Saving the best till last

Having been chided by my friend Michelle, I am blogging! It would be easier if Shannon didn't insist on sitting on my knee and therefore having to do this one-handed, but I will manage somehow!

So, what's been going on then? Well, the one blogpost that has been in my mind for a while is "Jade is thriving at school." Yes, thriving! It's a bit galling for an ex-home educator to admit, but it really is doing her good. Because she is now familiar with the environment, the people and the routines, she is gaining enough confidence to try new things that she would never attempt in a group of people she didn't know so well. For instance, she has volunteered to help out in the infants (4-7yr olds) playground once a week, along with a couple of friends. I think she is enjoying being one of the 'big ones' who help out the 'littlies', despite how horrible she is to her own sister at home! She tried out African drumming when a group visited the school for everyone to try. To be honest, I was astonished when I found out she'd actually done it in front of the rest of the class. She never would do that if we'd gone to a HE workshop or similar. She's taking part in different sports like netball, tennis and hockey. Again, just totally unthinkable for her to attempt to try these in a group of strangers. If we were in the fortunate position of living in Cambridgeshire and could go to Latinetc and Historyetc with all our lovely HE friends, in a regular group, it may be a different story, but even then I'm not sure whether she would have gained enough confidence in that group to take part.

She is going in happily every day, without any parental accompaniment at all. Yes, she has a bit of a moan about it from time to time. She put 'no school' on her Christmas wish list yesterday! And that is about the compulsory forced factory-production nature of schooling, and I am not saying that school couldn't be improved - it certainly could. But it is certainly doing her a great deal more good than harm. And I can tell she really enjoys her sense of achievement when she's learned something and tells me about it, especially stuff I don't know. She enjoys history particularly and at the moment is reading "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens, having been introduced to him during the work they're doing on Victorians this term. I certainly didn't read Dickens when I was 9! And even when I did read it, compulsorily for O Level at about 15, I didn't enjoy it like she is.

Every Friday morning, the school has an 'awards' assembly where each teacher picks one child for a 'merit' award for good academic work and a child for a 'star of the week' award for character/behaviour/personal qualities. A month or so ago, unbeknown to me, Jade was picked for a merit award for her excellent use of vocabulary, one example of which was the use of the word 'oblivious'. When her name was announced, she got up from her place and went to the front to collect her award with everybody's eyes on her and applause. A term ago, she would probably have bolted from the hall, or stayed glued to the spot and cried, or something. But she didn't; she actually got up and went to the front for her award. I so wish parents got warned and that I could have been there to watch (but then the relevant parent being present would be rather a give-away!) but never mind the award, I was just thrilled to bits to hear that she got up and went to the front, no matter what for.

Speaking of the awards assembly, Shannon got one last week as well. Hers was a 'star of the week' award for having a lovely smile, being happy and smiley all the time and cheering up the teacher whenever she looks at her! Shannon is the one who is most likely to say "I don't want to go to school". But whenever she is there she seems happy, relaxed and as though she's having a good time. However she is the one that I think would thrive more on home education, apart from her major need to play with other kids every day. She would take part in demonstrations and workshops with gusto, and ask questions, and follow her interests and not worry about getting things wrong.

But personally, I am *loving* my 3 quiet days at home. I love it. I love being on my own, reading, tidying, sorting, thinking, sometimes sleeping, unassaulted by the multitude of demands and interruptions. It feels like it is my 'sanity' time.

So, while Shannon is relatively happy, we'll leave things as they are.

Oh, and finally, saving the best to last, Jade has spoken her first words to her teacher! She has been having 'sliding-in' sessions with her TA (to whom she speaks) and her class teacher and 2-3 other kids at lunchtimes, just 15-20 minutes playing games, and during a game of Happy Families she asked her teacher for a card! The journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step.....

And now I need to put Shannon to bed, but when I get back, I will blog about 'other news'.