To apply for a school place or not?

Today is the day when I am able to apply for a school place for Seb to start reception in 2015. Actually according to an advert by  our local council I must apply for a place(not true). 

I have been thinking about it a lot today, it's been all over my Facebook and Twitter feed.  

Should I apply just in case? Am I depriving him by not even trying school or nursery first? 

I've been on the councils website, read the applications information and promptly clicked off of it again. We are most definitely not applying, Why would we? I want to stay under the radar for a while if possible and applying will stop that from happening. 

This feels like the most rebellious thing I have ever done, it gives me a thrill, I am excited for our future, for all the fun and adventures we can have. While everyone else is buying uniform, adding name labels and setting their alarms; we can do reading in our pyjamas or head out to hunt for bugs in the woods. I know which option I prefer. 

Home Educators Day at The Deep

I have a friend to thank for letting me know about this HE day at The Deep in Hull on September 8th.
 I've not been to The Deep before but we had been planning to go for Alex's birthday in October and have heard that it's a good day out with lots to see and learn.

More information here.

Nature Walk: Summer

Although it may not feel like it right now, we are still in summer and yesterday we went for a nature walk. 

A few weeks back we received a Toucan Box containing a nature bag to decorate and cards showing things to find on nature walks in each season. We decided to use the summer card before it was too late so set off to see what we could find. 

As we are lucky enough to have woods directly behind our house we explored those as well as going on an walk around the local area. 

We did pretty well finding nearly everything on the card(even the elusive sun) as well as a few extra bits and managing to fit in a few splashes in puddles.

 

 

In the afternoon while Alex napped we drew the things that we had found and labelled them. Seb even had a go at copying the words which is great as he has only recently shown an interest in writing.

We had a really good chat about seasons and the order of them and what happens in each season including the weather which he is very interested in at the moment. I can't wait until we go on our Autumn hunt in a few weeks.

Home Educators Day at Eureka

The fabulous Eureka are holding a Home Educator day on September 19th. There are workshops and a family science show as well as being a great chance to meet other home ed families. All the information is here. 

Sadly we are are on holiday that week but we did visit Eureka recently and had a great day out so i really recommend paying them a visit!  

Family matters

Telling your family your plans to home educate can be daunting. 

No matter how happy you are with your decison think it's natural to be slightly anxious what others may think of your choices.

My parents have known for a while that it is something i am keen to do and i regularly talk about it with my mum in particular, she thinks that it's a great idea, and her having that faith in me is a real boost to my confidence that i can actually do this!

This week Phil has told his parents. He had been putting it off but the inevitable questions about Seb and nursery coming, it was time to speak to them. I think he was worried that his parents would react negatively as lets face it, it's quite an unusual choice but in fact they were pretty interested and supportive.

Of course both sets of parents have the usual questions regarding socialisation, but as i have been thorough in my research, i can answer those concerns easily enough. 

 

I have read people saying many times that it's your child and your choice, which of course ultimately it is but for us support from our families are important. They are huge influences in our childrens lives and have alot of knowledge and skills that they can pass on and be part of the boys educations so i feel a huge relief that wer are lucky enough to be supported. 

It feels like by telling them we have reached a pretty big milestone on our journey.