Reflections on my Homeschool Journey
Last month Imogen and I completed our two year homeschool journey. We muddled through the first year at home together. It was a really hard year for many reasons but towards the end of our first year (Year 10 in the school system) we had the wonderful fortune of meeting a wonderful teacher on a walk with a group of friends. After a long conversation on the walk and a few more conversations over the Summer, we managed to get Imogen a place at a tiny school on a farm for 3 days week where over the past year she’s worked really hard to achieve an integrated education diploma, that is equivalent to GCSEs. On the other two days of the week Imogen learnt a lot about herself, her energy, her social battery, how she learns best, what motivates her to do her work and I’m sure so much more. Plus she also squeezed in a Python computer programming certificate and took her English Language and Maths GCSE exams. I would say that’s pretty amazing for a girl who took a big risk when she told us that she just couldn’t manage mainstream school.
Stepping out of the mainstream is a big deal. Everyone has an opinion about it and some people thought we were doing something ridiculous and risky, something that was going to ruin our daughter’s future. I could write so much about all of this but it’s been quite tricky to hold stepping out of the mainstream with one child, while staying in the mainstream with my other three. So I am going to keep this quite short. It is possible that one of our other children will leave the mainstream at some point but we’re taking it one day at a time and seeing how it all unfolds. If that does happen I’m sure I’ll be back to say so much more! I do think that if I had done all the reading and thinking about home schooling/different education/unschooling, then I don’t think any of my children would be in mainstream education right now. Academically my other children are all thriving, so let’s just see how it goes!
If you have read my blog before you’ll know my intuition is not only strong but I’m deeply connected to it. I don’t question what it tells me, it’s always right. So, when Imogen said school wasn’t working, I knew straight away that the right thing was going to be to take her out. It just took a little bit longer to navigate it and make sure we weren’t rushing because I knew we would be judged for our decision, and I wasn’t wrong about that! I was also really supported in our decision and many lovely friends said how much they thought I was suited to homeschooling.
I think I am well suited to homeschooling but I think it would have been so much easier if we’d started years ago, rather than at the beginning of Year 10 and GCSEs. I listened to some wise people, particularly this Podcast, which really helped me but I couldn’t help but panic about GCSEs and timelines. And all that we think we’re supposed to because that’s what everyone else is doing. It was definitely a tricky year of trying to balance everything, knowing that what Imogen really needed more than anything was to decompress from many really difficult years of trying to fit into the school system.
Fortunately, towards the end of this first year we went on a walk with some other families and met the most wonderful man, who happened to be running a diploma programme for Imogen’s year group that sounded so perfect. One thing led to another and by September (our second year of home school life) Imogen was a part of this group of students studying for her Integrated Education diploma. She not only had an academic plan but a lovely group of new friends too. This took up 3 days of the week and then she had 2 days at home with me to complete course work, study for 2 GCSEs, rest and learn lots about herself.
And here we are at the end of our homeschool journey. It wasn’t always easy but if any of my other children need to do it too, I am ready! The biggest lesson I’ve learnt is that we really don’t have to follow the same route as everyone else to get to where we want to go. Our education system really doesn’t work for all children and I really hope that as a society we start to make changes that are more supportive, expansive, creative and above all nurturing for everyone.
If you have any homeschool questions please feel free to email me. I’m always happy to chat, listen and share.
Paris, when Imogen was 9. A few days together 1-2-1 that we will always remember! x
