A perfect day

Since starting home ed 16 months ago Beth and I have been very fortunate in being warmly welcomed into so many groups of home educators that we could be busy and socialising nearly every day. Beth has also found, for the first time in years, like minded girls who like to run and climb and imagine adventures, not that she has given up on the boys whom she still loves to play with.

However she has needed a lot of unstructured time and cannot cope with anything slightly schooly so we have not been able to take advantage of many of the wonderful events on offer.

Now I feel that things are moving forward for us, Beth has started spontaneously writing again and drawing



and yesterday agreed to attend a home ed event at Rosliston , part of the national forest, looking at soil and how the creatures that live in it recycle leaves and bark etc.







This group was perfect for us, there were no expectations of what the children would get out of it, they could take or leave as they chose. This meant that Beth could relax and enjoy herself.



For me it was so good to be outside walking amongst the trees, the day was dry and mild, and there was even a tiny peek of sunshine, ambrosia to my eyes after so much rain.



The short educational session was followed by hours and hours of outdoor play with the children constantly grouping and regrouping with remarkably few problems, I hardly saw Beth and was able to catch up with “old” new friends and meet new people.



I feel so lucky to be a part of so many groups of friendly enterprising mums and dads with great ideas and lots of energy and enthusiasm, especially this one. Thank you to all of you.



Beth was inexhaustible and after hours of running around the park she still wanted to play in a little ball pit that was part of the centre and as I had promised that she could (before I had any idea of how long the event would last) she did. So followed another hour of play with a very forward three year old and a look around a very expensive dolls house shop.

And home to sleep on the sofa, me that is, and a short rest and refuelling for Beth who was off to taekwondo a couple of hours later. She later told me that she was determined to attend taekwondo however tired she was as she wanted to succeed at it. This level of commitment is a new for her and I think she is able to feel this way because she is not now emotionally exhausted and angry and resentful as she was all the time when she attended school.