We have had a busy few weeks. Stephanie has just completed her IGCSE Maths, Chemistry, Physics and Biology exams and we have the next Speech and Drama Exams this week.

She is busy planning her A-Level college courses and looking forward to University after that. We are starting work on the next courses for the Summer exams.

Stephanie is going to be part of the forthcoming Tattoo Music and Dance Festival in Birmingham.

Jacqueline has also been very busy. She has made some beautiful things in her Pottery classes, including a clock, a piggy bank and a very complex dragon. We are making Christmas decorations next time.

Jacqueline has had one of her poems published in 21st anniversary anthology. The book should be available to buy after Christmas. We have been working on Jacqueline’s Baden Powell Badge for Guides, which has a huge range of interesting activities.

We have also come to the conclusion that we are not participating in any more consultations, reviews, questionnaires or any other silly nonsense that comes out of the invasive government- unless, of course, I get paid at MPs rates for the time I spend on it!

As the Queen’s Speech proved yesterday, it was decided months ago by Ed Balls, the DCSF  et al, that children are not safe at home with their parents between the hours of 9am and 3pm, Monday to Friday, during school term time, that home educated children are subject to abuse, neglect, domestic servitude and forced marriage. all of which means that there is a “need” for monitoring, checking, annual licencing and intrusive interference.

Well, we won’t be participating in any of that. We will not be signing up to any licensing/registration/monitoring – in whatever format that takes, we will not be allowing social workers/headteachers/psychologists/local authority bods/ education welfare officers or others into our home and none of the above will be permitted to interview our children without us being present.

Parents are responsible for their children’s education, not government or local authorities. Having said that, it will be very interesting to see the ramifications of the government “guaranteeing” that every child is “legally entitled to a good education” and parents will be able to take their local councils to court if they are failing on that guarantee.

Government in this country is still by consent and no-one HAS to/ MUST/ is OBLIGED to/ is COMPELLED to do anything. You are not obliged to let these people into your home and you do not have to tolerate harassment from them.

Clearly no amount of peacefully stating your viewpoint is going to make any difference. No-one is listening. It really comes down to each family making their own decisions as to how much interaction they are going to have with Local Authorities and other associated interfering, box-ticking busy-bodies.

The most important thing for us is our children and their education.

Tags: children, home education, igcse // 2 Comments »