Operation Funsies.

So, there are two weeks until school starts. I have mixed feelings.

I am still knee-deep in 'research' about home education. I am fascinated by people's stories of their own HE experiences, and the more I read, the more I think it's a great idea. I think (as usual) I am stuck in a well of diminished self-confidence when it comes to esteeming my own abilities to home educate my children. I don't know if I've got the guts. It makes sense on paper and in my head. And I think it is the best option for J who is 6, and shows a keen-ness for learning outside of the school environment that has surprised me lately.

What concerns me most at this time is the behaviour of the boys when they are together. Individually, they are wonderful, talkative, interested, compliant where necessary, fun and responsive. Put them together and they fight and bicker, scream and shout, ignore me and defy any attempts to restore peace and quiet amid the storms. In short, they go mental on a regular basis. The focus of my research in the next couple of weeks is going to be how do people deal with manic children and difficult behaviour in the home education environment - I haven't seen much mention of it in the blogs I've read so far, so I'm going to have to dig a bit deeper.

That being said I've got a couple of books coming from Amazon, one about home education (Learning Without School, by Ross Mountney), one about loving my children (How To Really Love Your Child, by Ross Campbell) which I'm hoping will throw out some pearls of wisdom that I can put into practice to bring some calm to this home of ours. I'm trying to fight the feelings I have of looking forward to the children going back to school and pre-school.

How can I home educate if I don't enjoy spending time with my own kids?

So, my other focus for the next two weeks is to get out there and enjoy my time with the children, get down to their level and have some fun, give them some attention and ignore the housework while they are awake. It's operation funsies!