EOS Mag Issue 3 - Dec 2010

EOSEducation Outside School

Issue 3December 2010

What Is And Might BeHow schools could be good again!

You Sing A Song.....Music is essential to our learningexperience...

To Read, or Not To Read?Could Shakespeare be a goodaddition to your curriculum?

GCSEs at home....Can it be done?

Christmas andWinter Crafts

PlusActivities, Reviews and more!

www.educationoutsideschool.co.uk2

Contact Details:

Education Outside School MagazineMiller's Rest,High Road,Gorefield,PE13 4PJ

If you’d like to submit an article, pleaseemail:[email protected]

If you’d like to advertise, please email:[email protected]

To contact the Editors, please email:[email protected]

EDITORIAL POLICYThe editors have the final say in deciding if contributionsare printed and in which issue. There will sometimes be aneed for editing contributions, for reasons of space orotherwise.

COPYRIGHTAll attempts have been made to find copyright ownersand are acknowledged if found; if you think yours hasbeen breached please email us.

DISCLAIMER

Education Outside School is an independent publication,not allied with any home education group or organisation.Any opinions expressed in this magazine are those of thecontributors and not necessarily those of the editors. Allcontributions (including advertisements) have beenaccepted in good faith and have not been in any wayendorsed by EOS, which cannot be held responsible forthe consequences of responding to any of them.

CONTENTSWelcome 3

Letters and News 4

The BIG Question 5

What Is And Might Be 6By Sue GerrardHow schools could be reclaimed

Winter Fun - a Big Project 8

UKHEMarket 10

The Works of William Shakespeare asUnschooling “Curriculum” 11By Kelly Green

You’ll Sing a Song and I’ll Sing a Song 12by Paula Cleary

Children’s Pages 15 - 18

Stonehenge: Astronomy and Ritual 19By Katie Davenport-Mackey

Real Life Education 19

Home Education and GCSEs 20

Christianity in Roman and Medieval Britain 23By Richard L.Jones

For Reading Out Loud: Holiday Stories 24By Marty Lane

Reviews 27

Creating Memories in December 28By Marty Layne

Home Education Guidance 30The legal stuff!

Websites and Groups 31

http://www.facebook.com/people/EducationOutside-SchoolMagazine/100000159345604


Welcome to Education Outside School Magazine!

Meet the Editors

has four children agedfrom nine to 17 and has beenhome educating for nine years.She will happily talk abouthome education to anyonewho’ll listen!

She swings from anautonomous approach tostructure, depending on thechild, the subject and howeveryone is feeling. She is nowgetting used to mainstreameducation again, supportingher youngest daughter in herdecision to give school a try.

has a son aged sevenand a daughter aged one.

She decided to home educatefrom the start, and so hasspent a few years researchingdifferent methods and is nowunschooling. Lorena iscurrently thinking aboutcrochet and her son iscurrently thinking about snow.

You can contact us via theemail addresses on page 2!!

Welcome

Welcome to our third issue! It's been great working with our contributors,including some new ones this issue.

While the magazine is British, there are of course many experienced HomeEducators across the world, including the USA and Canada. We aretherefore very pleased to have Kelly Green and Marty Layne contribute thismonth. Kelly is possibly well known to many of you for her help incounteracting the Badman review, with her eminently sensible andwell-written replies to anything the government and other detractors threwat us. We have already recommended her book of essays, and it is availablefrom our Amazon store if you wish to get Amazon to contribute a little toour fund!

Talking of which, you may have noticed a "donate" button on the frontpage of the website. We are, as all of our contributors are, working for thelove of it! We are keen for this magazine to grow to reach anyone who hasan interest in helping their children learn, whether they are homeeducating, thinking of it, or just enjoying being with their children afterschool. To this end, we would like to move on to a print version and beable to distribute it widely, including to LAs and other official bodies to helpthem realise what we actually do! We will therefore be charging a smallfee to download future PDFs to build up a fund towards this. All the firstthree issues will remain available for free on the website to read again andagain!

We're already looking forward to our next issue, and will be active onFacebook and Twitter in the new year, so make sure you follow us for newideas and news and views.

EducationOutside SchoolMagazine

@EOSmagazine

http://www.facebook.com/people/EducationOutside-SchoolMagazine/100000159345604


Letters and News

Dear EOS...We have received lots of enquiries from peoplewanting to know whether they can buy a printedversion of EOS.

From the start it has been our aim to publish inprint, to produce a magazine for you to read overa cup of coffee, and to be available for people whomight want to find out what home education is allabout.

We are putting plans in place to build up a fund toachieve our aim of a printed magazine. Please docontinue to read our issues, and let others knowwe’re here, and we can be closer to that goal!

Cambridge Home Education Numbers andPatterns Group greets their MPBy Karen Rodgers

Our MP for Cambridge City, Julian Huppert, came to join in with our hands-on maths "Numbers and Patterns"session this week.

It was interesting to hear what Julian is doing to try and raise the profile of evidence-based science amongstMPs at Westminster and he entered the spirit of the occasion by challenging us to work out a number probleminvolving some lateral thinking and some cocktail sticks.

The children were delighted to meet Julian and he fielded several questions including how he gets to work andwhether he has a pet.


THE BIG QUESTION...

Questions. They just come with the territory when you home educate! We’ve all been there, from the family gatheringswhen you’ve been gearing yourself up to tell everyone that you’re taking your children out of school, or that youwon’t be sending them in the first place, through to those ‘at-the-supermarket-checkout’ moments when you findyourself so interrogated you’re looking around for the Mastermind black chair!

These questions are sometimes born of disbelief and horror that you could even consider such a strange idea, occasionallythey are honestly curious and interested, but almost always demonstrate that the questioner has pretty much nocomprehension of what home education is, is entrenched in a system and believes that this system must be ‘the right way’.

We’re featuring those common questions to find out how you answer them! What do you say? Does it depend on thequestioner, or their attitude? Does it depend on why you chose to home educate in the first place? Does it depend on howlong you’ve been home educating? Have you answered these questions so many times that you have a quick one-liner allprepared!

In the last issue we asked:

And here are some replies!

Lots of home educated children sitGCSEs. The only difference is that for

them, all subjects are optional. They getto really tailor them to their interests

and future plans.

GCSEs aren’t compulsory.We’ll do them if we wantto, at a time that suits us.

Our next question is going to be:

But how will they do their GCSEs?

What do you have to say about this? Please [email protected]

by February 15th

Why do people assume that you HAVE to do GCSEs to get aneducation and be successful? Thousands of schooled children are

churned out of the system at age 16 with a bunch of qualifications, onlyto find themselves unemployed. Isn’t it more attractive to potential

employers to have life skills, maturity, experience? All of which homeeducated youngsters have the chance to get because they’re not

wasting time getting useless bits of paper!

EOS says:

If you’ve decided that you dowant to take GCSEs as a home

educator, you could start bytaking a look at our article on

page 20!

But how will they do sport?


framework, autonomous learning was fosteredfrom the outset. It’s impossible for a large classto have the same degree of autonomy as two orthree children at home, but it’s surprising what canbe done with the right approach. We worked atour own pace, individually or in groups, whichfreed up the teacher to give extra support tochildren who needed it. By the time we reachedthe ‘top’ class - 35 children in what would now beyears 4, 5 and 6 – we were essentially in chargeof our own learning, with the teacher as facilitator.Not only that, but we ran the school on a day-to-day basis; ringing bells, distributing milk, orderingschool dinners, and even stoking the boiler. Bythe time we left, most of us could have held downa job. Exactly what was reported by EdmondHolmes, former chief inspector of schools in

(1911), about childreneducated using similar approaches. And, to the

surprise of the sceptics, for thefirst time ever, children fromthe school began to pass the11 plus.

I was one of them, and thetraditional girls’ grammarschool I moved to came assomething of a shock.Dividing the curriculum intosubject areas and havingdifferent teachers for each wassomething I could cope with.Copying chunks of text from

the board, teachers reading from textbooks andwaiting for everyone else to finish their work, (oreveryone having to wait for me to finish) was not.Quality of teaching ranged from teachers who readfrom textbooks and yawned continually, throughteachers who screamed and threw board rubbers,to teachers who were amongst the first womengraduates and who were inspirational. Universitycame as a huge relief, and felt remarkably similarto primary school.

Which brings me, in a rather roundabout fashion,to Imran Shah’s article “The Futility of School” inthe September edition ofAlthough I agree that schools can be intenselystressful environments, schools also varyenormously. At one extreme they can beeducation factories that batch-process children;end product - ‘good’ exam results. At the otherextreme they can be safe, nurturing communitiesin which children and adults learn together. Inshort, there is nothing inherently stressful aboutschool , any more than there is anythinginherently beneficial about a family Whatproduces an environment stressful to the child isthe philosophy, systems and methods implemented

What Is AndMight BeBy Sue Gerrard

I vividly remember my first day at school;leaning against the wall of the infants’temporary classroom at playtime, watching the

other children and feeling overwhelmed. My firstfew weeks at school were not a success. Theinfant class not only had a temporary classroom,but a temporary teacher as well, and she didn’tlike duplicate first names. There were threeSusans in the class so we two younger ones hadto use our middle names. Except that my middlename had already been taken, so I was told tochoose a name. I said thefirst name that came intomy head. It happened tobe the name of myfavourite doll - the onewhose eyes had beenpoked out by my cousin -so even the name I wasknown by in school (if Iremembered to respondto it) had dark undertones.Experiences like this canget a kid off to a bad start.My dad, I discovered yearslater, had gone to see the head teacher about it.She was sympathetic, but told him thatunfortunately they had to ‘make do with what theywere sent’ by the local education authority (LEA).

A few weeks later, the LEA sent a diminutive,delightful infant teacher who changed my life. Allour lives. By the time she and the new headteacher had finished with us, we had the self-confidence to deal with anything else the LEA caredto send in our direction. The head teacher hadjoined the tiny rural primary school a year beforeI did. She was viewed by the locals with somesuspicion. Not only was she young and single, butwas reputed to be in favour of ‘modern methods’.Most dubious of all, she hailed from Yorkshire,which might as well have been Timbuktu as far asthe natives of a Fenland hamlet were concerned.

Her ‘modern methods’ had been heavily influencedby Maria Montessori. The head teacher put inplace what most schools would recognise as abroad, rich, highly structured but highly flexiblecurriculum. Skills and knowledge were acquiredlargely through integrated class projectsoriginating in our own areas of interest. Within a

Although I agree that schools can beintensely stressful environments, schools

also vary enormously. At one extreme theycan be education factories that batch-process children; end product - ‘good’

exam results. At the other extreme they canbe safe, nurturing communities in which

children and adults learn together.


by the school - or the family.Take the scenario described byFrancis Spufford in

. Francis was taken illone day at school. His teachercarried him home on hershoulders. He had mumps, andwhilst recovering, learned to read(using andcelebrated his sixth birthday. Hisclass assembled in his frontgarden to sing tohim. This is unlikely to happennowadays, but would not havebeen thought untoward in manyschools during the pre- and post-war periods.

State schooling in the UK hasundergone many transformationsin the last 150 years. Initially, itwas assumed that a significantproportion of the population couldn’t read, writeor do arithmetic simply because no one had evertaught them how. It became clear that, in spiteof incentives like performance-related pay forteachers and edicts from school boards, it wasn’tquite as simple as that. Children learned atdifferent rates. They learned in different ways,and had different abilities and interests. Oftenchildren who were obviously not stupid or lazy haddifficulties acquiring some skills but not others.What also became clear was that child-centred,integrated, multi-sensory approaches to educationwere often more effective than curriculum-driven,rote-learning, disciplinarian methods, andgradually the educational ethos changed. For manyyears, teachers had complete professionaldiscretion over what and how they taught,enabling them to tailor education to each child’sneeds. Unfortunately, educational practice hasalways been driven as much by ideology asevidence of efficacy. By the late 1970s, when Itrained as a primary teacher, ‘child-centrededucation’ had reached a point where the‘education’ aspect was in danger of disappearingcompletely, any intervention in the child’sexploration of the world being seen as a violationof his or her autonomy as a learner.

Not surprisingly, this state of affairs precipitatedthe Education Reform Act of 1988, althougharguably central government wanting to wrestcontrol of education from local authorities was alsoa factor. The Act introduced, amongst otherthings, a national curriculum and standardisedtesting. These might have had a beneficial effect,but for the fact that the national curriculum wasmade compulsory and standardized test resultswere used as a performance indicator for schools.As had been widely predicted, test results becamemore important than education, and many schoolsbegan to ‘teach to the test’. It is the systemspressures brought about by these measures thatare responsible, in my view, for much of the stressin schools that Imran talks about.

Instead of the form and content of learning beingdetermined by the needs of the child, teachers arenow required to ‘deliver the curriculum’. Insteadof supporting children to learn at their own pacein the way that works best for them, there ispressure on schools to optimize the performanceof children at KS2 and GCSE levels, because theseare the results that determine the school’s placein league tables. The focus on test results has hadan impact on the education of any child likely toperform well above the test standard or likely tofall well below it. So ‘gifted and talented’ childrenare bored and children with special needs findschool stressful and there is pressure on all otherchildren to excel in a narrow range of skills andknowledge – for the school’s benefit as much asfor their own.

After the Education Reform Act of1988, test results became more

important than education

Cont’d on Page 24


Winter Fun- A Big Project Idea from EOS

Jam Jar Lanterns

A beautiful and simple idea. Take any jam jar, some tissuepaper and some glue, and let the children tear shapes and stickon whatever they want. If you have glass paint, then that'sgreat, but the tissue paper is very effective. Flower arrangingwire is fine for using as hanging wire, offset the "handle"slightly so the lantern can be held without the slight heat ofthe tealight reaching little fingers. Please take all sensibleprecautions, they are just as lovely as static tealight holderson a windowsill.

The History of Festivals


White Christmas Tree

For a Chirstmas decoration a little different, try this White Tree.

Print it out, cut it to shape, laminate it and punch a hold in thetop. Use ribbon, string, tinsel etc to hang.

Use a smaller size to make home made Christmas cards.

A PDF of the tree in two different sizes is available free of chargeon our website, www.educationoutsideschool.co.uk.

Introduce some Latin

I first introduced my linguistically minded daughter to Latinthrough the Christmas Song ‘Gaudete’, made famous by SteeleyeSpan.

You can see the band singing the song on stage here:

www.youtube.com/watch?V=EDc2FD-vy8M

If you’d like to have a look at the lyrics in Latin and find out whatthey mean there are many websites to choose from, for example:

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaudete

Winter Solstice and Astronomy

In the northern hemisphere, the Winter Solstice occurs on 21st or 22nd December. This year it’s on 21st. The WinterSolstice is that time of year when the earth’s axis is tilted as far away from the sun as it can possibly be, resulting in fewerhours of daylight than at any other time of the year.

Help your child investigate how the solstice occurs. You can use the same methods as we used for investigating theequinox in September’s issue. We make no apology for simply repeating themhere as they are equally relevant!

www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/earth/Seasons.shtmlA brief explanation of seasons with activities for younger children

www.neok12.com/Seasons.htmA couple of interesting videos and some quizzes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9hawBb3wbk&feature=relatedA short video explaining seasons and putting the solstice in context

Or get hold of a globe (or just a ball would do) to be the Earth, a bright lamp to be the sun and act out the videos in a darkroom to investigate how the seasons work together! If you’re not sure how to do this, take a look at this videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pleipisn3q0It’s quite detailed at around 8 minutes long, so if you have younger children, or children with short attention spans, it’sprobably a good idea for you to watch beforehand so you have a good idea of what you’re going to do!

http://www.crystalinks.com/wintersolstice.htmlA lovely site with tons of information about the Winter Solstice, its importance in different cultures and its significance inall kinds of megolithic structures around the world.


UKHEMarket: A Yahoo group for buyingand selling within the HE Communityhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/UKHEMarket/

Have you splashed out for books and other resources in the past without thinking, only to find that you don’tuse them that much? I know I have! Or as your children grow older, you inevitably find that you have thingsgathering dust on shelves and at the same time are running out of space to store new purchases!

Or perhaps you’re looking to buy something, but finding it a bit pricey. It’s no news to say that home educatingcan be an expensive business and buying second hand can alleviate the cost.

I was looking to sell some items we’d grown out of but found that there was no interest on the usual websitesI use. The market was too big and my small list got swallowed up. I realised that I needed to be sellingspecifically to the home educating community, so I was really pleased to come across the Yahoo group‘UKHEMarket’, which does exactly that - provides a space for home edders to buy and sell to each other.

The group was set up in July 2010 by HE mum Laura, who told me ‘I have a 3 and 4 year old and am juststarting out on my HE journey. My two love visual stimulation, they learn a lot by playing on the computerand from the TV, so I decided to look at games and educational items that needed to be touched and heldto help them learn. I have a set of brightly coloured wooden letters that they love, so I went on to theinternet with the hope of finding more items like this, but everything seemed quite expensive. In this creditcrunch time like many we are struggling financially but I really wanted my children to have the things thatwill help them enjoy learning.

I saw some blogs doing a curriculum give away which i thought was a fantastic idea! It struck me that theremust be many home educators out there that had different books, games, toys, etc that they no longerneeded or used and that having a group specifically for our community would be a great way of helpingpeople out, by having somewhere they could advertise their items without any fees, and by hitting a targetmarket. Sellers could make a bit of money in the process and pass on useful items to those who would usethem, so it would be win win for everyone.’

Laura set up her group and publicised it via Facebook at first. She was amazed at how quickly it grew. Thegroup is simple to use. Firstly, you become a member as with other Yahoo groups. If you have somethingto sell, go to the group via the Yahoo website and use the ‘For Sale’ Application. Once you’ve added youritem, remembering to include details about its condition, price and postage cost, an automatic email will besent to the group letting everyone know that something has been added. From then on it’s down to individualsto make their own arrangements. If someone wants to buy your item, they contact you offlist and you makemutually agreeable arrangements to complete the purchase and delivery.

As with other selling or swapping sites, there is an element of trust, but the list doesn’t seem to have hadany problems so far. It may be the sense of community! And as for me, I sold a few things so I’m happy!


It wasn’t a conscious decision to let my ownpersonal obsession with Shakespeare dominateour home-educating life. In the beginning, I

discouraged my sons from approachingShakespeare “too early.” Having almost beenturned off Shakespeare for life by a disastrousgrade ten encounter with Julius Caesar, I wantedto make sure my own kids enjoyed their firstencounters with the bard. But, as so often happensin unschooling families, my four sons’ involvementwith Shakespeare was not necessarily under mycontrol.

It started 14 years ago, when my older sons wereeight and six. I got a video copy of ,my all-time favourite play, the version starringHelena Bonham Carter with Ben Kingsley as theworld’s most heartbreaking clown Feste. Brian andJohn wanted to watch it with me, but I said, no,you wouldn’t understand it, and you wouldn’t likeit.

“Yes, we would,” they said.

“Well, you would need to beprepared for it to understand it.”

“Prepare us,” they said.

“I’d have to read it to you,and it’s a play. You wouldn’t beable to follow it,” I said.

“Yes, we would,” they said.

So, I read it to them. Therewere times that it was slow and tough going, butthey wouldn’t give up. They were determined, forsome strange reason, to watch that movie, and I,for some stranger reason that makes no sense tome now, didn’t want them to watch it unless they“knew” the play.

That was the beginning. They were hooked. Laterthat spring, I took them to in thepark – a modernized, almost completely femaleversion with a minimal cast. This time, I read themthe Leon Garfield story version from his

. That was good enough.From that point on we started seeing Shakespeare

every chance we got, and we just read a “storyversion” ahead of time. As they got a little older,we started reading the plays together, taking parts.Their little brother started listening and going tothe plays when he was three.

Last year son number three “completed the canon”the same day I did, the day before his fourteenthbirthday, with a production of at theOregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon.As a family we had seen live productions of all 37of Shakespeare’s complete dramatic works(excluding and ) in13 years.

So how did this affect our sons’ home-basededucation?

I don’t know that I can answer that questioncompletely, as I’m sure there have been manyeffects that I will never, can never, be fully awareof. But I’ll take a stab at explaining how I perceiveour engagement with Shakespeare has enrichedour lives and my children’s learning.

All my boys have been late readers, starting toread for themselves somewhere between ageseight and ten. But I read to them, and they listenedto audio books, every day of their lives. BecauseShakespeare was a part of that from a young age,

they developed vocabulariesway beyond the norm. Theyall also have an instinctivegrasp of poetry and meter. Allthree older boys completeduniversity-level English studiesthrough the U.S. CollegeBoard’s Advanced Placementprogram before they were 17,and all are excellent writers.

All four boys becamefascinated with drama. Theyhave all participated in theYoung Shakespeareans

program at the Bard on the Beach ShakespeareFestival in Vancouver, Canada. This year will beour seventh year. Through this program, they haveparticipated in putting on one-hour versions ofmany of the plays. They have enjoyed being onstage, and have made life-long friends in theprogram.

The older two boys are now headed toward makingtheatre a part of their professional lives. Our oldestson is now completing his BFA as a directingspecialist at the University of Victoria departmentof theatre. Son two is completing his BFA in

The Works of WilliamShakespeare asUnschooling “Curriculum”By Kelly Green

Cont’d on page 26


You’ll sing a songand I’ll sing a songBy Paula Cleary

Jane and Lorena are extremely patient. Manymonths ago I told them I was writing an articlefor EOS about mnemonics. Which I started.

Along the way it turned into an article aboutlearning through audio - a kind of eulogy to thespoken word and joy of learning through songsand ditties. I scanned every book I owned andlooked all over the internet. It seemed very naturalas my kids absolutely love their audio collection.There is something rather captivating about a storyread aloud by a character like David Tennant orStephen Fry or Terry Jones, and counting inSpanish doesn’t seem too much like a chore whenit’s sung in a catchy pop song - (even better if youhave the same song on dvd as an animated musicvideo). It is so much more fun to listen to horriblehistories with a few raps or songs thrown in thansimply read the books. Songs somehow makethings stick in your mind more easily. And yet thishas not simply turned out to be an article praisingaudio learning as a educational tool....it evolvedinto something much deeper - it became anargument for music and movement as absolutelyfundamental to our children’s whole developmentfull stop.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love and am a big fanof a number of “edu-cd’s”. I have invested in awhole bunch of them. Grammywinners They Might Be Giantsare particularly good at thisgenre and my own childrenhave absorbed with great easeand delight such concepts asthe sun being a “miasma ofincandescent plasma” or that “ashooting star is not a star, it’snot a star at all, a shootingstar’s a meteor that’s heading for a fall” (sungacapella as a ‘round’) from their 2009 album HereComes Science. Before we discovered them wewere bopping away on YouTube to Bob Dorough’s3 is a Magic Number and the like from SchoolhouseRock, and any other educational songs we couldfind in an audio visual format that we could bearto listen to. (Its not always easy - there’s a lot ofdreadful so-called ‘educational’ junk out there).The success of an educational musical adventurelies in its authenticity. It has to entertain. It cannotsimply be a collection of flat or patronisinglydelivered songs in a tone of voice so often to be

found on dreadful children’s cd’s. Joh Linnell ofThey Might Be Giants is quite clear about what hethinks kids need to hear to really connect with whatthey’re listening to: “ We didn’t want to bemedicine...we were really thinking, you know, kidsdeserve actual entertainment...the same thing thatwe would try to create for adults”. In other wordslearning comes more easily and naturally when youhave catered for children’s need for music that isgenuinely well written, catchy and fun to sing outloud.

But must all children’s music be consciously‘educational’ to actually be educational? Byeducational do we simply mean delivering factswith a song and dance? Must it even necessarilybe pitched as a cd specifically for children? No, noand no. It’s even simpler than that. The folk singer

Woody Guthrie spoke somewise words to parents in his1956 album notes for “Songsto Grow on for mother andchild”....” Please, please,please, don’t read nor sing mysongs like no lesson book, likeno text for today. But, let thembe a little key to sort of unlockor let down all of your old bars.

I’m not trying to trick the little fellers into tearingthrough all of their fun to my songs”. He goes onto say ”Watch the kids. Do like they do. Act likethey act. Yell like they yell. Dance the ways yousee them dance. Sing like they sing. Work and restthe way the kids do. You’ll be healthier. You’ll talkwiser. You’ll go higher, do better, and live longerhere among us if you’ll just only jump in here andswim around in these songs and do like the kidsdo. I don’t want the kids to be grown up. I wantto see the grown folks be kids”. He is making animportant and powerful point and in this instance,the only directly educational message in the albumis actually aimed at parents - the songs themselves

Music and movement isabsolutely fundamental to

our children’s wholedevelopment full stop.


are free of any messages or morals, although theycan often be thought provoking and funny in theirobservations.

A playful attitude to music is also a key component

in the life work of the artist Ella Jenkins. She hasbeen touring the world, collecting songs and chantsand rhythms for over 50 years, and could possiblybe dubbed the first interactive children’s performer.Her style is not exactly simply a performancehowever, it’s more a collaboration, a democraticmusical happening. A musical socialism if you like.Her album “You’ll sing a song, and I’ll sing a song”remains one of the best-selling on the SmithsonianFolkways label, and many children’s artists credither with being an inspiration in their formativeyears. Her success may be that she plays thesimplest of songs, often using just a couple ofchords, and frequently employs the call-and-response method that she learnt from the streets,gospel churches and listening booths shefrequented in her youth. The children she singswith are taken on a ‘journey’ of some kind oranother- to lift them out of their own culturaloutlook for a moment and help them see the worldthrough another’s eyes. Her work concentrates onour interconnectedness, on everyone pitching in,on teaching children other languages and culturesthrough song. Ella teaches folks that its not asimportant to be technically accomplished in musicor note perfect so much as be willing to be playfuland experimental in ones approach. You have toput yourself in it to get the most out.

When I sat and thought about what these artistshad to say it struck me that for music education tobe most meaningful there had to be activeparticipation and enjoyment and not simply apassive relationship with it. There must be anelement of surrender, a melting pot whereeveryone can enjoy the space created by musicbeing made together. A call-and-response in theheart of all the participants.

There is no denying that listening to Mozart canhelp you concentrate and learn maths more easily.I can see that songs and ditties can help youremember the order of Henry VIII’s wives, ormemorize the periodic table, or learn French. There

is no harm in these and they have their purpose.But music as a whole seems too important andfundamental to be used only for such contrivededucational ends. Music-making and enjoyingseems in fact to be absolutely vital to one’s veryhealth and ability to thrive. What other thing doyou know besides love and friendship that canperform so many basic functions?

Music can divide or unite. Help you feel likesomeone else understands. Make you want todance, or laugh or cry. It can heal and comfort.Inspire. Be cathartic. Cross barriers of language orage or sex or belief or race or geography or culture.It can move a person to think and behavedifferently. Keep you company. Give you courage.Make you challenge or question ideas. Break theice. Influence. Trigger or create memories. Helpyou focus. Help you lose your inhibitions. You canfall in love to it. Forget yourself, your troubles, yourplight . It can annoy or excite or motivate. It candefine an era, a person, a group. It can bringpeople closer together. It can open doors andcreate new friendships. It can turn you on. It canhelp you give birth more easily. Give a safe avenuefor rage and frustration. It can help you say moreeloquently what words alone cannot express. Itcan nourish your soul and help your spirit grow.

Thinking of music as a pleasant pastime which isnot absolutely essential to child development is amistake that no educator can afford to make. So

For music education to be mostmeaningful there has to be active

participation and enjoyment and notsimply a passive relationship with it.


what does this mean for you as your child’s teacherand co-learner? Do you need to dash out and buystacks and stacks of music cd’s especially designedfor children? No, not necessarily. They can be niceto own and sing along to but your Beatles Cd’s arejust as valuable. There’s some wonderful moralsand lessons to be learnt from simple songsproviding the sentiment is sincere. It doesn’tmatter if its Ella Fitzgerald, Simon and Garfunkelor Bach, whoever your bag is. Borrow from thelibrary if you can’t afford to buy some albumsyourself. Experiment with new artists you’ve neverheard before. Push your boundaries and if youaren’t mad on scat jazz then a jazz compilationwith one scat song on it would do. Try to listen toas many different types of music with your childrenas you can. Try to expose them to music from allover the world - its a great way to learn aboutother people and cultures. Youtube has so manywonderful music videos from Ladysmith BlackMumbazo to Star Wars orchestral performances toJapanese drumming to beatboxing. Stop and speakto buskers and street performers. Take the kids toconcerts or festivals if you can.

Dance around and enjoy your family time together.Make up and invent songs and rhymes both seriousand silly, with words real and made up. Improviseif you have no instruments to hand. We were bornwith bodies that lend themselves well to musicmaking - hands for clapping and slapping, feet fortapping, the human body is of itself an amazinginstrument! Use some spoons. Blow throughbottles. Use whatever’s nearby. Maybe you couldlearn an instrument together? It needn’t be top ofthe range and its not about achieving grade suchand such (though this is great if someone is doingit for the right reasons). Its more important topractise and play joyfully. Maybe Christmas wouldbe a good time to buy an instrument as a gift?Second hand can be just as good as new.

We were conceived in rhythm. We were rocked inthe womb and in our mothers arms and in ourcradles. Share and carry music around in your soulsand you will all be happier, brighter learners! n

************************************

Paula’s totally biased selection of musical links forfamilies

http://www.folkways.si.edu/

http://www.putumayo.com/en/putumayo_kids.php

http://kidsmusicthatrocks.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=22

http://www.youaremyflower.org/poster.html

http://www.classicfm.co.uk/on-air/programmes/afternoons-classic-fm/kids-call/

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/19/they-might-be-giants-3.html

http://worldmusic.about.com/od/worldmusic101/tp/Songs-For-Mothers.htm

http://www.natgeomusicmixer.com/mixmaster/


Children’s Pages

BOTTLE TOP CHRISTMAS TREEFrom www.ourbigearth.com/2007/11/15/homespun-holidays-bottle-cap-christmas-trees

Make a template for the tree then use it to roighlyoutline the rest of them - no need to be too accurate.Cut all of the tress out.Glue the bottle caps to the treesFill up the caps with white glue, then fill the capswith beads, bird seed, rice, pebbles or whatever.Spread the trees out on a flat surface and let themdry overnight.

The next day, if you want, cut enough wool tooutline each tree and then glue it around the edgeof the tree for an added accent.Then, use the hole punch to make a hole in the topof the tree, string a lovely ribbon (or wool or string)and the bottle cap Christmas tree is ready for display.

I have been saving plastic bottle tops for some time, thinking theywere nice colours and must be good for making something! ThenI spotted this idea. It does look good with metal bottle tops, andthis website has nice wool around the edge etc, but I wanted myson to do this pretty much by himself and he stopped after stickingthe tops on! I thought adding the Hama beads would look good,and I'm sure we all have plenty of them! Or fancy beads wouldwork well too.Arrange the tops on the table first, and work out the Christmastree shape from there. We used all different kinds of tops, andfitted them into the same size tree shape, I think the different onesare particularly effective.


GINGERBREAD HOUSETrying out a book from our store, Lorena has a go at makinggingerbread houses from ‘Gingerbread’ by Joanna Farrow,ISBN 1-85967-491-7

Two 20 x 11cm/8 x 4¼ inch rectangles for the roofTwo 19 x 9cm/7½ x 3½ inch rectangles for the front and backTwo sides - draw a 9cm/3½ inch square, then add a pointed gablethat measures 7.5cm/3 inches from the point to the base of the roof(so, find the centre of one side of the square, and draw a line upwards3 inches, then draw lines from that point out to each corner.

Sift together the the dry ingredients, except the sugar. Rub the butterinto the flour mix, until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar,syrup and egg yolk and mix to a firm dough. Wrap lightly and chillfor 30 minutes before using.

Roll out the dough, to about 1/4", I suggest, and cut out thetemplates carefully, making extra just in case of breakages. Bake at180°C/350°F/Gas 4 for 15 minutes until they are just beginning tobrown around the edges. Leave them on the baking sheet for 3minutes (it says - pretty specific, but I did leave some cookies on toolong and it was difficult to get them off!). Cool on a wire rack.

Basically you now build it. Take a deep breath, andtry to stop small children talking to you.

Pipe icing down a short side of the front, sticking itto a side piece at right angles (I put the side piecesinside the other pieces) and sticking to a board atthe same time. Pipe inside the house along thebottom of these walls. Add the other walls. Thenpipe icing over the top parts of the walls and addthe roof pieces. I filled in gaps and piped icing atevery join.

Using bought white sugar paste, roll it out and makethe snow covering for the roof, and little trees,stepping stones, logs perhaps. Add the icicles withthe piping bag.

175g/6oz plain flour1.5ml/ 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of sodapinch of salt5ml/1tsp ground ginger5ml/1tsp ground cinnamon65g/2 1/2 oz unsalted butter, cut into pieces75g/3oz caster sugar30ml/2 tbsp maple or golden syrup1 egg yolk, beaten

TIP:If you need to trim theshapes, don’t let themcool completely before

you do it or they are likelyto break


Making a gingerbread house seemed like a great idea - mixing themix was easy enough, even the cutting out and baking I got right.But the building? Infuriating! My son wanted to help, and should havebeen able to help at all stages. But balancing the walls to get themto stick together long enough to pipe the extra icing as instructedwas really difficult! For children, I would suggest you do the mixing,cutting and baking as that takes time. You have to leave the mix to

cool in the fridge; then you have to cook it for just the right time and remove it from the baking tray atthe right time so it doesn't stick - oh and maybe make more than one wall/roof just in case one breakswhen you move it!

The instructions call for cutting door and window gaps, and using royal icing to make little crisscrosses inrectangles to look like lattice windows and fitting them. I'm afraid I didn't manage to do that for thisdemonstration, so can't say how easy or not that might be! They should be left to dry for a couple of days,so bear that in mind when planning your house building!It tasted just fine, and I enjoyed the idea, but I think that's the way to go about it - look forward to thetaste, enjoy making it, but it will take time and patience if you want it to look like the photos!

Maybe it's just me, but I wish you all the best of luck if you attempt any house building this week!

Lorena’s verdict!

2 cups self-raising flour1 cup sugar1 large tin (about 400g) crushed pineapple

Throw in a bowl and stir lots! So easy a baby could do it!

Bake in a loaf tin at a medium heat for about 45 minutes -check with the poke and wiggle method mentioned lastissue...

Taken from the "Four Ingredients" cookbook by KimMcCosker & Rachael Bermingham, available on the web:

www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/10281/easy-pineapple-cake

PINEAPPLE CAKE


Last Issue’s Puzzle Solutions

X R A K E E P I R M H R

H Q F C R N J J I K A G

A T Z Q S C W G L X R K

L K V M N E R O W F V N

L K Q H M A O O R K E I

O W N A T B R T E B S K

W N R I P C O Q A S T P

E H O N E P U N E T B M

E N C R K I L V F Y O U

N N A G N Z A E L I T P

R C R O Q E Y K S W R M

S J X V L O R A N G E E

2 In Christianity, the arrival of the Three Magi on 6th January (6)6 The Roman winter solstice festival (10)8 Mother’s Night, the Saxon winter solstice festival (8)10 In Terry Pratchett’s fiction world “Discworld”, this celebration is very similar to Christmas (9)11 Epiphany Eve (6,5)12 More common name for St.Stephen’s Day (6,3)

1 The Celtic Midwinter (6,8)3 Hindu Festival of Lights (6)4 Germanic winter solstice festival (4)5 First day of the Celtic winter, falls on 31st October (7)7 American celebration of the early settler colonisation and the comradery with the native Americans (12)9 The Buddhist Day of Enlightenment, 8th December (5,3)

Winter Festivals Crossword

Across

Down

This crossword is for older children, secondaryschool aged really. It’s quite challenging and willprobably require some internet research!


Stonehenge:Astronomy andRitualBy Katie Davenport-Mackey, Archaeologist & Prehistorian

Many of the ancient monuments of Britain andIreland incorporate solar and lunar observationsinto their layout. This is believed to indicate thepassage of seasonal time and time counted inyears from a point of origin but it also shows anobsession with the sun and the moon as part of acomplex cosmology that governed the humanworld. This can be seen in the layout of the landand the activities of the people.

The points of the year most clearly marked by theold stone circles are the solstices and equinoxes.Of particular interest to these early builders wasthe 21st December, the time of the winter solstice.This is most clearly illustrated at Stonehenge thatcontains a variety of sightlines for the movementsof the sun and moon, besides anyone approachingStonehenge enters the site through a causewayon the north east; in doing so they faced southwest, in the direction of the midwinter sunset.

The astronomical sophistication to be found inStonehenge is a widespread phenomenon foundin the Prehistoric cultures of the British Isles longbefore its construction on Salisbury Plain.Fantastically accurate calendrical observationsbased on the movements of the sun and moonhad probably been performed in Britain for over athousand years before the building of Stonehengein the early Bronze Age.

While Stonehenge seems to represent an axismundi, or the centre of the world, it may also havebeen viewed as an experiment in architecture, as

a commemorative monument or as a tribute to thepower and influence of time and the seasons thatto the prehistoric mind would have been controlledand ordered by the ancestors.

Whatever the exact function of Stonehenge, itseems heavily connected to profound changesoccurring at the time of the Bronze Age. There wasa new emphasis on the control of the landscapeand therefore the control of people but there wasalso a deep connection with what had gone before.

Real Life EducationThose magical moments when education just‘happens’. You didn’t plan them, they just cropup in normal everyday life, but can be some ofthe most memorable learning experiences andcan really affirm what this whole Home Ed thingis all about!

A tea towel. That's what started it off. I have a teatowel that has breeds of sheep on it. Rare breedsare something I'm interested in (that'll be anotherarticle another day!) so I sometimes buy thingslike T-towels with such things on them. We haveall the classic T-towels, if you know what I mean.None matching, usually have recipes or adverts onthem.

Anyway, the sheep one started a conversationabout, well, sheep. Then: why they're different;we were reminded of a recent Countryfile programwe watched (highly recommended program); what"Rare Breeds" means, why it's important topreserve them (http://www.save-foundation.net/)and then we talked about the fleece we have andhow it could be turned into a jumper. Wow. It'samazing what conversations come from not doingthe washing up. I really didn't realise just howmuch we do or can do before I started writing itall down.

If you're thinking about what you're going to doto educate your children next year, maybe justthink about what you've actually done this week!It might save some planning time, unless you oryour children like that sort of thing, of course!


Why take GCSEs at all?

Why indeed? Sometimes home educated childrendo so simply because they enjoy the challenge,sometimes because they don’t have a specific planfor the future and feel that getting a fewqualifications might be useful. But more often thedecision to take GCSEs is more thought out thanthat.

Sometimes GCSEs are required to gain a place ona college course or a sixth form. Depending on thecourse there can be alternative ways of gainingentrance without qualifications, such as aninterview, aptitude tests, experience, portfoliosetc., but a GCSEs are the standard way in.

For some subjects,study at GCSE, or atleast to GCSE level, isneeded before you canprogress to an A Level.This is true for subjectsin which the skills andknowledge required arecumulative in nature,such as languages andmathematics.

Hmm, very much amatter of opinion!Nonetheless, having

some GCSEs may well help in the search for a job.

The advantage of being home educated is that youcan work out your aims for the future and planyour GCSEs as stepping stones towards this aim.A much more efficient way of approaching them!

OK, But How Do We Do Them?

Whatever the reason for choosing to take GCSEs,the big question really is how to go about it. Whilehome educated young people do not have anautomatic right to access public exams, it isperfectly possible to take them independently. Thisis known as being a Private Candidate and itinvolves making your own arrangements andpaying the costs involved. Depending on how yougo about tackling GCSEs, costs can vary from afew tens of pounds per subject to a few hundred!

Home Educationand GCSEs?‘How will they sit their GCSEs?’ It’s a very commonquestion when you announce that you homeeducate, and something that, if we’re honest, wecan worry about ourselves in those preteen years,or even earlier!

Underlying the question are usually somemisconceptions and it is worth clearing these upfirst. As schooled children are passed along theacademic conveyor belt, their choice at 14 consistsonly of which subjects to sit, so it is easy to seewhy so many peopleassume that GCSEsare mandatory. Infact, there is no suchlegal requirement and,even if young peopleoutside of school dochoose to study forGCSEs, there isnothing thatdetermines when theydo so. So it is perfectlypossible to take themmuch younger than16, or not to considerstarting until mucholder.

Freed from theconstrictions of school,home educators are able tailor their package ofqualifications to meet their own talents and futureplans, considering such things as the Duke ofEdinburgh’s Award, Arts Award, adult educationcourses and the Open University as well as thestandard GCSEs. Or they can choose not to followthat route at all. Many people have had greatsuccess in life despite having few or no formalqualifications - Richard Branson is a well knowncase, others include Robert Braithwaite whostarted the Sunseeker luxury yacht buildingcompany, Laurence Graff, founder of GraffDiamonds, and Charlie Mullins, who started hisown plumbing business now worth millions. 1

Still, GCSEs are seen as the standard and manyhome educated youngsters do take them, so let’ssee what they’re all about.


‘Making your own arrangements’ means doingabsolutely everything yourself; includingresearching what GCSEs are available and whatthey involve, buying any necessary resources suchas books, and doing whatever organising your childneeds to enable him or her to learn the stuff! Youalso need to find somewhere to sit the exam(known as an ‘Exam Centre’ - usually a school orcollege), make contact with them and make all thearrangements, complying with any deadline dates.

This seems like a good point to introduce IGCSEs,Short for International GCSEs, these areinternationally recognised qualifications consideredas equivalent to GCSEs and accepted as such bycolleges, universities and employers.

The major advantage of IGCSEs for homeeducators is that most of them are assessed onexamination only, no coursework or controlledassessment which most standard GCSEs include.This makes IGCSEs a lot easier to do, from apractical point of view.

So, down to the nitty gritty - how to study thecourse.

Distance Learning Providers

There are many of these around - just type‘distance learning’ into your internet browser. Theyoffer a wide variety of courses, including GCSEsand IGCSEs. When you purchase a course thepackage typically includes the home studymaterials, a series of assigments to monitor yourprogress and a dedicated tutor to mark them andhelp with queries and problems. If the subjectinvolves coursework they will prganise andauthenticae this, but you will still need to find anexam centre, book your child to sit the exam andpay the fees.

* From September 2010 the coursework elementof many GCSEs has been replaced with somethingcalled controlled assessment. This is a little likecompleting coursework under exam conditions ata centre which may well prove very difficult forprivate candidates to organise. Some of the

Distance Learning Providers have already stoppedoffering GCSEs affected by this requirement,although they may offer IGCSEs as an alternative.

‘Do It Yourself’ Study

Another option is to study the materialindependently. While this may seem daunting atfirst, if you go about it systematically it can be quitestraight forward.

Since it can be tricky to find a centre to sit theexam, it’s probably a good idea to make sure thereis one you can access BEFORE your child embarkson months of study. You may be lucky to find onelocal to you or you may have to travel. Either way,it is important to identify one that will take privatecandidates. You will need to check which boardsthey offer and which subjects.

You will also need to find out what the centre’sdeadline is for entering the exam and what theycharge.

You can go to the Examination Board’s websiteand download the specification for your chosensubject (in my day we used to call it the syllabus!).This details everything you need to learn for theexam. From this, you and your child can decidewhich subjects to take, taking into considerationthe exam boards and subjects available at yourexam centre.

Arm your child with the resources needed - books,websites etc. The specification will have a list ofrecommended resources. Ask other homeeducators for advice, either those you know locallyor on internet forums and lists.

Plan when your child would like to sit the examand make up a timetable, aiming to complete the

Sitting Exams

GCSE and IGCSE examinations are offered intwo ‘sittings’ each year - summer and winter.The actual dates vary depending on whatsubject and board you have chosen, but thewinter sitting takes place in November orJanuary and the summer sitting in May orJune. You will need to plan well in advance ascandidates need to be entered for their examsmonths beforehand and deadlines apply.


course a couple of months before the exam toenable time for revision. Don’t forget to try somepast papers for practice in exam technique - theexam board will have some on their website, or tryone of the websites that have comprehensivecollections - just search for ‘past exam papers’ inyour browser.

PROS: The cost. This can be as little as the priceof a couple of textbooks, plus the exam fees.

CONS: You’re on your own! This may not be aproblem, particularly if it’s a subject you’re familiarwith or your child is especially motivated in, but ifyou hit a sticky patch you may need some help.The home education community will often comeup trumps (there is even a dedicated Yahoo groupfor home educators tackling qualifications andexams), or you may have a friend or familymember who can help, but it worth considering inadvance.

People’s approaches to DIY exams vary widely.Some home educated young people are very drivenand will be prefectly happy to take the lead andteach themselves. Others may want you to helpplan a weekly workload and keep an eye on howmuch gets done. Others again may want you withthem every step of the way and you may findyourself in the role of teacher if you know thesubject, or learning alongside your child andwondering if you should sit the GCSE too! But it’sa sliding scale and the amount of input from youcan sit anywhere along it, differing from child tochild or from subject to subject.

Private Tutors

Another alternative, but at a typical rate of £20 perhour, this could be a very expensive way to studyfor a GCSE!

However, you might be able to organise tutorgroups for home educators in your area, reducingthe cost per person. Or you could combine private

tutoring with DIY study, doing the bulk of the workyourselves and using a tutor for just a fewsessions, to practice exam technique or to iron outproblem areas.

It all sounds so complicated!

It can be a bit daunting to start with! But don’t beput off. Many home educated youngsters havesuccessfully taken GCSEs of all sorts and manymore are studying towards them as you read this.

If you and your child decide that GCSEs are theway to go, then don’t panic, start researching examcentres and subjects and take one step at a time.And remember, as always with the home educatingcommunity, there is lots of advice and supportaround, you just need to ask! n

References and Further Information

1 The Vocational Rich Listhttp://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=447433&in_page_id=2

The home educators’ exam information wiki:www.home-education-exams.org.uk

The Independent Schools’ Council www.isc.co.uk

The main exam boards:AQA www.aqa.org.ukOCR www.ocr.org.ukEdexcel www.edexcel.comCambridge International www.cie.org.uk

A Source of Advice and Support

There is a Yahoo Group especially for homeeducators taking exams of all types. Find ithere:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HE-Exams-GCSE-A_AS_Levels-OU-Others

This is a tremendous source of support andadvice from others who have been, or are stillgoing through the whole process.

Please remember that as with all Yahoo groupsthis is a public forum. Essentially the list is fullof people who are starngers to each other and,as with all email lists, no-one should ever writeanything that they would be concerned aboutgetting into the public arena.

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Christianity inRoman andMedieval BritainBy Richard L.Jones, Roman Historian

It seems that as long as history has been writtendown in whatever script or language, differentpeoples and civilisations have seen the equinoxes,solstices and division of the seasons around whatwe call December as having a special meaning.These unique times of the year have had asignificant religious impact, and even a magicaltheme in the stories and practices of virtually allcivilisations.

Long before the rise of Christianity the 25th

December was celebrated in Pagan ceremonies allover Britain and Europe - for example the Romanshad the Saturnalia Festival. This was a special timefor feasting and the giving of gifts. AnotherChristian Festival that also has Pagan origins is theEaster Festival. The Easter festival is a corruptionof the celebration of the Roman feast of Astartewho was a Goddess of fertility and war. The Churchafter the time of Constantine merely adapted inorder to swallow up the old Pagan beliefs within anew Christian context.

Another interesting historical fact concerns themodern tradition of the April Fool. In the middleages the saying ‘April Fool’ was derived from thefact that time as we know it was not followedaccurately by every village and town – and so dateswere uncertain. It was not unusual to find peoplecelebrating New Year as late as April, hence thename.

Also 28th December, though not now in use wasknown in the medieval church as the date ofHerod’s execution of the Children of Israel in orderto eliminate the future King or Christ, commonlytermed the ‘massacre of the innocents’.

Yes, to look back in History shows very clearly acatalogue of intrigue and beliefs as diverse andapocryphal as time itself – which have beenchanged and manipulated in order toaccommodate every ruling religion and ideology.This is merely one thing that makes the study ofthe past so interesting, and even exciting! n

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Schools first came into being when groups ofparents pooled their resources and hired a tutor.The difference between a state school and a groupof parents hiring a tutor is, of course, who is incontrol. Historically, state schools in the UK havebeen funded by, controlled by and accountable to,the local community. The Education Reform Actmade schools less dependent on local authoritiesand more dependent on central government, eventhough this was badged as increasing the school’sindependence. I have no doubt that the steadyincrease in the number of families electing to homeeducate is a direct result of a shift in focus in stateeducation from the needs of the learner to theneeds of the system.

Schools do not have to be educational factoryfarms. They could be - and indeed have been -very different. I think it’s time to reclaim them.Or to re-invent them. Schools could operate alongsimilar lines to the traditional further educationcollege, but for all age groups. They could providean educational resource for the local community.Learning could be facilitated by professionallytrained teachers and by community members.Children and adults could learn at home or atschool, or both, and could learn from each other.We need a resource designed to meet theeducational needs of the individual and thecommunity, not the needs of the education system.I feel the distinction between school and homeeducation, although understandable, is an artificialone. At their best, schools have advantages anddisadvantages. At its best, so does homeeducation. But both have enormous potential tobenefit learners. n

References and Further Reading

Holmes, Edmond (1911). .Out of print but available from Project Gutenberghttp://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20555 and from theBritish Library via inter-library loan.

Spufford, Francis (2003)Faber and Faber. ISBN: 0571214673

Cont’d from Page 7

For Reading OutLoud: HolidayStoriesBy Marty Layne

The month December bring holidays that celebratethe importance of love, family, and the rebirth oflight. When my children were small, a big part ofour holiday tradition was to read Christmas storiesout loud. The magic, the warmth, and the re-affirmation of love that fill these seasonal storieswere part of our celebration of the birth of newhope in the midst of darkness. The ritual of readingthese stories at the same time each year added asense of predictability and comfort to the holidayseason.

I liked to read stories that had positive images offamily life, positive images of children, positivehumour, and/or illustrations that I found attractiveand beautiful. Let me tell you about some of ourfavorites.

by Shirley Hughes fitsall of my criteria. There is something so invitingand cozy about Shirley Hughes’ illustrations. Herstories are so real and down to earth. Readingone of her picture books to my children wouldremind me to slow down and see the world frommy toddler’s point of view. I found it very helpfulto have those kind of reminders in the books I readaloud. That wasn’t the point of the story but itwas one of the benefits of this book by ShirleyHughes. In this story, we see the preparationsLucy and Tom’s family makes for Christmas. It isall very low-key yet from a toddler’s point of viewvery exciting and different.

A memorable illustration for me is one where theextended family is playing a game together. Anold aunt is just as engaged as Lucy and Tom. Ifyou’ve never read Shirley Hughes, you’re in for atreat. If you have, revisit this book and enjoy afamily Christmas that you don’t have to prepare.

by Alison Utttley is anotherfavourite. This collection of short stories by thisprolific author is a treasure. As I reread throughthis collection of Alison Uttley’s stories in the lastfew days, I was reminded of the magic of a simplecountry Christmas. This collection of stories rangesfrom one about Sam Pig and his brothers and sisterto ones about the forgotten dolls in a dollhouse tothe story of timothy a woodcutter, his wife Jenny


Wren, their infant son Timothy, Old Holly and threemagic holly berries. I read these stories to mychildren starting when they were about 4 –5.

It is hard to determine ages for stories. Theyoungest child in a family may be able to listen tostories at a younger age than their older siblingsjust because he or she has been listening to storiesas mom or dad reads to the older ones. You arethe best judge of what is a good age for anyparticular book. If you or your children are notenjoying the story you’re reading, stop reading it.You don’t have to finish a book that no one wantsto hear.

If I am uncertain about a book, I read it to myselffirst before reading it outloud to my children. Thatway I have a better idea of whether or not it willsuit them. Each person has different likes anddislikes. The main thing in reading to children isto have an enjoyable experience with the world ofwords in the land of the imagination.

Another family favourite was by Rumer Godden about a little orphan girl

(Ivy) who decides that she’s going to find hergrandmother this Christmas, and a doll (Holly) whois looking for a girl for Christmas. It’s lovely storyof both the little doll and the little girl and how theyfind each other with a number of misadventuresthat all lead to a very positive resolution. This storyis for children 4 and up. I love all of the booksRumer Godden has written about dolls andchildren. Characteristic of her writing is the wayshe keeps at least two story lines going – one fromthe dolls’ point of view and one from the people’spoint of view.

by Graham Oakleyis a rich story in both words and detailed

illustrations. The mice decide to have a Christmasparty. They need to have money so they try toraffle off Samson, the church cat. This fails, sothey try other ways to make money. After anumber of near disasters, they finally put on aparty. This picture book and the other church micebooks by Graham Oakley intrigued my sons inparticular. It was fun to look at all of the detailsin the illustrations and the humour made us alllaugh and smile.

by Jill Barklem is one of four books in theseasons series of the Brambly Hedge books. Thisstory is a feast for the eyes. I love the details andsoft colours Jill Barklem used. The story is filledwith the anticipation and excitement of the micechildren preparing for the ball that will be held inthe ice palace.

I noticed that this book is in the collection that includes all four seasonal

stories. It a new reprint by Harper CollinsChildren's Books (28 Oct 2010) 978-0007371662to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Brambly Hedge.Hurray!!! I live in Canada. It is hard to find thisor any of the Brambly Hedge books in print in NorthAmerica. I hope that this 30th anniversary editionwill also be released in Canada and the US. If youare looking for a book to give as present a for alittle girl, I can’t think of a better one than thiscollection of Brambly Hedge stories. The BramblyHedge website has been redesigned.

You can visit it here:http://www.bramblyhedge.co.uk/ and have a lookat the delightful world Jill Barklem created.

Libraries often have a holiday stories shelved inone place. I’m sure you’ll find many other booksand stories there that you will enjoy. Second handshops, garage sales, and even library discard salescan be great places to find holiday and otherchildren’s books at very reasonable prices. And ofcourse, new books from bookstores make greatpresents.

Enjoy! Happy holiday reading! n


theatre/writing. They often collaborate on writingand stage projects and films. Both have appearedin professional Shakespeare productions here inVictoria. Sons three and four are going in the samedirection. Our little guy, age nine, has already hada couple of “professional” acting gigs with one ofthe companies his older brother is a part of.

But can you learn more than just literature, poetry,and theatre from engagement with the works withShakespeare?

Oh, yes, you most certainly can.

Many books have been written about the breadthof Shakespeare’s knowledge and influence. I’ll justtouch on some of the aspects that have influencedour lives.

History. Shakespeare leads us to history in so manyways. The obvious ways are through his historicalplays – you can start with the Romans,

, , and .Then the Plantagenet history plays are a wonderfuland rich way to approach medieval Europeanhistory. Combining a study of Shakespeare’s sagafrom to with modernhistorical studies of this 350-year period gives youperspective you can’t get just by approaching theperiod from our twentieth/twenty-first centurypoint of view. Shakespeare, writing from an earlymodern period, acts very much as a bridgebetween us and the medieval/Renaissance period.We can look at Shakespeare as a guide andinterpreter. His history plays lead us through theMiddle Ages as Dante’s Virgil led him through theInferno and Purgatory, with the perspective ofanother age. We relate to it, but are not part of it.

And speaking of Dante, through his playsShakespeare also introduces us to the world ofmedieval France, Italy, Austria and the Balticregion. Through his sonnets, he leads us to thepoet Petrarch. He introduces us to the medievalwriters Chaucer ( ) andBoccaccio ( ). We areeducated in ancient myth, drama and philosophy.We can visit ancient Athens in

, experience the drama of the Romanauthor Plautus in , hear a storyfrom the Iliad in , and can evencompare Shakespeare’s philosophy of drama tothat expressed by Aristotle in his .

Geography. My children have become familiar withthe geography of England, France, Italy, Austria,Greece and Africa through Shakespeare. Their firstencounters with, not just London, York and

Southampton, but also Paris, Normandy, Vienna,Verona, Carthage, Athens, Rome and Albania camefrom their exposure to the works of Shakespeare.

Music. Not only do many of Shakespeare’s playshave musical interludes and song lyrics, which havebeen set to every musical genre from earlymedieval to Dixieland, but his work and lyrics haveinspired composers ranging from Thomas Morley(during his life) to Ralph Vaughn Williams in thetwentieth century. Many others have reworked hisstories in their own ways, including Beethoven( ), Samuel Barber (

), Bernstein (), Verdi ( , ), Tchaikovsky and

Stravinsky ( ).

Shakespeare engages us in moral and ethicalquestions. How should women be treated, andwhat rights should they have (

)? How do we deal with racism andethnic hatred ( )? Arepeople intrinsically evil or good (

, )? Does one country have theright to invade another ( )? What duties dofamily members owe each other ( ,

, ,, , , )?

But Shakespeare even takes us beyond thesethings. What holidays did people celebrate in theMiddle Ages and Renaissance? What plants wereimportant to them? How have his works affectedour legal system? Our spirituality? Our conceptionof time? Our individual and group psychologicaldevelopment? Many writers have examined theseissues at length.

I am now getting past the point of mid-life, so Ithink it is safe to say that one of the constantthemes of my entire life will have been the studyof the works of Shakespeare. I think that will betrue for my sons as well. I honestly can’t imaginea more pleasurable way to learn about the worldthan to study it through the eyes, mind, and heartof the greatest writer our language has everproduced. n

Cont’d from Page 11


ReviewsBooks

Websites

Places

TV

Radio

DVDs

&

:

ü

¾

»

³

Music¯

http://cache.lionbrand.com/

This site has plenty of freepatterns for knitting and crochet. It isAmerican, like so many, so you'll needto make sure you use American stitchesif you usually knit/crochet in a Britishway! I'll be doing a feature on this inforthcoming issues.

I get the newsletter, which is free, and there's always apattern or two that looks interesting and you can email themto yourself or friends as well as save them in a library ontheir website.

I particularly liked the snowflake pattern, as it shows howto do the pointed, open, shape that could be used for edginganything, rather than always having a completed edge.

:

www.noradsanta.org/en/index.html

I really like this. It's full of games, and youcan of course track Santa on the 24th - even onyour phone!

The site explains how it all began:

“The tradition began in 1955 after a ColoradoSprings-based Sears Roebuck & Co.advertisement for children to call Santamisprinted the telephone number. Instead ofreaching Santa, the phone number put kidsthrough to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief’soperations "hotline." The Director of Operationsat the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staffcheck the radar for indications of Santa makinghis way south from the North Pole. Children whocalled were given updates on his location, anda tradition was born.

In 1958, the governments of Canada and theUnited States created a bi-national air defensecommand for North America called the NorthAmerican Aerospace Defense Command, alsoknown as NORAD, which then took on thetradition of tracking Santa.

Since that time, NORAD men, women, familyand friends have selflessly volunteered their timeto personally respond to phone calls and emailsfrom children all around the world. In addition,we now track Santa using the internet. Millionsof people who want to know Santa’swhereabouts now visit the NORAD Tracks Santawebsite.”

Fantastic!

:‘Snowflake Bentley’ by Jacqueline BriggsMartin and Mary Azarian

This is a lovely history of a man trying to photographsnowflakes. He is why we know all snowflakes are different,for example.

"Nicely written - beautifully illustrated."

“What a fascinating story. One man dedicated to one thing.It's just when photography was starting out, so not as easyas today! Nicely illustrated too."

On the EOS Amazon store, ISBN 978-0547248295

&

http://m.sciencedump.com/content/oldest-computer-made-lego-antikythera-mechanism

Out and about on the net we found another EOS(www.eosmagazine.eu/language/nl-BE/home.aspx). It’s ascience magazine, and look at what they found!

Click the link above - fascinating, and has enthused me tofind out more about gears.

:


Creating Memoriesin DecemberBy Marty Layne

At this time of year, it’s easy to get caughtup in the hustle and bustle of seasonalactivities and forget to take time to enjoy

the things that make this season special.

When one of my sons turned 3, his birthday is atthe end of November, he noticed all thedecorations in the stores. “Oh Mama, that’s sobeautiful! Did they do all this just for us?” I thinkof his 3-year-old delight each year as the lightsand decorations go up. It reminds me to stop,look, and enjoy the efforts that everyone makesto create a festive atmosphere for the variouscelebrations that take place at the time of thewinter solstice.

The word solstice comes from the Latinmeaning sun and meaning standing still– During the three orfour days around the winter solstice, the nights

stay long and the days stay short. Then suddenly,the sun rises a little bit earlier and sets a little bitlater.

Many people around the world celebrate this timeof year with a festival that recognizes theimportance of light for our life on earth. It is alsoa time of when people celebrate the rebirth of thespirit and the awareness that in the midst of death,life is reborn.

Here are some suggestions for making this time ofyear special.

1. Eat by candlelight at mealtimes.No matter what age child you have, the flames ofthe candlelight add a magical touch to any meal.Just keep in mind that you’ll need to supervise yourchildren as accidents can happen when candlesare involved. Never leave a child unattended witha lit candle.

If appropriate for the age of your children, youmight ask them to tell you what they think lifewould be like if you only had candles to light upthe evenings.

2. Look at the Christmas LightsIf you live somewhere where people light up theirhouses and decorate their gardens, go for walksaround your neighbourhood at dusk and look atthe house decorations. Hold your child’s hand orpush him/her in a stroller. Take the time to stopand describe what you see. Name the colors, theway the lights are hung, and if you child can talk,ask your child to tell you what he or she especiallylikes.

Make it a short excursion. One parent preparessupper, the other parent takes the children for ashort walk to look at the lights. Switch the nexttime you go, giving both parents a chance to havean opportunity to share the lights and decorationswith your child.

If you have older children, you can go for a longerexcursion after supper and give them practicereading maps while you explore the neighborhoodfor the decorations you like the most. Download aneighborhood map from the internet. Let yourchild plot a route and mark down the houses thateveryone likes the best. It’s a great way to helpa child become familiar with maps.

3. On your way to do errands in the evening,take one child with you and take 15 minutes for adetour drive by streets that have lots of lights. Thisis a special treat for both parent and child and canbecome a family tradition.


4. Light candles in your living room and turnoff the electric lights. Sit on the couch with yourchild and look at the flames together. Describethe colors you see. Ask your child to tell you whathe or she sees.Tell your children something you remember fromthis time of year when you were a child. As yourchildren grow older, they will have memories toshare as well. And don’t forget to read to yourchildren. Reading by candle and/or firelight makesit especially warm and cozy.

5. Sing together by candlelight.Babies and children are soothed by their parents’voices. Sing seasonal songs or any song that youenjoy as you sit together curled up next to eachother on the couch or in a chair.

6. Look at the nighttime sky.Because it gets dark so early at this time of year,a clear night offers very young children anopportunity to see a sky filled with stars and themoon at a time that they are still awake.

Go to a park or somewhere away from street lightsto see the sky even more clearly

Point out how the moon changes from night tonight.

Point out the Big Dipper.

If star groupings fascinate your child, useconstellation guides to locate various constellationsin the sky. www.skymaps.com has free maps ofthe nighttime sky that you can download. n


Education is Compulsory, Schooling is Not

The specific legalities of home educating in the UK differ somewhat between England, Wales, Scotland andNorthern Ireland as much as they do in countries throughout the rest of the world. The national organisationslisted to the right go into this in detail and are a good place to go if you are unsure or have specific queries.However, some things are clear:

YOU DO NOT need to be a qualified teacher to educate your child at home

YOU ARE NOT obliged to follow the National Curriculum or take national tests

YOU DO NOT need to observe school hours, days or terms

YOU DO NOT need to have a fixed timetable, nor give formal lessons

THERE IS NO FUNDING directly available from central government for parents who decide to educate theirchildren

THERE IS NO WRONG WAY to home educate. There are many different approaches, from the autonomous orchild-led to the highly structured, through a myriad of hybrids in between. In fact it has been said that thereare as many different approaches to home education as there are families doing it.

You may have seen in the media various references to a report and subsequent proposed changes to the law.These were lost in the “washup” - the bargaining between political parties as to what bills will pass/fail in thedays after the election was announced. Many Home Educators breathed a sigh of relief when they heard thatthe HE part of the CSF Bill had been cut. The hard work of many parents to inform and educate MPs and othersenabled those in power to see that the proposed changes would not help those they wanted to help, and wouldin fact alienate many families.

The above is a swift ‘FAQ’ style list; basically, if you’re thinking of HE, and your children aren’t registered at aschool, just keep them home. Talk to them. Research what they could do, and discuss with them how they’dlike to learn. Then just do it. Go out, enjoy. (Museums, playgrounds, everywhere, are much quieter in schooltime!)

If they are at school, send a letter to the head teacher, use recorded delivery; say you will be home educating,and that’s it. Nothing else is required of you. You are the parent, you are responsibile for your child’s education,as you are responsible for other aspects of their life.

If you do your research, you will find yourself impressed and maybe amazed at what children can do outside ofschool. They really can learn very successfully! Don’t Panic. Research, and enjoy.

Local Authority information and actions differ wildly, but the facts remain as above. If they wish to speak withyou, check out the websites of HE organisations for suggestions on how to do this first. LAs are interested inmaking sure your children are receiving a good enough education, they are allowed to check if it seems they’renot.


Home Education Websites and GroupsThere are many home education groups, national and local, all over the UK. Most websites and lists are full ofvery valuable free information provided by other home educators. A few charge a subscription. EOS Magazineis not affiliated to and does not recommend any particular group over another and they have been listed in noparticular order - please use your own discretion and follow your own home ed path! Any omissions are purelydue to our own human fallibility! If you run a website or a group that you would like to see featured here, or ifyou know of one that you feel should be here, please contact us and tell us.

National

AHEdAction for Home Educationwww.ahed.org.ukPO Box 7324, Derby, DE1 0GT

Education Otherwisewww.education-otherwise.orgPO Box 325, Kings Lynn, PE34 3XW

Freedom In Educationwww.freedom-in-education.co.uk

HE-SpecialHome Education in the UK - SpecialEducational Needswww.he-special.org.uk

HE-UKHome Education UKwww.home-education.org.uk

HEdNIHome Education in Northern Irelandwww.hedni.org

Home Education Advisory Servicewww.heas.org.uk

Home Education in the UKwww.home-ed.info

Home Educated Youth CouncilAn independent voice for home educatedyoung peopleheyc.org.uk

MuddlePuddleA site aimed particularly at the 0-8 agerange.www.muddlepuddle.co.uk

SchoolhouseFor home education in Scotlandwww.schoolhouse.org.ukPO Box 18044, Glenrothes,Fife KY7 9ADTel: 01307 463120

THEN UKThe Home Education Networkwww.thenuk.comPO Box 388, St Helens, WA10 [email protected]

Home Ed Gymnastics GroupMansfield, Nottinghamshire

The group is open to all home educatedchildren aged between 4-16 years old,subject to the availability of places. Wemeet on Friday afternoons during termtime and half term holidays (but not duringEaster, summer and Christmas holidays)from 3pm-4pm.

For further details, contact Alexandra orMartin at [email protected] oron 01623 477922 or 07923 496701.

Regional

North EastNorth Yorkshirewww.nyhe.co.ukhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/henney/(Home Education Network North EastYorkshire). A monthly meeting in a localvillage hall and a montly meeting out andabout somewhere in the local area

West Yorkshirewyheal.wordpress.com

East MidlandsLeicestershirewww.he-al.org.uk

Northamptonshirewww.iflow.org.ukwww.northantshe.org.uk

West MidlandsWorcestershirewww.worcestershire-home-educators.co.uk

EastCambridgeshirewww.cambridgehomeeducators.org.uk

South EastBerkshirewww.heroesberkshire.co.ukIsle of Wightwww.iwlearningzone.co.ukKentwww.flags-education.org.ukwww.ukhome-educators.co.ukSurreywww.pact-he.org.ukwww.swsurrey-home-ed.co.uk

South WestBristolwww.bristolhomeeducation.org.ukDorsetwww.he-ed.org.ukSomersetwww.homeeducationcentre.org.ukWiltshirewww.nwilts-he.org.uk

WalesNorth Westwww.creativelearningandsupport.co.uk

Season’sGreetings

from all atEOS!

www.education-otherwise.org

www.hedni.org

www.thenuk.comwww.schoolhouse.org.uk

www.muddlepuddle.co.uk

www.heas.org.uk

www.educationeverywhere.co.uk

www.ahed.org.uk

www.education-otherwise.org

www.home-education.org.uk

www.hedni.org

www.thenuk.com

www.schoolhouse.org.uk

www.muddlepuddle.co.uk

www.educationeverywhere.co.uk

www.ahed.org.uk

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EOS Mag Issue 3 - Dec 2010

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