A week of Stealthy Education.

We have had a week of birthdays in our house so it's been an exciting time.All my children are now officially teenagers and a new chapter is no doubt beginning .

I love the home made presents they receive. The mouse my sister made for my daughter.

or the home-made cards:

and the photo in a frame of my daughter and her friend. These are the most special gifts.

For my daughter the gifts of dancing shoes, leotard, swimming costume and cycling gear shows what an outside sort of person she is.Whilst for my son it was money- he is saving up to make his own computer.Two very different little people.

I love the Summer holidays.It's the time that I home educate all my children- not in a formal sense with worksheets and tests you understand but in the very best sense there is.
My Autistic son's continued interest in the Japanese language meant that he sat riveted, watching a documentary about the train system in Tokyo. Not a place he commented, for an Autistic person,cramming 4000 people into trains built for 2000,where trains arrive every 3 minutes and are not allowed to run late. He still fancies going to the more rural areas of the country though.

My daughter, who has become a dab hand at birthday cakes, baked her own and ,as the theme of our buffet was continental food, she had a fantastic time seeking out unusual foods at the supermarket and printing out flags for each country. Even Grandma and Granddad were converted to Chicken Tikka Masala and Cajun Chicken wraps, as a result!

On the continental theme my son returned from Austria, complete with a beard! He has suddenly stepped over the boundary from childhood to adulthood and is looking forward to college, learning to drive and living independently.Something,which despite his decision not to go to university at 18 will be an important transition and something for which we are preparing him  now.

He came back to an invitation to attend an interview for an apprenticeship- no doubt based on his extensive interests and achievements outside of school and understands that it is his opportunity  to interview them too , to see if the job is one which interests him. We shall see!

A trip to the charity shop resulted in an impulse purchase of bongo drums. The entire week the house has reverberated with the sound of distant jungle drums as one or other members of the family passes them on the stairs.

Home education is never dull! I'm looking forward to another week of secret education!