Why should I, Sinsull? How I taught my children is private, to be honest...

No, I didn't have a 'curriculum'....Gawd, what a horrid word that is.
Learning doesn't happen by 'curriculum'.....Learning is fun. It's aboutu reading books, getting your imagination to grow. It's about lying on the beach at night, looking up at the stars, seeing how many constellations you can find...and name...(the kids always did better than I, 'cos I can't remember the names!) LOL...although now, everyone will come down screeching..."You can't REMEMBER names and you're teaching your own children?!"

Yup! :0)

My kids learnt in a very laid back way...and yes, learning is by osmosis. Josh learnt to add up and subtract pretty darn quickly when I told him that he might lose out on his change, in shops, if he didn't know what the correct amount should be...heck, was that an incentive for him! Big smile. He knows what's what. He can find anything on the computer in seconds, he's an absolute whizz on it...

He'll always struggle to write, but....as my Education Welfare Officer said, "Don't worry about it, it just means he'll use a computer even better!"

My EWO knew what was important in life. He'd been a teacher, so had his wife. She was then in a terrible car crash, paralysed from the neck down. He had to give up teaching to care for her, and filled in with his EWO job when she was in respite care during the day for a few hours.   

His wife was..and still is, a very erudite lady, just takes a little longer to get the words out these days. We went to have tea with them both one day...and that's when Richard gave Nonny his National Geographic collection. They both felt terribly sad about what has happened in schools these days.

They have three children, all grown..and they're desperately worried about their son and his wife, as they're already starting to *push* their children. They're moving house to get into the 'right' school and they can see nothing wrong with the homework their children are getting, despite their youngest being just 6 years old.

6 years old and homework???????????????????????

They've become 'serious' parents, 'seriously serious' about their children's 'education'.

It's all crap, of course.

The more laid back you are, the more your children learn.   If you remove the stresses, then learning become fun again. Note that I say learning and NOT 'edukayshun'.....because 'edukayshun' sucks, quite frankly.

We've become like the Japanese, who happily pushed their children into suicide, such were the pressures on them to 'achieve achieve achieve'

It's all a load of baloney, put upon folks by Corporate Edukayshon Bastards who are out to make more and more money from anxious parents and anxious kids.

Of course, we've also now got the Prom Day over here, which is yet another way to make loadsa money from kids...evening dress hire, hairdo's, presents, 'orrid common stretch limo's..champagne flowing over...

Yeesh!

And then there are....the school TRIPS! Yes, those fun times when the travel agents make loadsa money out of poverty stricken parents who are almost forced into finding the money to send Little Johnny to Russia for 5 days, because if he doesn't go, he'll be scarred for life, not just because he'll be ribbed by his peers, but because he'll NEVER have the opportunity to do this ever again...apparently!

Yes, you can even be reported, or sent to prison for taking your child on holiday! Great isn't it! :0) Forget the fact that kids learn FAR more on a two week holiday in Greece, than in Class 4b, 4th floor of Factory Farms R Us. Oh no, no, no, that doesn't come into it! The whole point is that those who now DICTATE what your children should learn, how they should behave, how they should live, do not want children to lose 'valuable' schooling, because..guess what..and this is a real rib-tickler..because if you have the bloody audacity to take your child on holiday OUT of the alloted time, then your child will NEVER catch up! Yes! LOL! That's the official line of guilt to pour upon the poor parent....My God, the damage you can do by taking your child on holiday! HOW can I/we have never SEEN this before?!   Why didn't we realise?   All those trips to Wales and Devon as a child, no homework books packed, no thought of school in my head, or in my parents heads either..

No WONDER I am as I am!   LOLOL

We have all been bullied senseless by Control Freaks, who have now created a system so stressful that marriages are breaking apart over it....Why? Well, here's what happens...

First, the child implodes. They can't cope. They begin to realise that they can't deal with all the work, and to be honest, they don't want to do it either, so they start to kick up a stink, to the very people who are sending them there...

The parents, of course, NEED to have perfect children so that they can tell each other how well Little Johnny is doing at school ("So much better than YOUR child, Mrs. Higginbottom!") because that way they can tell themselves that they really ARE doing the absolute best for Little Johnny.

Little Johnny kicks out harder...and he starts to have a real problem with ALL adults, because hey, they're bastards who want you to do nothing but work, work, work...at a time in your life when all you want to do is play, play, play....

Mum starts to argue with him....tells him to do his work. He takes no notice. Dad has a word with him....it gets even worse..doors bang, shouts ensue, unhappiness abounds.

Mum shouts at Dad, Dad shouts at Mum, Little Johnny shouts at everyone! But they carry on saying "Oh, he's doing AWFULLY well at school you know! He's studying SO hard.."

Amd the cracks get deeper and deeper and the unhappiness grows stronger and stronger...

But hey....edukayshun's important, innit? We know this, 'cos we've been told...

It never used to be this way folks...you're all being taken for SUCH a ride, but never mind, you all carry on with your National Curriculum and your shouts of "Tie The Home Educators Down to Rules and Regulations!"..and we'll carry on helping our children to learn in a quiet, relaxed, caring environment.




"Education of the mind without education of the soul, is no education at all" - Aristotle...

'They' are stealing our children's souls.