A retired High Court Judge once shared with my husband that, when he arrived at his senior school over seventy years ago, he was asked, “What would you like to learn?” How fabulous! And how far from today’s reality. In our modern, western, individualistic society, the individuality of children is being suppressed. In the late […]
“The educational outlook is rather misty and depressing both at home and abroad…we have no unifying principle, no definite aim; in fact, no philosophy of education.” Thus Charlotte Mason opened the preface to her Home Education Series. She was commenting on public education in Britain at the dawning of the 20th century, and she […]
Like Joseph’s coat, home education is many-coloured. Understandably, then, there is plenty of overlap between the different hues. A couple of facets stand out. First is the tailoring of learning to the individual child, to a greater or lesser extent. Second is the vast scope provided in the home for conversational learning, a powerful […]
One of the really obvious things about most schools in the UK is that all of the children wear the same outfit. A source of great chagrin to most of the pupils who use and abuse it, its role is to level the playing field, prevent distraction, discourage bullying, deter truancy, promote a good […]
For the past five years we have been officially home-educating our eldest son. I say officially because we have actually been home-educating him for nine and a half years – since the day he was born. In fact, we are educating all four of our children every day in so many ways, and often […]
Babies and toddlers have a wonderful ability to learn and develop. Our 9-month-old could sit A levels in locating and eating newspaper, cardboard and magazines and he would get straight As. He has also expressed a strong interest in studying for an honours degree in Climbing The Stairs. We have a 4-year-old who holds […]
There's no place like home. Home is where the heart is. An Englishman's home is his castle. And so on. Cheesy cliches aside, we are nonetheless aiming for a renaissance of the home.
