The lolling about in bed blog

The home ed life is so relaxing!

Except, obviously, for the general concerns about the unknowns, the daily trawl through the family politics, that dread of responsibility, the penury that comes from the loss of one income, and the abyss into which my head is routinely plunged - sink in there and I know for sure I've destroyed the future of my children forever and blighted their lives in a misguided educational experiment with no guarantee of reward.

Apart from that! The home ed life is so relaxing!

Take timetables. Home ed means that childhood is not a process of dancing to someone else's deadlines. No school makes me do the job I don't want to do for someone else's benefit. Specifically, I'm not whipping the entire family activity to fit in with school bells and homework diaries.

Better still, I get to divide up the week to my benefit.

Not only can I plan stuff the kids want to do - supportive workshops, field trips, museum visits, outdoor tours and theatre visits - I also specify no early morning starts, no 7am beginnings, no requirement to climb out of bed before 9am, and one afternoon a week I can fit in a swim. But it is cold, my bed snuggled toes are warm, and I'm waiting for the heating to kick in, so today, getting up can be 9.30. Or 10, because everyone is still quiet in their beds, reading.

The late start won't make much difference. We have squished into these last seven days the Whipsnade animal workshop, Shark's sub aqua, Latin lesson, Woodcraft Folk, homework afternoon, movie club, art lesson, science lecture, play away, Astro club, wildlife group, family reading (Nathaniel's Nutmeg), film night (Goodnight Mr Tom) and the installation of another bookcase.

This is very comforting to me, the woman who yolks together her control issues alongside the horror of knowing I have no control over time - but I have to say that having the responsibility for how the week divides up is not as bad as I once feared. Encouraging, even. I'll get up at 11.