MORE SCIENCE

Hi all, been a week or nearly two since last wrote. Am sure that time speeds up the older you get!!

What have we been up to? Well lots of socialising for Callum and more science - he's becoming a bit obsessed, haha.

On the Friday after the science fair we visited a friend of ours that lives in Maidstone. They have come to our house a few times, but we have never been to them. They come along to our trampolining group. They kindly picked us up and dropped us home, which was lovely as I probably would never have found it!! It was a slightly hectic day, but Callum really enjoyed it as did I.

Saturday, his sister came over to visit (and to watch Dr Who) and stayed overnight as it's easier for her to get to work from our house than it is from hers. Callum loves it when his sister visits. He really misses her being here full time. I think having an older sister (she's 22 now!!) is really nice for him. It's like having another mum, but one who doesn't moan, haha!

Monday, we went to Gore Farm to have lunch with a couple of friends to celebrate one of their birthdays. I was really chuffed with Callum as there were no other children going. I packed him up with nature books, a bug box, binoculars, etc and hoped that they would be enough to keep him occupied! He ended up spending a lot of time sitting by the pond watching the Koi Carp, bless him. We did go for a walk through the orchard and was hoping to go the the lake and feed the ducks, etc, but the little area where you can go in and feed the birds was being refurbished, so we had to come away. Thought he might be a bit sulky, but he wasn't! Treated him to a door hanger in the shape of a camper van as he'd been so good!

Tuesday we redesigned our timetable. I'd set one up, but it hadn't been working that well. Callum needs a timetable and has always insisted that we 'work' until lunchtime Monday to Thursday and not 'do anything' afternoons and Fridays. We parents know that actually even when doing, what seems to them, nothing they are learning, but often with Callum doing nothing means computer games (as spoken of in previous blogs). Anyway, Callum had a good look at the timetable and decided to rearrange and redo most of it. We don't do a subject timetable anymore, just a list of things we'd like to achieve during the day covering maths, literacy, science and projects. I thought he'd cross most of it off and insist on cutting the work down. However, much to my surprise he reorganised, added and rejuggled times!! He's now spread the work throughout the week pretty evenly, including afternoons, evenings and Fridays, taking into consideration his strengths and stressers and how receptive he is within the week! Wow!!! I'm impressed!!! I finally feel as if he has taken control of his education and not just left it up to me, perhaps me reorganising 'the classroom' has helped him see what is available to him other than his beloved computer games! Anyway, well done Callum!

Wednesday he worked through his list and then went to his best friend's house for the afternoon. This meant I had an afternoon to myself which was lovely!

Thursday was trampolining. He'd caught up with stuff in the morning and done a spelling test. Now I'm only doing the weekly test because I want to know where his problems are and to prove to him that he knows more than he thinks. He got 9 out of 10! The one he got wrong was a 'st' word! I've noticed before that he has trouble with 'st' and it was this that lead me to ask for a hearing test and now a speech and language assessment. I don't think he is hearing sounds properly! His hearing test came back perfect, so now am just waiting on the assessment. After trampolining, he had a couple of the children back to play until 4.30pm. I love watching him socialise now! Those that know me well will remember the days, just after removing him from school, where he would hide under tables and chairs and behind me rather than socialise. So I love seeing him happily playing and interacting. Thanks to home education and the patience and understanding of those parents and children that we've met, he is finally able to socialise without stress (apart from the odd occasion, but then it will never be perfect, what child is?)

Friday, his sister returned for another visit. Callum wanted to do experiments with her, but he got increasingly aggitated as the time of her arrival got later and later. Luckily, I already knew that he'd want to do the experiments more than once, so we did them all and then did them again when Terri arrived.

We did Elephant's Toothpaste and Dissolving Polystyrene from the chemistry with cabbage website and the 'volcano' using vinegar and bicarbonate of soda.

The Elephant's toothpaste is similar to the mentoes in soda experiment, but using Hydrogen Peroxide, washing up liquid and dried yeast. It foamed beautifully and looked exactly like a squeezed toothpaste tube. See below:

We used Acetone to dissolve a piece of polystyrene (that we'd got out of a skip up the road) and spelt out Callum's name.

And the volcano turned out fab! We made it out of salt dough the day before then laid it onto green and blue card in a tray to form a landscape and I made 'trees' a la Blue Peter to add to it.

We used red wine vinegar, I don't have malt in my house due to the gluten issue and it fizzed a lovely reddish colour!

This week we have continued with printing off and displaying our holiday photos so we can produce a folder and continued with our 'timetable' which seems to working rather well.

At the moment, Callum is upstairs playing with Callum D on the pool table. I think they have made up a game using the pool balls and Battle Strikers!! I'm not asking as it's bound to be too complicated for me - haha!

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

Hello all again. Wow, two posts in two days, what's wrong with me - haha.

Just thought I'd post to say what a fab couple of days Callum has just had, as have I (apart from the minor hiccup of emotional crisis).

Yesterday a small group of us went to Dartford to see Horrible Science the show - thank you Lorraine for organising! It was brilliant fun and very entertaining for both the children and us adults. Lots of jokes, dance, songs, facts and audience participation. The afternoon that we went there was our group of 12, 1 school party (looked about yr 7/8) and about a dozen other mums and children (who we all thought looked like home educators too). It must have been very disappointing for the players, but was ideal for us and especially Callum as he doesn't like lots of people in one place. He laughed in all the right places (he has a very odd sense of humour, love him) and said a lot of the answers before they were told; he didn't shout them out, but I was pleased to see he'd retained info. He wasn't too keen on the second half as it was 3D and he doesn't like it (seems to give him headaches), but he did at least try it for a while; almost jumping out of his skin when a circular saw blade appeared to fly off the stage towards you. He, at least, did find it funny too, so we had a good giggle about it, but after that he decided to watch the rest without the glasses. On the journey home he didn't stop talking about it and I'm glad we bought the programme as there is things to do inside.

Today we attended the local groups annual 'show and tell' fair, this year's subject being Science! We gathered together our bits and pieces for our chosen subject of brains and set off to find this sweet little village hall in the middle of no-where! Luckily Phil had taken the day off (as requested) as there would have been no way we would have got there by public transport. On arrival we found a table and set out our things, then had a quick nose round to see what everyone else had done. In the afternoon some of the kids presented little pieces in front of us and at the end of the day there was a professional 'set' that showed the wonders of temperature using solid carbon dioxide and liquid nitrogen. It was rather fascinating and although some of it went over Callum's head (he was getting rather tired by then) he did enjoy it, especially the bit where the guy asked us all to lift our feet and he shoved liquid nitrogen across the floor which, of course, 'steamed' up and rolled around like little balls until it evaporated. That bit wasn't the bit he really liked though. Someone had left their coat on the floor and the edge of it got caught by the nitrogen and started to freeze and 'steam'!!! Callum loved that bit!!!! Typical boy! We also all got a taste of ice-cream made by freezing in liquid nitrogen (I, for one, have always wanted to try it), so all in all it was a very good demonstration. It was a very long day though, 11am - 4pm!

In fact the whole day went well and was very interesting (for me, especially, as I could see how others show their work and I began to feel even better about what we do ourselves).

The only down side to the past couple of days has been that Callum has had so much input, had so much fun, probably a little too much sunshine and he ended up with a rotten headache that turned into what can only be described as a mini migraine. So in bed by 7.30pm, cold flannel, calpol and mum laying next to him until he fell asleep properly about 10pm. Bless him.

AN EMOTIONAL CRISIS - MINE, NOT CALLUM'S

Hello, thought I'd better post as it's been nearly three weeks since holiday and everyone else I know is blogging like mad - haha (you know who you are!).

It's been a weird few weeks, partly because of school holidays which changes our routine and partly because I'm trying to think of different approaches to our home education schedule as our current 'timetable' isn't really working. That's what I like about home education, it is forever changing and evolving.

Callum, as I have mentioned before, isn't really self motivating and after reading several of my friend's blogs about how their children love going to libraries and getting books out and reading to themselves and to their siblings; how they will happily go and cook or go on websites and look up information or approach their parents with ideas for projects, I was, I must admit, feeling a bit depressed and deflated and did begin to wonder whether I was doing the right thing by Callum. Maybe if he was at school he would be given all these wonderful subjects on a plate and he would have avenues of interest opened up to him. However, luckily for Callum and myself, this 'depression' didn't last long!

Callum is ASD. ASD children (or most of the ones I have encountered) are rarely self motivating in all subjects. They, by the very nature of their 'disability' (I put it in single quotes because it's only a disability when the rest of the world doesn't understand it) are usually interested in only one or two things. But when they are interested they will go at that subject hammer and tongs and know everything there is to know about it, to the extent where they can often bore the pants off of the poor unfortunate who has innocently asked them about it! Great if you have the same interest, but a nightmare if you haven't; if you know what I mean.

One of Callum's interests (his main one in fact) is road signs!! Yes, you heard correctly; road signs!! Not really a subject that can be easily pulled into normal academic subjects, hence my difficulty. He will happily read the Highway Code, the big yellow book of Road Signs, any catalogue (ie, Archers, who kindly sent me one of theirs) that contains road signs, traffic lights, bollards, etc, that you can buy and manuals on how to set up workways (as he calls them) in the street. Are you getting the picture? Try and get him to read anything else, even a simple story, and he reverts to a reading age of about 3 (no disrespect aimed at any 3yr olds who can read well). It isn't that he can't, it's just he doesn't want to. He says he can't read long words, but have you seen some of those manuals? I hit a brick wall and get no-where. However, he does like being read to! And he will, occasionally, look through a factual book if there are a lot of photos with very little writing. We've picked up a couple by a local author named Bob Ogley (Kent Weather and a World War II one) and Callum loves them. They are basically pages and pages of photographs with some writing to explain the who, where, when kind of thing. He doesn't read the information, but he adores the pictures and we've used them in recent projects to 'make real' some of the information I've been trying to impart.

Actually Callum loves photographs full stop. He loves taking them, uploading them and displaying them. So we photograph all our science experiments, take lots of photos while out and about and record bugs, flowers, seedlings, anything really while at home. I'm beginning, as I write this, to realize that we record pretty much everything we do and we don't need to supply lots of writing to back it all up. Epiphany moment me thinks! You see this brings me onto my next problem.

WRITING!!! He hates writing!!!! I don't mean he dislikes it or can't be bothered, HE HATES IT with a vengeance!! He has trouble doing it (he says it hurts his head) and has trouble with spelling because he doesn't always hear letter combination sounds easily. I have tried taking him back to the beginning with Jolly Phonics; I've tried working through workbooks; I've tried pinning up alphabet posters; Education City; typing stuff instead of writing; anything and everything, but still he hates it. He understands WHY he needs to do it, but just hates doing it. I've decided that I'm going to get a selection of forms that he can fill in instead as I've been thinking about how much writing I, as an adult, do and, to be honest, it isn't really a lot. I do email, I do blog, I do Facebook, I do txt, but actually proper writing (with the exception of the blog and several stories I have on the go) I don't do that much. Callum is hardly likely to blog and he certainly wouldn't write stories (although stranger things have happened), so what actual writing will he NEED!!!???? He will need to fill in a job application, possibly a mortgage application, he'll need to register with a dentist or a doctor (if he ever moves), but I've realised that basically it will be forms that he will need to write for, not novels or essays, so I thought why not get him some forms and we'll fill them in. He can practice his writing in a 'real and truthful' way and he will get some idea of what he will be expected to be able to write! So my task over the next few weeks is to amass as many different types of forms as possible and slowly work through them with Callum.

Another interest is Science. Oooo I hear you all say, that's wonderful! Well, is it? You see when you have a child who dislikes reading, hates long words and detests writing, Science becomes a bit of a nightmare! We do experiments, which he loves (check out our Alka Seltzer lava lamp) and we watch plenty of science progs on telly, but I want to take him a little further and he wants to go there. But how do I do Stage 3 & 4 Science without the reading, writing and long words? Hmmm, me thinks that may be impossible! However, I'm going to give it a go, so wish me luck!! I'm hoping, and this is a very long shotted cunning plan (is shotted even a word?), that his interest in the subject will inspire him to read and write, but only time will tell.

He also loves water, hence spending any spare time he had on holiday playing around in the stream! His choice of employment at the moment is either a lifeguard or a policeman. His reason for choosing lifeguard is and I quote "it involves my love of water and I can save people", aaah bless him, he is a kindly soul, despite the odd outburst. So projects on rivers, oceans, etc normally go down reasonably well.

What I'm trying to say after all this rambling is that when I actually sit back and look at Callum's interests and what we do to incorporate them we do actually cover quite a lot of subjects, it just doesn't feel like it and we don't always have loads of evidence to show for it! And I do still have to be the one, in the main, to 'spark' the activity. But by sitting back and taking stock of Callum himself, and not comparing him with others, and taking stock of what I actually do, and not what I expect myself to do, we are actually doing ok! I see Callum being happy, socialable and content. So what if he doesn't want to go to Scouts or karate or music lessons. So what if he doesn't leap up and suggest projects or immerse himself in a pile of books. Callum is Callum and I wouldn't change him for anything. Hence the 'depression' not lasting long.

And do I need a timetable, possibily! Does it have to be in depth, no! A rough 'guideline' is probably the best thing we could have and maybe a hatful of lucky dip projects that we could try. Only time will tell if this approach works and if it doesn't, so what, we'll have another rethink!

HOLIDAYS

Hello all

Been back a week now since holiday, but first chance I've had to catch up!

Holidays - we all love them, but, as any of you who have ASD children know, they can be a very stressful time and have to be planned with almost military precision. I started planning ours last March, but due to breaking my leg had to wait until this year to actually be able to go, haha.

Anyway, we toddled off to Cornwall this year; partly for a family holiday and partly so I could catch up with my friend Kay who now lives there. I found a holiday village that was very close by to where she lives and had intended, last year, to go as just Callum and myself, but decided that we could all go and make a proper family holiday out of it instead. The accommodation was a bungalow/cottage type place with 2 bedrooms, bathroom, living space and kitchen, but the main reason I chose it was because at the bottom of the back garden was a running stream! Callum adores water and I mean he really adores water! He would happily stay on a beach all day in all weathers just looking at the waves and is fascinated by ponds, streams and even just a plain old water feature in a garden, so I thought this would be ideal.

We spent months looking up the website, looking at the photos online of the rooms and checked out the location on the map. I even let the people know about Cs Asperger's and they were fab about it. Callum looking forward to going! Then, a week before we were due to set off I get an email saying that they are building another cottage next to the one we had booked and would we like an upgrade! Eeek! Bless 'em, they were brilliant and gave us a couple of options which would still have water next to them (one the same side as our original booking and therefore had the same stream or an even larger property which had a lake nearby). Callum was a bit ooo errr for a while as he wasn't sure what to go for, but we (Phil and I) decided that we would go for the option that was on the same side as our original booking. That way the stream and outside would be pretty much what C was expecting and the insides were almost the same, but with an added bedroom.

The journey there was horrendous and seemed to take forever. Decided to go the picturesque route instead of the motorway (Callum not keen on motorways), but kept getting stuck behind old cars or tractors, so veeeeeerrrrry slow! Arrived early evening very tired out and needing a cuppa. Was met by one of the maintenance people who informed us that they hadn't got round to reading the meters so we could have free electric all week on top of our upgrade - woo hoo!!

Cottage was lovely and Callum couldn't wait to get into his room. He'd already decided on which room he was having as, in the online photo, there was a little portable telly and he'd decided to take his playstation with him to set up on it. That set up, we were free to unpack and check outside. The stream was 5-6metres from the back door! Callum was straight down there and spent every single spare moment in his wellies in the stream! Regardless of time of day or weather; we even had some hail and he was still out there!

Sunday, we did a bit of food shopping and went to Kay's for dinner. Monday, Callum just stayed in the stream all day! Tuesday I went out with Kay as it was her birthday and Callum and dad went out for a drive round, getting as far as Looe.

Wednesday we went out on our first day trip (well afternoon as it rained all morning - yes, Callum was in the stream). Went to Trebah Gardens near Falmouth which was lovely. Dog friendly so we could take Draco, our black lab, with us. Even the cafe was dog friendly AND it sold gluten free cakes, so I could indulge in choc pecan brownie and a cuppa - bliss! They did a dog trail quiz which we followed and, once handed in, the dogs got a goody bag of treats. There was even a beach so Callum had everything he could wish for! All in all a good day was had by all, although I ached like hell when got back as the gardens are set in a valley so it had lots of winding paths and steps. I even treated myself to a Gunnera as I love them, so prehistoric looking, can't wait to be able to plant it properly.

Thursday I stayed at home, but Callum and Phil went off to Bodmin steam railway. Handed the camera over with new batteries, but because they were cheap ones, they managed to get one photograph before it packed up - boo hoo! They had a great day, but I didn't have any photos to look at, oh well, them having a good time was all that mattered. I put my feet up (legs were really aching) and read Shutter Island.

Friday we spent the day with Kay, her husband Simon and their son Jake. We went down to Charlestown, which is a harbour with a maritime museum on the side. The boys enjoyed the beach and ran around in the museum looking at all the memorabilia including pirate stuff and things from the Titanic. Afterwards drove back up and went to Seaton, a beach with black sand. It also has the river going into the sea, the river being the same one that is our little stream outside our holiday home. That was interesting to Callum as he could see the difference in size (although even when entering the sea, it isn't that wide). There is also a cafe on the side where we had some lunch. Had our first upset of the holiday on the beach. Kay and Simon were taking Jake over to the play area across the road and we were going with them. However, we hadn't been long on the beach and suddenly Callum breaks down in tears because he doesn't want to go. Kay, Sim and Jake end up going to play area and Phil, C and myself stay on the beach with C standing on the edge of the sea watching the waves! We went back to Kay's afterwards and C stays on while Phil and I go back and start packing to leave the next day.

Saturday morning it's time to leave and we load up the car, C plays in the stream one last time and seems fine until everything is loaded and we are about to leave. Then we get a few tears as he doesn't want to go home, bless him. He's had such a good time and the place was just perfect for him and us. Have promised that we will go back again.

I would highly recommended the place as a perfect base. There is no nightclubs or kids clubs and it is in the middle of nowhere, but it was lovely and the people who run it are brilliant. We will definitely be going back!

http://www.rosecraddocholidays.co.uk/

TV DOCUMENTARIES ARE FAB!!!

Hello all, we've had an interesting week this week! Mainly working around documentaries and schools progs on the telly.

I've decided that we need to tie up all loose ends before going away on holiday, so that when we get back we can have a fresh start. So we've been sorting out all the things that need to be finished off and catching up on TV stuff in between. Have only got two weeks and, on investigation, we have tons still to do - eek! Callum has been in a pretty good mood all week which is always a positive thing!

Monday we went through everything that needed doing and made a list. Then Callum decided to upload the photographs we'd taken while out with Linda and Danielle a few weeks ago and set about displaying them by changing backgrounds and typing up text! I didn't even realise he was doing it as I was in kitchen getting ready to bake a cake as we had visitors that afternoon. And there's me saying that he wasn't motivated in the last blog!!! I called him to see if he wanted to help me bake and he shouted out that he was too busy sorting out the camera! Oh well, perhaps I'll shut up in future! After doing 5 A4 sheets of photos and info he decided to help me bake a chocolate cake for the afternoon.

Tuesday morning we managed to finish off the previous week's questions on Primary Geography (BBC schools, 11am Tuesdays) and he happily filled in the blanks without getting distressed - yay! So now have 2 completed things to go in his ongoing 'Water' project. Next we snuggled down with coffee and a snack and watched this weeks Primary Geography which was about floods. Cool, as that can go in project too - am getting quite good at note taking now, haha, just need to persuade Callum to do it. "I do mum, it's in my head!" Then it was off to Peacocks in the High Street to buy pjs and pants for him as he's outgrown everything!! This afternoon I had an appointment at the hospital to do with my shoe raise, so on the bus we went! Callum doesn't mind going to this appointment as he likes the guy who does it and he likes the little office that we go to, so no stress - yay again!

Wednesday morn I had Occupational Therapy do a home visit to see if there was anything that needed altering/adding around the home which would benefit me. They have requested a handrail for the stairs and are going to ask Social Services if they can help with a handrail for the garden steps (although not holding my breath on that one). After that Callum and I looked through my wooden box which contains medals and info of my Uncle and Great Uncle. My uncle was in the Navy and was in WWII so has some stuff that is relevant to our project. My Great Uncle was in WWI so that was interesting to look at too. Callum really enjoyed looking at all the medals and checking the list of ships that my Uncle had been stationed on. Have separated all the WWII stuff and are going to photocopy and put into project as we did with my Aunt's work record and Clothing Coupon book. This afternoon was swimming and, as Callum is in such a good mood, the lesson went really well and he is perfecting his technique for the front crawl. Callum D came along with us as well and they had a play session afterwards until 3.30pm then back to us until 7pm.

Thursday Callum starting to get a bit restless so didn't get any 'work' done in the morning. We did go trampolining in the afternoon though and he worked on the first half of his routine. Much better mood than last week and was happy to head off to Joy's afterwards to play (first time in weeks that we've been there). He was having such a good time, he didn't want to leave! I had a lovely couple of hours chatting with Joy, Jackie and Grace. Weather was lovely too! All in all it was lovely!! Any more lovelies and I might just explode with loveliness - haha.

Friday we decided to curl up with the telly and watch Bang Goes the Theory (Callum had already seen it, but I'd been at pottery Monday so I'd missed it) and Richard Hammond's Invisible Worlds. Took lots of notes for typing up and asking questions. Was rather nice just to be sitting down together and having a chat about things. It's one of those things that I find so valuable and yet will be so difficult to prove to anyone. Because Callum hates writing we often don't have any 'evidence' of work that we've done, but sitting down and having a chat always astounds me as Callum remembers so much and retains so much detail that he often blows me away! Visual and hands-on learning is definitely how he learns and I just hope that if the Bill goes through that anyone visiting will have an understanding of that.

Weekend is now upon us and he's been doing his normal weekendy things which is currently the Wii and SpongeBob Squarepants!

Am hoping that next week is as good. Still don't think we'll complete everything especially as Phil off Mon and Tues, but we shall have a go.

Cya

A BIT OF STRUCTURE

Well, it's been 3 weeks since school half term and I can't believe it's only another couple of weeks and they are off again! So what have we been up to in that time? Cramming in loads of trips, education, etc?! Hmmm, it's been a bit hit and miss to be honest. Firstly Phil, my partner, has taken time off to use up his yearly leave and it's totally impossible to get anything remotely structured done while he's off, so we've been virtually autonomous!

Now autonomy is a strange word and, to be honest, it scares me! The dictionary describes it (my dictionary anyway - a rather old Oxford Concise) as "the possession or right of self-government" or "freedom of action". This means that I should let Callum find his own way and learn as and when and what he fancies. Now in principle that's great and I do follow that to a point as I base his 'lessons' around his interests and we don't have strict times or timescales, but I do have an idea of what to expect (as does he)! However, autonomous education, means I've got to be ready for action whenever Callum feels the urge, which as an Asperger child isn't that often and, when he is, it's right in the middle of when I'm doing something I can't leave - normally when I'm up to my elbows in flour, clay or, on one occasion recently, dog puke! This is the bit that scares me! You see Callum is 10 and pretty bright and has an interest in all things sciency or computery! I, on the other hand, am 46, a bit less intelligent than I was 10yrs ago (or so it seems) and have no interest in science except for watching documentaries and a very limited knowledge of computers (I can type, do a spreadsheet and copy and paste from the internet. I can also upload photos and print them off, but beyond that is beyond me). Science and ICT for me has to be planned!

As I knew that Phil would be off the Monday and Tuesday and that we already have Wednesday swimming and Thursday trampolining and a hospital check up for me, I decided not to 'plan' anything and just let it roll. Monday was Phil's birthday; a hospital appointment and my pottery. All was good and Callum and Phil played (well Phil played while Callum watched) the new Wii game that we'd bought for dad's birthday. Tuesday, Callum discovered a Dune like game on the computer and spent the day running between that and watching dad on the Wii. All good so far as I wasn't expecting anything, although I couldn't get on the computer for 2 days! Wednesday we made a cake for his sister's birthday in the morning which took all of 15mins and then he was back on his new found game. We did go swimming though and he did really well; getting another thing ticked of the list for his next badge. Thursday his sister came over in the morning and spent the day with us, so no structure that day either although he went trampolining. Friday I suggested doing something, but got the reply 'Mum! It's Friday and we don't do work on Fridays!" The fact that we hadn't done any on any other day was beside the point as far as Callum was concerned. So went to a friend's house for lunch instead and he entrenched himself on her sofa under a blanket and watched Open Season while we had a good chat!

The following week I decided we needed to do something! But Monday came and went under I don't know what! I think Callum was still on his game. Tuesday he had a private trampolining lesson and got something ticked off, so that was good. Wednesday we did some worksheets. Although when I say some, it was 2 as Callum still obsessed with new game! Did go swimming and he had his friend back afterwards to play. Thursday I woke with a stonker of a headache, but we went trampolining and Friday his dad was off work again.

Two weeks of autonomy and I feel like we've done absolutely diddly squat! Callum, however, is now bored with his game and is a little more responsive, so maybe allowing him to 'get on with it' wasn't too bad. But what worries me is that this is ok for a short period of time, but I certainly couldn't do it long term. Callum would, out of choice, play on the computer or the playstation or the Wii. The games he enjoys are battle type games and you could argue that he has to learn strategies and work out how many men/machines he needs to win. He also has to find them in the first place which involves an understanding of the internet, but that doesn't sit right with me. I've said he is now bored with the new found game and doesn't seem to want to play it anymore, but he will find another! He 'cycles' between computer, DS or playstation with the occassional Wii thrown in. He isn't, like some other home educated children that I know, what I call motivated unless it's to ask if we can make a lava lamp when I'm up to my elbows in dog puke! He wouldn't, off his own back, go and cook or go onto Education City or read or even do something creative. He needs to be steered! He'll happily sit and watch a documentary with me, but then the suggestion of researching a bit further in something that caught his attention has him running off upstairs and he most certainly wouldn't watch it by himself! That's the bit that frustrates me the most! Even bits he wants to do and is interested in, he will not do without me getting involved. The lava lamp remained undone even with all the 'ingredients' found - why, because the dog puked again and we never got round to it!

This week we were pretty back to normal although Monday Phil was off again! Tuesday we baked flapjacks for the afternoon when I had a friend drop round for tea and watched a 'schools' programme on the Water Cycle! I was very impressed with what Callum remembered from last year and the following programme on circuits got him interested in his Primary 2 Electronics Kit. So while he 'played' with that I wrote up my notes from the prog and typed up a few questions for Callum to do. Wednesday morning we attempted the questions and verbally he knew all the answers, but to write them down he fell completely apart as he said that his '4' looked like an 'a' and he didn't seem to be able to write 'e'! I looked at his work and discovered that the letters were legiable, but Callum wanted them perfect and, as they weren't, he refused to do anymore. We went swimming and he worked really well, but due to the morning's upset, he got distressed because he could only do 3 laps instead of 4!!! Thursday we managed to finish the sheet without any further problems and I chased the hospital regarding his Speech and Language Assesment. Apparently his paediatrician has sent a letter, but, on calling the centre, I discovered it had been 'lost'. It hopefully is now in hand! Trampolining went ok, but he got frustrated again as he didn't quite 'nail' one of the things he wanted and ran out of time to practise! We also went to Monkey Bizz in the evening with the Autistic group MAGIC. Friday we had a dentist appointment for me and he went to his friend's for tea.

Although we still didn't achieve mammoth amounts, we did get something done and I feel more than what we'd achieved in the two weeks previous. Now I'm not knocking autonomous education, it works! It just doesn't work for us and so we prefer a bit a stucture!

I FEEL THE NEED TO MAKE THINGS CLEAR

Hello

I need to write this as I've been extremely angry recently and feel the need to try and explain why. My friends have suffered and they have already been through this once before. I probably didn't explain well then and I know that it isn't clear now, so here goes:

I am furious at the recent use of the Khyra Ishaq case by Badman to push through his invasive rules regarding home education. This case has come at an incredibly bad time for us, but also it is disgusting that it is being used at all. Don't get me wrong, what happened to Khyra is disgraceful, upsetting and awful, but to blame it on the fact that she was 'home educated' is the same! That poor child was seen by the school and the school was worried enough to get in contact with the powers that be. She was seen by neighbours who chose to ignore it. Her father could have done something, but didn't and Social Services saw her and deemed her 'not at risk'. These people and her unfit parents are the people responsible for Khyra's death; these people saw and did nothing; the government's 'perfect' system failed Khyra as it has been seen to do several times over the past year! It was NOT home education that killed Khyra! Children such as Khyra are killed by their parents/relations, they would have been abused, starved and beaten even if they were at school because their parents/relations are unfit to be parents/relations! It has nothing to do with their education it is to do with their upbringing! It is to do with the adults whose care they are in and those adults would be abusers whether or not the child is at school or otherwise. This government and the public need to recognise this and stop passing the buck!!

This Bill will do nothing to stop these children from dying! This Bill will do nothing to stop the attitude of abusive parents/relations! This Bill would not have saved Khyra and it will not save anyone else! As I've already said Social Services and 'the system' failed Khyra and it is them that should have the finger pointed at them.

All this Bill will do is impose restrictions on those parents who love, care and dedicate their lives to their children and I'm not talking just home educators here. This Bill wishes to say that children who are not at school are deemed 'at risk' because they are 'not seen'. Think about this for a moment will you? Children are not at school 24/7, they come home after school; are at home before school; are at home at weekends and during school holidays and they don't even attend school until 4/5yrs of age. How long will it be before they think 'hang on a minute' if home educated children are at risk because they are not at school and being 'seen', those children before and after school, during school holidays, before the age of 4 are also 'at risk' because they are 'not seen'? You may laugh, but this is how things start.

This Bill wants us to register every year with the local authority. Do you have to register your child at it's school every year? Of course you don't, your child is registered at the beginning and then it is assumed they will stay to the end! As should be the case with us. More on this later!

This Bill wants the local authority officers to have: (and I quote)
"- right of access to the home,
- have the right to speak with each child alone if deemed appropriate or, if a child is particularly vulnerable or has particular communication needs, in the company of a trusted person who is not the home educator or the parent/carer,"

Let's take this a point at a time. Would you want someone who you don't know knocking at your door and being able to walk into your house and you not being able to stop them? I don't think you would. Bear in mind that you may know these people if you have had dealings with them before, but to your child they will be total strangers! This leads to point 2. Would you allow a total stranger to interview your child on their own? Think about it! Your child (and possibly you) do not know this person, you don't know anything about them and you are now leaving your child alone with them! Do you think that that is being a responsible parent? Of course it isn't! You may argue that they are fine because they are part of the Council and must be 'safe'! I'm sure the parents who sent their children to the nursery that was in the news recently thought the same about the nursery staff and look what happened! Just because they are members of authority does not automatically make them safe! As to the bit about special needs; special needs children are even more vulnerable and need someone with them who they feel safe and comfortable with; so for them a parent/carer IS that very person and yet those very people will not be able to be with them! Also, just so you know, the Police cannot interview a child by themselves under the age of 17 and if they have special needs it is beyond that! I checked this out! If the Police cannot do it, then why should some office bod be able to? Bear, also, in mind that this person may not have received training in special needs or social problems; after all this is the local authority and they don't have spare money for such things and the Government has stated that there is no extra money in the pot to implement this Bill!

Now back to registration! Again I quote:
The Education Act 1996 states the "The Parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full time education suitable -
(a)to his age, ability and aptitude, and
(b) to any special educational needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise"

Please note! It is the PARENT'S responisbility to ensure that the child receives an education. It IS NOT the Government's or the schools, it is the PARENT's! The reason I am pointing this out is because a lot of people do not see why we want the choice to register or why we wish to refuse monitoring! I will now explain from my point of view as I see it! Children are monitored in school, I know! They do SATS tests, etc, but do you actually realise why they are monitored? If you go back to The Education Act you will realise that your children are monitored because you have chosen to pass the responsibility of your child's education onto the school, therefore the school has to PROVE TO YOU that they are carrying out that responsibility. SATS tests are to PROVE TO THE AUTHORITY that they are deemed worthy of the finance given to them; SATS tests are NOT about your child! I, as a home educator, have taken the responsibility on myself for educating my child and I DO NOT receive funding from the LEA, therefore why should I be monitored? I would be PROVING TO MYSELF that I'm fit to educate and why should I prove anything to the LEA as I'm not receiving money from them. My child has no need to be tested or to do SATS! With regard to registration: you register your child at a school so that THE SCHOOL can receive funding for them and because you have entered into a contract with the local LEA for passing over the responsibility for the child's education, you are not registering so that anyone can keep track of them! I'm not passing over the responsibility and I, again, am not receiving funding, so theoretically there is no need for me to register! My child is registered at the doctor's, the dentist's, the optician's and the hospital with his paediatrician. The system CAN find my child; they CAN SEE where he is!

The way that Home Education works is incredibly different from school because it can be! A school would find it almost impossible to deal with every child's interests and needs on an individual basis. It has to have guidelines to follow because it makes it easier, not for your child, but for the school and if all schools do the same it is easier for the Government to monitor their efficiency! We home educators personalise our child's education and fit it around ordinary home life! There are many ways of it working and so it will be exceedingly difficult to monitor as it stands. Our fear is that for successful monitoring, we will have to 'tick boxes' and the whole way in which home education works will be broken down. This will eventually lead to 'school' being at 'home'! This is unacceptable!

Now to the Every Child Matters Points and I will try and make the comparison with how I home educate and what happened at school.

I quote:
"The Every Child Matters (ECM) Green Paper identified the five outcomes that are most important to children and young people:

•be healthy
•stay safe
•enjoy and achieve
•make a positive contribution
•achieve economic well-being"

Take the first point: My child in the school environment would be told to do PE when it suited the teacher and be told what type of PE my child has to do. At home, my child can choose what type of PE he wishes to do and will, because he has chosen it, put in 100% and get 100% out of it. If he was 'forced' to do team sports for example, he would refuse or become increasingly distressed as he is not a 'team person'. How many times has your child gone into school with the 'oh no, it's PE today' face? On the same subject I know exactly what my child is eating and how much of it. I can monitor, myself, what he is eating and how healthy it is. During school he would not eat as he wouldn't eat with others so invariably would come home with most of his lunch - a situation which is decidedly unhealthy! I know some of you will argue that some parents do not know what is healthy and what isn't, but that demands better education of the parent, not better monitoring of the education of the child.

Point 2: My child is safe! He is with me! I love him; I care for him and I ensure that he is not put into a dangerous situation. At school he was bullied; he was stabbed in the knee by another boy with a pencil and has been left with a permanent 'tattoo' - I hardly class that situation as 'safe'! There are hundreds of other children going to school who are experiencing bullying; are they 'safe'? Of course they're not! Now I know that this is where cases like Khyra come in, but let me point out AGAIN, Khyra was not safe with her parents; her parents were unfit to be parents; she had been to school and it had not protected her; she had been at home and that had not protected her. This Bill would not have protected Khyra and it will do nothing to protect other children in her situation. Social Services should have protected her and is in place to protect those children, but they failed her and seem to consistently fail children like Khyra!

Point 3: Enjoy and Achieve! Hmmmm, interesting one this one. Does your child enjoy school? If yes, brilliant! But how many out there do not? Think about those that are bullied; that do not understand what their teachers are telling them; those that struggle with the work and do not get help; those children DO NOT enjoy school! When asked recently, by CBBC Newsround, if children would like to be home educated, those that said 'yes' were being bullied; those that said 'no' gave their reason as 'missing their friends'. Not one of them mentioned 'school'; it was about being socialable. So can we really say that schoolchildren 'enjoy' being at school! Achieving is a different matter. How do you define achievement? Is it about how many qualifications you come out with or is it about achieving happiness, confidence and an understanding of your place in the world. The Government tend to think about achievement as exams and if we look at that alone we can see that the Government's 'system' is very good in parts but also atrocious in others. How many children leave school with no qualifications; how many leave without even being able to read or write? If their 'system' is so good, then ALL children should be leaving school with straight A exam results, but they are not! I don't know if my son with do exams, but if he chooses to he will take them at his pace, not be trying to cram 13 GCSEs in at once. He will do subjects that he enjoys and so will put in 100% effort and concentration into them, not get bored with what he's doing. I have GCE O Levels (5 of them in fact, which I know is not many), but if you asked me anything about any of them I would probably have to admit to not knowing the answer. I learnt because I had to, I learnt to pass the exam and then forgot it all!

Point 4: Make a positive contribution. What the hell does that mean? A positive contribution to what? The world, the community, the school, the home? I'm assuming that it means to the community and the world. But what defines a positive contribution? This Government and many others are dithering about over climate change because of the financial implications of laying down the law regarding emissions, etc; is this making a positive contribution to the world - I think not! They bailed out the banks recently using public money, but did we the public benefit? Of course we didn't, but the people working at the bank certainly did when it came to their bonuses; bonuses paid for by OUR money! Is this a positive contribution to the community - again NO IT ISN'T!! If our own Government is not making a positive contribution, then how do we expect our children to?

Point 5: Achieve economic well-being! Hmmm, another interesting one! What is defined as economic well-being? There are those out there that would say being a millionaire and having 14 cars in your garage is economic well-being. Others would say that being able to pay the bills and put food on the table is economic well-being. I think what the Government defines as economic well-being is us being able to pay our taxes! Does any of this really relate to our children in school? Yes, but only if they 'achieve' good exam results and end up in a high paid job (possibly with a bank??). However, someone who leaves school with nothing, but manages to get a job they enjoy and can pay their bills and put food on their table has, in my view, achieved economic well-being! What I'm trying to say is that it doesn't matter whether you go to school or not, you can still achieve economic well-being as defined by your own personal aims!

Another point made by the Bill is regarding the protection of the rights of the child! It states that "there has to be a balance between the rights of the parents and the rights of the child". Let's look at this literally! My child has rights! We all know that children have rights, but in this case they are trying to say that some home educated children would prefer to be at school and should have the right to be so. Fair enough you might say, but if this is the case, then every child that goes to school and would prefer to be home educated also has the right to be so! Think about that one for a bit will you? I'm not saying that children should not have rights; they should! But to make this kind of decision also needs input by the parent, so both should be taken into account!

I know I have rambled, I've gone off course and wittered on regarding some matters, but my aim has been to show you that 'their system' is NOT perfect; it DOES NOT suit every child and it CANNOT guarantee that each child will be safe, happy or achieve! I'm not saying that home education is the answer and that all children who ARE home educated will be safe, happy or achieve, but that is my point! There are NO guarantees in this world, only choices and I feel that in 'a free society', as we are so proud of saying this country is, we should have those choices; we should retain our freedom of speech and our 'right to choose'. We should not blanket accuse groups of people, because we do not understand them, so that we can take away those freedoms and rights. This Bill will do exactly that and to use Khyra as an example to justify that accusation is wrong! Would we be happy to round up all Muslims on the basis of a few being terrorists; NO we would not! Would we be happy to round up all immigrants because a few are here illegally; NO we would not! Are we happy that Hitler rounded up the Jews; NO WE MOST DEFINITELY ARE NOT!! But we seem perfectly happy to round up Home Educators because the Government wishes to accuse us ALL of child abuse! What happened to innocent until proven guilty?