One year on

Today is exactly one year since we de-registered Michael from school and I wrote my first blog post.

WOW, what an amazing year we have had!!! It felt like such a scary step to take at the time and I in particular was sick with worry. “What if it’s a big mistake and we fail him”, “everyone will think we’re mad”, “he’ll never have any friends”!! It all seems so ludicrous now. It has been the best decision we have ever made! Our lives have changed massively and we don’t regret a single thing. We have had the privilege to watch our lost, angry, distracted and socially confused little boy grow and change into a confident, inquisitive, funny, and (most importantly!) happy bigger boy! Academically he’s come on so well (which has been so reassuring), but most amazingly (and much to our relief) he has made a ton of brilliant new friends! It seems to us that home educated children on the whole tend to take a child as they are and see new people as potential friends from the onset. 

It was Michael’s birthday in August, he is now 6. This year was the first year he had (because he wanted to) friends to come to a birthday party. This is such a big deal for us as in the past he has only every really had cousins to come and play. He chose to have a Toy Story themed party and had great fun.

The only negative I can think of that has come from becoming a home educating family is that I rarely get a break (hence the lack of blog posts!). It can be pretty full on as Michael is always on the go and I have to be at least three steps ahead. Think of the Tasmanian Devil crossed with Animal from the Muppets and you kind of get the idea!!! But the relaxed (almost holiday kind of feel) start to the day, all I have mentioned above and the joy I get from it well outweighs any negative.

We have become so much closer as a family this year. The boys adore each other and play really nicely together (most of the time!), they are rarely apart. Michael has so much more confidence and belief in himself now. He sees life as an adventure and we have so much fun. He is hilarious and brilliantly quirky! We are so very proud of him!

So I’ll finish up this soppy blog post by saying how pleased and excited we are that we made that step last year. Home education is brilliant!!!