At a children’s party last weekend I got talking to one of the other mums and, inevitably, she asked me why I’d decided to home educate. (This woman is a teacher – currently on maternity leave – and I know she is actually positive about home education, she has a number of friends who home educate.) I started talking about Harry’s old school: the overstuffed curriculum, the teacher who told me that the things Harry’s good at aren’t the things that are valued by the education system, the way I’d noticed Harry changing his personality to fit in with his friends. I waffled on for a while and then I said, “Actually, it wasn’t really any of that…”

Almost every time I write about home education, someone comments along the lines of “I’d consider it if my child wasn’t happy at school, but s/he loves school…” Harry loved school. That was one of the reasons why I didn’t even seriously consider home education for a long time. But once I started looking in to home education, it just felt completely right.

It feels right to have him home with me.
It feels right that Harry and Joe can spend so much time together.
It feels right that we choose how to spend our days.
It feels right that Harry can spend time doing what he enjoys and can choose to learn about things that interest him.

It all just feels right.

A different teacher friend joked recently that she wouldn’t be welcome to come on a home education visit with us because she’s from “the dark side.” I don’t think school is the dark side – Harry had four very happy years in school. But I absolutely do think home education is the light side – the bright side – for us.