We’ve entered into the world of home education and it is like an alternative reality we never knew existed. It appears there are as many ways to home educate as children who are home educated. There is unschooling, school at home, structured, semi-structured, world schooling, but don’t think of doing anything until you’ve deschooled. Then there’s all you need to read, like Charlotte Mason, John Holt, Naomi Fisher and many others. There are screen-free families, online learning families, Christian families and pagan families. Stay at home parents and those who manage to balance home ed with working full time. Those who spend the days outside and those with classrooms in their homes. You’ve got forest schools, coding club, Roblox and Minecraft, and crafting. No idea is better, it’s what works best for your child, but there definitely seems to be an underlying judgement of what’s “right”. Facebook groups abound with conflicting advice, solidarity, inspiration and commiseration. Some parents who love spending every waking moment with their children and others who just.want.a.break. Those who came to home ed out of necessity and those who desired it from the start. Kids who have never been to school, those who did primary, those who are now doing secondary and everything in between.

But there is a consensus that it takes a while to find your feet, weeks if you’re lucky, years if you’re not. You can change your mind, try all the things, throw everything at the wall and see what sticks, but don’t buy all the workbooks at the very start. After all, every child is different and learns differently and it is only through trial and error, experimentation and exploration that you find what works best.

We are still at the “figuring it out” stage and see no end in sight. I oscillate between thinking home ed is the best thing ever and wishing we could just get our son in school. Saying that, I do not miss the fight every morning, the emails, the WhatsApp group and the phone calls. I don’t miss the feeling we were doing something wrong by keeping him in school. But socialising is much more difficult when you don’t have built-in friends in your class. We are yet to find “our people” so it can be very isolating and lonely. Most days I haven’t got a clue what I’m doing and other days are full of small sparks of connection and learning. Perhaps I still have a lot of “deschooling” to do so I can stop thinking education has to look like school.

Onwards we go, thanking God for Twinkl and a kid who can already read. Who knows how long we’ll be here? While we’re here we might as well make the most of it. Term time holidays, empty parks, pyjama days and random days off. As long as the kids are happy and feel safe, we’re doing just fine.