Homeschooling Because We Have To

This post originally appeared on www.katiespencerwhite.com in summer 2011.

William will be 11 in August and as such he should be starting high school in September.  He has a place at one of the top two high schools (by exam results, not pupil happiness) in the county.  Lee and I should be over the moon.  William should be gagging with nervous excitement.  All William has to do is turn up everyday for the next five years, pass his exams, get into college, pass more exams, get into the right university and away he goes.

Image courtesy of smittenbybritain.com

Somehow I don't think it's going to work out like this. 

Unschooling: Adventures in Letting Go

This post originally appeared on www.katiespencerwhite.com in Autumn 2011.

A lot of folks have been asking me how the homeschooling is going.  I'll be honest - it is a lot harder than it looks, especially when one is working with a young person who has specific needs.  It's not that it is particularly difficult.  It's just that it isn't taking place quite how I imagined.  Somehow, I thought our kitchen table would come to look like a classroom, covered in textbooks, atlases, laptops, graphs, bits of science equipment, pencils, and all the rest of the usual detritus that makes one feel like one is engaged in "official" learning.  But it isn't like that at all. 

Be Like Water

I was stood up last Thursday.....by a social worker.

Shocking, I know.  Shocking first because I thought social workers were über prepared and prompt people.  

Shocking second because why the hell does a social worker have to get involved in my family!!?

It all started the week before last.  Nyree and Lee had left for the morning 30 minutes earlier and at 9 a.m., Jonah was just finishing off his cereal and bananas.  A red car pulled up outside my house.  I didn't think anything of it at first but then this stout little woman came up my drive and started to open my front gate.  I thought she was the Avon lady or something but didn't have much time to dwell on it because my dogs were going ballistic (German shepherds and border collies can bark in stereo, trust me).