🌱 Demystifying Home Education | Denormalising School 🌱
My aims with this channel are to:
➕ normalise home education in a world that treats school as the only norm
➕ show that children can receive an INCREDIBLE education on their own terms, in a way that respects their rights, wishes and innate interests.
➕ reassure those who are worried about taking the leap into home education that your child can learn all the skills to have a successful career, make really close friends, and operate in society
➕ help parents realise that YOU absolutely have the skills and resources to home educate your child
👋 👋 Hi, I'm Cathryn, a UK-based Mum of 3 Home Educated kids (girl/boy twins born in 2017, and their brother born in 2020). They are home educated from the start. We are non-religious, philisophical home educators (We home educate as our first choice, rather than it being a fallback option)👋 👋
Contact: [email protected]
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All reward schemes are about compliance to adult selected behaviours - there is no psychological evidence supporting their use
100%! That’s such a good way to put it “compliance to adult selected behaviours”!!
My Son was at primary school and was taking part in weekly spelling tests. He was very bright and was getting 10/10 each Friday. He was being rewarded with chocolate after each test. I hate children being rewarded with sweets and chocolate as an incentive. I asked his teacher not to do this as I encourage healthy eating and no treats before dinner. Well…….. the look she gave me LOL. The following week every other child got chocolate and the teacher “announced “ to the class that Freddie wouldn’t be given chocolate as his mum complained ! Everyone laughed at my son and he cried all the way home in embarrassment. Nothing was ever done about it and 2 years later ( a friend told me) chocolate is still being handed out ! I felt like I was being looked down on because I don’t give my children sweets after school.
Woww. So sorry to hear your son went through that. Talk about shaming a kid through not fault of their own. I have to say I agree with you on the chocolate. I mean, nothing wrong with enjoying some chocolate but when it’s presented as a treat or reward I think that’s just a slippery slope. I hope he’s managed to move past the experience 💜
Just wanted to echo Thomas Kane's sentiments below and say thank you Cathryn. I've been through the entire UK education system up to PhD level and even taught at the University of Bath, so I've experienced everything UK Ed has to offer, warts and all, and I've always felt something was wrong. You're videos have contextualised and confirmed those concerns (with some nice British humour as well, which I appreciate), and you've inspired me to start homeschooling this year, so thank you. Wishing you and your little ones all the best x
Hi John. Sorry for my slow reply. Wow, quite blown away by your comment. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences with us. How exciting that you’ve decided to start home educating. Would love to hear how you get on. Are you taking your kids out of school or would they just be starting? Really hope it works out for you. Best wishes to you!
Not a problem, I'm surprised you did reply, you must be run off your feet. They're 7 now, so I handed the notice of deregistration to the headteacher before the holidays, who was lovely about it to be fair and wished us all the best (and thanks for the links to the home education resources, the templates from Education Otherwise were really useful). Now there's just Wiltshire Council to engage with, who are hopefully not going to send anyone round unannounced (kudos to you for being so calm, I'm not sure I would've been as polite as you). But we have your great video on creating the home ed report so finger's crossed it all works out :)
@@JohnpaulYi yay! That’s all very exciting. I think 7 is a great age to start. Are they twins too? My twins are 7 in December. 😃 Great that you had a smooth deregistration process. Hope you’re all having the best summer! We live in Hampshire, so might not be too far away from each other depending where in Wiltshire you are. Maybe we will cross paths one day :) I’m starting to feel like we’ve had this conversation before, so sorry if I’m repeating myself. I remember someone saying they lived nearby-ish 🤣🤣 My brain!
My school did attendance awards, and I thought it was so stupid that they were rewarding getting people sick.
100% and in fact I hadn’t even looked at it that way that the attendance awards are not only pushing kids to come to school when sick but could also be a cause of kids getting sick (mentally or physically)!
My mom and dad couldn’t afford for one of them to stay at home and homeschool us. So we needed to go to school. My mom to this day wishes she could have homeschooled me. Especially since my extracurriculars were outside of school. But it worked out ok. Made a few friends and had a little fun.
@@michelleheadley2911 same here really. Mum and I lived alone for my younger years and she had to go to work once I was in school full-time. She wouldn’t have even known home Ed was an option let alone be able to do it. I really feel so fortunate I became aware of it and was able to make certain sacrifices to allow me to home Ed my kids. I think for those who have to send their kids to school, or actively choose to, it’s great to be aware that some of the methods used in school considered normal should be questioned, and even if you have to put up with them explain to their kids that these types of awards don’t define their worth in anyway. Thank you for commenting and sharing your story 💜
@@nurturingdiscontent school doesn’t teach us enough. I spent 10 years learning the same handful of information about the united states. 1 semester of government wasn’t enough to learn. 3 months of home economics didn’t teach me much of anything. No study skills. I’m lucky my mom and dad worked with me after school. But there’s so much kids can learn about life and skills that schools don’t always teach. And the amount of time every week that’s dedicated to classes is so much. And yet we learn nothing. My parents worked opposite shifts. My dad worked over night and mom worked all day. My grandfather and older sister watched me. And the bullying was bad. I can understand kids needing socializing. But there has to be a better way.
Yes, i agree with you with schools not teaching us enough, and in the same breath probably too much of the wrong things. Sorry to hear the bullying was bad too; those sort of experiences stay with people for a lifetime. In respect to kids need socialising, I personally believe school is the least natural form of socialising, but that could be a topic for another day 😄
I haven’t watched the video yet but I’ve seen some of the comments about the pushing for attendance. The school I just graduated from had these little papers mailed to us each semester if we’d had perfect attendance, which resulted in me going to school when I physically couldn’t talk because I felt like I *had* to be there.
Oh wow, yeh this is exactly the sort of effects I worry these sort of schemes have. Hope you are doing well now 💜
My daughter came home the other day saying how one girl had never had a day sick and she is in year 6. So the teachers must have been celebrating it. And I thought, I think we should be encouraging kids and parents to take a balanced approach and allow days off when they are sick/convalescing. Children need it and it is part of good parenting. No days off isn't something look up to.
Absolutely!! Couldn't agree more. I wonder when there will be an award for listening to your body and mind and recognising when they need a break!
Totally agree 💯
Thanks for taking time to comment!
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Thank you so much. I appreciate you taking the time to comment!
Appreciate your content.
Thank you!
Thank you for your channel and excellent points! I am deeply grateful that my parents homeschooled me in the 1980s. Since then I've gotten my PhD, published numerous books, and had an eighteen-year career teaching at the University of Hull (UK). BTW, although my academic career was in Britain, my homeschooling experience was in the US.
Wow, absolutely love this. Thank you so much for sharing your story. What an inspiration. Going to pin this. Congratulations on all your achievements!
Love your channel...keep it up...we home educate our children...its been the best thing we have ever done...the only teachers we need are parents...school is slowly dying a death and rightly so...GOD BLESS YOU & YOUR FAMILY ❤🙏
Thank you so much for the supportive comment it really means a lot! I also believe parents can be amazing teachers because we know our children so well and how the respond to different teaching styles/methods. All the best to you and your family too! xx
Love watching your videos, most of these are reason why we choose home education especially the nor missing school one as he additional needs with lots of hospital appointments he would miss out due to his health, we always put health first and his metal health really took a dip when he started early years as at the time we didn't know about home education so glad we found out we can home education and withdraw him
ahh thank you for the support! Yes, I love that home ed means we can put mental (and physical) health as a top priority like it should be. It's so interesting how many people don't even know home ed is an option. I was the same until my kids were about 3; I don't know how it slipped under my radar my whole life!
@@nurturingdiscontent definitely physical and metal health should be top priority. Me neither wasn't untill we were looking for other early year centres for our little one that I found out, some of your videos I showed my husband when I was telling him about the reason why you weren't sending the kiddies to school, we both completely agreed.
The worst thing with these awards are that it’s putting responsibility on primary children for things they have very little control over. Schools are so focused on numbers and results, in my opinion it’s having a detrimental effect on learning. We’re fairly new to home education but the trickiest thing so far is trying to remove the anxiety about getting things wrong.
"The worst thing with these awards are that it’s putting responsibility on primary children for things they have very little control over." THIS!!! Yes 100% agree. It makes no sense. Yay, welcome to Home ed. I know the anxiety about getting things wrong, it's a big responsibility to take on and I'd be lying if I said I never get these feelings. I try and remind myself that there are hundreds of kids who leave school every year who don't meet the expected standards so it's far from being a home ed thing. I genuinely believe home ed can give kids a wonderful education and opportunity to be well rounded, balanced people, but it can be so hard not to let in outside (or internal) noise of what's "normal" and the right way to educate kids. It's so ingrained in our society that school is the right way to do it. Wishing you all the best on your home ed journey!
I think I want to home educate, but I think I'm scared of the negative comments I'll get from my family (mainly my parents) & friends. Thank you for this video.
The negative comments can be hard for sure, but once you join the home ed community and find there are thousands of people who see things the same way as you, you start to feel less and less like the "weird one" for making the decision. There are lots of great answers to all the usual negative comments and I would really hope your parents and friends just want what's best for your kids like you do. Wishing you all the best!
In response to all those comments: So like…where does that put parents who HomeEd BECAUSE they used to be teachers? 🤔
Ohh yes! I’ve met a lot of those!! Good point 😄
I am a mother of two autistic boys. They went to school for a while and it was a nightmare. The school got extra money for them and all they did was discourage my older son from speaking English because my children are bilingual. The school got extra money for someone who would be with my younger son (one to one) and for extra classes. My older son has high-functioning ASD and when asked after school if he had classes like LEGO therapy he would say no. One day I asked his school friends whose mothers I knew and what I found out confirmed what my son had told me. Not only did he not have his own classes but he was told to sit quietly in his designated spot and was not allowed to join his peers during breaks. And my younger son became very withdrawn and got sick because he has celiac disease which the school knew about and they still gave him food with gluten even though he had his own food for school. For a while I thought about taking the school to court but that would not be good for my boys. I thought for too long whether to take the boys to homeschooling. After my younger son got really sick I decided that probably everything my older son said was true and what he was going through there was some kind of nightmare. His friends, what their mothers told me, sometimes said how Hannibal was treated by the school staff, and the younger son was not paid attention to and on top of that they were given things to eat that could literally kill him in the long run. Now they are in their second year of homes education and everything is going well. I am slowly getting them out of ASD and they are happy little boys who don't care how someone looks like, for them the only thing that matters is whether they person is nice and you can play with them 😊 💕💕💕
Oof so sorry to hear everything you’ve all been through. It’s almost impossible to believe schools would actually do such things, and yet I hear these stories so often. It sounds like Home Ed has done wonders for you all and I’m so pleased for you. Well done Mumma your boys sound wonderful! And how great they are bilingual!! What a gift you are giving them. We are trying so hard to raise our kids with my Husband’s language but he keeps forgetting to speak it 🙈
@@nurturingdiscontent Thank you for your kind words 🥰 At first I didn't believe it myself, what my son sometimes told me was beyond human understanding. When it was confirmed by the words of the mothers I talked to (what their children told them about how my son was treated by the school). I thought then that it was my fault because I was a bad mother because I didn't believe my child. And he was so stressed and so afraid that he had to go to school the next day that he couldn't sleep and had nightmares. Before I took the children out of school completely, I started coming there often. And what I saw and heard because I wasn't expected is beyond human understanding. It's terribly sad. And it's not entirely these people's fault, this is how the so-called teaching program is constructed (and for me is indoctrination). But I think that what we experienced was so that we would trust our children more, so that I would do what was right and not what I supposedly "should". When only one of the adults works (now my husband) it is hard, but only at the beginning because all this has encouraged us to develop and it is wonderful. I guess sometimes we need a kick from life to get ourselves straight, because if we do not get right we will be kicked all the time 😉 I will add one more thing because I think it is important. In school they teach children so-called tolerance but it has nothing to do with tolerance. They keep saying that skin color is not important and then they say that it is important. You cannot say when describing someone what skin color they have or where they come from. But one thinks that they are better than the other and that their skin color, culture, religion, etc. is one thing that is good, right and proper. This is what is taught in school, this is what mainstream media convinces people. I have never looked at people this way. I looked at their actions, not the color of their skin or what their ancestors did. What is important in life is what we do, not what we say around us and what we show on social media. Actions count. I studied history in higher education and at university but not the kind of history that is taught to children in schools because I wanted to be an archaeologist. And the conclusion from this is that history is so mendacious that it makes your brain explode. It is presented to us in such a way as to divide us, so that people will never reach an agreement. You are dark-skinned, so you are told that white people enslaved you, but you are not told that these white people were also slaves and in greater numbers. The only free ones were the upper classes, who set people against each other (until now) so that they could rule this world all the time. This is the sad truth 😉 My sons are not taught by me any propaganda and omnipresent indoctrination, I teach them what is good and what is not and what is bad is hurting others or yourself and the worst thing is watching others being hurt and staying silent because it does not concern me. We have to stand up and tell the truth even if we are to be excluded because who would want to live in falsehood? Warmest greetings to you and your family, you are a good mother who loves her children very much and it shows. Don't listen to the haters, imagine how sad their lives must be that such evil is pouring out of them. 💕💕💕
wow, this is such an interesting comment. Lots to digest and look into - thank you! Firstly, had to look up the word mendacious (what a great word) so every day is a "school day" 😂 I can totally believe that the mainstream history we are taught and fed from the media is riddled with various agendas, and a lot of it is fed in a way that keeps us against each other; for as long as we are against each other the less likely we are less likely to question those in power. Loads of food for thought, thank you. And thanks again for the support! I always told myself if I'm getting negative comments I must be doing something right 😂😂
@@nurturingdiscontent 💕💕💕
Theres this saying for a reason: those who can, do; those who can’t, teach. The teaching community, as it is today, should love this quote coming from Fabian Socialist, George Bernard Shaw.
I always have to caveat on here that I don’t blame teachers. I know there are some rotten ones but also lots of amazing ones who are limited to use their teaching skills and empathy by the system they are stuck in. Most teachers can’t teach in the way they would like to it sounds like. And I also I think there are lots of people who “do” amazing things who wouldn’t necessarily have the skills to teach that thing to others. Thanks for taking the time to comment, I really appreciate it 💜
@@nurturingdiscontent I agree with you. I’m sure there are some wonderful teachers out there. My comment was more of response to the “leave it to the professionals” comments you were reading in the beginning. Going from my personal experience in the public school system in the US and the current mood that seems to permeate the school system in North America now (I currently live in Canada), I really believe the negative outweighs the good. I also agree that the good ones are stifled from true and good teaching by the system they are stuck in. But I think all the reward systems you outlined in your video indicates that teaching by the “professionals” are questionable. (I believe the good teachers would never say something like that. They see the system for what it is-broken.)
I love your videos. Let the haters hate, people project and get defensive when they don’t understand things and it appears many in the UK really fail to understand what it means to home educate. I would also look at the Orton Guillingham approach. We went with the Orton Guillingham approach. My child loves reading and we used a program to teach her but we used what suited her needs being a multi sensory approach was the best way. The thing is all children will learn differently and schools do not have the capacity to have different programs for different children. Even the balanced approach has shown flaws in schools that are using it in the US as it won’t suit all kids. The attendance rewards are awful especially with sick children being punished for not attending. Doesn’t help that schools allow and encourage sick kids in to infect other kids and some can be seriously sick with what is mild for others, especially allowing Covid into the classrooms it’s insane. But Ofsted goals come first. The amount of friends we have who now have children constantly sick with weak immune systems due to the fact they are not able to recover before getting sick again oh and one friend her kid now has long Covid and can barely walk but it’s just a cold so send them to school.
Ahh thank you so much for your supportive words, it really means a lot. You are so right about the lack of understanding about what Home Education is. I get so many comments from people in every day life that demonstrate this and I often just think, wow I don’t have the energy to get you up to speed 🤣. It’s the difference between years of research and lived experience (us) and often never haven’t even thought about it before (the negative comments from others). Ohhh, thank you for telling me about the sort on Guillingham approach I’ve never even heard of that so will look into it. Sounds like it’s been a real success for you, so that’s encouraging. Yes, I’ve also heard of the pitfalls of “the balanced approach”. This book doesn’t actually advocate for that approach entirely (the title is probably confusing in that respect). The actually propose their own new theory/model called ‘the Double Helix of Reading and Writing’, which is very interesting. The book has certainly helped me get my head around all the different sides of “the reading wars” which was quite overwhelming. Like, who do we believe when it comes to reading?!? 🤣 Wow so sorry to hear about your friends kid who is sick. It really must give their immune systems a battering. I bet parents didn’t know whether their coming or going between schools telling them not to send their kids in over that period and now a push for attendance no matter what. Thank you for commenting; always appreciated! 💜
This triggered a great discussion with my teens. 😂. The attendance one was the one I thought was really stupid. Literally punishing children for getting ill. None of my kids every got the 100% award. Walk to school? What if you live far away? My son wanted to add one- “collective punishments”, as in punishing the whole class for the deeds of one who didn’t own up. Great video. Completely agree 🙌
Ohh I love that it sparked conversation for you! 😄 I’m actually yet to hear from any parent who agrees with attendance awards, so I’m not sure why schools are persisting in this!? With the walk to school and living far away I believe people can do a ‘park and stride’, make of that what you will! 😄 Yep, collective punishment…completely agree. Kids are smart enough to know who was the one who “let the side down” and I wouldn’t want to be in that position!
My 7 year old got put on the “Attendance Watch List “ because she suffered a hernia and was off for 2 weeks ! I was fuming. Never the less she is home educated now and so happy. That was my last straw x
Oh, attendance... Yeah, I hate the push for attendance. I have three examples of ways the push for attendance harmed me as a child off the top of my head: 1: I was in year 5 and had been told if I missed any more days that year I would need a doctor's note or my parents would be in trouble with the law. The next time I got sick, I kept attending school, telling my parents I was fine, until I ended up really, really sick and missed two weeks of school. My dad had an angry phone call with the teacher and my mum told me that I didn't need to worry about the doctor's note thing, even when I went up to year 6. True to her word, she would always call the doctor's and say, 'My daughter's school requires a doctor's note to say that she's sick. She has [symptoms], can you write one?', right up until I sat my GCSEs. Never had that issue again. 2: I fell ill during year 6. I was in school, though, and the school said that as I had a history of illness, they wanted to see if I got better during the day. An hour later, whilst I was waiting in the medical room, they told me that as I was still ill, they'd ring my mum. Ten minutes later, they told me that my mum was busy and couldn't pick me up, so I had to go back to class. My mum had not been called, and at the end of the day when I, still ill, ran up to her crying and said 'WHY COULDN'T YOU PICK ME UP! MY THROAT HURTS REALLY BAD!', she was furious, and told the school that I would not be returning. I had tonsillitis. Most of my illnesses were actually tonsillitis, but I didn't get it often enough for them to take my tonsils out. Luckily, haven't had it again since year 10. 3: I missed three days of school in year 7 due to another illness (this time a stomach bug). Feeling better, I went back in on Thursday, and fell ill again during the day. My teacher sent me to the office who said 'Well, you've already missed a lot of school, so why don't you go back to class?' and gave me a sick bag. Knowing how my mum would feel about that (based on the aforementioned incident in year 6), I went up to the SEN area (I don't know why that was my first thought, other than that I already knew the lady who was head of SEN because of my disabilities, and I knew she was nice) and asked if she could call my mum for me because I was feeling sick. She said she would, I had to wait though as she was dealing with something, and sent me to the waiting room part of the office (not the part students went to, unless the medical room was full). At some point she called my mum who got a taxi to pick me up, but whilst I was waiting I heard one of the office workers saying 'What's Ava doing in the office again? Didn't we send her back to class?' I threw up in the taxi (luckily for everyone involved, into the bag), something I fully believe would not have happened had the office called my mum so she could have got a taxi there sooner. I don't know if my mum said anything, but they never did that again. Whilst writing those, I've realised that there's probably a couple more incidents that would count as attendance pushing, as the school tried to keep me in school despite being injured and needing medical attention. Whilst playing with my friends during lunch (year 3) I took a stretched French skipping rope to the eye. It took an hour and a half (in which I was in the medical room, not the classroom, so no learning being done) for my school to ring my mum and say I needed to go to the opticians to check my eye wasn't damaged (it was fine, luckily), as I was still having some trouble with it watering and being in pain, and wasn't sure if everything looked a bit blurry. Surprise surprise, when my mum picked me up she assumed I'd been in PE and we were using French skipping ropes, not that I'd been injured during lunch. Another time, in year 4, I don't remember the incident, just that during PE I ended up on the floor, holding my side in pain as a result of being hit with something. The teacher told me I would be fine, even though I was saying it really hurt, and should get on with the lesson. I had an awful bruise there, and it hurt for months, but the school just told me that I was fine, it was too long ago for it to still hurt, and I don't think my parents thought it could be anything bad because the school never told them, and I was always getting bruises (unfortunately one of my disabilities affects co-ordination). Found out when I later needed a scan done that at some point I had broken a rib, and it had healed in a weird position. I don't know for sure, and never will, but if I had to guess when it happened, I'd go for that PE lesson. I said in my other comment about WOW that that's not a reason I've been seriously considering home education when I have my own kids. This is one of the major reasons. I wasn't safe at (primary, especially) school.
Wow, thank you so much for sharing all that with us. I’m so sorry you had to go through all those incidents. They obviously had an impact since you remember them in such detail. I’ve also met someone recently who took their child out of school when he said he didn’t feel like the school could keep him safe. It’s sad that schools can sometimes make children not feel safe when those adults are entrusted with their keeping them safe. It sounds like your Mum was really on your side at least and didn’t let the school walk over her. I think that’s so important for parents with kids in school to have their eyes open to these things and know that they can stand up to the school even though I know that can feel so so hard
I have similar problems, for some reasons i do get ill often during school months especially during colder months and i do miss a lot but still just fine so i get to pass. Regardless of my perfect gpa my headteacher still makes it a problem. And i don't go to the doctor everytime just because it isn't that serious, but he says i need doctor's note. Luckily, my school is 15 minutes walk from my house so i don't even wait for anyone anymore, and if i'm not feeling well i go home. It's my wellbeing, and i'm being responsible. I do think a big part of it is constant state of anxiety and stress during school so it does weaken my immune system. I do feel guilty going home when i think oh maybe i would've been fine, but again, i think it's for the better.
Those walk to school things have been going on for years. They were doing them when I was in school (2000s). I always walked (before my school joined the Walk On Wednesday scheme) because we lived, like, 10 minutes away from the school and my mum doesn't drive, so there wasn't really any other option. It didn't really affect me, for obvious reasons, but I was annoyed when my teacher refused to give me the badges because the scheme hadn't encouraged me to walk to school. Felt like I was being punished for having done what the school wanted me to do before they started pushing for it. Additionally, one of my friends lived a fair bit away from the school, and part of the journey to school was along a road with no pavements. There is still, to this day, no public transport between our part of the area and hers, so for obvious reasons she could not walk to school on any day. Not one of the reasons I'm strongly considering home education when I have kids (honestly, I'd forgot all about it before you mentioned it), but still, it's odd behaviour from the school, to say the least.
Ahh that's interesting, I don't remember them doing it at my school, maybe I just missed out the walk to school era, although I did also always walk to school because we lived fairly close. It's funny someone else just mentioned there were no pavements on her walk to school so literally couldn't do it. Ditto, to be fair, it's not up there specifically on the list of my reasons to home ed, but I'm glad on a whole we can avoid all these 'rewards' and I hope if my kids were in school there is an option to sort of 'opt out' of them and explain to my kids they really aren't beneficial. I heard the other day that some schools are still giving stickers if kids finish all their lunch!!!
Walk to school.. I would not be able to walk to school with my child. I live on a country lane with no pavements. It’s similar to rewarding children for high attendance, it’s essentially punishing the children for being sick or the various other reasons a child might not be able to attend. Putting great importance on just showing up. I’m sure most of us have dragged ourselves to work very ill and it’s just not something I want ingrained into my child from 4 years old. I’ll have to be conscious of not rewarding reading and other things, as I could see that being a trap I fall into. Thank you for taking the time to put your thoughts out there, I’ve been enjoying your videos since finding your channel. Edit: I posted to soon! You cover attendance as well 🙌 Edit 2: I should have listened to the end!! Attendance awards being demotivating makes sense!! If you’re really unwell one day and have to have a day off school, you then could have the attitude, oh well no point trying now.
Well, I have to say it didn't occur to me that some children *literally can't walk to school because of no pavements, but it makes a good point! And yep, you are so right about how many adults don't listen to their bodies and keep working and making themselves more ill. I sort of feel like a lot of companies are starting to wake up to that, so I really hope schools can follow suit and drop these sort of rewards. So many parents seem to be against them too. Thank you so much for your support of the channel, it really means a lot!
With regards to reading, if you haven't found it yet, I'd recommend Harriet Pattison's "Rethinking learning to read" which is based on research of home educators in the UK.
Wholeheartedly agree with every point you brought up. My oldest two went all through school, ugh and our youngest two are homeschooled. Lots of toxic patterns at school for sure.
@@victoriacampbell3276 I will check this out, Thank you!
@victoriacampbell3276 Oh I haven’t heard of ‘Rethinking learning to read’, amazing thank you! Sounds right up my street!
Totally agree with all of them, especially Number 3. I was terribly depressed whilst I was in school and as a result, I had a very poor immune system. I caught every bug going, one after another, and at one point my attendance dropped below 50%. One day I was taken into a room with all the kids that skipped school (even though my mother would call up whenever I had a day off, and believe me, being debilitated by illness every two weeks was not any fun) and was basically given a royal telling off where they told me that I'd never get a job and would become a nucessence on society. Needless to say, it didn't help my depression or improve my immune system.
Oof, that's savage, sorry to hear that. That type of 'lecture' can really stick with young people and it can be so hard not to internalise that sort of message. I hope you are in a better place these days with your depression and immune system. Sending love X
Ok, in terms of math when do you think we should close off that path? The more math you know the better you’ll be payed! Just saying
You know, this is actually a really interesting comment and got me researching, so thanks for that! There does indeed seem to be research supporting a link between good-quality advanced maths curriculums and future earning potential. However, the researchers themselves don't seem to have fully resolved whether this is causal or correlational, and whether implementing forced advanced maths is always a good thing , quote: "Policies that force certain math courses on students could have negative consequences, such as high student dropout rates and a watering down of the work required to complete those courses. This report does not analyze such consequences. Any policymakers considering sweeping curriculum reform would be well advised to initiate small-scale demonstrations of the reforms to" ref: (www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/content/pubs/report/R_701JBR.pdf) I wouldn't dispute that if you are, for example, interested in computer science/AI then yes you will need to take very advanced maths courses and will likely go into a high paying job. My point is, if you are not interested in a career-field where advanced maths is neccessary then being forced to take maths beyond what you need in everyday life may be detrimental. I would suggest watching Ken Robinsons "Do schools kill creativity" TED Talk for an example where this may be the case. So, yes you are correct that advanced maths leads to higher paying jobs, and if you are interested in being an employee in a company where your main goal is to earn a lot of money then it's a good idea to take advanced maths. However, I think there are enough examples of entrepreneurs or people successful in other career paths who have failed at even basic maths courses who have gone on to make a LOT of money, so it's certainly not the only option. Nonetheless, food for thought - thanks!
@@nurturingdiscontent Nursing, medicine, medicines you take, engineering, going to the moon, solar panels, cars, plastics, building, generators, athletic shoes, processing food, the phone I’m texting on, and the list goes on and on, all require good math skills!!! In fact just to not get ripped off by dodgy financial advisers requires good math skills. Good math skills are essential for life.
I 100% agree. I don’t think I’ve ever said children should have no math skills, if it came across like I don’t think children should be taught any maths then I will try to articulate my points better in the future. 👍
I every couple days I hope for a new video from you. Neeed more content lol I get it’s not always the easiest to film though x
Ahh that's a nice comment, thank you. I'm trying, but, like you say, it's not easy between home educating and Mum life in general. Well, the kids are at their Grandma's today so I'm ploughing through an edit. Monday at the latest! 🤞 Hope you're having a good week x
OK, sorry, I wasn't even close to making it for monday, 🤣 but new video up now
Camp 2 😔
Sorry for slow reply. I had to rewatch my own video to see which group I had called camp 2 🙈. Sorry, it sounds like maybe your family has had a tough time with it. Hope you are all doing better now and healing. 💜
Good One
@@toharpyo 😊
Love this! We’ve used the litter pickers too though they don’t seem to survive very long in our house- luckily, they are inexpensive to replace ! 😅 Also the trampoline- health risks aside (!! 😉😬), it really is a great resource and makes use of the garden space in the best way, especially if you don’t have a large garden. I really like the organiser idea. I’m always looking for ways to make the most of the limited space we have! We have a 3 tiered trolley on wheels that I wouldn’t be without. Xxx
Ahhh yes we had the 3 tier trolley too and somehow it because a fruit and veg basket 😄
@@nurturingdiscontent 🤣
As much as i enjoy your content, i have to say it is not fair to dress your children in FC Barcelona shirts. That, in itself, is ground for child services to pay you a visit. I'd recommend Chelsea FC shirts. As you were....
@@sadibousow 🤣🤣🤣 omg you scared me at first when all I could read in the preview was “As much as I enjoy your content…”. They actually much prefer their Nigeria FC shirts, but you may find that even worse. They got these Barcelona ones before we went to Spain a couple years ago. My Husband would actually choose Chelsea as his fave prem team, but we don’t follow football too much these days. We’re all about the F1 🏎️
@@nurturingdiscontent 🤣🤣pulled the ol' switcheroo!
Great vlog. I love a bit of mindfulness with my children. If my 3 year old gets a bit too excited or overwhelmed many times I have pulled him aside and done some slow breathing with him. Even when he gets a bit angry with his sister I say “ ok let’s take some deep breaths. Even at 3 years old it kind of resets him and he goes on his way. I think it’s important to teach them to just take a moment of calm. Life is stressful enough !. I’m hoping as adults they will learn to take a minute for themselves sometimes. X
Yesss, I so agree. Hopefully we are setting them up to be adults who can take care of themselves in that way. That’s great you are doing it with your 3 yr old. It will be a totally normal thing for him. Thanks for taking the time to comment 💜
Completely agree with making mental health education a priority! I say this all the time, it’s important to me that my children understand to care for their minds as well as bodies from the get go! Another fab video! Thank you for sharing! 😊
100% it’s so important! Glad you enjoyed the vid. Hope you’re doing well 💜
Brilliant video Cathryn. This is really helpful. Report writing has been my biggest fear when it comes to beginning my son’s Home Education. This really puts my mind at ease though. Thank you so much for the video and I love how you included us veggies (the tofu of the video gave me a good chuckle) 😂❤
Ahh really glad it was helpful to you. Hope it takes the stress out of it when it comes time to write one for your son 💜
Thank you so much for this video. Just starting to write my daughters first report and I had all her learning documented but did not know how to show her progress. The structure you gave to evidence progress has helped me so so much. Can not thank you enough!
@@lauranwakwubei551 ahh I’m so pleased to hear it. Thanks for commenting! Good luck with your report, I’m sure it will be fab!
Mine was super easy: basically I just mentioned what activities we do outside the home and what we do to cover each subject including book/curriculum name if I have some. My LA contact has been lovely and encouraging.
That’s great to hear!