Archie and I have decided to home ed. He has been off school since the beginning of March due to C-19 and was due to start secondary school last week. I was nervous about him starting secondary school while having to social distance, wear masks and stick to his 'pod', but most of all I was unhappy with the language the school was using when talking about dealing with children who didn't stick to their rules - 'punishment' was used quite often and I think, for new and quite nervous year 7s, having such a harsh word banded around at this time wasn't really fair. I accept they need to be strict, but admit it got my back up quite a lot.
I have considered home ed for a long time. Archie had a few issues in infant school which almost led me to withdraw him at that point, only for the fact I couldn't actually afford to leave my job to take care of him myself full-time. I hated feeling like I didn't have a choice in how my child was being educated and treated while at school, but at the time my husband and I didn't earn nearly enough for me to leave my job. I managed to reduce my hours as much as possible and we persevered. Strangely, the opportunity has arisen through this strange and unusual time, and now he is older I feel more comfortable leaving him for a couple of hours to work, if need be.
A few months ago I asked him how he was feeling about going to secondary school and he was, for the most part, looking forward to it. I explained I was nervous about him starting so soon (September definitely didn't feel far enough in the future to be safe from C-19) and told him that if he wanted more time, we could home ed if he wanted to. He said he would think about it. A few months went by and I asked him again how he was feeling about going back to school and he said he thought the only reasons he wanted to go back was to see his friends and go on the bus on his own - but actually school stresses him out and he'd like to try home ed.
So here we are, giving it a go.
This week has been fine. I am conscious of not pushing too much on him and I would like him to learn to find what he is passionate about. I am aware that he has been given everything he needs to learn by someone else for the last 7 years and I think it will take some time to 'unschool'.
He told me he would like to learn how to animate, so we downloaded a program for him to practice on. He has also practiced his keyboard quite a bit, without prompting from me. It's interesting to see the things he does off his own back.
I have asked that we keep a record in a week-to-view diary. Just a few lines each day to note what he did. He is refusing to write, it's like the thought fills him with dread which is such a shame because he has a really great imagination and way with words. I said I would fill it in then. I also asked him to download the GoodReads app and set himself a reading goal, and again he hates that idea. I am quite upset that reading and writing are so far off his radar for now, but I hold out hope he'll return to them one day as I think he could get so much out of them.
For now, I am going to see where he leads us. He is a bit nocturnal again right now (an unwelcome gift of lockdown and too much gaming) so we are taking it easy, and whilst I feel a bit twitchy (are we doing enough, am I being too lax etc) I am trying to remember that everyone learns at their own pace, and this journey is about him discovering himself and following his own interests. I just need to learn to trust the process.
No comments:
Post a Comment