Joined a Book Club!

I have recently joined a book club.  And I do mean recently!  Though I joined the online group (to find out what to read) at the end of last year, yesterday was the first meeting that I could attend. 

We meet monthly, reading 2 books each month, and meet in the local pub to discuss and chat.  This is right up my alley!  December's books (which I will get around to reviewing eventually) were The Christmas Bookshop and Falling, both of which were a really good read in their respective genres.

This month we are going to read Pride and Prejudice (which I have already read and probably won't reread, tbh), and The Cat Who Saved Books.  I like that I am reading books that I probably would not have picked up and chosen to read, and also that I have some accountability (as well as some adult time in the pub!).  It's wet and windy here, so I'm driving there, but in the summer, I look forward to walking and enjoying a beer or two whilst talking about books.

This is also the perfect time for me to remind you that I'm on Goodreads and StoryGraph as Musings of a Middle-aged Mum, in case you wanted to follow me there too.

Weightloss Update

Or more truthfully, that should be a weight gain update.

I wasn't losing weight despite seeing my Personal Trainer twice a week, and then December hit.  That means watching every Christmas film on Netflix, and then attempting (and failing) to watch every Christmas film on My5.  In fact, I typed "christmas" into the My5 search, and was going through all the Christmas films in alphabetical order.  As they show a film every afternoon, the list was updating every day, and I purposely did not go back to watch the films that had been added after I passed that letter.  Even still, I only managed to get to the end of the letter C.  (There are sooooo many films that are called either "A Christmas in... " or "Christmas in... "!)  Added to that was possibly excessive mince pie consumption (can you blame me?! Mmmmmm.... Mince pies.....) my weight increased to the highest weight I've been ever.  Surprisingly, though, I did not gain much from Christmas and New Year's themselves, and I started January at a whopping 104.7kg.  Any my progress photos, which I won't scare you with, actually look worse than when I started with my PT back in April. Yikes. 

I did already have a plan for the new year to meal prep.  My husband and I had become aware that we had regressed into buying takeaways when we cba to cook or worse, we wanted to cook but had time constraints or we hadn't defrosted anything in time.  I already owned one meal prep book, but it didn't really teach how to do it, beyond being a recipe book, so I asked for a book for Christmas: Low Calorie Meal Prep Cookbook.

I started following the weekly meal guides - the first week was breakfast only, the second week was breakfasts and lunch, the third week (this week) is breakfast, lunch and dinner, and weeks 4, 5 and 6 all have breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack planned.  I have had to purchase some more containers for storage, and my fridges are now full at the start of each week.

The foods in the book are actually really tasty.  I have learned that supermarket fruit and veg don't actually last a week when prepped, which is a shame as it means I need to do a mid-week prep for the fresh food.  And it takes aaaaages on a Sunday afternoon, but as my PT pointed out to me, that I would be spending at least that much time during the week making breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.

Some examples of the meals I've been eating include Veggie Quiche Bento Boxes, Tuna and Hummus Wrap, Tropical Smoothie, and Chicken and White Bean Chilli.  Though my 3 favourite meals, so far, have been swiftly demolished before I've had a chance to take a photograph: Southwestern Black-bean Quesadilla, Chicken and Gnocchi Soup and Honey-Sriracha Chicken with Noodles. Yum.

I've also started using My Fitness Pal again, to record my calorie intake, and I've signed up to a 4-week bootcamp in February. Incredibly, I am seeing weightloss already!  I am weighing myself on a Monday morning (so I will restart the weekly updates) and over the first 2 weeks of eating these meals, I have lost 3 kilograms!  My PT said to challenge myself and aim for getting below 100kg by the end of January - and I thought that was a bit optimistic, tbh.  But, I seem to be on track at the moment! As expected, I lost more weight the first week, than in the second, and we have to wait until next Monday to see what this third week has done for me.  I have started drinking tea again (vanilla flavour rooibos - delicious) with a couple of drops of stevia, to satisfy my sweet tooth, and I've been having one of those 10calorie jellies as a dessert after dinner.  I haven't been depriving myself, and have actually had a takeaway every week in January, I've just tried to be sensible about it - eg choosing tandoori chicken with vegetable side dishes, rather than my usual tikka massala, pilau rice and peshwari naan.  And I've managed to have the odd glass of alcohol (red wine, or even a baileys) if it fits within my calorie allowance.  (My calorie allowance is currently 1500kcals in MFP because I have set it up to aim to lose 0.5kg/week.)

So, that's where we are. I was 101.7kg on Monday, and I hope I will continue to lose weight, get fitter and get healthier.

I'm Back!

Hello my lovelies, how are you all?  

Ok, if you follow my facebook page I said my first post this year would be about books, but I've decided to give a brief overview about everything instead. And if you don't follow my facebook page, why on earth not?? Tut, tut, tut. 😜 Here's the link again, so you have no excuse: https://www.facebook.com/MusingsMiddleagedMum

So, I purposely had a break for Christmas, and it was needed.  I've come back this year feeling refreshed and ready to go.  Last week, however, I went to get ready for my first tutorial and my my computer had died.

Not only did the Automatic Repair not work, it wouldn't move off this screen.  I cancelled my tutorials and left it to my techy husband (they do have their uses, lol).  He used some techy magic to recover most of my files, but he couldn't get windows to work.  We wiped everything, started again, and windows still wouldn't work.  He even installed Linux, and even that operating system wouldn't work.  The hard disk was dead as dead can be.

After having to handwrite a comparison spreadsheet (I'm not joking, I am that geeky, and it took two A4 pages), I decided upon and bought a new laptop. Yey!  There are a couple of snags* with it, that I'm sure will be able to be sorted quickly, but overall I'm really pleased with it.
* There is automatically a background noise remover thingy on the microphone, which would be great, except now it stops my headset working with zoom when tutoring.  The only way to bypass is to not use my headset, so all my tutees are rewarded with sounds of my dogs barking in the background.  Should be a simple fix; husband will look at it later.

* Everything on my laptop is automatically saving to One Drive.  I use One Drive for music and photos, but all my large tutoring or Ed Free documents, I do not need nor want saving all the time.  It means I'm getting lots of notifications saying One Drive is full, and adverts where I can buy infinite (nearly) space for only £££ each month.  Again, a simple fix, but I'm ignoring it for now.

What's new with me? Well, yesterday was 20 years since I asked my (now) husband to go out with me.  Very forward of me, but he was/is shyer than me, if you can believe such a thing. Actually, if you know me now, you probably can believe it, but 20 years ago I was a mouse in comparison.  I thought he fancied me, and asked a couple of my friends a few months earlier, and they said that I was just imagining it, and he was just a good friend.  Anyway, in the January, we went back to uni and there was a party a friend of a friend was throwing and we tagged along.  We got drunk enough for me to ask him if he fancied me and for him to say yes - and then I ignored it and continued with the party!  It wasn't until I couldn't sleep that night, because everything was rolling around my head, that I went up to his room and asked him to go out with me, and then went back downstairs to go to sleep. I then didn't see him for 24hrs, because I was at a football match, and wasn't sure if he would remember or if he thought it was a mistake or what.  Ancient history it is, as we're now married, 17 years this coming August, with 2 kids, 2 dogs, and still happy.

I have started reading again - hurray! I don't think I had read anything seriously since about October.  I tend not to read much in December, because it's tacky Christmas movie season, but I had missed reading.  I don't have as much time to read as previously, only an hour on a Saturday of dedicated reading time (except when/if I read a good book, and it takes over my life for a few days), but I'm glad to have started reading regularly again.

And I've started calorie counting.  After hitting my heaviest weight ever after Christmas, I am properly tracking my food in MFP and have been meal prepping. I'm only on week 2, so it's not an established habit yet, but I have lost weight already, which keeps me motivated.

I'm going to my first naturist/clothing optional event for what seems like forever tonight.  Covid, of course, has stopped everything, but theatres are starting to reopen, so my husband and I are going to a clothing optional showing tonight, so that will be fun.

What's not new with me? Still tutoring maths.  Still involved in the home ed world.  Still have my personal trainer twice a week. Still going to church. Still ferrying the girls to dance every night of the week. Still me.

And that's about it!  I hope you all had a good Christmas and New years.  I did.  And that you are well xx

Portsmouth JR - Part 2

Yesterday I started my read-through of this report of the JR, and today I will be continuing.
It's probably worth your while reading my previous summary, so you are aware of the facts of the case.

H Discussion
This is the meaty part of the report.  This is when we get away from the facts, and look at the arguments and reasoning behind the decisions that have been made.  It is from Paragraph 65 onwards.

There are four grounds that have been brought before the court:

1. The LA puts the burden of proof on the HErs which is inconsistent with the statutory guidance.
2. The LA will not accept just a report, even if there are  no grounds for concern, and will proceed directly to NTS.
3. The LA has a policy of issuing NTS without specifying the areas of concern.
4. The LA has a policy of issuing NTS with no concerns and without suggesting the education is unsuitable.

Ground 1:

The LA puts the burden of proof on the HErs when they should be making "informal enquiries".  Once a NTS has been served, then the burden falls on parents to satisfy the LA and not before.

"Mr Wolfe draws particular attention to the second bullet point in paragraph 5.4 of the Secretary of State's Elective Home Education guidance for local authorities. This bullet point says that where there were no previous concerns about the education being provided and no reason to think that it has changed, the local authority's annual contact with the parents would often be "very brief"."

Unsurprisingly, the laywers (or solicitors - I can never remember the difference.  I'm going to use the term "lawyer" and if it's wrong, it's wrong) for both the LA and the Secretary of State take issue with this.  The LA's lawyer claims that thinking this way "misconstrues and overcomplicates what is intended to be a simple and straightforward process."!!  Personally, I think "innocent until proven guilty" is quite a simple process myself, but that's just me...

The government's lawyer quotes section 7 of Ed Act, and the judge then says in paragraph 70 "The parent is not the ultimate arbiter of whether, for example, the education being received by the child is suitable."

I would like to read a full transcript of the dialogue as to how the judge came up with this conclusion.  Given the parent is responsible, according to s7, and have a duty to ensure the education a child is given is suitable - how can they not be able to determine or be trusted to know when that is the case?  Seems arse-backwards to me (to use a phrase my mum says).

Paragraph 72 says 

"Section 436A(2) provides that, in exercising those functions, the local authority must have regard to any guidance given from time to time by the Secretary of State. I note that there is nothing in this subsection that restricts the duty to guidance that is specifically categorised as statutory in nature."

i.e. the judge is saying that because the guidance doesn't limit what LAs can ask for, they can whatever they want of parents and parents have to comply.  

Paragraphs 84-86:

"As the correspondence between the defendant and the claimant make plain, the defendant began its enquiries with an open mind. It was only when faced with what it regarded as insufficient material from the claimant that the informal inquiries continued, leading to the impasse which then meant it appeared to the defendant that the children were not receiving a suitable education at home. As Mr Cornwell submits, the threshold at this point is a low one. It merely requires the defendant to take a view, as matters then stand, challengeable only on public law grounds.

The four paragraphs of "clarification" which the defendant inserted in its guidance in late 2020, and subsequently removed, have no material bearing on ground 1. Insofar as the language used indicates that, at the informal inquiries stage, a parent may have the task of providing evidence that shows a suitable education is being provided, the clarification accurately describe the statutory scheme, as explained by the Secretary of State's guidance. The same is true of the paragraph under "definition of suitable education", added in late 2020, which is to the same effect.

Ground 1 accordingly fails."

These paragraphs basically say that the HEr did not give enough information to the LA, therefore it's their own fault they were served NTS and SAO.  The judge also says that whilst the "clarification" the LA used has no bearing on Ground 1, it is accurate and lawful.

Grounds 2 & 3

The LA will not accept just a report, even if there are  no grounds for concern, and will proceed directly to NTS.
The LA has a policy of issuing NTS without specifying the areas of concern.

Despite the evidence to the contrary, (I don't think I've mentioned yet, but 40% of the home educators in Portsmouth have been issued with NTS, compared to under 2% on average in other LAs), the judge says "I do not consider it is a fair analysis of the defendant's position".

Paragraph 89 says 

"The real ambit of ground 2 is that the claimant says the defendant has adopted a rigid stance, whereby it will reject reports provided by parents, in deciding whether a child is receiving suitable education at home. This amounts to an unlawful fettering of the defendant's discretion: R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Ex p Venables  [1997] 3 All ER 97" 

This contains lots of legalese, that I'll try and unpick (mainly because I've had to look up the meanings myself). 'Ambit' means 'line in the sand'. 'Fettering Discretion' means 'rather than exercising discretion, it fetters [binds] itself to someone else's views/policies'. 

Then the judge linked to the transcript of the conviction of Venebles and Thompson - the killers of Jamie Bulger in 1993. I don't know why that has been linked, and tbh, I don't particularly want to read about the case, and the various appeals by the defendants.  It was bad enough reading/hearing about it in the news.  I was only 11yo myself at the time of the murder, and I can still remember the details.  So, I haven't read it, which in turn means I don't know why it is included.

Paragraph 91:

"Although it is true that, in his email of September 2020, Mr McIntyre said to the claimant that a "report alone, however detailed, is in my view, not going to be enough to enable us to be confident that suitable education is taking place", the defendant's actual position, repeated throughout the correspondence, is that "a written report alone, however detailed it may be, is unlikely to be sufficient to enable the Council to determine that suitable education is taking place" (see eg. the Chief Executive's letter of 20 January 2021; my emphasis).

 "

So because Portsmouth LA's policy uses the word "unlikely" it means there is the slimmest of possibilities that a report alone will be accepted, and therefore it isn't unlawful - according to the judge.

Paragraphs 92 and 93 basically say that because the LA's policy uses words like "might", "example" and "not an exhaustive list", the fact that it is asking for things that the government's policy specifically says are not required is not a problem at all. 

Most worrying is Paragraph 94:

"

As can readily be seen, in the present case the defendant did not reject the claimant's reports because they were not in a particular form. The defendant's concerns were substantive ones. Despite the length of the claimant's reports, they were wholly assertive in nature. They contained nothing by way of actual work produced by the children. To take the example of work on To Kill a Mockingbird, which featured in submissions at the hearing, there was no material showing the degree of comprehension of the appellant's daughter concerning the novel; merely a series of statements from the claimant."

So the judge is saying that because the reports did not include examples of the children's work, the word of the parents' cannot be trusted.  They are simply a series of words by the HEr and the presumption that the parents are lying about their children's activities and education is just.

To say that again, the judge is saying that parents cannot be trusted.

I have no words, other than disgust, tbh.  If a parent is going to lie about this, they can easily fake 'work' by the children - whether it be searching on the internet, or writing things in their own handwriting.  It's all bollox.

Paragraph 95 doesn't help the situation: "The affidavit, produced by the claimant and her husband, takes matters no further. It does not change the nature of the reports, to which the affidavit refers."
i.e. The judge is saying that it doesn't matter if the parents produce a legal document stating everything they have said is true, it (and they) still cannot be trusted.

Paragraph 96 says: "In any event, the defendant's policy properly takes account of the 2019 guidance documents of the Secretary of State; and there is no challenge to the lawfulness of these"
I don't know to which the "these" refers to in the previous sentence?  If it means the lawfulness of the 2019 guidance, fine.  However, if it means the lawfulness of Portsmouth LA's policy, then I think this was a big gap in the case, and should have been included.

In Paragraph 98, the judge quotes the DfE guidance: "2.12. However, many home-educating families do some of these, at least, by choice. Furthermore, is likely to be much easier for you to show that the education provided is suitable if attention has been paid to the breadth of the curriculum and its content, and the concepts of progress and assessment in relation to your child's ability."

The judge is basically saying that "paying attention to" isn't enough.  You have to be able to document - which is more than what the guidance says.  I don't think this is lawful, despite what the judge says.  [Note: I repeat that I am not a lawyer, nor am I giving legal advice.]

Paragraph 99 goes further, and says that the LA "could" (which we know that LAs will take to mean "should") meet the child and/or examine the child's work.  What about the rights of the child?  What if they don't want their intellectual property shared?  What if they have been traumatised at school, or have some other issue that means that when they meet new people in authority, they freeze? Or maybe they are defiant, or simply refuse to be a dancing monkey?

Paragraph 101 is telling.  Despite saying repeatedly in different ways that parents cannot be trusted, the judge says "I see no reason not to take the defendant at its word." Parents cannot be trusted, but the LA always can. <eyeroll>
The judge says "The fact that, in the present case, the claimant's report has not been sufficient" - I'm not convinced that has been proved tbh.  The fact is that the LA has claimed it is not sufficient, not that it actually is not sufficient. - my mistake, the LA can always be trusted.  Silly me...
The judge also uses the term "home-schooled".  I would have hoped that a judge in a home education case would have least learnt the basic terminology, but again, I'm clearly in the wrong for thinking that.

Still in paragraph 101, the judge says "Once a local authority has satisfied itself, by reference to the Secretary of State's guidance, that suitable education is actually being received by a child who is being home-schooled, a subsequent inquiry in respect of the same parent and child might be satisfactorily answered by production of a report along the lines of that produced by the claimant."

So, going back to the facts of this case, the HEr has previously given reports that were accepted and the child's education deemed suitable.  Then, in 2020 the HEr gave a subsequent report "along the lines of that produced by the claimant" (given it was the report produced by the claimant) and this was not accepted.  Why not, given the judges statement above?  

Paragraph 102 says "Finally under these grounds, I address the contention of the claimant that she is under no legal duty to respond to the initial or informal inquiries of the defendant."
Where was this claimed or contended?  It's not in this document, that's for sure.  The HEr has said that she has no legal duty to respond in the way the LA wishes - and that is true - but it is clear from the facts of the case that she has responded and repeatedly so!

Paragraph 103: "Grounds 2 and 3 accordingly fail."

Ground 4
The LA has a policy of issuing NTS with no concerns and without suggesting the education is unsuitable.
(Paragraphs 104 & 105)

This is a short section, because it seems the judge has got bored by now and cba.

Paragraph 105:

"Much of this has already been covered in the earlier grounds.  I find that the defendant does not have a policy of issuing an NTS in circumstances where it has no concerns.  The allegation of inconsistency with the legal framework and statutory guidance is unparticularised. It is in, any event, wrong for the reasons given in respect of Ground 1."

 Conclusion

"Each of the claimant's grounds fails."

That's it.  That is literally all it says in the conclusion section and we are at the end of the document.

So, my thoughts and musings...

• The judge seems to have no understanding of home education or learning without school.
• Portsmouth's policy is so clearly over the line, yet the judge seems to have judged whether or not the HEr has adhered to the LA's policy rather than the lawfulness of the policy itself.
• There seem to be some obvious contradictions, that the judge has either overlooked or not understood.
• The bias of the judge towards the LA and against the parents is astounding - though this case is about home education, that alone (ie that parents can't be trusted) should send shockwaves through all families and it could have huge ramifications.

What can/should be do?

Firstly, we should send our love and support to the home educators in Portsmouth.  They have worked so hard, and well done to this family in particular for standing up and fighting.  No doubt they'll be in for some stick from some quarters, but it was a very brave thing to do and the right thing to do.

Then, at the moment, we shouldn't change what we're doing.  I know some unschoolers are panicking and thinking that they need to monitor and evidence every little thing - if that's what you want to do, go ahead, but please do it for yourself and not with the intention of giving it to the LA.  At least, not yet.

My prefered path is one of civil resistance or disobedience.  Keep giving brief reports etc as is our right.  Do respond when the LA contacts you, but they should accept the information how you provide it (rather than demanding how it should be provided).  Hold out for as long as you can.  For some people this may be when they issue a SAO; at this point, overload the LA with information, dated (even with random dates - how can the LA prove anything??) and shuffled.  Make the LA work for their money. For other brave souls, it may be when they get taken to court, or beyond. Don't let me tell you what to do - do what is right for your own family.

I'm going to end this post by linking to a list of 198 Methods of Non-Violent Action - just in case it is useful for anyone...

 

Portsmouth Judicial Review - Readthrough Part 1

 Yesterday we had the bad news that the home educators in Portsmouth had lost the Judicial Review.

A lot of people are now panicking about what this means, especially for unschoolers, but at the moment we need to be patient, let Portsmouth HErs regroup and talk to their solicitor in order to determine whether there are any next steps and what they mean.

In the meantime, I thought I'd do a readthrough of the report in case it is helpful to anyone.

(Note: I am not a lawyer.  I have not studied law.  This is not legal advice or assertions, but my own thoughts and feelings, which may be wrong if I haven't understood the nuances.) 

THIS is the link to the full 105 paragraphs of the report.  It is split into 

• A Introduction; 
• B Permission and Hearing; 
• C Statutory Framework; 
• D Secretary of State's Guidance 
• (1) Children Missing Education 2016; 
• (2) Elective Home Education Guidance to Local Authorities 2019;
• (3) Elective Home Education Parents 2019;
• E Defendant's Policy Guidance;
• F Case Law;
• G The Facts of the Present Case;
• H Discussion;
• Conclusion.

The Claiment is Christina Goodread (Portsmouth Home Educator).  Though she alone is named in this JR, she isn't the sole person to whom Portsmouth LA have acted unlawfully.  I wouldn't want any readers to mistakenly think that this is a case from one woman who has simply not been reasonable.

The Defendant is Portsmouth City Council (ie the LA).

And the Secretary of State is the Intervener - someone called to be neutral and give clarity about the situation.  [This may be one of those times I'm wrong.  Here's a link to a definition of an Intervener.]
What is interesting about the definition I've linked to, is that the Intervener shouldn't have a direct interest in the lawsuit (though they may have interest in the outcome).  I don't think the Secretary of State is neutral nor the best person for this role, but back to the text.

A Introduction

Basically, Portsmouth HErs are saying that their children are being suitably educated and Portsmouth LA are imposing an unlawful burden on them, because the LA's policy on EHE is unlawful.

B Permission and Hearing

I don't really understand this section tbh.  Something was refused, even though permission was at one point granted, because the claimant's reasoning had changed.
Then there's a section thanking the Secretary of State for getting involved.

C Statutory Framework

Long list of laws from the Education Act.  
Worth reading through them, if you haven't before, but there's no need for me to comment on it.

D Secretary of State's Guidance

This is a long list of quotes from the various guidances.  If you want to see my thoughts on each of them have a read of the following:
Response to EHE Guidance (LAs) 2019
Comparing HE Guidance for LAs and Parents

CME vs EHE Guidance

E Defendant's Policy Guidance

This is where it starts to get interesting for me, as I haven't read through Portsmouth's policy document before.

Paragraph 35: So, despite listing everything that is not required for HErs to do, Portsmouth LA says

"Furthermore, it is likely to be much easier for a parent to show that the education provided is suitable if attention has been paid to the breadth of the curriculum and its content, and the concepts of progress and assessment in relation to your child's ability."

So, the law and the guidance say you don't have to do this, but tough shit, we're going to make you do it anyway. As a reminder, this is the list that HErs are not required to do:

There are no legal requirements for you as parents educating a child at home to do any of the following:

• acquire specific qualifications for the task
• have premises equipped to any particular standard
• aim for the child to acquire any specific qualifications
• teach the National Curriculum
• provide a 'broad and balanced' curriculum
• make detailed lesson plans in advance
• give formal lessons
• mark work done by the child
• formally assess progress, or set development objectives
• reproduce school type peer group socialisation
• match school-based, age-specific standards
  

Paragraph 36: Then in 2020, the LA added a section into its policy document, stating that the education should be "Broad", "Balanced", "Relevant" and "Differentiated".  That there should be a "curriculum" of some description being used.  All of which are unlawful and go against the guidance.

There is also a list of reasons given as examples of why an education may be deemed unsuitable, including "There is no or very limited examples of work submitted.", "There is no or very limited detail of how the child's progress is being monitored or examples of work to demonstrate relevant progression", and "There is no clear academic or time structure."  Again, all of which are unlawful and go against the guidance.

Paragraph 37: The LA has then 'clarified' by stating " a written report alone, however detailed it may be, should not be relied on in order to satisfy the council that suitable education is taking place." i.e. parents cannot be trusted to tell the truth.  We will not accept a written, signed document.

Paragraph 38:

"The defendant subsequently removed the "clarification", on the basis that it considered the passage was causing unnecessary confusion."

F Case Law
This paragraph goes through a previous example of case law: Phillips vs Brown 1980.  
This is the case where it says that if you don't give any evidence to the LA, they are in their right to assume that education is not taking place.

G The Facts of the Present Case
(Paragraphs 42-64)

• 17 July 2020 the LA wrote to the HEr
• 26 July2020 the HEr gave a report.
  "There followed a description, by reference to subjects, of what she said the children had been doing."
• 7 Aug 2020 LA asked for more detail.
  "1. What progress/achievements has your child made this academic year? How has this been monitored and recorded? Can you provide supporting evidence of this?
  2. Can you provide any supporting documents of completed educational subjects covering this academic year? Is this marked and dated?
  3. Can you provide dated reports, assessments or feedback from the online resources which are being used?" 
• 8 Aug 2020 HEr replied that education was suitable, and LA shouldn't be monitoring.  She gave more detail, but said work was not marked nor dated.
• 3 Sept 2020 LA says that a report alone isn't suffient.
  "This was because "for every example of a parent whose child is receiving education and performing exactly as described in the report, there will be another example of where this is not the case"."
• [Musings: I would like to know how many fake reports Porstmouth have ever had?]
• 6 Sept 2020 HEr asks specifically for the LA's concerns.
• 10 Sept 2020 LA emailed stating "concerns centred "around evidence of ability to read and write to a level suitable to age, aptitude and ability for example and indeed evidence of the programme being described, taking place"."
• 15 Sept 2020 HEr gives yet more info, stating the children are working above their school-peers-ages in various subjects and have progressed over the year.
• 29 Sept 2020 LA says that isn't good enoughand issues Notice to satisfy (NTS).
• 9 Oct 2020 HEr makes official complaint about their treatment (Stage 1).
• 2 Nov 2020 LA says due to rise in numbers HEing there have been more unsuitable education. 
  "Cases where the parents concerned meet the defendant, demonstrating suitability of education and sharing examples "usually provide a much more comprehensive picture, which in turn enables the view to be reached more swiftly and easily". "
• 4 Nov 2020 HEr wrote "To whom to it may concern" letter again setting out "a list of some of the examples of completed subjects [the children] have done as per your request" with even more detail. Complaint rises to Stage 2.
• 25 Nov 2020 LA served notice to issue School Attendance Order (SAO).
• 1 Dec 2020 HEr provides yet more information and an affidavit signed by herself and her husband.
• 14 Dec 2020 LA serves SAO.
• 16 Dec 2020 LA responds to Stage 2 Complaint
  " it could confirm it had no evidence of any safeguarding concerns regarding the claimant's family."
  "The defendant's officers had been "clear that a written report alone, however detailed it may be, is unlikely to be sufficient to enable the council to determine that suitable education is taking place"."
• 17 Dec 2020 Complaint rises to Stage 3.
• 11 Jan 2021 LA tells HEr there has been failure to comply with SAO and they will start legal proceedings.
• 18 Jan 2021 Letter of action from Portsmouth Home Education Group.
• 20 Jan 2021 LA responds to Stage 3 complaint reiterating that a written report alone is not sufficent because too many parents lie [Musings' paraphrase].
• 25 Jan 2021 LA refusd to revoke SAO.
• 22 Feb 2021 Present claim issued.

H Discussion

At this point I'm going to stop, and I'll write my thoughts about the discussion in a separate blog post (Link to Part 2).

I hope that this has been clear enough for you to see why Portsmouth HErs are right to take this to JR and fight the LA.  It is appalling how this woman, and other HErs in Portsmouth have been treated.

#FairHearing4HomeEd #EducationalFreedom #WeStandWithPortsmouthHErs

And another month goes by...

So, I'm still seeing my PT twice a week.  My weight was still going up, and I almost hit 100kilos, which I've never been before.  But, I am still decreasing my size, and have even dropped a bra size when I got measured recently.

As sexy as I look in a bra and a pair of shorts (not!), I am pleased that even *I* can see that my back-fat is going, and I now have a waist again.

Both my girls are now in school, as DD2 recently started year 7.  She does enjoy it, but is very tired.  Having gone from needing 10-12 hours sleep a night, to having to leave the house at 7.30am, return near 5, then rush straight to dance lessons and often doesn't get home aain until 9.30 or 10pm, is a bit of a shock for her.

As schools have gone back, I'm tutoring again now.  My days have changed this year, so I work Tuesday mornings, Wednesday mornings and Thursday afternoons.  I don't have much free time, though, as I'm still involved with Home Education locally, nationally and politically.  (Ok, I don't know if 'politically' makes any sense in that sentence, but the rhythm made me feel like it needed a third thing there.)

I am trying to read too, but that has slowed somewhat.  As I don't need to wait at dance in the evenings anymore, I don't have as much time to read.  Also, in the few gaps I've had during the day, I have had a bit of a TV binge, watching non-kids TV during the day! Very exciting.  I have recently watched Sex Eduction, Love on the Spectrum, Motherland, and I was getting into Making a Murderer, until my husband joined me one day, and now I'm 'not allowed' to watch it without him.  Yet, since then, we haven't watched it together at all, so if he's not careful I'm going to continue watching it and just not tell him, lol.

And yes, I am aware that I haven't caught up with the book reviews I said I would write a month ago.  Despite everything I've written here (and this feels like a lot to me), I've even more things going on.

DD1 has been having mini absence seizures/blackouts for a while, though she didn't tell me that they had become frequent until last October.  I told her to keep a diary in case it was related to what she had been eating or time of the month or anything like that, and we made an appointment to see the GP.  Fast forward to February, and we were referred to hospital to see a neurologist and to have an EEG.  As part of this, they gave DD1 a general health check and discovered she had a heart murmur.  Not a big surprise or concern as my husband had one when he was little, but they referred us for an ECG.  And another.  And an echo.  And a heart consultant who told use they would be bringing in the big-guns from a nearby city to look at her heart, because she has a hole in her heart.  As you can imagine, this was a bit of a shock, given she was 13yo at the time, fit as a fiddle, loads of dance, and zero symptoms (breathlessness, fatigue, palpatations or enlargement of the heart).

Anyway, we saw the big-gun heart consultant, who did another ECG and echo (which incidentally, is really interesting, as the computor automatically colours the blood blue and red depending on whether the blood has been oxygenised or not).  She confirmed that the hole in the heart is nothing to do with the mini blackouts DD1 had been having, and because the EEG was clear, they (the hospital) are not following that up at the moment.  However, DD1 does not have a hole in her heart - she has two plus a leaky valve! (It's a partial AVSD for anyone who wants to google it.) Due to where the holes are located, they cannot go up the leg/groin to close it, but she will need open heart surgery.  But, it isn't urgent, because she has no other symptoms, so don't worry about it too much.  It's a fairly straightforward procedure, etc etc, and just has to be done before she becomes an adult, as if left unfixed, it could cause massive problems when she's in her 20s and 30s.

Then over the summer we had a virtual consulatation with a surgeon, who said they expected surgery to be in October!  DD1 would have to be in hospital for at least a week, at least a month off school, at least 3 months off dancing.  All of a sudden this became very real!  Due to dance festivals finally starting up again (and the enxt one being in October) we have asked for the surgery to be postponed until the summer term, but we will follow the guidance of the consultant.  Meanwhile, DD1 has had even more hospital appointments, and had to wear a 24hr heart monitor, and been asked to participate in research before/after surgery, so my suspician is that it will be sooner, rather than later.

Oh, and we have got a second dog, Luna.

Where has the time gone???

I can't believe it's nearly a month since I last posted anything on this blog!  I've got lots to say, but want to post it all separately, so I'll give a quick overview now, and hopefully will find some time in the not-to-distant future to actually write properly.

This past month, it was my 16th wedding anniversary, (did I tell you in July that my hair is no longer purple?  It's red now), I went to Back To the 80s & 90s Festival by myself and had a fab time, I finished reading all the books on my A-Z Challenge list, plus the rest of the Ugly Girl series, I went to London twice with the family to see 2 different shows, I've started going out with friends again in an evening, DD2 had her 11th birthday yesterday, and today was her first day of Summer School (transition week) before starting secondary in September.  I am officially not home educating any more!  I have some new tutees and some old ones lined up for me to start tutoring again.  I am still involved in HE politics, despite it being the summer holidays.  And I'm still seeing my PT.  I know I didn't update you guys with my last set of progress photos (even I can see a difference now compared to how I looked when I started!), but I'm due to take my next set this coming weekend.  I'll also be taking new measurements, and will have a look to see if I am finally starting to lose weight.  Since I started with her in April, I have only put on weight, so it will be good to see if that finally starts to change!  And, as I finished my A-Z of fiction titles I need to set myself a new challenge (based on the books I already have on my kindle that I haven't read yet).  As, on my kindle, I can only sort by Recent, Title or Author, I suppose I'm going to go back to Fiction Authors.  Unlike last time, however, I will not be buying any books to fill-in the letters I'm missing.

Strengthening Home Education - Part 2

If you haven't already read it, please click HERE to see Part 1 of my read-through.
And HERE is the original report (all 67 pages!).

So, the Introduction starts on page 7 of the document.  Paragraph 2 details that not much has changed since the recommendations of the previous inquiry and that there is indeed a "postcode lottery" - I said that myself in my submission.

The Committees Inquiry

"The inquiry sought not to debate the desirability of EHE, but rather to explore the extent to which current arrangements provide sufficient support for home-educated children to access efficient, full-time and suitable education, and to establish what further measures may be necessary in order to facilitate this."

Except, of course, it is obvious to all who read this, that the "desirability of EHE" for the ESC is that all HE kids get put into schools. 

"We held oral evidence sessions in November 2020 and March 2021"

But did not hear from any home educators during this time, and only heard from a single HE organisation (Education Otherwise) and conveniently twisted their words, so much so that the EHE Alliance (a group of HE organisations and academics all working together for the same goal) had to put out a letter complaining about the behaviour of some during the hearing )this can be found HERE).

"6. The State should not view those who make the perfectly legitimate choice to home educate with automatic suspicion, nor should it put unreasonable barriers in their way. However, as a society we must seek to balance the right of families to make the best choices for themselves with the responsibility to promote good outcomes for all children and young people, whether or not they go to school. It is not unreasonable to seek some reassurance about the suitability of the education received by children who are electively home-educated."

 This sounds all fine and dandy, I mean who in their right minds would complain about this paragraph?  Well, me for one.  Not that I have an issue with what it says, rather than what it doesn't say (though that may be in the document later on.  This is my 'live' read-through, so it's perfectly possible I haven't got there yet).

LAs already have the power to check up on families who have deregistered their child from school, and for these children, they already receive annual updates: sometimes over the phone (or online this past year), sometimes in person and sometimes a written report.  For children for whom there is evidence to suggest they are not receiving a suitable education, the LA already has powers to get further information and if they are not satisfied, they can issue a s437 and ultimately a School Attendance Order forcing that child into school.

"7. The Committee’s primary concerns centre on those children who are currently missing education. Indeed, our understanding is that children receiving an efficient, fulltime and suitable education at home would not fall under the Department’s definition of that category."

So basically, the government are getting battered because they cannot keep children in school, nor keep tabs on the children who are registered at school but not attending.  Therefore, the obvious conclusion is to have a go at EHE children, drumming up more paperwork and therefore possibilities for people to slip through the net, rather than tackling schools with what is their issue.
Yes, makes total sense... <hugely sarcastic tone and eye roll>

The legal framework for EHE in England

"8. Parents in England have a legal duty to secure the education of their compulsory school age children “either by regular attendance at school or otherwise”. Those who choose to home educate are responsible for ensuring that the education provided is efficient, full-time and suitable to the child’s age, ability, aptitude and any Special Educational Needs. (SEN)"

And those who choose to school educate are responsible for ensuring that the education provided is efficient, full-time and suitable to the child’s age, ability, aptitude and any Special Educational Needs (SEN).  Why isn't that bit mentioned???

"According to Government guidance, parents are not required to provide a broad and balanced curriculum, follow the National Curriculum, or aim for children to acquire specific qualifications."

 And (last time I checked), private schools are not required to provide a broad and balanced curriculum, follow the National Curriculum, or aim for children to acquire specific qualifications, yet many people aspire to or do send their children to private schools.

 "As of 2016, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimated that there were around nine million working aged adults in England with low literacy skills, numeracy skills, or both."

I would bet my bottom dollar that, of these, around nine million of them went to school. 

"10. When the Department’s guidance is next revisited, it must indicate what level of numeracy and literacy is sufficient, in its view, to enable an adult who received EHE as a child to “function as an independent citizen in the UK."

So, there will be a minimum level of numeracy and literacy imposed on EHE kids, but not one for schooled children?  Who can school-parents complain to when their child is unable to read or do basic maths, whether or not the child has SEND?

 "11. Guidance for local authorities specifies that approaches such as autonomous and self-directed learning should be “judged by outcomes, not on the basis that a different way of educating children must be wrong.”

Would the ESC care to explain to me how a child can be monitored yearly and how a child can be "judged by outcomes" (which in England would be at age 18)?  These are contradictory, and we know that the better scenario ("judged by outcomes") will be pushed aside by those proclaiming that children must be monitored annually.

Paragraph 11 also goes on about Fundamental British Values and how HE parents take financial responsibility.

"14. Compared with our European neighbours, the English model is relatively permissive. A 2018 survey of systems participating in the Eurydice network found that “home education at the request of families is possible in a majority of educational systems.” However, in a dozen countries—including Germany—“it is possible only in exceptional circumstances” and “in many cases, parents have to ask for authorisation from top level or local authorities.” Furthermore, students’ progress was “monitored and assessed everywhere except in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom”."

I don't see the point of this paragraph, since we're in England and we've been forced to leave the EU.  Wasn't part of our sovereignty meant to be that we don't have to be forced to follow EU rules and whatnot?  Unless, of course, the government wants to limit home education? Surely that's not the case? <more sarcasm> 

Why do parents choose to home educate?

"18. Submissions from home educating parents and the organisations that support them told us that EHE could deliver a more personalised, individual education which moved at the pace of the child. We heard from parents who had observed huge improvements in their children’s mental health after being removed from schools where they were not kept safe from bullying, and from those who relished the opportunity to spend time together as a family, providing their children with a wealth of experiences outside the relatively narrow school curriculum."

Of course there are only 400-odd submissions that have been published of the 900+ this report has stated to have received.  But anyway, this was a good paragraph, so to maintain the appearance of being balanced, I thought it best to include it here.

"19. The Committee unanimously supports the right of families to opt for EHE, provided it is in the best interests of the child and the education provided is of a suitable standard to meet the needs of the child. In the eyes of the law, the duty to secure an education for a child rests with parents. It follows that the choice to home educate should be afforded the same respect as the choice for children to attend a state or private school. However, without data on outcomes we cannot know how many children receiving EHE are getting a suitable education. For that reason, it is reasonable that local authorities have the ability to assess the suitability of education"

Research Exists!!!

"20. The next iteration of the Government’s guidance for local authorities and parents must set out a clearer vision for a ‘suitable’ education - including the levels of numeracy and literacy which it would usually expect students to have achieved before they move on to later education, training or employment. This vision should take into account the different paths that children with SEND might take."

This paragraph must be super way* important for it to be italicised AND bolded!
        * I've just read a series, starting Ugly Girl by Mary E Twomey, and the protagonist is always saying 'super way' instead of another descriptor.

Again, because of the different routes through home education for ALL children (whether they have SEND or otherwise), specifying levels of attainment in numeracy and literacy on an annual level does not make sense.  And if there are sanctions for parents whose children do not achieve these attainment levels (because of course, a stick is what is needed for parents who are often already down to a single income and are financially responsible for everything), can these sanctions be given to schools who have children who fail to meet these levels?

 Part 3 of this read-through is available HERE.

Strengthening Home Education Report - Part 1

Last night, at 10pm, the Education Committee published its Strengthening Home Education Report.  Apparently, this was so that it could be discussed in today's papers, yet I know many journalists got a heads-up what the report was going to say, so already had their articles written and waiting.  Home educators, otoh, had to wait until it was actually published before being able to read it.

I have not yet read the report myself, though I have seen some people's reactions to it.  I thought I would share my reaction with you, as I read it and jot down notes.  There may be the occasional swear word, but fuck it - I'm an adult.

So, opening up the report I can see that it is 67 pages long. Joy.

Looking at the contents list, under "Summary" it begins - a statutory register for children out of school...

"The Association of Directors of Children’s Services projected that as of October 2020 more than 75,000 children were being educated at home, an increase of 38 per cent from the previous year"

The ADCS numbers are inaccurate.  This has already be clarified by WCW of Education Otherwise, yet the Education Select Committee (ESC) still continues to use it.

"It is simply not good enough that we are only able to make a best guess at the number of children receiving EHE, especially when the Department for Education itself acknowledges that there is “considerable evidence” that many children may not be receiving a suitable education"

Really?  I'd like to see this "considerable evidence" as it all seems anecdotal and made-up to me.

 "The Committee remains deeply concerned that we cannot support children who may have been ‘left behind’ during the pandemic without knowing who they are and how many of them there are."

'Left behind' does not make sense when talking about home education.  The law clearly states that the education must be suitable to their age, ability and aptitude.  I am much more concerned about the children in schools who genuinely get 'left behind' because they do not have the individual support needed in order to keep up with the rest of the class. 

"Without a national register for EHE, we have no equivalent intelligence about the impact of covid-19 on the participation in educational activities of the full range of children receiving EHE."

The Centre for Personalised Education (CPE) recently held a conference with leading academics entitled "Research Exists".  The research is there already, and there is still some ongoing research regarding to covid (for exam THIS research project looking at the impact on HErs trying to take exams during covid).  If Robert Halfon (Chair of the ESC) refuses to attend such conferences, how does he expect to find out about the evidence? Oh yeah, by bringing in a register... (See my thoughts on bringing in a register HERE).

"During the inquiry hundreds of parents that home educate their children told us about the benefits they see from EHE."

There were actually over 1000 responses to the HE Inquiry, it's just that they have only published a few hundred of them. 

Summary Recommendations:

1. A Statutory register for children out of school

As I've said before, a register will not achieve anything that they are hoping it to.  They keep saying that the evidence from home educators cannot be trusted to ensure that all HE children are receiving a suitable education, but unless they search every single house (which may be next steps, who knows?) anybody who is nefarious will simply not register their children.  They are encouraging people to snitch on their neighbours for having children.

"Once the register is up and running, we expect the Department to collate, analyse and publish anonymised annual data on the number of children out of school so that stakeholders are better able to understand trends and create effective policy in response to them."

And that's what this is about, really.  Stakeholders in a children's education are the child themselves and the parent.  Schools are involved if the child is registered at school, and the LA should only be involved if there is evidence to suggest that an education is not taking place.  Creating work for paper-pushers within the government is not a good use of tax payer money, especially when there are already researchers from various universities who study trends and can actually understand what they are looking at.

2. Supporting children with SEND and home education

"We do know that for some families EHE is not truly ‘elective’, especially those where children have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and do not get the support they need from the school system. No-one should be forced into educating at home through lack of support—instead the Government must act to ensure that schools are able to provide proper support for SEND in the first place."

This is not a HE thing.  Instead they have conflated two things, and are using it as a way to 'encourage' more children back into school.
The government must act to ensure schools are able to provide proper support for SEND - absolutely!  If a child is in school, they should get all the help and support they need in order to get the education they deserve.
Some parents of children with SEND do look into HE due to the lack of support and services on offer at school.  These parents are then split into two groups - parents who decide that HE is the best way for their children to get a good education, and those who feel forced into home education.  This latter group is then split into a further two groups - those who realise HE is totally flexible and therefore the best place for their children to get a good education, and those who still wish they could send their child to school.  It is this latter group of parents that need the support.  Having already used a school, these children will be known to their Local Authorities.  A register will not make a difference here.

"To ensure that families who are considering EHE receive the right information at the right time to make the best decision for their children, we call for the Department to reconsider the creation of an independent, neutral advocate which has the responsibility for co-ordinating all statutory SEND processes and could support families where a choice about EHE is being made."

Will this "independent, neutral advocate" have knowledge about home education and have firm links with the home educating community, or will it be someone else to suggest that children with SEND need to be in school, and therefore yet another hoop for these parents to jump through?

3. Assessment of a 'suitable' education

 "Local authorities must be able to assess the educational progress of children who are home educated at least once a year, in order to take reasonable steps to reassure themselves that EHE is providing a ‘suitable’ education."

So, I'm not even out of the initial summary of this document (bottom of page 4) and already a recommendation for a register has turned into "at least" annual monitoring. 

"However, as a minimum, home-educated children must have equity of access to the next stage of their education, work or training with their schooled peers. This means attaining essential standards of literacy and numeracy, while also taking into account the different paths that children with SEND might follow."

"Next stage of their education" means, imo, age 16+ when they go off to college/sixth form or apprenticeships.  At a push, it could be brought back to age 14 (when schooled children start studying for their GCSEs) to ensure that these options are available for home educated kids, but however you look at it, it does not mean there should be annual monitoring.

Then there's a sentence about LA staff needing effective training, which I totally agree with, but again, there should be input from one of the national HE organisations (Educational Freedom, Education Otherwise, or whoever) to ensure that this training is correct wrt HE, and not just pushed from the government/ESC to make even more LAs act unlawfully.

"While we know that a number of local authorities do more than the bare minimum, local authorities must have the ability to see children (at a venue of the family’s choosing) and evidence of their progress as appropriate, even where educational content and style varies widely from the school curriculum"

So a child no longer has autonomy over themselves or their belongings?  They cannot refuse to meet a stranger?  They must hand over their work to be scrutinised by some random?
Small consolation - but at least they have said "at a venue of the family's choosing", rather than demanding to see and inspect children's homes and safe spaces too.

4. Better data on outcomes

As I've already said, there has even been a conference entitled Research Exists.  Even anecdotally, join a national HE facebook group or two, and you can see loads of examples about outcomes from home education. 

Personally, I don't think this section is a bad thing, however, it should be voluntary (whilst acknowledging that may skew the data slightly).

5. A level playing field on access to examinations

"The Department for Education must work to establish the appropriate level of entitlement, to which examinations the entitlement will apply, and the additional funding the Department will commit to support this, in order to help EHE children gain the qualifications needed for the future education, training and employment that will allow them to play active roles in society."

Apart from the derisive suggestion that only people with specific qualifications "play active roles in society", I do think there should be better support for HE kids taking exams.  However, these should not be limited to specific subjects, qualifications nor age of the child - they should be available as and when needed.

This is the end of the summary of the document.  In Part 2 I will go through the introduction of the report.

 

Weekly Update

This past week I have done nearly zero exercise and have been eating crap. I haven't weighed myself, but I hope to get back to it this week  After a few days of not eating properly, I'm missing vegetables, so I'm looking forward to our veg box coming this Wed.

What I have been doing, is loads and loads of home ed stuff.  I have two different FOIs going on, and have been busy collating the information altogether.  I'm even drawing a pretty chart to display the info, which looks good, but wasn't as easy as I was hoping for!  DD2 missed her transition day for secondary school due to covid, but has been invited to a summer school.  I need to start getting her uniform together - I swear for DD1 I had it all by this point in the year, whereas for DD2, I've barely thought about it.

I have also been reading - hurray! - reading a lot and escaping into other worlds really does help my mental health. I am approximately 5 books/series behind on my book reviews, so instead of doing that (because that would be the obvious thing to do, wouldn't it!), I'm going to go back through all my previous book reviews and group them by genre, so that anyone who wants to find a specific type of book, will be able to find it easier.

Depression as a Christian

I feel the need to preface this post by saying that I know depression is hard for everyone.  I know that depression manifests itself differently for different people, and I'm certainly not suggesting Christians are better than other people.

***

Depression as a Christian is hard.  Not only do I have the depression itself, but I feel the added pressure of "If God was real, he'd take away your depression" and "If you were a true Christian, you wouldn't have depression" - both of which are lies that add to making you feel worse.

Recently, I've been feeling crap.  Nothing, that I'm aware of, triggered it.  I just felt numb and 'meh'.  I wasn't suicidal, and wasn't in a pit of existential despair, I just felt sad and have been on this ride long enough to know that my depression was kicking in.  My self care had gone, and I felt like I had to be everywhere doing everything, but not managing anything - all of which made me feel worse.

I tried to let go of the small stuff.  Not worry that my house was looking worse and worse.  Not worry that I just wanted to run away and hide, whilst knowing that I have too much responsibility to be able to do that. I'm in the middle of various FOI requests regarding home education and the treatment of home educators; I have my tutees that I love tutoring (whilst simultaneously looking forward to the summer break!); I have DD2 that I am actually home educating (when she is not watching repeats of Miraculous); and even this afternoon I have a meeting with my Local Authority about changing their HE policy.  And walk the dog.  And see my PT.  And spend time with my family.  And phone family that live further away.  And see friends.  And keep in touch with friends who live further away.  And... And... And...

Two weeks on, and I'm in a place where my mental health is such that I can write this post, though I have been thinking about it for a while.  

Many people think (including some Christians) that Christians have to be "happy" all the time, with stupid grins stuck to their face (yes, I'm jealous due to RBF), never getting angry, with glitter and sparkles wherever they go.  However, when you read the Bible, it doesn't actually say that.  Nowhere that I recall does it say that Christians will have an easy life with everything they want - indeed it says that Christians will be persecuted* for their faith and suffer hardship.

*Brief segue: whilst some Christians are persecuted for their faith, I do think that many of the claims in the West about persecution are not.  This is a discussion for another time.

I listen to worship songs in my car (much to my girls' annoyance), and I can feel the love of God, even when I am depressed.  It doesn't take the depression away, however.  But I have the knowledge, understanding and faith, that my depression is merely feeling and emotion, and however I am feeling, does not mean that, poof, God suddenly doesn't exist anymore.

Paul wrote many of his letters whilst in prison, after having been beaten or stoned, having to run and flee for his life.  He knew that no matter how he felt, God is still in control.

For the individual Christian, more specifically me, this disparity between 'head knowledge' and 'heart knowledge' can make me feel worse at times.  Not helped by hereditary Catholic guilt, disagreeing with my current church (Baptist) on a couple of issues, and knowing what I'm really like, all mean that I know I am not a "good Christian", and I wonder if I was "better" then I wouldn't feel like this?  Obviously, the answer is "no", and when I'm feeling normal, like I do right now, I can rationalise that.  The whole point of Christianity, is that there is nothing we can do to earn our place with God.  As good as a mere human can be, we could always be better, however, rather than that forcing everyone into depression, God came down to earth, to meet us at our level, where we currently are, with all our sins and guilt and shame and everything else. And because of that, is why we can still be joyful and sing God's praises, even when we are depressed and 'meh'.

Weekly Update

So, my weight is still going up. As of this morning, it is just one measly kilo below the highest weight I have ever been: a staggering 97.1kg.

However, I am not totally disheartened.  I am having non-scale victories, even though my weight is increasing.  I am still seeing my personal trainer twice a week.  She came this morning, and though I didn't quite beat my PB of a plank for 1m57s, I did reach 1m47s - which is amazing considering how tired I felt.

I am also starting to see a difference in what I look like.  Yesterday was my day to take my measurements and photo graphs again.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find my book with my previous measurements in, so I only know what I am, not whether I have gone up or down.  Fortunately, my phone has my previous photos, so I can make a comparison.

I can actually see a difference!  It's not huge, and I'm still fat, but I am making progress and that's the main thing.  My waist is getting smaller (and I no longer need the bra extender that I'm using in the top photo!), my stomach doesn't seem to protrude quite as much, and though the difference is slight, my shorts are slightly looser around the legs, compared to two months ago.

As embarrassing as these photos are - I am pleased with the difference!

Guess what I did today?

When I was a kid, I had my ears pierced when I was 11yo, before going up to secondary school. At that age, I was deemed old enough to be able to look after pierced ears myself.

Fast forward to now, and my baby is going to secondary school in September!  Having never been interested before, she has asked to have her ears pierced, and being the same age(ish - DD2 doesn't turn 11 until August), I wasn't going to say no.

Knowing we weren't going to go to Claire's, we looked around and decided to go to Sharon's Beauty for All.  Set up in Sharon's conservatory, we were greeted at the door, and Sharon was even gracious when we were 15minutes late due to my sat nav going haywire and an accident closing a local road.

The room itself is clean and functional, without feeling like a sterile (in the bad way) hospital room.  Sharon  kept everything hygienic, wore a mask and kept sanitising her hands as per covid regs, and used disposable needles and clean, sterile (in the good way!) equipment.

DD2 jumped up on the bed, chose her earrings and Sharon got to work.  Sharon helped calm my daughter down, as DD2 was nervous, and talked through everything.  Not too long later, my daughter was pleased with the result.

That's not what I did, though.  

I decided that if I was going to be going to take DD2 to get pierced, then I should get pierced too.
A lot of blood later (I'm a bleeder, lol), I now have my nose pierced again to match my glasses.
A little purple ring.

All in all, a good experience for both myself and DD2. 
If you want a piercing I recommend Sharon - and she does a range of beauty treatments and nails too.

It's been nearly a month!!!

My poor neglected blog!  I'm so sorry!  You wouldn't believe how busy I have been - actually, you would, given how sporadic my posting has been so far this year.  I'm hoping I'll have finally turned a corner now, but who knows?  I have been posting mildly more often direct on my facebook page, so if you don't follow it, you should do so now: https://www.facebook.com/MusingsMiddleagedMum .

The Education Select Committee's Inquiry into Home Education is still ongoing.  I have given further submissions, but that hasn't been published yet, nor my personal one.  I'm still involved in helping home educators locally and nationally know their rights, answer their questions, deal with their Local Authorities, etc.  I'm also talking at an upcoming HE conference, so I hope people will have plenty of questions as I'm not good at talking about nothing, lol.  I suppose I should find some FAQs and have them on standby so I can ask and answer my own questions if I need to.  Details of the conference: https://www.learnfree.org.uk/ 

Have I mentioned that DD2 got into the same school as DD1?  So from September, I'll no longer be a home educator! <sob>  I'll still be involved in the community and the politics, but will be stepping down from some of my adminning duties on FB as I don't think it's right that a non-home educator admins local groups.

Weightloss has been a bit up and down.  More up than down, but hopefully that has turned a corner now.  I've got a(nother) new exercise routine that I've paid for so will be sticking with for a while.  Had my first session on Monday, and boy, did I ache afterwards!!!  I hope to be doing this every Monday and Friday for the foreseeable, so hopefully that will have an impact on my weight.  I've also decided to try some monetary incentive.  From a starting weight of 94kilos, for every 1kg I can keep off for a solid 3 weeks, I will put a tenner to one side.  The Pros: If I get down to my dream weight, I'll have £300 to spend on new clothes. The Cons: My weight is up and down like a yoyo, so I could be averaging , for example, 75kilos, and then randomly have 1 day of 82kilos.  But, it's added incentive, so lets see if it works.

I haven't listened to my hypnotherapy CDs for a while either - I've not even had time to take 30min for myself at home.  But, now that the girls' dance classes are back in the studios, I've magically got more time for reading (because I am sat in my car waiting!) so hope to start writing reviews again.

So sorry, again, for the silent treatment.  I hope to be posting more regularly again soon xx

Weekly Update

 A weekly update that is turning into a monthly update. I'm busy - no surprise there!

I started another FutureLearn Course.  Only 3 weeks long, a few hours each week - I've managed 1 week so far, so need to catch up on that.

My work with Educational Freedom is ongoing, as people are always asking for support, as well as the behind the scenes stuff that needs to happen.  I've been contacted by a journalist this morning too, so I need to write a bit for her.

And my working as part of the EHE Alliance is ongoing.  Thankfully I'm part of a bigger team there, but I still need to give my input and am unable to cruise along.

Have I mentioned on this blog I get cysts? Well, I do.  Went to the docs years ago about it and was told "you're just a cystic lady".  Gee, thanks.  This week one burst in my groin, so I've been unable to do any walking (which is reflected in my weight) as I've had an open wound.  It's finally starting to heal today though, yey!, so hopefully won't be too long before I can walk my dog again.  On the positive side, the nurse suggested I may have a condition called Hidradenitis suppurativa or HS, and has arranged a phone appt with a different GP next week, so I can be referred to dermatology.  There actually isn't much they can do, but if I have a diagnosis I can keep antibiotics to hand, so I can treat myself when and as needed, rather than having to go through the rigmarole of making doctor/nurses appointments.  This is another condition that benefits if you are not overweight, so yet another reason why I need to lose weight.

I have finished a couple of books since I last posted too.  Reading really does destress me, so I need to get around to writing those reviews.  Unfortunately, my kindle is still in my car from when I went to the docs last week and I cba to get it out when it was cold and wet.  A sunny day here today, though, so no more excuses.

So back to my weekly update.  Here's my graph for the past 2 months.

Very up and down, but (apart from this past week) there's a definite downward trend.  Once I can start walking again, I need to make sure I go out every day (especially on busy days where I'm tutoring!).

I am feeling strangely motivated this morning though, despite not being able to walk.  Over the weekend I binge-watched Strong on Netflix.  It's about 10 personal trainers and 10 fairly ordinary women who compete to win $500,000 by getting physically and mentally strong.  I particularly liked the fact there was one contestant who was my weight at the start, and she did really well on the show.
So, this morning, I did 1 sit up, 1 push up and 1 Russian twist; tomorrow I will do 2 of each and I will continue as it.  I didn't want to start with 10 or 20 of each in case I found it demoralising - and that was a good call!  The Russian Twist, I could do.  The Push-up I went on my toes (usually I do them on my knees) and managed it.  The sit-up, though.... the one exercise that I could do comfortably... Well, I could do a crunch (I got halfway up), but I don't think it qualifies as a sit-up.  I tried again, getting a bit more momentum into it, and still only got halfway up.  As I said, it's a good thing I didn't try and start doing too many.  Tomorrow I will do two of each, and my strength will improve.

Recommendation: Out of the Box Catering

Valentine's Day came and went at the weekend, and I like nothing more than an Afternoon Tea.  If you ever want to get me a 'special meal', the poshest afternoon tea, preferably with cheap bubbly (I don't like champagne, would much rather a big bottle of lambrini) would be me happy for ages.

Rather than wait for my other half to pick up on the million of hints, I decided it was easiest if I booked it myself. I have seen Out of the Box Catering recommended on Facebook, and though the food looks fab, it has always seemed on the pricy side.  I have considered it for catering events as that seems more reasonable to me (I'm planning my 40th birthday next year, but all the venues that have got back to us so far, have said we have to use their in-house caterers).

Anyway, I don't usually make a big fuss about Valentine's Day - my husband and I love each other, and don't ned a special day to say it - but in Lockdown, when this past year has been a bit rubbish, I wanted to do something a bit special.  Out of the Box Catering were doing a Valentine's Day hamper, and I decided to go for it - and I was very glad I did.  I also bought the kids' hamper for my girls.

First of all, when it arrived, it came in these lovely hessian bags.  I was not expecting that at all - when I have ordered from other places, it has always been boxes, or maybe boxes in a paper bag.  This delivery was presented really well, and we have a reusable bag to keep.

Then, when I opened the bag, not only did it contain boxes of food, but it also had a cake stand for the afternoon tea, and individual place settings of plate, cutlery, napkin, salt and pepper - everything you could need!  It made me dream of warmer weather when we could order a hamper, and then go for a walk with the kids and the dog, and take a picnic.  (Picnics are another thing I love - I chose to have a picnic with friends to celebrate my 21st birthday. I don't know why I love them so much? I suppose I'm a romantic at heart - either that, or I read too much Enid Blyton as a kid!)

Even within the individual boxes, the food was presented beautifully, with a fresh side salad too.  Inside the kids' boxes were simpler flavours of sandwiches and instead of vegetable crisps, they had a bag of cheese puffs.  We also had separate boxes with canapes, sweet treats and a cream tea.  I laid it all out on the table, proper fancy like, and it looked a feast! 

So would I recommend? Unequivocally, yes.

It is on the expensive side, compared to other Afternoon Tea Deliveries, however, it is definitely worth it.  The taste of everything was beautiful, and all the little extras (I forgot to mention earlier, that there were also individual heart chocolates with the cutlery!) make it worthwhile.