Homeschooling Begins

Well it’s offical now!

We are homeschooling parents.

School went back today and my children weren’t there. School year begins mid-Aug in Scotland, and usually I am screaming at the injustice of it all. How come everyone else is still on holiday until Sept? Why do we have to get into that school run, lunchbox prep, pick up time routine again. I brace myself for those morning organizing of getting out the door on time… BUT not this year….

We have taken the plunge to keep our two children out of school. We have to trust that life will be as good a teacher as anyone. That they will learn because that’s what children do. Not because they are sitting at a desk all day. I have to remember that they will miss certain things at school and let that be okay. Not try and compensate for any feelings of guilt or fear that I may be feeling (guilt and fear = the great killers of risky and adventurous ideas!)

I’m sure we will have the same amount of tantrums, tiredness, sulks and squabbles as we do when they are at school. I’m under no illusions that this will be easy, but at the same time I am willing to give it a try – after all it was a still small voice that kept speaking softly to me to listen and see what it would be like to go and live on an island on the west coast of Scotland for a year.

Thankfully my husband has agreed, thankfully the children are pretty keen on the idea, and thankfully there is an amazing community where we can go and live for a couple of weeks, possibly longer to start off on our journey… Erraid (the name of the Island) was what drew me and at this point I have no idea now whether it will be there that we spend our year or another destination.

What is clear is that the kids are out of school and as I write this, my 10 year old daughter is upstairs writing her own timetable that she wants to have for her self-directed studies…wow! Let’s see what unfolds.