I’m going on Holiday in October Term time AND taking my 9 year old son with me. I take him out of school every year for a holiday and for other activity days, as was agreed with his school that I be allowed to do so in advance of enrolling him.

Flexi Schooling is the correct term for it.

I take my responsibility as a parent very seriously and TBK consistently scores in the top percentile in his class  and receives glowing praise every year from his teachers, he has friends in school who come home to play (please read create havoc), and is fully integrated into society, he is bright and articulate, and as bias as I may be as his mother I do have the school reports to back this up, His education and social skills are not suffering because of it, if anything they are prospering.

YET the local paper is yet again reporting on an increase of “Truancy Fines” and while the article itself didn’t really rub me up the wrong way.  As, I will never have to pay a truancy fine for my son  as we’ve the proper protocol in place for our educational choices, But taking out holiday leave from the debate,  it still leaves the question unanswered of WHY these young people feel the need to play truant in the first place?*,  What really wound me up was the ignorance of some of the commentators who posted both before and after me.

These trips or in some peoples eyes “absenses” provide an education kids just can’t get when in school and also teaching shouldn’t just happen, and in our life DOESN’T, just happen from 9am – 3pm in the classroom!

On our holiday, just like last year, we will be teaching TBK Maths (currency conversion), Geography (he knows where we are going and surrounding countries) History, (we often like to visit cultural and historical monuments while away and actively encourage TBK to involve himself in the culture). R.E. (Turkey (this years destination)  is a predominantly a Muslim country) and much more, all on a one to one basis for periods of time he would never get in the classroom.

Previously he’s also been out of school to have the opportunity to attend HESFES, (the home educators seaside festival) where he has taken part in wood work and metal work excersizes,  fabric painting and labyrinth building amongst other things, using skills he’d have never developed sat behind a desk.

We’ve taken him out of school to have a hands on learning experience  as a zoo keeper for the day.  He’s had time off to go to an archery day, and to attend other exhibitions and events. Once, when he was in reception class, I even kept him off school on a Monday JUST so he could have a day off, As over the weekend he had participated in clay building with us, visited a monkey sanctuary, spent an afternoon playing drums and for a child of only 6 this was a lot, he needed the rest!

So how about we stop stereotyping parents who take their kids out of the classroom for any period of time as losers (as one commentator metioned) or selfish (as another did) and look at the beneifts these extra curricular activities can and do provide!

The real time and effort should be concentrated on dealing with the parents who’s children aren’t getting any education through truancy because the parents just don’t care!

* Yes I played truant as a teen, and I was duely punished for it by my mother, But I know why I did it. I hated my English teacher and she hated me, proven fact as she marked all my work down and told me , and my mom, I woudln’t get higher than a D,  myc oursework was sent to the invigulator and came back marked higher and I left school with a B (lit) and a C(lan)  Take that Mrs Smith!

Maybe if I’d have been listened to as a teen and moved to another class I’d have attended those sessions I missed and maybe that tis the answer now, listening to what our young people want!

(oops this has been sitting in my drafts, I thought I’d posted it)

Not Christmas gone, but the one before “Nanny Penny” bought TBK a voucher to become a zoo keeper for the day at Dudley Zoo.

It was going to be awesome we were going to book it and we were going to spend a lovely day meandering around and watch TBK play with the animals all day, but then the rain came, and last summer it rained, and rained, and rained, and rained and just to be helpful, as the deadline grew nearer for the voucher to be used  it rained some more. So, being the diligent parents we are we promptly called the zoo and brought an extension with the hope that a time would come when the rain stopped and we could go.

Finally it did, things started looking brighter and more importantly dryer  so we made the booking, set the date and forged ahead; But wouldn’t you know it as the date came around  it bloody poured down again, but, we thought FUCK IT and went anyway.

TBK got up close and personal with with some animals,  Some he was a lot happier around than others:

He met a rat ( he only wanted to hold it to upset Mom, who doesn’t really like Rats)…

…a chinchilla (his favourite)…

…Mr Lizard …

…a tapir (who is famous, apparently she’s from Longleat and was featured on Animal Park)…

…The Red Panda AKA The Firefox (the geek in me liked this)…

…and the penguins (his all time favourite part of the day).

All the animals had names but I’m damned if I can remember them now.

It was (despite the rain and me getting ill) a lovely day and TBK had a wonderful experience, made all the nicer for him (and us) by the lovely staff he accompanied. They were very informative and answered any questions he (or we) had about breeding programs, conservation etc. and the zoo in general, for instance; Did you know that most the buildings and animal enclosures are listed buildings, hence the desperate need for renovation but lack of planning permission! I didn’t, I feel slightly guilty for judging them over the state of the place now.  Even better though, while there even I made some new friends.

I don’t consider myself much of political commentator,  I don’t think I honestly have anything interesting to say on the subject but,  I do vote every election. I believe in democracy and by voting I believe I’m taking my opportunity to have a little influence over how things are run. I think a lot of people fought long and hard to earn us the right to vote and I don’t ever waste it.

I also venomously believe that if you don’t vote you are not entitled to complain!

If you don’t like how things are going, if you have something to say about the economy or your bin collection is late don’t come whining to me as you didn’t DO anything to change it when you had the chance. As my manager so eloquently put it, “Voting is your license to bitch”

So with my point of view in mind I was shocked today, not by how many people have come out in saying that they have lost faith in politicians , but by the number of people who’ve said they wouldn’t be voting at all. One lady I had and contact with had this to say on the matter

I have voted in every single election! BUT now politicians have lost my respect and all political Parties are as bad as each other in one way or another, It’s not just labour MPs, Tory’s and lib dems have been at it too.

They have robbed the tax payer,we feel like we have been robbed, my husband works full time and pays over £600 a month tax. …

Why should that go towards paying for some MP’s weekly shopping at M&S when there are poor families who struggle to budget for there weekly shopping at aldi or whatever cheap shop they have to go to.

First of all I want to say, Can I have a job where I earn enough to be having to pay £600 tax a month please! Maybe then I could give more to charity to help those less fortunate instead of sitting on my high horse bitching about the unfairness of the tax system,  and secondly I disagree completely with her statement:

The majority of the politicians only took so much because the rules and the system are flawed.  If I had job that said I allowed me to claim for carpets, curtains and a 3 piece suite ,a new outfit for every day of the week and everything else to go with it I’d do it, and, so I believe, would the majority people who end up reading this.

It’s the ones that broke the rules who are the real thieving bastards. The ones who didn’t just take advantage of a flawed system, but who knowingly dodged the rules for profit, Fortunately for most of us,  they’re the ones who are falling over themselves to resign now before the shit really hits the fan.

So what’s the alternative?

By not voting and we run the risk of letting some fascist party like the BNP or UKIP take control because of voter apathy, and then we’d all be in a much worse place than we are now with a few crooked politicians caught with their hands in the till.

My solution is this, look for local alternatives, independent candidates  the green party or vote intelligently….

Vote for the party who have acknowledged the problems with the system, are willing to, and are already making changes. Look for the party with policies you agree with and vote for them!