Not starting school

An open, honest letter to my child who won’t be starting school this September

Today we’ll take it easy,
No rush, we’ve lots of time.
The whole day lies before us
And the weather’s looking fine.

Perhaps we’ll picnic in the park
Or on the front room floor,
For you are still so little;
You’ve only just turned four.

You choose the clothes you’d like to wear
And bring your teddy too,
Tell me where you’d like to go
And what you’d like to do.

We’ll take our favourite things for lunch,
Lay down and watch the skies
And if you fall and hurt yourself,
I’m here to dry your eyes.

Then we’ll go and see our friends
And share the afternoon.
We’ll talk and listen, play and paint,
The time will go too soon.

Because you’re still so little,
You don’t have to be alone
‘Till you decide the time is right
To branch out on your own.

‘Till then, I’m right beside you
When you need to hold my hand.
We’ll explore and learn together;
The best way to understand.

You’ve been alive for just 4 years,
Your place is here at home,
It’s our job to nurture you
And keep you safe from harm.

You fill my world with happiness,
I love to watch you play.
You’re learning all you need to know,
We’re doing it our way.

So before we go exploring soon,
I’ll kiss you one more time,
Happy that you’ll always be
Forever truly mine.

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13 thoughts on “Not starting school”

  4. Pingback: Not starting school | Miles Homeschool

  6. Beautiful! I couldn’t imagine sending my boys to school just turned 4! We’re home edding, at least for a little while (my OH isn’t so keen, hoping to change his mind after the first year of it!). 🙂 x

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    • Monkey Mum says:

      Thanks Jenny,
      We have known for a long time, that we wouldn’t be applying for school. Four is still so young. I couldn’t imagine sending either of my little girls to school. Have a lovely year with your boys, and then see how the land lies xx

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  7. Vicki says:

    Curios mum here.. My babies, presently 14, 10, 7 and 5 have all gone to mainstream school. What and how do you teach your children at home? Two of my children are happy at school and two aren’t and I think that home schooling would be better but I have that very common question what is best and what would I teach them?

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    • Monkey Mum says:

      This is a really good question! We are in the UK, where home educators are not legally required to follow a curriculum. Many choose to, either because they have a curriculum that works well for their family, or because it’s reassuring to have set content to learn. Some use the national curriculum, which is available free online, along with loads of free websites offering learning resources that can be saved or printed. Some people buy a published curriculum, which often come with worksheets etc or online activities included. Some people plan out their own, based on what they think is important for their children to learn and then find workbooks or resources that would fit it. Some people decide not to use or plan any kind of curriculum but allow for autonomous learning, or unschooling, which puts the learner in charge of deciding what and how to learn. Personally, we unschool. I don’t teach them anything specifically academic unless they ask for it. We do have some workbooks for them to use if they choose, but they don’t. At the moment (my two are 6 and 4), we haven’t found any need for any curriculum or formal teaching, as they are both learning through life/play/experiences, but if/when either asks for more, it’s reassuring to know that there is a massive amount of freely available teaching/learning resources online, many especially aimed at homeschoolers, including those for older children like your 14 year old. If you are in the UK, there are some really useful Facebook groups that welcome people who are seriously considering home ed. They welcome questions like these, and with thousands of members, you’d get ideas from all angles. They also have links to shared files and resources that would really help you. A good starting place is the Home Education UK group on Facebook. Or if you don’t have Facebook, a website called Education Otherwise. Hope that helps x

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