I signed up for this blog in ignorance (fortunately I have barely used it).  I only saw the word homeschool blogger and as a home educator thought it would be useful.  However, it has recently come to my attention that contained within the pages of the Old Schoolhouse magazine are what can only be described as articles that advocate child abuse.  The Pearls who have written books on so-called child training imho advocate child abuse and I would word it more strongly as to what they are but do not wish to be in any kind of legal trouble.

If you follow a method of child training that advocates physical punishment against children - yes children, then in my eyes you are abusing your child. 

Therefore, I will not be adding anything more to this blog other than to say to the editors of the Old Schoolhouse that you advocate child abuse, supposedly in the name of a religion (sub-cult of a religion).  To any reader who is confused about this post in my blog then please look through for articles about the Pearls and also look for supportive statements by the editors of TOS.  If you can honestly say that you still wish to associate yourself by subscribing to a magazine that advocates child abuse then you are just as sick (and many countries would arrest people for this behaviour and quite rightly).  Regardless of the law, adults ought to protect children from violence and harm.  We live in the 21st century and if we know more than enough to know the harmful effects of physical violence - we know better than some petty-minded, mentally ill individuals who supposedly cite religious texts in defence of their violent behaviour. 

If I could figure out how to delete my blog I would but I can't but perhaps it is better to leave this up here - look around and open your eyes and find another blog system - close your blogs down and don't give TOS the attention it doesn't deserve other than to be slated.

Hmmm - this is rather new.  An introduction to our family.  We are a family of three - dad, mum and just turned 4-year old daughter and we are home educators (rather than home schoolers) in the sense that we run our education and lives from home (but that doesn't mean that we stay at home).  We live in England and came to home education through a) my birth counsellor mentioned it when my daughter was little b) we read a book called Natural Childhood by Gaia Press and c) it kept popping up like the number 23 everywhere we turned.

We still have a year of unofficial home education left.  Here children start the term of their fifth birthday so our daughter would be starting September 2006.  If you would like details of home education here in the UK then one of the best sources of information is http://www.educationotherwise.org (which is Education Otherwise, a national charity for home educators).

We also like a site called Muddle Puddle (http://www.muddlepuddle.co.uk) which is for Early Years home educators.  When one considers that many children here in the UK are off to nursery several sessions a week at the age of 6 months and then often full-time attending at 3 years (when we get nursery vouchers) then home education is becoming more of a term for under 5 education as well, since many children are in institutions.  Personally, we do use a nursery because we find it a convenient resource but we go along too.