School's out!

On Friday, the children and I are heading to HESFES. My middle son has been counting down the weeks since the last camp in September. As soon as we get back, my husband breaks up from school and we're off on holiday again, and then again (to see some puffins!) and then it will be August! So this feels like the last week of term.

People often ask me if I give the children school holidays. My friend Jean would reply that she tried but she just couldn't get her children to stop learning!

I have a secret urge to be an unschooler: 'radical unschooling' seems really cool to me, like being a rock-star or an alpine climber. I quite fancy the Charlotte Mason style: there are nice, safe 'rules' and yet it doesn't look like school. There is also part of me that revels in having a time-table. There is something about a pristine piece of paper with neat rows of planned activities and the freshness of untouched workbooks which promise order, sequential learning and targets achieved.

I am currently indulging in 'planning next term's curriculum.' Yes, I really am planning September! It is far enough away to feel unsullied by any kind of practical consideration. I can write lists of ideas, ponder which chapter books to choose, peruse websites of maths problems, science experiments and long-term projects, without actually having to do any of it. I am a bit of a magpie: collecting the shiny ideas I come across, storing them up in my Home Ed journal or the Bookmarks on Internet Explorer. I find it very hard to leave something alone, to say, 'That looks great, but we have enough at the moment'.

I am seeking a balance of 'curriculum' and 'unschooling' and I have a sneeking suspicion that it is not about making sure the children are learning but about managing my own anxieties as I turn my back on the SatNav of formal schooling and navigate by the stars.

In the meantime, I am looking forward to lots of cake at HESFES, ice-cream in Dorset and the perfect Home Ed plan in September!