October Newsletter

Welcome to the October Freedom in Education Newsletter, a rather Autumnal edition, with Halloween paper doll's clothes and a recipe using red cabbage and chestnuts. In fact, I don't know about you, but the chestnuts have just begun here, which could perhaps account for the slightly late arrival of this newsletter! I have devoted the past afternoon to looking for them, then roasting them on a bonfire. I am a bit of a chestnut fanatic, and have waited all year for them to arrive!

The main article is about the reality of education. I think it was arranging the past month's entries on the Contact List which inspired Dad to write it. It has 250 contacts now, in 40 different counties in the UK, as well as in other countries around the world. I think this is very good, because now home educators can easily contact each other for reassurance and support. One often finds so little of this from family, friends and neighbours, that one can do with all one can get! It is nice for the children too, to find someone to play with who isn't going to half kill them at the same time! If there is one problem with being home educated in this day and age, it is the inability to find anyone nice to play with. If one has siblings, the problem is pretty much solved, but even then it can be fairly frightening to meet another child. They might only be about three or four years old, but they already know how to swear at you, hit you, threaten you, scare you, throw things at you and invent the most awful shooting and killing games imaginable. As an adult I can see it is very sad, as a child it was nothing but terrifying!

Anyway, don't forget to check out all the new Jamboree updates, and I hope you are already having a fun October,
-Wendy-

What is the reality of education in the UK at the present time? People’s perception of education seems to shift depending upon the context within which they are talking.

Living in France, it is tempting to allow my perception of life in the UK to be formed by the BBC – long-wave reception of Radio 4 is very clear in Brittany, and the BBC commentators are very confident in the way in which they report their views. The station’s news broadcasts, however, paint a picture of almost unremitting gloom with regards to education. For example, recent reports have described rising truancy rates, parents being sent to prison because their children are skipping school, bullying, and a difficulty in recruiting teachers to work in such a demoralising environment. When the school authorities release figures that they regard as being positive – such as exam pass rates or literacy figures improving, news programmes always turn to an expert to put the story into context and the listener is left with the impression that exams are easier than ever before, that figures are being manipulated and that standards are falling. Although many people do share the broadcaster’s perception of individual news items, not even the broadcasters themselves seem to believe that the overall picture created by these stories represents the real truth.

Most parents seem to think that although there are serious problems within the education system, they themselves have found a little niche within it, for their own children, where things are not too bad. This perception of reality is reinforced when parents get together and exchange views about their children’s education: not surprisingly perhaps, nearly all the parents sending their children to a particular school are able to agree with each other that it is a good school, and they are doing the right thing by sending their children there – whatever problems might be affecting education on a national level, thank goodness, is not affecting their local community! Comforting though this view of education might be, it does have the appearance of people not being able to face up to the reality of what happens at school.

Another view of education comes from children. Most children are not suffering the severe traumas at school that feature on the news – if they were, then schools would surely have to be stopped straight away – but neither are they suffering from the same delusions as their parents. Children generally regard school to be tolerable from a social point of view, but pointless, dull, and boring with respect to the ‘work’ that they have to do there.

Perhaps most interesting, however, is the way in which everyone involved in the school system – parents, children, teachers and commentators – comes together to defend it when anyone suggests that it could be dispensed with: they share a perception that whatever drawbacks schools might have, there is no realistic alternative.

This brings me to the main point of this article: I have just spent a couple of hours updating the Freedom in Education Contact List and, as on previous occasions, have been struck by how inspiring the comments are that people send in:

‘My husband and I are home educating our five children, whose ages range from 14 to just 18 months old. We would love to hear from anyone who also home educates or is just interested in the idea.’

‘Have just started to home educate my 8 and 6-year-olds. It has taken me a number of years to pluck up the courage to do this! We are already seeing a difference in the children - they appear so much happier and more relaxed.’

‘We have been home educating our son (who will be 9 in April), since July 2003. It's the best decision we ever made!’

‘Hi I'm just about/almost convinced on embarking on home education for my 12-year-old son. I’m scared to death as well as excited for the future. I welcome any support or advice.’

‘I have six children between 2 and 12. Deregistered 3 of them again on Monday 21 Feb 2005. Have home educated and flexischooled in the past.’

‘Hello to everyone on this list. I gave up full time work July 04 to home ed our son (10 nearly 11) and we are really enjoying our new found freedom and creativity. Our son is a lovely unique boy with aspergers syndrome. I learn something new everyday through home ed and although we are poorer we feel that our lives have been enriched in many ways…’

‘My wife and I are educating 3 of our children who have all come out in the last 8 months. My wife is at home with them and I work full time but support home ed in any way I can.’

‘Going to de-reg our 10 year daughter this week very nervous about it, but want our little girl to find her smile again and feel happy about learning.’

‘Home ed my 11 year old daughter who previously flexi schooled in a Montessori elementary school.’

What is interesting about these comments is that they come from ordinary parents who have found that when they have challenged the accepted beliefs about school and education, things haven’t ended in disaster, but, on the contrary, have worked out much better than they could have hoped. Could this be a clue to the real truth about education?

Does Slow and Steady Win the Race?

As I was drawing the cartoon below, I began to wonder, not for the first time, if slow and steady really does win the race. Surely a hare would really win against a tortoise. Surely something which was fast would really outstrip something which was slow.

This must be a fable which many home educators have pondered over at one time or another, because when children are not made to learn things, they tend to be rather slow to come round to it themselves, and whereas at the age of six or seven it is quite likely that they have never picked up a book or have never even wondered how many months there are in a year, their school-going counterparts get up early each morning to study all day long, and are able to read and write, do sums, tell the time, and know the day, date and year!

I remember when my brother and sister and I were between the ages of seven and twelve our "lessons" would consist of no more than drawing a picture, then listening to a story, then eating a biscuit, and rounding off the morning with a game of cards. If we couldn't find anything to draw, we would sharpen our crayons instead! - hardly very academic!

In the afternoons we would do as we pleased, while other children would shoulder their backpacks again and return to school, to spend even more hours studying and learning, with 'experts' on hand, and all the appropriate books and equipment for every subject.

Occasionally on meeting another child, I would feel a pang of concern to realise how much more they knew than I did. They knew how many seconds were in a minute, how long a mile was and all sorts of strange facts about history, before I had even wondered what history was!

I remember reaching the age of ten or thereabouts, when I was struck with the realisation that as far as science, maths, biology, geography, history, languages and cooking went, I knew pretty much zero, and these were all subject which children younger than myself were being taught at school! A worrying realisation, but it didn't change the way I learnt - I just wasn't interested in studying those subjects.

Because what is really more interesting to a child: the Fire of London or a sunny day?
If you tell a child that Paris is the capital of France, and then tell them you just saw frogspawn in the pond, which fact do you think will grab their attention?
Because a 'capital' city doesn't mean anything to a child, nor does France mean anything to a child, they are far too practical for such things.

And yet, strangely enough, there comes a time in everyone's life, for better or worse, when these things do start to become interesting. When a person reaches the age of about thirteen, playing just isn't so interesting any more, an interest in learning seems to magically replace it.

"So what is the capital of France?", "When did the Fire of London happen?". Books are read, the internet ransacked, documents downloaded, the library overturned, and before you know it, you have just become a world expert - although not necessarily on the most conventional subject!

I remember my brother learnt every flag in the world before he developed an interest in reading, he knew the capital cities of Africa, Asia and South America, before knowing the capital cities of Europe, and he learnt all the dynasties and emperors of China, before the rulers of England. And I was hardly any better; I started learning Hindi before French, despite living in France, and I learnt the history of Australia years ago, and am only just beginning to learn the history of Brittany. But why not? Why should everyone learn the same things? It makes for a more varied world this way.

So has slow and steady won the race? When I talk to people these days, I am no longer baffled by their learning - in fact, I usually try to keep my mouth shut, because I don't want to intimidate them. Without ever having got up early to study hard, or really tried to study anything, I seem to know quite as much as those who have.

The very cartoon which sparked off my wonderings is not only in this newsletter, but is being printed in a magazine with a readership of about ten thousand people - an enviable job for any cartoonist.

It was my father who pointed this out to me, just as I was coming to the conclusion that in reality, the hare would have to beat the tortoise; and for those home educators who are still in the early stages of the race, it might come as a welcome piece of reassurance to know that you might be a very slow tortoise indeed, but just keep trusting, and the old fable will be proved true again: slow and steady really does win the race.

W. L.

Also new to the Jamboree website:

Mr Superstitious: Another hilarious cartoon about the world's most superstitious man - this episode he discovers feng shui for the first time!
The Nixie in the Millpond: A nixie is a sort of fairy, and in this traditional German story, a miller finds one in his pond - with rather astonishing results! Children are sure to love this story if you read it to them.
Hipparchia: This is a true story from history, when the beautiful and wealthy Hipparchia falls in love with a penniless philosopher of Ancient Greece.
Music: The latest update to the Home University section of the site, see below.

Also, check out the latest Editor's Letter, and don't miss the quote of the month from Shakespeare: you will probably never have seen it quoted before!

www.jamboree.freedom-in-education.co.uk

Home University
Click Here

New! Music

"Music is a part of everyone, and when that part is ignored a person must surely be missing out on one of the greatest pleasures of being human..."

This section covers the importance of music in education, how it was taught in the past, advice to parents, and tips for beginners.

www.jamboree.freedom-in-education.co.uk/home university/music.htm

Your letters and comments are welcome. You can send them either to Gareth Lewis at the following address, or to me at the address beneath:
gareth.lewis@freedom-in-education.co.uk