Jesus following, natural living, Somerset homeschooling mum to Acey. Here is our blog to share with family and friends and anyone else who might be interested, about our home ed journey.


John 13:34 - ''A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.''

Friday 27 August 2010

Hippie camp

Well we had a lovely break away at Superspirit camp! The first night we slept on a very snuggly beanbag around a fire in a tipi, we braved the drop toilets, and the communal horsebox showers, and the rain. We toasted marshmallows around the campfire, had storytime (don't forget your mug) every other night in the big lodge around an open fire with hot chocolate (for those who remembered their mugs), we camped with a chicken called Doris, and a field of sheep. We ate delicious food and danced to wonderful bands in the cafe. We circle danced and Omm'd in the morning meetings. We made wonderful friends with wonderful people who we can't wait to see again next year. We had delicious free Krishna food. We had a brilliant time working in the kid's area; the children made native animal masks and paraded around underneath a big dragon for one of the evening ceremonies. They made indian head-dresses and beautiful dream-catchers, We did beating the bounds which consisted of making lots of noise with drums and singing songs around the whole campsite to frighten away evil spirits. They sewed their own pretty bags, and when we left, they were busy preparing a water slide!!! (Thankfully we missed out on the paddling pools full of mashed potato and jelly due to the rain). And we were so lucky to camp with such a lovely circle of people.

Sadly we came home yesterday, due to being able to get a free lift home, and Acey running out of non-muddy clothes. Before we went I had quite possibly the best massage I have had - my hips are now perfectly alligned and so are my shoulders! We will so go again every year. Acey says he can't wait to see his new friends again, particularly the ones who lived in the cool double decker bus which I think Acey would have liked to run away and live in, had I let him out of my sight for too long;
http://www.doubledeckerfamily.co.uk/

We came home two very smelly hippies :) It was so nice to be  in nature for eight days, away from computer screens, and shops, plastic, traffic, and all the other nonsense.Walking barefoot in a muddy field, eating meals cooked on a campfire etc reminded me that we are all a part of nature, but all the rain and cold wind also reminded me that nature is powerful and there is nothing we can do to stop it....it can stop us, though if we are not careful which is why it is essential that we try as much as possible to go back to living that way, in which we were intended to. This is what I want to teach my son as much as possible, a lesson which is far more important than any he could ever learn sitting behind a desk in a classroom.

Saturday 14 August 2010

mamma and boy

So here I am, in my flat, boy in bed, cat on nature table...and it's very quiet. Nothing wrong with a bit of peace and quiet, I'm very lucky not to live in a noisy area (my neighbour in the flat upstairs just made a huuuge bang as I typed that), but I do get lonely sometimes, and it is times like these when I think 'golly! what am I doing?'
Being a single parent, I am of course going to find home educating my son difficult at times...not because of not getting any time to myself as I could think of no better way to spend my life than with my little boy every day watching his wings grow, something I would greatly miss if I sent him to school. (schools make wings a dull grey colour, and they eventually shrivell up - fact!) The main thing, I think, that plays on my mind is certainly the financial sacrifice I am going to have to make...
What if my plans to set up my own business and work from home around Acey's education don't quite work out, what if I suddenly one day cave in and have to look for a normal job and send him to school?!! Oh noooo!!!

Of course, this won't happen, but these are the brief thoughts that enter my mind whilst I sit here alone in the evenings. I know that home-schooling is natural and right for me and my boy, it is our truth - and that is all that matters. The financial sacrifice, I think will be worth it. My son learning naturally through creativity and love is worth far more than any amount of money in the world!

Next week, we have been invited to a lovely camp http://www.superspirit.co.uk/ which is a bit scary for me, as I've never been camping on my own with Acey before, especially for ten days!! But we will have a crazy lovely time, I'm sure - me and my boy.

Here's a few snaps of other stuff that's been happening this week.






A game of guess the tail....




















scootering...














Making puzzles :)

I got a new tattoo.....



And it looks like it's nearly autumn...cold and wet and the leaves are starting to fall...


Oooh and the triops grew :)

Wednesday 4 August 2010

Making new friends...but not triops!

''One source of fear is certainly the education system. Little children are fearless, imperious anarchists, and the education system works and works on them over a period of fifteen years to instill docility so that they won't complain too much when they end up with a boring job. Education is like pruning; it wrecks the natural growth of the tree in favour of a form that is useful to commercial society.''

As quoted from one of my favourite and my BEST books 'How to be Free' by Tom Hodgkinson; As he says, you learn how to type, click a mouse and shop in tesco's - 'but not how to grab hold of life, to live it joyfully and fearlessly.'
Home education was something I had been considering for quite sometime...but it was after reading this book, and thinking 'yes - someone else out there thinks like me!' that I made my final decision.

SOMEONE else out there thought like me, but someone wasn't everyone, and I couldn't think of anybody else I knew who home educated their child. Indeed, surely the majority of people I mention it to think I'm mad (maybe I am - but in a good way, I like to think)! This is made clear by the sheer look of terror in their eyes, not very cleverly disguised by the unenthusiastic smiles, and the carefully poised question - ''but won't he miss out on socialising?''
Acey is, indeed very sociable and friendly, and so I began to look for other people in the area who also home educated. I found a couple of groups in nearby towns, but nothing where I live, so I decided to find other home edders, and start a network of people here!

Yesterday we all met in the park and had a picnic. (it was very scary, as I'd never organized such a thing before), but everyone was lovely and the children all played so nicely together in the sunshine! (without having to worry about the whistle being blown saying it's time to go indoors).  It's great to know there are other like-minded people who know what's best for their children, and hopefully a group in Taunton will now become a regular thing!

On a sadder note, Acey got some Triops for his birthday, and we (me more than him I think) were sooo excited for them to hatch....but, well...they haven't! :( Not yet anyway, maybe they will soon! Of course, it could have something to do with our naughty cat, Casper drinking their water when we weren't looking!!







Come on, triops!!!