Telling The Headteacher.

Today I met with James's headteacher to tell him of our decision to home educate. I was really nervous, as I don't know him well, and wasn't sure of how he would react. I prayed about it a bit, and sat at home and wrote out a list of reasons why we are making this decision, being careful not to criticise the school or the teachers and to stress the plus points of home education, and then I sat in the car park worrying about it, feeling like I was about to go into a job interview or something. I know. Ridiculous. It turns out I needn't have worried. The head was really nice, and, like any decent headteacher, asked important questions like "What do you think the negative sides of home educating might be?" and "Have you thought ahead about what to do regarding secondary school subjects and GCSEs?" and other equally valid questions, which I tried to answer as best I could. I made it clear that I am not anti-school, and that this was purely a decision based on what we feel will be in James's best interest, and we are not averse to him coming back to school later on should that be necessary. He said he would respect our decision, that I had clearly made my mind up and he "knew when to throw in the towel"! All in all, it was a good meeting, and I came away feeling even more that this is the right thing for James, for now. The plan is to write to him officially after the Christmas holidays, give ourselves a week or two to get sorted out after Christmas, and start mid-January.