Ok, I'm in Firefox for a change, as explorer's gone all funny on me tonight. I've just got an announcement to make: Joy told me today that she doesn't want to go to school tomorrow, in fact she doesn't want to go ever, because if your'e home educated you get to stay up as long as you want and make caramel shortbread. (This doesn't bode very well for Meg trying to get me to go on Carol Vorderman's diet with her, but anyway...)
She did go on Tuesday this week and two days last week. I have not really known how to play this one: We have all struggled with her being at school, although it seemed like a good idea at the time. But then in hindsight it may have been a hasty decision to jump at the opportunity when the place came up at the Montessori. She does like being around other kids, (not just her siblings) and we have struggled a bit with that, and she does like to keep busy. But she is a bit reluctant to do the "boring stuff" at school, and I have observed her developing a really unhealthy attitude towards learning as a result of being required to do certain things at certain times. During her year of full-time home-ed she did start to become more self-sufficient in her learning, although I don't think she was fully de-schooled, if that's ever possible.
It has been a bit difficult for me as I wasn't really sure what was the best thing for her at this time, but I didn't want to prolong the agony of uncertainty over it. I think it has been hard for her and I really wanted to just make the decision for her to make it easier for her, but I think it's better if she comes to it herself. I think ideally she would like to come and go to school when she feels like it, but that isn't really a practical solution, and it would make it difficult for us to plan things at home, like meeting up with friends, not to mention the mayhem it would cause at school.
The school has become a lot more rigid in the last couple of years, with more rules being introduced all the time (I'm sure I have whinged about this here many times before!). I'm sure some of the rules have been primarily aimed at us (! not paranoid or anything), like you have to be there on time, which is now 15 minutes earlier, or else wait till after lunch, and you have to phone up before this time if your'e not going in (and you will be interrogated as to the reason, I have just found out, which is a bit out of order, I think). If you are late picking your child up you will be fined 2.50 for every 15 minutes. This reminds me of a really horrible factory where I used to work, a circus factory, or sweatshop.
So, anyway, that turned into a bit of a rant. I'm not sure about ranting on my blog at the moment. I think maybe I need another blog, a nice shiny new one, and another one to dump my thoughts into. Because sometimes when I start writing it just all comes out. It's a bit raw, but I still want to keep doing that because it may be useful, but it's probably not that interesting for most people to read. But I did try having two blogs before and I couldn't keep them both up. And maybe I wasn't clear in my own mind what exactly the difference was between them. There were fuzzy grey areas. Anyway, I don't want to be spending too much time on the computer. Do I?
3 comments:
...if your'e home educated you get to stay up as long as you want and make caramel shortbread...
That is a fairly neat, concise summary of the complex and varied motivations for HE. :-)
Heh, who says your rants aren't interesting? There is nothing more interesting than being a fly on the wall (a compassionate one) in someone else's struggle with difficult decisions we are all facing or may face at some point. Is that a Montessori school you are describing?*?*?*?*?*? I think someone lost the Montessori plot! Where did they get the works you 'have' to do from??? and why does it become an issue what time someone comes in? They should be comfortably able to walk in and get one with whatever inspires them. However, I find many Montessori 'teachers' tend to get occasionally lost (even the really 'pure' ones) in the outer culture just like the rest of us :-) (but to begin to put it in policy???????)
(Charlie and Lola went back to the library today! Hay ho!-)
yes, Tim, maybe it is.. out of the mouth of babes...
Sally- thanks- It's intersting what you say- I don't know much about Montessori but I think some of the things they are doing at the school- yes it is a Motessori school- aren't very Montessori- I may have to pick your brains about this- I may blog some more about this later as school run beckons ;-)...
Post a Comment