Activity Feed

We had a letter in March asking for a report on ‘educational provision’. I sent a page and a half describing what we do, no timetable, no samples, and that was accepted.

Short bursts and a lot of moving about. Ten minutes of anything, then off the chair. We also stopped fighting handwriting and used a keyboard, which removed about half the daily battle.

Mine took six weeks to reply and then quoted a policy that doesn’t apply to home educators. I started putting everything in writing and copying it back to them, and the tone changed overnight.

Yes, about a fortnight in. I remember sitting in the car park after posting the letter thinking I’d ruined his whole future. Three years on it was the best thing we ever did — but nobody warns you about that first wobble.

Ours is the same. We stopped using paper altogether for a while and did everything out loud or on the whiteboard — maths while walking, spellings in the bath. He didn’t notice he was learning, which was rather the point.

Honestly? I don’t think you ever feel like you’re doing enough. What helped me was writing down what we actually did at the end of the week rather than what I’d planned. It’s always more than it felt like at the time.

We went through EOTAS last year. The thing nobody told me: it hangs on the wording of the EHCP, so get section F right before anything else. Happy to share what our letters said if that helps.

Ours was a huge cardboard box and a torch. Two hours of ‘cave archaeology’ and I didn’t have to do a thing except supply biscuits.