education is compulsory

A few points to end on:-

• I received a public school education - Winnie went to a high-achieving grammar school. We both feel that Anna and Sophie have already experienced as many things relevant to 'real life' in their two and a half years of home-ed as we did in our whole school careers.
• Our families, almost without exception, believed us to be mad. Taking the decision was in many ways frightening, going against convention as it did. But somehow listening to our children and letting them guide us has given us the confidence to experiment. Doubters may well remain doubting for the rest of their lives (after all even if our girls become 'captains of industry' the argument can still be thrown at us of 'well yes, but imagine how much better they would have done if they had gone to school') - we have to learn to accept their judgements even if we don't agree with them.
• People often think you need money for home-schooling - 'it's a middle class thing'. Well yes, we both had middle class upbringings. But no, we do not have pots of money. Since 1996 we have been personal change consultants, until very recently on a donations-only basis. We have no savings, we don't own a house and we live literally from month to month. We try to trust that if we're following our hearts, if we are 'listening' to our truth, we'll get provided with what we need. We have not really wanted for anything as a family and home education has been anything but a drain on the family's resources.
• I had heard it said that you can't stop a child learning and you can't stop a child being sociable. Now I'm one of the people saying it; the thing is, now I'm not quoting it from a book or a story, I'm simply speaking my truth based on my experience.
• I feel that I am a more complete man as a result of entering even more fully into the world of children. I experience frustration, anger, tears, hurting, joy, elation and impatience at levels I had never been to before.
• Home-schooling can involve a timetable, but it doesn't have to; it can involve a curriculum, but it doesn't have to; it can involve tutors, 'play dates', organised activities and meetings, but it doesn't have to. Put simply - there are no rules and the only wrong way of doing it seems to be when we stop listening to our children and start to impose upon them the things that we think they need. They're the teachers, we're the pupils.

Barry Durdant-Hollamby is the author of three books including The Male Agenda.