A Difficult Decision

I've come up against a few hurdles trying to arrange home schooling for William for 1 day a week.  The head teacher at his school is very supportive of the idea, which has been very encouraging, because 1 day a week will give us a good balance.  It will satisfy my need to be closer to my son while he is still so young, and he will benefit by more daytime one-to-one with me, yet he will still spend most of his week socialising at school.  And, I've got all these ideas about what we can do together that just aren't really possible at the end of a school day.

Up to now, progress had been glacial.  I first brought up the idea with the head teacher on the first day of term in early September. Initially, I think she was quite surprised - it was an unusual request.  However, we had a few meetings to discuss things, and she could see where I was coming from and was won over.  We even left things on one occasion where she would investigate the possibility using an 'educated off-site' code to apply to his attendance. 

Attendance.  That's the big issue.  The school's, that is.  They have problems keeping their numbers up, despite 'interventions'.  I'm guessing this is something to do with the catchment area and pupil mix.  Now, I don't fully understand schools in England.  There are so many different kinds now: state, voluntary aided, grammar, and so on.  Our Lady of the Immaculate is a voluntary aided Catholic primary school, so, as far as I understand it, they are answerable to the local authority and the board of governors.  So, my wishes have been vetoed by the Attendance Officer, and the governers weren't too keen either.  The ironic thing is that William's attendance is likely to be very high: he is not often very poorly, and we never take him out just on a whim.  Also, they don't have the resources to monitor what we are doing, despite my idea to keep a portfolio with pictures, projects, evidence of our activities.  I did scrunch up my eyebrows at this point.  The idea of monitoring seems a bit Big Brotherish.   

So, they can't officially sanction it.  It is a disappointing outcome, especially as I had understood that flexi-schooling was an agreement between the school and the parent, and not really anything to do with the local authority.  A shame because it looked like there was going to be a good partnership between parent and school.

As I had been worrying that this might happen, the prospect of home schooling full-time has crossed my mind several times recently.  It's a decision I've been grappling with because William is clearly enjoying his experience at school and is flourishing.  His teacher is so kind, exactly what I'd hoped for for him in his first year there.  And, I lack the full support of my dear husband on completely de-registering.  So, back to square one.  How can we capture those precious moments, steeped in learning together in these tender early years when, too quickly, the weeks slip by with the obligatory routines and schedule of life?