Tuesday 19th January 2010
The word on Twitter is that today is the anniversary of the launch of the DCSF’s ‘Badman’ campaign of harassment and vilification of home education. What a depressing thought! Also today the Public Bill Committee starts looking at the Children, Schools and Families Bill. Also depressing, but I hold out hope that good sense will prevail and the Lords will kill Schedule 1. Having to repeatedly defend my parenting choices to the ignorant and hostile does get wearing and I would love all this oppressive nonsense to just go away. I ought to point out to any government type reading this that the time this battle has taken up is time that should have gone on my business which as a result had a turnover last year of £0 and therefore paid NO TAX.
On the bright side the actual home education is going great guns. This morning Audrey finished Timez Attack for a second time, taking less than 3 days to do so, and she says she’s going to do it two more times, once in Machine World and once in Lava World. What this means is that half way through Year 1 she’s mastered her times tables from 1 to 12.
No tears. No stress. Because she wanted to.
I’m not sure when, or even IF this is a National Curriculum target, but KS1 only seems to talk about 2, 5 and 10 times tables. She also does workbooks (don’t shoot me! she only does them when she wants to) and is 2 pages from the end of Year 2 in the Maths ones. Autonomous/Child Led Education WORKS. Don’t tell me children have to be forced to learn anything. Don’t tell me I need to do a literacy hour and a numeracy hour, or whatever the government enforced fad of the month is in schools. We don’t want it and we don’t need it. We also don’t want or need some LA inspector’s opinion, it’s not rocket science! I know that for sure because rocket science is what we did on that visit to the Mullard Space Science Laboratory.
Bubble Said on January 19th, 2010 at 2:31 pm quote
Lots of tories want a register of home educators so i dont think we can expect them to help us?i also suspect that many tories want some sort of stardards set for the education of home educated children and would use LA to do this? and im still not clear on Cameron vew about home education and the state wanting control over it? David very quiet on this subject is it because he went to top private school? you just get that feeling that the tories ony like private school and labour like state school?we also do not trust Lord Lucas in the lords he very unclear about it? and appears to want a register?
Firebird Said on January 19th, 2010 at 3:57 pm quote
Not entirely sure how any of this relates to the blog entry, but …
Several Tory MPs have gone from knowing nothing about EHE to being actively supportive due to the work of local home educators and Michael Gove’s statement during the 2nd reading reflects that http://conservativehome.blogs.com/parliament/2010/01/michael-gove-explains-why-home-education-for-their-children-is-every-parents-human-right.html
So, if you have a Tory MP or PPC it’s worth talking to them and explaining WHY you are opposed to registration, they may surprise you by being won over. But at the end of the day even if ‘lots’ of Tory MPs think registration is a good idea, if Cameron and Gove think it’s a waste of time then a Tory government won’t introduce it. Lobbying to influence future Tory policy is worth doing.
Bubble Said on January 21st, 2010 at 5:02 pm quote
that any change to legislation is conducted in accordance with their wishes and interests - they have made it crystal clear that the approach that has been taken so far runs counter to those.”
Looks like Gove thinks legislation will take place under him? It is not clear what David Cameron thinks? i have not heard David Cameron say he is against a register? and meetings with LA? of course you lobby but i think they want a register to bring us into line with EU and to make it harder to home educate i think any one trying home education with a child under 12 from 2011 will find it very tough no matter who is in power! we luckie our son will be 15 next year so we in the clear but im very worried for younger children!
emma Said on January 24th, 2010 at 5:20 pm quote
another autonomous HEer here who has experienced the joys of a living with a small times table afficionado. The tables are so beautiful, it’s hardly surprising that a child given the opportunity without coercion will be keen to commit them to memory