HomeSchooler.org.uk

"Last week, I asked "Is the summer bad for your child's brain?" Peter Darby (seen here with his family), founder member of online home education group, Action for Home Education explains how summer wasn't the problem....

"It wasn't the summer that worried us. It was the rest of the year.

It was the summer between my son's reception year and year one at primary that set us on the path to Home Education. It was seeing my son's devouring of anything that fired his curiosity during that break that cemented our decision.

My son fought against school. He told us he liked his teacher and his friends at school, but just couldn't express why he resisted. "Resistance" consisted of, at the very least, daily arguments about getting ready, which could lead to screaming matches, which could induce asthma attacks or vomiting. Which over a year of weekdays led to all of us dreading Monday morning.

Reports back from the teachers, however, told us that our son was bright, not remarkably so. Quiet in lessons. Cheerful enough, easily distracted.

At home he was voracious. Any opportunity to learn something new was taken. Granted, we were deliberately taking time to engage him with what we would now call “learning opportunities”, like going out, or looking at books together, or watching TV while talking about it. This is something that a teacher can't do, admittedly, but surely, we thought, they are trained experts. They'll have techniques that make up for that?"...more...