, volcano like, had to voice my opinion before I bust!

Maire said...

I think we all evaluate even if we don't write it down. I have such a bad memory that I would never remember to write it down. I too keep a blog as some sort of record but it is very sparse and doesn't begin to give an indication of what we do. My evaluation is based on how stroppy the child is and a sort of intuition honed over four kids.

As for strewing I think it is a fantastic idea, but yes my kids are so oppositional that any suggestion of an attempt to lead will be pointedly ignored. Beth though is very good at strewing, she strews the whole house faster than i can unstrew, ever day!

As for strewing

Suburbia said...

congratulations, if only I had had the courage.
Happy Easter:)

Grit said...

thank you for your comments people, i enjoy reading the range of opinions out there, and they vary hugely, don't they? but you might have to forgive me, i cannot help it now, i just have to dump another load on this subject...