Towards the end of last term, when Harry was at home one day a week, I already felt like it wasn’t enough, we’d end up wanting more. At the last meeting I had with Harry’s Head Teacher, I floated the idea of full-time homeschooling, but I wanted to try it… it’s seems like such a big decision to go for it without really knowing whether or not it’s going to work. I wanted the Head to offer me, say, the school equivalent of a career break: Yep, take three months or six and, if you’re not happy, you can come back. She didn’t do that. But, of course, I knew Harry could go back anytime, maybe not to that class, that school, but to, you know, proper school.

Anyway, Harry and I talked about it and said that we’d see how we went on over the summer and if, come September, we wanted him to stay home, he could stay home. Great. But that’s not really how my mind works, so over the summer I fretted and read and talked to friends. Could we really give up school completely? Could I really homeschool? And then, after lots of reading (of books and blogs), could we unschool?

Everything I read about unschooling sounded right to me. I love the idea of it and I feel that it would be brilliant for Harry, but it’s just so radical. Although even from the one day a week I knew that, at home, Harry resists anything that smacks of me teaching him. (This, I’ve learned, is very common in homeschoolers!)

We’ve had a brilliant summer. We’ve had a holiday, yes, but we’ve also had lots of days out and lots of lovely days at home. Harry and Joe have got on brilliantly and we’ve (finally) managed to get ourselves into a routine that seems to work really well. One morning at the beginning of August, I was sitting in bed reading a book and drinking tea. Harry came and snuggled in with me with the iPad. Joe was still sleeping. And I thought “I wish life could be like this all the time.” And then I thought “Why can’t it?”

More soon… obviously.