Basically, I wasn't very good at updating the site. One day I was sent an email from a home educating website 'ring' to the effect that my site was being dropped from their list because I didn't update regularly enough. I was quite upset by this, as I felt I was being judged as a home educator and found wanting. When I wrote back in some distress, and explained how much pressure I was under, my reply was published at the main ring website!
Later that day, I received some seriously unpleasant comments and emails from other ring members who disapproved of my complaint.
I was so upset by these exchanges, I immediately made the blog invisible - to avoid further comments by ring members - and never posted here again. One of the key reasons for us dropping out of formal education was to avoid the horror of rules, red tape, and one-size-fits-all policies, so I suppose I was taken aback by a home educating group whose rules were so inflexible.
The kids stopped home educating the following year. Both boys have now been diagnosed with Autism and both have severe ADHD which requires full-time medication to control it. I started work again once all three of my younger kids were in full time education. We still do plenty of 'home educating' style activities though, at weekends and in the holidays, and the kids still love all mucking in together on a learning experience.
Here's my youngest on a recent trip to Compton Verney Art Gallery in the Midlands, with a paper boat she made.
N.B. To avoid further unpleasantness, I am disabling comments here. I'm not interested in getting sucked back into an argument over an issue that's many years old now. I may not have shown to much advantage in that argument, but neither did some of the more experienced members who made me so unwelcome.
The lesson I learned that day was that all groups, even groups of non-conformists, eventually force you into bowing to rules and red tape ... so if those things drive you crazy, DON'T JOIN.
Caveat home educator!
