HE Parents:Education for yourself...perhaps family history?

At this time when there is a large elephant in the room all the time with a certain tattoo...

Original image by Leah Saulnier

I find that I am thinking about the example I may be setting to my children.  I LOVE learning - I can't stop myself from getting enthusiastic and excited about subjects that interest me.  I hope that they also pick up on the fact that I try to engage with subjects that don't interest me as much.  For example, some aspects of Maths are wonderful (geometry, algebra) and others just leave me cold (nth term).

So, leaving the last week of IGCSE Geography and Paper 1 of IGCSE Physics behind, I have hurled myself into a project of my own.  Dave and the children can certainly see I am dedicating a whole heap of time to it and that I am using many resources.

So, what can this project be?  A family history project!

Yes - I have discovered the allure of Ancestry.co.uk.  It is free at local libraries and they have the full version. Last night I succumbed to a 14 day free trial of the home premium version but I don't think I will continue with it as the library is always there.

It was the mention of a couple of family mysteries on the Mason side that led me to start.  So much is known about my side (my parents having spent a lot of time on it) and personally I think it is very important to know about your forebears.

The big dark secret on the Mason side is the true identity of Dave's grandfather on his mother's side.  The tale goes (and it could well be a tale based on some truth) that grandfather Frank Maidment was actually born in India to an English army officer and a local Indian woman.  He was brought back to the UK and educated in an orphanage, sponsored by an officer called Maidment.

There appears to be some truth in it but many unanswered questions (why are exam papers creeping back into my head...BE GONE!)

So far, I have discovered the name listed on his birth certificate for his mother is Annie Maidment, domestic servant (I ordered a copy of the original).  No father is listed.  The birth date and registration date are months apart and the area he was registered is far from where she grew up (in Tisbury Union Workhouse in 1871) and from where she had been living in 1881(Islington as a domestic servant). They then both disappear from all records until 1901 when George Francis Bailey Maidment (Frank) turns up in the census of an orphanage/children's home in Shefford, Bedfordshire.

When the home burns down in 1908 he joins the army.  Fascinating physical description of him that matches the photo we have of him at about that age.  He was only 5'4" with black hair and "sallow".  He is then deployed to South Africa and Hong Kong by way of Bodmin (Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry).

Frank in 1908, possibly
Dave and Rory bear a strong resemblance

Is that Frank extreme left in the back row?
Picture is of his regiment in Hong Kong 1913

1915 - buys his way out of the army and seems to have gone to Hong Kong where he became a police officer.  He returned to the UK in 1917 and then I lose him again until he marries in Peterborough in 1924 to a girl from Shefford.  He moved to Norwich at some point and used to drive the local children around in his car (presumably in the 1930s) - he was always known as "The Indian".

There is more but that would be boring.  Suffice it to say that it has taken me days and days to find out all the pieces of the jigsaw that is the Mason-Maidment side of the family.

No sign of any Indian connections on the face of it - the facts are as they appear but then the fun bit is what the imagination does with them!  Was he brought back and Annie paid handsomely by a high ranking officer to register as his mother?  Who is the mysterious lodger Henry Quinn, commission agent, who lives in Islington at the house where she works?  What happened to Annie that meant Frank went to an orphanage?  Is that him in the second picture?  Your opinions, please!

I feel a novel coming on....!

Home education and career paths

Though I read quite a few home education blogs, I haven't read any posts recently about what happens as home-educated children progress to young adults.  I love reading the blogs of people with younger children as it takes me back to the days spent doing similar pursuits with my gang.  Now, it may just be that I haven't come across many posts to do with older children yet but there is only so long I can sit on my backside in front of a screen for!  After all, the home education (and housework etc) demands my time and attention too.

For this post, I will dedicate my next few posts to brief profiles of our six children.  If you wish to ask any questions about exams or anything else, please do so via Comments.  Let me start with the eldest and work down...


Daughter aged 24 in July 2014 (attended school until aged 12/Year 7)

Personality traits - studious and self-disciplined but a self-confessed perfectionist who continues to put pressure upon herself.  Loves singing and receives professional voice training
Favourite academic subjects - music, history, maths but jack of all trades, loves reading historical fiction
IGCSEs obtained prior to age 16 - English, Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, History, Geography
Further Education - at Sixth Form college:  AS History, AS Critical Thinking, AS/A2 Maths, AS/A2 Further Maths, BTEC certificate Drama
Higher Education - University of York studying Maths but dropped out during first year as the university lifestyle did not suit her despite doing well in her subject (verified by my speaking to her tutor!).
Progression thereafter - found job training as an accounts clerk and moved a long away from home.  Completed two years of Open University degree course in Maths (statistics) before the OU dropped the February start time forcing all units to be completed between October and February instead of being spread throughout the year.  She could not sustain full-time employment and the study hours necessary (dreadful shame and I wonder how many other students dropped out).  She is now running the accounts department and is second in command to the boss.  She has just bought her own flat through a shared ownership scheme.  Still singing and studying with a professional singer for Musical Theatre exams. New interests developed since leaving home: sailing, volleyball.
Future possibilities - possibly studying for CIMA exams.  More Musical Theatre exams

Striking the right balance with technology

Let's face it, technology plays a huge part in modern life.  When it comes to home education, it would be much more difficult without the resources available via the internet.  I have also seen much more happening via social networking in recent years.  However, it is all to easy to let it run away with you until suddenly you look around and wonder how it came to be that you are spending too much time sitting on your backside in front of a screen and not enough time at a table (or elsewhere) with your children.

Our home education journey has come a long way since the early days.  Back then, we were concentrating on teaching the children to read, hold a pencil, draw and do maths verbally.  Progress led to workbooks and writing LOADS of stories.  Diaries also worked very well.  However, the majority of the days were spent playing with friends and going out en famille.

Time passed and workbooks became textbooks for the older ones whilst the early years projects started with the younger ones.  More time passed and the phases shifted again.  Exams: did we need or want to do them early?  Yes, we did.  Only at this point did the use of computers become more significant.

Now I look around me and see that too much time is spent in front of screens.  Personally, I have to spend more and more time here than previously in order to run our business and earn the money to pay the bills, to fund the trips, to pay for the books de-da-de-da-de-da... this is increasingly the modern way. However, the example I set in doing so then seems to have given the rest of the family the idea that this is the example to follow.

I do not believe it is right and so I am going to re-structure our home education to return to our core values with selective and judicious use of technology.

Watch this space!

P.S.  This means I may be writing shorter blog entries and automating the other "stuff".  Here is a list of all my digital presences so you can see how it has taken over.

P.P.S.  Whoever said that computers "save time"?

Inspire To Write main website

http://www.inspiretowrite.co.uk/

Full publication list on our website

http://www.inspiretowrite.co.uk/book-shop.aspx

Music CDs on our website and links to digital downloads

http://www.inspiretowrite.co.uk/music-shop.aspx

Listmania link to all the ebooks available on Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ebooks-by-David-J-Mason-children-s-author-and-poet/lm/R1PMWOFUSIVUGO/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full

BLOGS

Our experiences of self-publishing/epublishing:

http://guidetoselfpublishinguk.blogspot.co.uk/

Our home education blog:

http://homeeducationwithcurriculum.blogspot.co.uk/

Mr Smile's Happy Blog:

http://mrsmileshappyblog.blogspot.co.uk/

YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcLU3-z3qSim7HUnv72K1-A

Facebook

Inspire To Write:  https://www.facebook.com/InspireToWrite?ref=hl

Helen:  https://www.facebook.com/helen.mason.585

David (not that he ever logs on!):  https://www.facebook.com/david.mason.5454021

Twitter

Business @mason_creative- https://twitter.com/mason_creative

Helen @MrsSelfPub - https://twitter.com/MrsSelfPub

LinkedIn

Helen:  https://www.linkedin.com/pub/helen-mason/16/925/7a8

David (not that he ever logs on!): https://www.linkedin.com/pub/david-mason/3a/582/391

Exams: Physics without a text book

We are currently in Mallorca for a two week break in celebration of mine and Dave's birthdays.  With us, as ever, are four of our six lovely children and a selection of home education materials.  It is pared down on this occasion as we were trying to cut down on the hold luggage as EasyJet now charges £30 per item and most of our baggage weight always seems to be in books, shoes and sports equipment.

Responsibility for packing the IGCSE Geography and Physics was passed to the two students who were to ship it in their hand luggage.  Unfortunately, when we started unpacking, we discovered that the physics books were still back home.  Cue panic.

We are now adapting to the situation by using online resources that we haven't used before.  My starting point is the wonderful selection of resource sites on the home education site A Little Bit Of Structure (LBOS).  My gratitude to those blogging home-educating parents is immense.  I have cobbled together some extracts from old physics textbooks available from the National STEM Centre (nothing to do with cells but actually an acronym for Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics).  I also found a gem of a Kindle book "20:80 Physics" by Michael Reid that has some great techniques and mnemonics for remembering and manipulating formulae.

Amazon fortunately list Pearson's official textbook for IGCSE Physics so I can look inside and use the table of contents and index as a further prompt.  Unlike the IGCSE Geography which has its first sitting this May, the IGCSE Physics has been going for a couple of years and so I can download most of the past papers/marks schemes and examiners' reports from the subject page.

Now comes the tricky bit: putting all the resources together and delivering them to my two students.  Wish us luck!

P.S.  Now also found loads of material on Memrise:
http://www.memrise.com/course/251560/edexcel-igcse-physics-equations-4/
http://www.memrise.com/course/88375/edexcel-igcse-physics-equations-2/
http://www.memrise.com/course/95646/edexcel-igcse-physics-2/
http://www.memrise.com/course/95730/edexcel-igcse-physics-equations-3/2/

Is it OK to let them fail?

How hard should we push our children to study?  How much pressure should we exert when they seem to be lacking in motivation?  Should we let them learn from failure?  How does our stance fit in to our original motivation for home educating?

These are all questions that are buzzing around my head as we move towards more exams with two of our six children.  It is also discussed in an article in The Times this morning in relation to both sport and a high achieving independent high school.

The current study schedule for Rosa (16) and Rory (14) is another two Edexcel IGCSEs in May/June 2014:

• Geography (one 3 hour written paper)
• Physics (one 2 hour written paper and one 1 hour written paper)

They already have four IGCSEs to their names, having taken Biology and Chemistry back in May 2012, AQA Maths GCSE in November 2012 and IGCSE English Language in May 2013 (see the links for downloadable specifications from the boards' websites).

For each of the subjects, we purchased the recommended textbooks listed on the resources sections of Edexcel and AQA. Other than that, being on a low budget, we had no professional tutors, only our own brains and those of our (often unwilling) students.  The biggest problem was not the content to be taught but managing the fluctuating enthusiasm and commitment.  They passed all of the exams but we feel sure that their best marks were in the subjects that fired them up most and therefore they worked hardest at.

For us, home education had always meant freedom from the pressures on school students to pass this and achieve that.  This was fine until the reality of the mid-teenage years with our two older children (22 and nearly 24 at time of writing).  They wanted to go back into mainstream education for sixth form.  For this they needed 5 GCSEs grades A*-C. Hence our push for exams began but it was tough at times.  They succeeded and went on from college to university and employment.

As I stress myself out once again, trying to bring Rosa and Rory to the dining table to study...and not succeeding, I wonder if I should let them "fail".  I know they are in fact unlikely to achieve less than grade C for either subject but I also know they have potential for the top grades if they put in the work now.  Will the disappointment on results day at not getting top grades (as happened before) teach them to work harder for themselves not for me?

I am beginning to think I should let them face the consequences of their own making.  However, I don't know if the legacy of my own conventional teenage years, high standards and passion for study will let me.  May be I, too, need to learn to "fail".