Monster & Teeny

Last Monday we arrived at Helmsley Youth Hostel in Yorkshire. I’d hired the whole hostel for four nights and we had a wonderful time with various home educating friends. We had 14 adults and 18 children ranging in age from 2 to 10 including a birthday while we were there of Alex turning five.

The week was a perfect blend of children playing together regardless of age, gender or any other qualifying factor other than being children. There was a mix of boisterous, craziness, quiet communal film watching, play doh play, creative and imaginative role playing, IT based gaming and loads more.

There were apple trees in the grounds of the hostel so some of the children collected apples which we used for apple bobbing for the Halloween themed party on the last day and some more were used to make apple crumble which was enjoyed with ice cream. The children helped to decorate, cater for and come up with the games for the party.

I loved the fact that the various adults present also all did their thing which meant the children got the benefit of being with a wide variety of grown ups who somehow shuffled round each other in a very cohesive, getting pretty much everything which needed to be done to be done sort of fashion. I don’t think I’d ever be up for full time communal living but for snapshot periods I utterly get how it would work.

So no daily round up, nothing ouvertly educational, simply the best possible living examples for me of why we Home Educate - a hostel crammed full of some of the brightest, happiest, cheeriest, getting the most out of life, would be a positive criminal offence to stop them from doing their own individual things for six hours a day to follow some prescribed National Currciculum (OK it was half term ) children I’ve ever met.  Sitting watching those children, which I did a fair bit of last week, and chatting to their parents about their hopes, fears, dreams, thoughts for the future and so on I was struck mostly by how well they all fitted. How well they all knew each other. How much everyone knew what was each child’s ‘thing’, what their special talent, or interest, or hobby or whatever was, how very individual, special and unique each child was. I always said that if I ever had children I would celebrate them as individuals, support and encourage who they were. I adore being part of a group where that common thread runs through.

On the way home we spent a night at The Petits Haricots. The children all got swallowed up in games and fun in their lovely house while the adults had a lovely time chatting. Chris and Helen follow a rather different approach to us educationally but it is clearly working so well for them and for SB that for me it simply further proves how very specific and individual an education every child requires.

You can see some pictures of our week here on flickr.