February 2018: Climbing, Cats and Snow at last!

The first big snow here for 6 years!

Looking back over the last month it's hard to think of anything but the UK 'Snowmageddon' !!! - people from cold countries must think us Brits are hilarious! The last time we had 'proper' snow where we live, Owen was only a few months old, so this was his first real experience of the chilly white stuff and he LOVED it!

I love you snow!

Pre-snowpocalypse we'd had a fairly laid back month and a lot of at home time (it had been sodding freezing). I must admit to having days where I worry that we are not doing enough 'learning' but then remind myself that everything is a learning experience and happiness and good mental health are more important than good grades. He is still only 6 after all and it seems I'm the one who is needing the time to 'unschool' my way of thinking not him! 

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I was reading a worrying article researching children's mental health, did you know that:
1 in 5 children have mental health problems
There has been a 43% increase in ADHD
A 37% increase in teen depression
A 100% increase in the suicide rate of kids 10-14 years old?

There is very thought provoking blog post here with parenting tips that I wanted to share: What are we doing to our children?

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Lots more slime has been made and maybe my talk of the science behind it and how polymers work is sinking in! Here is our never fail recipe:

Stretchy Slime

250ml PVA glue
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Poster paint or food colouring
1 tbsp eyewash (it must contain boric acid and sodium borate to work)

Mix the first 3 ingredients together, then add the eyewash, once it gets stringy and comes away from the edges of the bowl squish it together with your hands.

We use Optrex eyewash and kid's poster paint (just a squirt and it works way better than food colouring), glitter is great added too. While the slime is still fresh and super stretchy, try blowing it up with a straw - it looks amazing!

Another cool experiment was a 'Tornado in a bottle', even if it did end up leaking all over the kitchen!

Thanks to Eco Kids Planet magazine for how to do it.

Pancakes were of course made for Shrove Tuesday, with help from Owen. As usual, even though I seemed to cook a few hundred of them, with three sons around these quickly disappeared and I only had a mere 1 to eat.

nom, nom, nom...

We learned a lot about cats in February, not just because we have a cat 'Wompa' (named after the creature from Hoth in Star Wars) though also known by 'Mr Bitey' and 'Azog the pale defiler'. We paid a home ed. group visit to the Cat's Protection League and a guided tour of the facility, saw behind the scenes, learnt kitty facts and history and of course got to see a LOT of cats! The people there do a really wonderful and admirable job.

Owen decided our cat would like a house, so designed and built a rather impressive two story home, worthy of Grand Designs - I only helped with the cutting. Wompa loves it (thank goodness), on the negative side I now have an enormous bloody box in my front room that I can't throw out and no cellotape left!

Another crafty discovery has been chalk pens, they have really encouraged Owen to write and draw more as it probably feels like graffiti to him! In fact the whole family has taken to drawing on the windows, here's Owen using them to practice his letter writing and in the background is some window 'art'!

For the spring we want to try some nature topics and plant growing. Before the snow we planned out a mini pond project that we can observe through the year, using an old plastic box from the garage. Once the freeze is over we will add a couple of small pond plants to oxygenate the water and wait for the wildlife to hopefully arrive!

Pond project

Making fire & toasting marshmallows with his big brother

We took a very atmospheric walk on Dartmoor, a small home ed. group met for a scramble over Hookney Tor. We managed despite thick fog to make it to Grimspound, an impressive Bronze Age settlement with the remains of 24 stone roundhouses, all within a massive boundary wall. I plan to go back on a clear day as the views are probably amazing.

In a Grimspound roundhouse

Owen with his 19 year old brother on foggy Hookney Tor

A first for us was indoor climbing, we were quite nervous at first but really enjoyed it. We went to Exeter's Clip'n'Climb at the Quay, even I had a go too (I discovered I'm fine at going up but lousy at coming down again!). We went for a bracing, icy walk along the Quayside afterwards and rewarded ourselves with chips and pulled pork in Samuel Jones.

That's about it for February, when the snow has gone we hope to get out on more walks and adventures. Plans for a few Dartmoor walks, an Aquarium trip and a RHS garden visit are booked, as is Owen's first guitar lesson!

Take the path less travelled - be happy... xx


January's Blog

December's Blog

December 2017: Here we go...

Owen & I with his 16 year old brother

Our first post!

After a year of angst ridden deliberation, I decided to home educate my 6 year old son Owen. He was anxious, unhappy, hating school, having meltdowns over the slightest thing and stressed - children should not be stressed! Nothing dramatic 'happened', our small rural Primary School was lovely - the issue was the system itself and an accumulation of factors. Dropping Owen off each morning was awful, whilst sobbing he would beg me to take him home, which then would make me cry... It just seemed wrong, him miserable shut in school for 6 hours a day, life is short - so I resolved to get the happy back in his life and mine.



The UK school system fails our children with it's obsession for testing, assessment, literacy & numeracy skills and the 'right kind' of behaviour (sit still, be quiet etc.). It is set to get worse too, the government has future plans for compulsory baseline tests of literacy, numeracy and behaviour in the first six weeks of primary school life (testing 4 year olds... really?!!).

Do we want to make all our children the same? Do we all 'learn' the same way? Do we just accept that it's the 'right' way because the majority do it? Are we sacrificing our children's happiness and uniqueness in order to conform?

The UK education system could learn a lot from countries like Finland and Sweden where children learn through play, 'formal' schooling doesn't even begin until the age of 7 (unlike the UK where they start school at only 4, even though the actual CSA is meant to be 5). Did you know that the English system was introduced in 1870 in order to get women back into work quicker? (rather than on the basis of any educational benefit to children!). 

The idea of children not learning to read until they're 7 scares some parents, but the research consistently shows that they do catch up. Those extra years of play may help children in ways that academia cannot. A recent study by Stanford University discovered that kids who started school older showed significantly lower levels of inattention and hyperactivity. The difference in development between age five and age eight is significant. Starting formal schooling later has been proven to produce better long term academic achievement, happiness and child well-being. 

Here is a very informative read on the evidence:
New Scientist - Too Much Too Young


Although an education is compulsory in the UK for children between the ages of 5 and 16, school itself is not. Many families prefer to home educate their children and it is their right under UK law to do so. Home educating families do not have to follow the National Curriculum and there is no right or wrong way to do it. Home ed 'styles' vary from unschooling / autonomous child-led learning, to a national curriculum based 'school at home' approach - I think we will be somewhere in between the two. There is a huge support network out there and a very big home ed. community (especially in Devon), most of my knowledge has been gained from helpful home education Facebook groups.

This fantastic website has a wealth of information on home education:
Educational Freedom

This Guardian article sums up some great key home ed. plus points: 
10 Good Reasons to Home Educate


But back to us!

Only 1 week into our home ed journey and my son was a different boy and most importantly, happy again, it was like flicking a switch - amazing! A whole new world had opened up to us which filled me with optimism and joy. We attended many different home ed groups and activities in the lead up to Christmas, mainly trying to find our feet and meeting other homeschooling families. Owen still meets up with school friends and sees the village children at Beavers (young Cub Scouts). The socialisation question comes up a lot but it is a complete non issue - Owen has met and mixed with so many other children (and adults) of all ages and diverse lifestyles, and they have all been so friendly and welcoming. Here's just a small sample of things he did in December...

Owen riding for the very first time at a home ed. pony club

Art appreciation!

Forest School & reconnecting with nature

Doing science! Making stretchy slime at a home ed group

A home ed event at Plymouth Aquarium

Santa even visited and dived with the fish!

Attending a Christmas play at Exeter Library

...And some of the best things? Owen hasn't been ill once since leaving school (touch wood). No stressful and manic school run mornings. Spending time together, it's a cliche to say they grow up fast - but it's very true (I have 2 teenage sons as well, so speak from experience). And, visiting places in term time is blinking fantastic; quiet, easy to park, no queues, bliss!... Here's to 2018!

Take the path less travelled - be happy... xx