From time to time I will be sharing snippets of our Home Schooling life.

When we started, my friend who was home schooling really helped me put some things into perspective and  there was one  blog*  in particular  that I found so helpful. I would like to pay forward the  knowledge that I have gained over the last ten years of home schooling Lil  in the hope that it might just help you in the way  that my friend or that blog helped our family. Or maybe you are curious about home schooling. Regardless take what speaks to you and leave the rest.

I’ll  just start by gently saying this:

I don’t need you to understand my life choices but I do need you to respect them.

This is what I believe:

There is no one size fits all in life, whether it is education, housing, occupation, holiday, life partner or shoe size for that matter!

Home schooling has been a good fit for us, just like sending your kids to the local school or boarding school might be a good fit for you. There are so many choices to make when it comes to parenting, can we just put the judgement aside and support each other in the choices each of our families have made.  We all want the best for our kids, inevitably the best will look different for all of us.

Now if you are thinking I don’t agree with that then maybe we aren’t a good fit, there are so many other blogs out there, you might find them of more interest and they may speak to your philosophies better. I wish you and your family nothing but happiness and send you light and love.

Home Schooling is a big part of our daily lives. We started Home Schooling after Lil attended Prep for one and a half days, the same child who had bullied Lil during her kindergarten days was up to his old tricks, worse since he realised the absence of a well staffed play ground. Without the obvious constant monitoring of the bully or the support of her Kindergarten teachers, plus the lack of judgement from her Prep teacher and Principal (whose classic comment  among many was; If you can’t punch me and show me how hard he hit you it can’t have been that bad!!!!) Michael and I decided that we wouldn’t send Lil back to an environment that we couldn’t trust to be safe. I had volunteered weekly at the school, after the school year had finished we as a family had attended school garden planning meetings, were on friendly terms with teaching staff including Lil’s two wonderful kindergarten teachers, all aware of the bullying and all supported our choice to home school. We weren’t making something out of nothing.

We had been living back in Tasmania for less than a year, renting while looking for a property to purchase, we weren’t sure of where exactly we would settle. Home schooling was a reliable option instead of re settling Lil into a school that she may have to soon leave. Within a year we had sold our property in Victoria, moved interstate away from family, friends and neighbours who were like grandparents to Lil. Plus Lil had just left her school friends. In kindergarten Lil was one of six little girls who were all good friends, they went to each others birthday parties and had play dates after school. Lil missed her friends and best friend but was more happy to be learning at home, seeing her friends after school for playdates.

Each year we revise whether home schooling is still a good fit for Lil and for our family. It is a decision that we don’t take lightly. Lil will finish Year 10 studies at the end of this year, at the moment her intention (with our support) is to complete her final two years of home schooling doing on line study.

I’ll  leave it here for now, it gives you a little of our home schooling background.

I will be turning the comments off all home schooling posts for these reasons:

1. If you have strong opposing opinions they are yours and have nothing to do with me.  Just like if you visited my home, when you come in to my space please do so with respect and integrity, I will always do the same with you.
2. If you have questions about home schooling I encourage you to follow your curiosity. Research all that you can, there are so many approaches to the way people choose to home school. Listen to ted talks. Have the big family discussions around home schooling and ask the questions like how do we want to spend our home schooling days, how do we want to create our day, include your children in these discussions. Make your own family decisions on what is best for your family, not what people outside of your immediate family believe. Just as a side note none of Michael’s nor my family support our home schooling decisions, except for my cousin, she is a teacher, has been a Principal, Vice Principal, worked in the classroom at high school & primary level as well working  for the education department writing policy.
3. I don’t feel comfortable with giving one on one advice, the decisions you make need to be yours alone and since I don’t walk in your shoes only you know the answers for your family. Get quiet with yourself, let your questions ‘sit’ for a little, the answers will surely come.

As always sending Light and Love,

Jude x

*The person no longer blogs about home schooling & has changed her blog name so I won’t reference her here.