SUSTAINABLE PROSPECTS : WEEK 12 SURVEY MONKEY FOR PARENTS INCLUDED IN THE PROJECT.

In June 2019 I started my MA with Falmouth university as part of an accredited education programme.

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SUSTAINABLE PROSPECTS : WEEK 12 – POLAROID EXPERIMENTATION – https://www.bambino-art.co.uk/sustainable-prospects-week-12-polaroid-experimentation/

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FOR EASE I DECIDED TO RUN MY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE PROJECT PARTICIPANTS AS A SURVEY ON SURVEY MONKEY. THIS WAS FOR A FEW REASONS, ONE WAS THAT I DIDN’T HAVE TIME TO ACTUALLY WRITE IT ALL OUT AND DESIGN MYSELF IN THE END, THE SECOND WAS THAT IT WAS CONVENIENT FOR ME, BUT THIRDLY AND BAR THE LARGEST FACTOR, WAS AUDIENCE, THESE PEOPLE AS CRAZY INSANE BUSY A LOT OF THE TIME, I NEEDED SOMETHING THAT WAS GOING TO BE REALLY REALLY QUICK AND EASY FOR THEM TO DO, AND THE FORMAT OF SURVEY MONKEY ALLOWED THEM TO DO THE SURVEY ON THEIR PHONE OR IPAD ETC , THE AVERAGE TIME I THINK SPENT DOING  THE FORM WAS AROUND 12 MINS , AND IT WAS AVAILABLE FOR ME STRAIGHT AWAY IN REAL TIME ONCE THEY HAD COMPLETED IT.

MOVING FORWARD I WILL NOW KEEP THIS WAY OF CONDUCTING SURVEYS GOING AS I COULD GIVE THE LINKS TO THE PARENTS WHILST I AM AT THE PHOTOSHOOTS, AND MAKE IT LOADS EASIER FOR THEM.

I HAVE ALSO PASSED THE LINK ON TO A FEW OTHER PEOPLE WHO ARE IN THE FACEBOOK GROUP BUT NOT HAD PHOTOSHOOTS DONE FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER, AND AM PLANNING ON OPENING IT UP TO THE WIDER HOME ED COMMUNITY NEXT MODULE TO GET A BROADER NATIONWIDE VIEW.

 

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QUITE A FEW OF THE PARENTS WERE MORE THAN HAPPY FOR ME TO USE THE INFORMATION HERE, HOWEVER I AM GOING TO ONLY USE ONE OF THE FORMS AS AN EXAMPLE, AND THEN GIVE AN OVER VIEW OF SOME OF THE REPLIES I RECEIVED . I HAVE MADE SOME EDITS TO THIS FORM FOR THE PRIVACY OF THE FAMILY, EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE GIVEN CONSENT FOR IT TO BE SHARED, I FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE DOING IT LIKE THIS AT THE MOMENT AS I DON’T WANT TO REGRET THE DECISION LATER. .

 

• Collector: Web Link 1 (Web Link)
• Started: Sunday, December 08, 2019 6:46:02 AM
• Last Modified: Sunday, December 08, 2019 7:15:50 AM

Page 1

Q1

Your (and & your partners if applicable) name(s)

Q2

Your child(rens) name(s) and age(s

Q3

Have your children always been home educated? If no, are you able to give the reason for removal from school, and how long the child had been in education?

4 years of home Ed,( EDITED FOR PRIVACY one child) removed due to high anxiety, her needs not recognised by the Sen co, or teaching staff. (ONE CHILD … EDITED FOR PRIVACY) was bullied by his peers and older children. This too was brushed aside.

Q4

Can you describe your educational philosophy. Do you subscribe to any one style / philosophy of education ( un-schoolers for example) .

Mixed

Some focused education in an alternative setting and lots of experiential things with arts and culture and travel high on the agenda. Some Steiner education (2 years-3 for YOUNGEST CHILD) and a lot of wilding.

Q5

What are you reasons for choosing alternative education?

The flexibility to work according to need, remain engaged with the learning process and protect my children from a test focused system that fosters stress and anxiety over rounded, happy humans that are resilient and responsible to help all beings in the future. I hope it enables them to maintain their individuality and creativity.

Q6

What do you see as the benefits of alternative education

As above

Freedom to learn, autonomy, independence and creativity.

Less focus on where one should be and more on the personal journey of each person.

We can travel without justification for time off when studies prove the benefits, we can take advantage of opportunities that might otherwise impact on school time and enjoy a childhood (more)free from electronic influences, peer pressure and an obsession with growing up.

Q7

What do you see as the negatives of alternative education (if any?)

It can be lonely. Children don’t always respond to mum and dad so readily. It can be 24/7 which is exhausting and doesn’t always promote independence. Access to support and facilities can be challenging and there are preconceptions and judgement from some.

Q8

Is there anything you or your children feel you would like to say regarding alternative education , it can be anything, the why, how, where , when, …. anything that you feel is important.

I sometimes miss the social, it can be hard keeping up with friends- (Edited for privacy – Youngest child. )

Alternative education can be an amazing experience. Not everyone will enjoy it, not everyone wants to be responsible for their child’s education, but for those it suits, it is a wonderful way to learn. I enjoyed school, I thrived there and my older daughter chose to remain when I was asking her to leave. She is now at university and loves it. There seems to be a shift in home Ed at the moment, it’s becoming a lifestyle choice and much more reliant on sourcing education from alternative providers. We all must work to provide for our families and to do this many need time away from our children, if home Ed is school for kids not in school, then it’s time for the powers that be to sit up and instead of questioning our rights to educate our own children, look at how they could support the alternative provisions to ensure they are sustainable and of a high quality that is accessible to families of all backgrounds.

Q9

Why did you choose to take part in my photography project on alternative education?

I am interested in the findings, I hope it provides information, support and guidance to those who are struggling, are yet to take the leap, or just that it helps demystify home educators for the future harmony in our communities.

Q10

Please indicate in the box whether you are happy for me to share your above responses, this can be not at all, anonymously away from your photographs, with your photographs with your name, or with your photographs without your name.

Fine, however you see fit

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SOME OF THE OTHER RESPONSES THAT I HAVE PICKED OUT OF THE FORMS SUBMITTED SO FAR, ALL ARE FROM FORMS WHERE PARENTS HAVE OK’D ME SHARING THE INFORMATION.

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Q3

Have your children always been home educated? If no, are you able to give the reason for removal from school, and how long the child had been in education?

Both of my children started their education in mainstream school and both them and myself never felt at ease with it. My youngest daughter especially struggled with separation anxiety, I removed her school age 9 and my eldest at 12. We have no intention of returning to the school system

Yes, always home educated.

We took O out of school in her final term of Year R. No major problems, she was bright, very well behaved, ahead of her peers, a joy to teach etc etc. But she was not happy being left at school and had a lot of ‘tummy aches’. I hadn’t really properly considered HE or realised it was one thing I could do. As my awareness increased and it dawned on me that I could do it, I realised more and more how unhappy I was with the education system and how much better if I thought she would outside of that system. Os is still in school – too far into the system to want to come out. And A won’t be going to school.

No. My eldest son has always been flexischooled. . My daughter tried flexischooling in reception and disliked the ‘boring’ school environment.

My son came out due to school not meeting his needs as an extremely intelligent gifted child, that has Aspergers. The others were all given the option and chose to leave.

A was in education for one academic year, reception year. During that year I become more aware of Home Education, meeting families and gaining an insight into how they do it. I was concerned about the increasing culture in England to push academic study of English and Maths at an increasingly early age, to the eradication of time for learning through play and pressure on schools and children to perform in SATs. This culture goes against everything learned about childhood and learning during my Montessori Diploma and Early Childhood Care and Education Degree.

My daughter started school and I was concerned about the increasing pressure on her at such a young age to read, write and perform formal maths. At first I thought she was doing okay but I became increasingly concerned about a black of outdoor free play and exploration and she started suffering terrible stomach pains and sensory issues with her clothes towards the end of each term. I believe these were outward manifestations of anxiety/stress caused by school.Since taking her out of school all of these symptoms have stopped! She also shut her self off to making any progress in her reading! This has taken much longer to overcome. N attended pre-school but not school.

 

Q4

Can you describe your educational philosophy. Do you subscribe to any one style / philosophy of education ( un-schoolers for example) .

If I had to describe it I’d say eclectic or child-led. I’d describe it as fluid and undefinable due to the nature of changing our philosophies as and when suits us individually or as a family. It’s intuitive and reactive. Impulsive and sometimes predictable.

My educational philosophy most closely corresponds with unscholling.  However, I try to avoid using a label as I find it too restrictive.  Instead, our educational style varies depending on the emotional and educational needs of the children.  We have had periods when we have used some quite structured techniques and then periods of time when we have needed to be completely free from pressure to give us time as a family to recover from trauma.  My guiding principle is to respect my children as equals and to respect their needs and desires.

A little bit of everything. A bit unschooling, a bit world schooling, a bit structured learning.

We are semi structured. Both girls are working towards GCSEs of their choice as they wish to follow their dreams of attending a university to study art and English (this May well change but for now we are going with it)

Experiential learning.

We are semi-structured. We follow an American system for mathematics and loosely follow the national curriculum for English.

We largely unschool with some child-led structure interspersed

Mixed approach Worldschoolers / semi-structured but we follow the children’s interests

I believe that my children can guide their own learning through play and interaction with interesting and stimulating environments, activities, peers and adults. More formal learning activities are provided as optional for me younger daughter and compulsory for my older daughter. I place this requirement on my older daughter because child development and neuroscience tells us that at age 7/8 children’s brain have the developed the ability to understand abstract concepts, she required to do these only in bitesized piece and to maintain a little pace with the National Curriculum should circumstance or her choice cause her to re-enter the school system.

I don’t really have a particular educational philosophy, I just want A to be happy, kind, empathic and feel loved, and I try to be child led in his interests as much as possible. As we’re away so much in the summer travelling with our band, I try and keep regular clubs for him so he feels like he belongs to things at home. We talk lots, especially when we’re out walking together, and spend lovely times out walking together on the cliffs and in the woods either fighting imaginary ogres with sticks, building dens or pondering on the meaning of life and the scale of the universe! Music is a big part of our life, we go to a lot of gigs and theatre shows. We jam together at home, on guitars and violin, and A has violin lessons. A is at **** (local school – edited for privacy) for 2 and a half days a week, where he does English, drama and creative writing. He also attends Capoeira classes, Parkour, Martial Arts, swimming classes and violin lessons every week. And sometimes circus school. All from his own volition, he just loves being out and about! When we travel long journeys in the summer we try and fit in education during the travel,

I don’t like to subscribe to one style but the nearest would be ‘unschoolers’, leaning to ‘radical unschooling’. “Learning through play” until 7 has been our guiding principle. I like to encourage people to “take Home Education one year at a time because you never know how life will change.” We are currently very child led, but as they get older I hope to add in more structure.

Relaxed, no schedules, lots of reading & lots of nature.

I think we are a mixture of philosophies. I like the idea of unschooling/autonomous learning but sometimes feel the need of some control. Most of all we are child led, with some gentle guidance.

I don’t really give it a name. I guess we might be called semi-  structured. Our week is pretty mapped out with groups etc and we do follow the curriculum loosely for maths / English to keep her up to speed should she wish to go back. We use a mixture of workbooks, science subscription boxes, lap book style projects for geography / history plus forest / wood school style groups and ‘Kym’s group’ for more formal group learning. She also does a good deal of physical activity – karate, lots of gym and lots of dance. I guess people might say this is pretty structured! But we’re nowhere near the end of the spectrum that creates school at home and probably only do an average of a less than an hour a day of structured stuff at home.

 

Q5

What are you reasons for choosing alternative education?

We can offer learning opportunities which school cannot. We can follow the children’s interest, learn in more depth, through hands on learning.

As an educator, I feel the school system as it currently stands is inadequate to meet the needs of my individual children

It enabled my children to have individualised educations that best met their wants, desires and needs as children. Allowing them to follow their paths and passions without the confines of traditional education. It also allowed their own relationship to flourish in ways I think would of been hard if not impossible in a traditional school setting.

The idea of sending my children into an environment where their spirits, and gentle souls, were likely to be crushed horrified me.

They have the opportunity to express themselves and choose how they do their learning at a pace that suits them. I feel this leads to better mental health overall, and therefor more fulfilled human beings.

I dislike the introduction of EYF and the “processing” of tiny people into the school system at such an early age in the UK. I see more & more friends’ kids struggling to “fit in” to the system.

It seemed to be the best fit for our family. It isn’t alternative really, we all have the choice but most people seem to choose to hand over the education of their children to the local authority

My younger siblings were all Home Educated at points in their lives, but this actually made us both more against it! It wasn’t until we moved to a new area and all the local schools were rated 6/10 that we realised our children wouldn’t be very unlikely to thrive at school.

To give O the opportunity to be at home longer with me – which she clearly needed at 4/5.

To avoid O getting sucked into the pressure of succeeding / being the best – she has tendencies towards perfectionism and I worry about her being at the top of the class and feeling the pressure to remain there.

I don’t believe that the current education system is fit for purpose or has the right priorities in the right places.

The ridged system of formal education did not suit my children or myself as a parent. The environment caused massive issues increasing the girls anxiety leading to ill health both physically and mentally.

At the very start, the reason was simple, at 4 years old my children were still napping in the day and we felt they were too young for full time school. It has just continued from there.

I believe that the English education system is outdated and ignores all the scientific and anecdotal evidence we have in regard to how children learn and develop. Academics are started much to young, the importance of play and movement is eradicated from year 1 upwards when it should be central, there is overemphasis on teaching to tests which focuses too much on computer like skills rather than on creativity, innovation, imagination, problem solving, etc. that will be more beneficial for children going into an automated world! Home education allows me to focus on these skills with my children. It also allows me to support their individual needs, interests and pace of learning. We can adapt and chance quickly to their changing needs.

Because of our transient lifestyle as musicians, we are often away gigging, and wanted to keep our family together at all times, but we couldn’t find a local school that would support any kind of Flexi schooling. When we went to look at the schools, my head was screaming “why are the children all kept in boxes all day long?”. And then A, aged 4, said to me, “If I have to wear a uniform, how will they know which on is me???”, and that made my mind up! I didn’t want my questioning, energetic, funny child to have to try and fit into any boxes or try to conform. I met a group of like-minded adults and we set up a beautiful home-schooling co-operative called ****** (local cooperative – edited for privacy) which was perfect, where we educated 12 children together for 3 days a week, outdoors and child-led. It was beautiful, and I was devastated when it was forced to close by the government. Since then I have been finding my way with home-ed, getting out there an meeting as may other parents as I can so A has lots of friends.

I first discovered home education through attending an attachment parenting group.  I saw how the home educated children flourished and were able to focus on their interests which were often highly specialised.  They would be unable to explore these topics to this depth at school.  To me, home educated children are able to interact with the world in a way that schooled children cannot; they are not restricted and are given a freedom to explore that schools are simply unable to provide.  I feel that all children are unique beings and that school is unable to respond to this.  Children then become disillusioned or loose their confidence in their abilities.  My other concern has been peer pressure, that children are grouped because of their age not mental or emotional needs.  Children feel they need to conform to gain respect or friendship.  Whereas in the home ed community children are naturally more respectful of differences and display more empathy towards each other.

Being together as a family and having adults around them that truly loved and respected them was a priority for us. Respecting each child for ty journey they are on, not what they expected to be on. Allowing us to indulge in interests as they come up and take trips whenever we want.

 

Q6

What do you see as the benefits of alternative education

Not conforming to needless testing on children and the pressures that puts them under. A more free-flow of learning rather than the regimented learning in school.

Being able to witness first hand the leaps and bounds my children make.

Freedom. Less stress. Less arbitrary rules. Unconditional love when struggles occur. Time for patience.

I hate the thought of someone else witnessing my child’s milestones and development. There is nothing that can replace the insight, patience, dedication, and determination of a loving parent to overcome any challenges in their learning. As time has gone on we have come to realise that our oldest is showing a lot of signs of Autism and that we have without a doubt made the right decision.

Freedom. To travel, to explore, to spend time with your child, to learn together. I love being able to follow paths of inquisition led my my son, and to learn experientially. I am fascinated watching him develop at his own speed, at his own time, and astounded at the depth of his knowledge and questioning. We love to have days dictated by the weather and the season, to follow our desires, to learn through days out and inspiration from friends. A has a joy of learning, of maths and science which has come for his own fascination, without tests or direct learning. I love to watch his development change and grow, with confidence and curiosity.

We love the flexibility to throw it all in when the sun is shining, or when we’re tired. We can make our days fit us.

The children being able to be children. Not being forced into being cookie cutter moulds, following their own paths, their own interests, learning to be good people, with good strong morals , and being happy, in a way they never were at school.

individualised programme of education that is play based, allows for free exploration, lots of outdoor exploration and play, is responsive to their individual needs and interests. They get to lead their learning, be involved in decisions about them and focus on their personal, social and emotional development first, laying a firm foundation for all other areas of learning and development. I encourage creativity, imagination and problem solving.

My two younger children have a great connection because they’re with each other all day every day and not separated by school.

We spend more time together as a family.

There are so many opportunities out there to learn outside of the classroom and we can take advantage of as many of them as we choose.

We can be outside so much more of the time, whatever the season / weather. My kids are much more connected with the natural world / passing of the seasons than they would be at home.

We can learn at our own pace – take time over some things or speed through others without her being stuck at the pace of the classroom.

O doesn’t like being distracted and is keen to focus on her own learning when she’s in her zone. Being at home means that she can do this without the distractions of the classroom.

We can seek activities / learning opportunities etc that fit with our own family’s values / ethos and reinforce.

Happier, freer kids. Free thinkers, who are socially fluent with all ages/colors/abilities. Problem-solving, autSocialisation Improved mental health outcomes Better educational opportunities Freedom to follow paths that suit our familyonomy, investigative minds & self-awareness. Confidence & kindness.

I lay awake at night panicking about A’s future, the level of his reading and writing . As he’s an only child I have to spend a lot of my time taking him to be with other children awn he a very sociable child. We attend lots of clubs and classes, which is fabulous, but they are expensive. Sometimes I feel the responsibility overwhelming, and other days liberating.

Freedom  to be ourselves, to acknowledge how we learn best and follow that route.

To learn what we want to learn when we want to learn it. And the inverse; not to feel forced to learn something because we are the ‘correct’ age to learn it

Loads of time together doing fun things as a family and enjoying each other’s company.

Friends that we choose, not those we are thrown together with because they are the same age as us.

Lots of opportunities to mix with people of different ages.

Being able to respond fairly quickly to what they are interested in. I love how the day can start in one direction, and one question can completely change what we do. The amazing benefits of being able to focus on one to one learning the majority of the time.

Alternative education allows my children to be who they want to be allowing them to grow and be free whilst still achieving what ever it is they want to do whether it’s drawing a masterpiece or just brushing their teeth!

 

Q7

What do you see as the negatives of alternative education (if any?)

I was going to say not being able to work but actually my children being home educated enabled me to follow my own dreams and I studied alongside them and have recently opened my own therapy practice.

Less child-free time for the parents.

Financial impact Pressures on parents

Financially we make cuts that allow us to live this lifestyle. Groups and the children’s interests that we expand upon are expensive

None. We are very lucky in Cornwall to have a wide variety of groups and resources to acces

Less money!

My children do miss out on subsidised music lessons for learning instruments. We don’t have access to same resources they have at school but there are affordable ways around this through home education networks, both personal and online. Not having family close by, my husband and I have no access to free childcare for when we need time to ourselves. However, I have a growing network of fellow home educating families who will help if I’m wet really stuck.

Time! I have none. I have no time away from the children to just be / get stuff done etc. I am happy with this, but it gets an hit much sometimes!

Sometimes we find that me being ‘teacher’ sometimes can be a challenge. O struggles a lot with making mistakes and gets quite upset – she faces this very differently when with other adults who run groups etc where she is much more compliant / less emotional in the face of challenges. This is a two sided thing though – I also like that she feels comfortable enough learning with me to be able to show how hard she finds ‘getting it wrong’ so she can process it at the time and not have to hold it in as she would at school. But, it can be a challenge at times for both of us.

Financial.

As a single parent, I rarely get time to myself.   When life throws hurdles at us as a family I sometimes struggle as I need to safeguard my children but I struggle to find the time to recharge my batteries.  I have been worried that certain aspects of school that I felt were beneficial I have struggled to reproduce (i.e. science experiments and game playing) but the home ed community has developed and provided opportunities that have addressed these concerns.

It is 100% down to me as a parent and can be extremely full on and tiring. There is never a break.

 I have no time on my own pretty much, and that is hard. You have to work hard at that to keep balance. For my children …. I feel they have missed out on things like proms, Christmas plays, sports days , they feel extremely strongly that they haven’t, and even if they have it was an easy sacrifice to make for what they gained.

There will be things they will miss out on, but they also get to experiences so much that school children miss out on that it does balance itself. You are with your kids 24/7, but you do adjust to it!

 

Q8

Is there anything you or your children feel you would like to say regarding alternative education , it can be anything, the why, how, where , when, …. anything that you feel is important.

Both of my children have visited schools, been to open days and are regularly offered the opportunity to try school or go to school. Neither of them have taken that opportunity (though one has had a taster day).

Home education has allowed my children to grow up with a sense of belonging in society. They are heard, they are social, they see no difference between them and anyone else of a different age. They are not hidden each day and don’t live in a world where they are taught that children should be seen and not heard. They have a voice.

Home Educating is a decision we took as parents which has now become a whole family choice.

E says “school was scary and I’ve learnt way more being in charge of my own lessons”

I “no one judges me for being me!”

Anyone can do it. You don’t need a degree to “teach” and you don’t need a special reason

We are part of a wonderful community of home educators who all have arrived here for different reasons and with different philosophies but despite this I find in it an incredibly caring and supportive community.

Being able to home educate my children has given me back my children not just physically but emotionally and mentally. It’s not always easy or fun but I wouldn’t change it for the world, I just wish I had been braver soon and removed them years earlier or better still never sent them to school in the first place.

The lack of socialisation is such a big myth!

It is widely misunderstood and misrepresented

D playful, helpful, get to play with our friends, don’t have to go to school

E I like doing what we’re doing, and everything that D said. I feel good about it. We get to play with our little brothers which we wouldn’t do at school. We get to go places that we wouldn’t if we were at school.

G not feeling restricted by the curriculum, lots of activities they can do that aren’t provided for at school.

It’s better than school because you move more (eldest child)

 

Q9

Why did you choose to take part in my photography project on alternative education?

Because some people think Home Education is a middle class thing.

Because I wanted to tell the world theres another way, and it’s not weird or scary, but beautiful, and attainable.

Because I feel like anything that addresses alternative education should include a variety of viewpoints.  I realise we are quite alternative but also that we aren’t alone in our attitude towards HE and would like our beliefs to be represented.

We wanted to take part because our lifestyle is quite ordinary but we are constantly under attack from others who feel it is ok to make negative comments and u justified jibes (I had one today when I mentioned that I had to dash as I had a rare hour to shop without the children and the person said “that’s why the rest of the world sends their children to school!”

Letting others in society have a glimpse into the ordinariness of our home schooling lives is a wonderful gift.

Because it seems like a lovely project to be involved with!

It seems to me to be a wonderful project that beautifully captures the wonder of what we do across the variety of who we are and what we do. A broad representation that is so often missing in public snapshots of what it is.

Because your photography captures those……moments…… The moments you forget are there but I knew you would make me feel seen again.

I asked the children and they said they wanted to help you with your project

I love your photographs and the idea of your project. What I have discovered during our journey, is the reciprocal nature of the relationships HomeEd families have with each other. I see taking part in your project as something that we can do to help further your learning journey, and eventually there’ll be something that is advantageous to us.

I am fascinated by the huge numbers of children being home-educated in this county, and I thought your project sounded like a brilliant way to draw people together and show to the outside world.

Because we think you are fab and wanted to support you in your learning, as you have supported our learning.

(And it was a great opportunity to get some amazing photos!)