Friday, October 14, 2005

Mood of Unremitting Celebration

At the risk of this blog turning into one long paean to Home Education, (sorry, can't help it, it just feels that way at the moment), I thought I'd post a snippet from yesterday.

(I actually missed this, but the story has been put together from three separate accounts.)

Ds and friends had constructed an intricate city of sand in a public sandpit. Several slightly younger children appeared and proceeded to gradually trash the construction in full view of their mothers who did nothing at all about the infringement. Ds and friends asked the children to desist, which they did not. Their mothers, far from locking on to their own kids, seemed far more perturbed by the fact that our children seemed to them to be truanting. One of them asked Ds if he had a day away from school. Being of literal mind, and lacking the inclination to explain, Ds replied, perfectly honestly, in the affirmative.

It gradually transpired that these women were teachers. The HE mum present bit her tongue and bided her time. The teachers' kids continued to pester ours. Ds managed to ascertain that what they wanted was wet sand, so he explained that you could get such a thing from anywhere in the sandpit, and went to another spot to dig them a hole to get them started. At which point, teacher/mums murmured something about Ds being very diplomatic. At this point, HE mum delivered the coup de grace, announcing " Of course we expect this, they're home educated".

On further questioning from the teachers, HE mum announced that our children are "autonomously" HEd, which had the teachers completely flummoxed. HE mum, bored with explanations and rather hoping that teachers had some understanding of the meaning of this not too unusual word, left them thinking.

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