So another fun-filled day of education! That is what we're doing isn't it? This walking along a beach in the sun with swans, gulls and crows for bickering, giggling classmates. This stopping to stroke friendly dogs and chat with passing strangers. This watching the ducks swimming in and out of the reeds, seeing how the lake shimmers with gentle ripples and reflects the trees like glass. This wading into the waves and picking up pebbles and taking deep breaths of the seaweedy air. This exclaiming at how the sea looks such a tropical blue and so clear today and we should come back with our wetsuits and towels to go swimming!
I get increasingly asked these days, 'what are you going to do about GCSE's?' Is there a GCSE in beachcombing yet? Will have to check that out!
The Local Education Authority will be coming round for their annual visit in a couple of weeks time to check our son is receiving an 'appropriate' education and discuss our learning objectives. We see their assessment as unnecessary and irrelevant to our approach to education but my son quite enjoyed the visit last year so we're not concerned about it. My son can reassure them that he is quite clear about his learning objectives - more animation and more comic-making and more animation and maybe a bit more animation, a splash of game-making, a bit of coding and some more animation. My son can confirm that he's receiving an entirely appropriate education although he might say that he feels that he could be doing a bit more animation than there has currently been time for, especially if his mum didn't keep dragging him out to look at ducks...
Yes, we pin him down for some maths and english and a few other things that will be useful (and will probably head towards getting a few of those pesky GCSE things everyone keeps talking about sometime). Yes, he does plenty of other activities and meets other people, including other CHILDREN!! And despite my occasional assertions to the contrary, I don't really keep him in a cupboard. No, it's not always fun-packed and awesome and sometimes we screw up a bit or a lot or feel like tearing our hair out (or someone else's) but we're all committed to seeing it through and following the principle of what education is about for us (though it's about so much more than one sentence can ever express) - enabling someone with the knowledge and skills to be who they want to be, to do what makes them happy and follow where that leads them. It's true that my son hopes it will lead him into making lots of money and acquiring international fame, as somehow, despite having anarchist parents, he's got a hint of the global capitalist about him occasionally. Time will tell...
In the meantime, we continue to learn, the planned 'lessons' and the unexpected ones that just spring up from being alive and curious and interacting with the world, in all kinds of places, and actually that is pretty awesome.
In case anyone's wondering what that highly intellectual academic tome is that my son is reading, er, can we change the subject now please....
Great pictures! Good luck with your LEA check, although i'm sure you won't need it! Love that J took his Beano on a walk!
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