I meant to write this post last week when it was actually three months since Harry should have gone back to school, but I didn’t get round to it and then I actually got a commission to write about home ed and so wanted to get that out of the way first.

Actually, writing the article really confirmed to me how happy I am that we’re doing this. I’m so enthusiastic about it that the original draft of my article was almost 2000 words. I had to cut it down to 800. (I didn’t quite manage it…)

So. Three months on. How’s it going? It’s hard to say, really, because it just seems entirely natural. It reminds me of when I first gave up work and every now and then would think “I don’t have to go to work today…” and it would give me a little thrill. We just seem to have happily and easily fallen into a routine that we all enjoy. Well, I say ‘all’. Joe has been going to preschool on Monday and Wednesday mornings and outdoor preschool all day Friday and he would really rather be at home with me and Harry. Mostly with Harry, if I’m honest. On a Monday, David’s parents pick Joe up and he stays there for the afternoon, so it means that Harry and I have Mondays and Fridays to ourselves and we don’t really want to give that up. So we’ve compromised (a tiny bit) and I’ve told Joe he doesn’t have to go to preschool on Wednesday mornings from the new year. We’ll see how it goes.

We’ve been back to school a couple of times – for Bonfire Night and the Christmas Fair – and Harry was fine, if a bit shy (not surprising since everyone kept asking him how it was going at home). He still sees his best friend once a week and another friend is coming over next week for the afternoon. I’ve noticed when we’re out and about that Harry is chatting to people more than he used to. It’s completely random though – we went out for coffee with a friend the other day (Hi, Trish!) and he didn’t talk much at all, but then he nattered away to some kid’s grandma in a soft play centre earlier this week.

I’ve also noticed that he’s much more relaxed about reading and writing than he was when it was “homework”. He doesn’t read much to himself, but he’s enjoying me reading to him at night much more and we’re reading much longer books. He will read a book (something like Moshi Monsters) in the car and he obviously reads things secretly when I’m not around because he’ll mention something that was in the paper or a magazine. In our local park, there’s a huge hoarding hiding some building works and there’s a description of the works printed right along it. He LOVES reading that aloud, as long as I don’t make a fuss of it. Last time, when he finished reading, I said, “High five!” and  he got a right gob on.

I wanted to say something about people’s reactions to the news that we’re home educating, but I’ll save that for next week, I think.

Also, so you get a full picture vague idea, I decided to ask Harry for his input:

“It’s going fine. I like it. I like having fun with Middy.”

So there you go.