Sabbatical

I had three lovely blogs planned for last week; they are still in the notebook and no-where near emerging on this blog!

I have to make a decision at the moment about where my energy is needed most, and right now that is fighting to save my future as an Independent Midwife; from October this year my work will technically cease to exist.  This is a travesty - not least because I love working this way, but because women's only 'choice' in maternity is to use the NHS.  This is not always the choice women wish to have, and the system is often unable to provide women with the care they may need.

My children are beautiful, challenging, funny, spirited, intelligent and great; we will continue home education and have no plans to return them into the state education system.  This talk reminds me why:

So for now, as I focus my energy on the fight to save Midwifery (which I invite you to support as it is such an important issue for women and the mothers of the future) I am taking a sabbatical from this blog.

If you enjoy my writing,  you can follow my midwifery blog which will continue.

Thanks for sharing our journey and we hope to be back in the not too distant future.
angela xx

Home ed: An exciting journey

Last week I received a newsletter from a home ed blog I subscribe to; it described home ed as an 'exciting journey'.  Now I would use many words to describe home ed, but I can honestly say, hand on heart, that exciting would not be the first word that springs to mind.  Today, the word I am holding in my head is 'Hard'.  Frustrating might be another.  It has been one of those days.... you know, one where school is very appealing (as a form of escape for me), where tempers have been frayed and where words have been said.

You can have weeks where it all just flows, and then suddenly there is a shift, and the energy and dynamic is affected (two premenstrual women in the house doesn't help), where the days can feel challenging and full of friction; so how does a parent cope with their children 24/7? With difficulty.

It started well, but had gone rapidly down hill by lunch time: all the beautifully laid out learning plans where thrown out of the window (along with a child - almost); dog pee had been cleared up for the umpteenth time; the glue had been cleared off the table; the cake salvaged (cinnamon almost became Cumin but swiftly spotted at last minute); apologies made..... then made again; friends visited and children interrupted every 15 seconds(ish) making conversation difficult; mother shouted and sent all the children to their rooms.

And as if they day could get any worse.................hamma beads were presented for ironing.  Hamma beads have the ability to turn any capable parent into a shaking wreck: if you are familiar with hamma beads you will know that it takes AGES for your child to create a beautiful design (at least it keeps them busy for quite long periods of time), and that it takes just the finest puff of air to dislodge such design, as you carefully try to iron it.  Fiddly fucking patterns, that you then have to painstakingly reassemble without said child knowing you have ruined it as you knocked it with the iron.  I can still feel the sweat on my brow.

The day was saved by two things; Pancakes (yum yum yum) and My Big Fat Gypsy Valentines - Trashy TV at it's best (although not the best advert for home ed as most travelling children don't attend school).

Home ed - an exciting journey?  Not always.  Would I change it? ummmmm........... not yet!

angela xx