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She was telling me about her grandson - he's nearly 5, and almost starting school.
I reminded her that we are "allowed" to keep our children to ourselves until they are 6. After that time we have to apply for an exemption to keep them out of school.
I think the majority of parents are either happy for their 5 year olds to go to school, or else they are a little worried that if they leave starting school until their child is 6 then the child may have missed something out, or be behind. If you are a loving, involved parent your child will NOT be "behind". They will probably be waaaay out in front of their peers!
PLEASE parents - anyone reading this who is unsure - please ask me - or go to the Home Education Foundation website: hef.org.nz to check out all the lovely information there about home education.
I recently attended a session in a workshop run by Barbara Smith of the Home Education Foundation. The session I picked to attend was entitled "Training our Children's Minds". I've heard Barbara, and her late husband Craig speak many times over the years. I came away, as always, even more confident about our choice to home educate. This last year has been very hard for us - including a huge learning curve of the Autistic Spectrum Disorders type. Barbara's talk was very encouraging and managed to clear away some of the rubbish that has accumulated in my head.
Barbara has the information from her workshops available as powerpoint presentations on the HEF website. http://hef.org.nz/workshop-powerpoints/
You needn't have a long-term vision of home education. I did, but that's me. Perhaps you just want to keep your 5 year old with you for another year before they're sent into the world? Perhaps you could review how you feel about it then?
Home education gives a child space, time, confidence, and most importantly - it builds beautiful relationships with those people who are REALLY important to them.
God Bless
The Mummalady
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