A question from a Mother

A mother the other day asked me if she should home school and how she would do it. I told her to do it is easy, you just tell the school that you are leaving. But if you are wanting to home school then you need to make sure you are fully prepared and have a support network near you. There are lots, just look in local family magazines. Also decide why you want to homeschool as there has to be a reason. Then if you are ever doubting yourself, this will remind you why you did it in the first place.

Growing up so quickly

I can't believe that it is coming up to nearly a year since we decided to remove Isabella from school. So much has happened and changed and developed. It has been the most wonderful year. We still have not done all the brilliant things that we wanted to do. So next term from September we are restructuring our timetable. There will be less activities in the week so that we can have at least two days off to go to museums and galleries. We still haven't made it to the Roald Dahl museum which we are desperate to go to.

Day to day

The day to day stuff is going very well still at the moment. We seem to have reduced any stress to nothing and are still achieving everything we wanted to. At tennis today we met a little girl that is 9 and she is training to become amazing at tennis. She is lovely and her parents are lovely as well. It is interesting to meet other very driven, focused parents but yet coming from a different proffession.

The Baftas

I went to the BAFTAS the other night. It was brilliant. I saw Isabellas director from Enid Blyton film and the little girl Ramona who she acted with. It was a wonderful event and met some very interesting people in the industry.

Off to Scotland

Green Balloon Club have now finished filming episodes and we will be working on one off specials. The next one is a trip to Scotland where the GBC team go on holiday. 10 days away filming. What fun.

A complete sort out

Spring is the time to clear out, so I have put all of our art things into the garden so that we can make and paint and draw etc in the garden. I just hope this weather continues.

Isabellas opinion

A friend of Isabellas asked her if school with her Mummy was hard. Isabella replied " Well its funny because we do work but I don't know that we're doing work as Mummy makes it fun!"
If I could have come up with an answer myself it would not have been as good as that.

Lots more home schoolers

There seems to be a huge amount of home schoolers that we are finding accidently now. It is always lovely to meet likeminded parents. The main issue they all seem to have though is, other peoples opinions. Isn't it strange how some people are so set in their ways they can't seem to do anything different. We should all be a little bit more understanding of peoples individual decisions.

Most amazing weather.

Now it feels like summer has arrived already. There are so many amazing places to visit and things to do outside. I just want to be outside everyday. Isabella and I are attempting to grow our own vegetable patch. I am no expert and Isabella has learnt lots from Gardeners world so far, so we may be able to produce something!

Gardening Club

Kew Gardening club is looking for more children. Every Tuesday from 4.15-5.30pm Kew Gardens £25 for the term. An adult has to stay but the child gets to plant things and learn all about growing vegetables etc. Please come if you can.

Mummy Daddy dilemma

It is always so difficult for children to know who to listen to. I spend all hours with Isabella and then when Daddy comes in and changes things it can be quite disruptive. It is very important to remain united when it is relevant but also to be flexible. Basically I am saying take each incident on its own merit and see what happens. None of us have all the answers, although I do have the odd friend who thinks they do! Parenting is soooooo tough. But Iwouldn't change it for the world.

New horizons

Green Balloon club stops filming in a week. It then all changes and the team go away on holiday together. The studio is being put away and the whole programme gets repeated with the children doing specials.

Isabellas article

Isabella wrote an article for First news and it has just been published, this week. Please do read it.

Being abroad

It is lovely being away from home as life does seem to slow up slightly. However wherever you are you can't help but get into a routine. Routines are very good for children and even though life is very different over here, we have created a lovely pattern in our day.

Adverts

We have a TV in Spain which is lovely. The only trouble is I didn't realise how receptive children are to adverts! To quote Isabella " Mummy why don't we use finish (in our dishwasher)" To which I replied " Why?" Her words were " Well Mummy its amazing how youthink your pots are clean but acually they are not and finish gets to work on them even more!"

Incredible

Back in Birmingham

We have flown in from Spain today to stay for two nights in order to film for Gardeners world tomorrow. It is such a lovely programme and Isabella is planting tomatoes among other things. It feels surreal to be back for such a small amount of time.

A new precedent has been set

In an area of Kent a family have decided to remove their children from school. This is due to the fact that the school has let the children down. There are too many in the class and the children are not benefiting at all. The parents have taken them out and are now home schooling them. They have asked the council for a grant to do this and have been granted a large amount of money for the years out of the school system. I hope other councils may feel like this as well. This is a huge break through for someone like me and I hope it means other people will realise that they have a choice as far as education is concerned.

Lessons so far

If I could offer any advice to anyone thinking about home schooling their child. So far this is what I would say.

Try and have a strong support network around you, friends or family.
Think about planning your year roughly.
Be prepared for negative comments as well as positive ones.
Relax, learn to relax and realise their are no time restraints or terms to stick to.
Think about why you have chosen to do this and believe in yoru decision as a parent.
Take photos or video footage, this time never comes back

Enjoy

Calmed down

Everything really has calmed down now, as far as everyones opinions to do with home schooling are concerned. We are in a lovely routine and really enjoying each others company. My work is going well and I feel able to go off and do this without feeling guilty that I am not doing enough with Isabella. The only thing we need to fit in more is seeing family. Where is the time going. I can't believe it is April already.

Publisher

I am meeting with a publisher again about something slightly different but along similar lines to my last books so fingers crossed.

Tutor

The tutor is working out very well and just means that Isabella is still learning the things tha school would be teaching her if she was still their, leavingme time to contine having fun with her and goin on lots of adventures.

Advert

I hope everyone has enjoyed Isabellas advert! She is filming Gardeners World in Birmingam on Tuesday. They are using Lily Rose to try and introduce gardening etc to the young and their parents and schools. I hope it works.

Teaching is instinctive

I can't help it, I am a teacher and will always be one. I want to teach, I enjoy teaching. The funny thing is Isabella is already becoming a teacher. She was reading Fantastic Mr Fox to a friend and came across a word that the little boy may not know and proceeded to stop and say, " Do you know what a flask is?" She then explained this to him. Then continued to read. It was wonderful.

Evidence enough

Coming back from riding the other day,Isabella said to me " Mummy when I have my children I want to home school them"
That is evidence enough that she is happy.

On holiday

Firstly going on holiday with friends can be a risky business. I have learnt this the hard way in the past. I have a very definite way that I do things and bring up my daughter. When you go on holiday you have to think about other people and so for Isabella and me to change our routine can be difficult. However we are away at the moment with a very good friend and her two boys. I cannot tell you how wonderfully well it is going. I am still able to have my routine as well as ensure everyone is happy and feeling relaxed. What is wonderful though is that this friend admires what I do with Isabella and understands our routine is there and can see the benefit of it to Isabella.

Bliss.