We can not teach someone something unless there are one or more of the following conditions:

• The thing is actually relevant to a learner’s genuine life.

• The learner genuinely finds the subject/thing actually interesting (this one is hard as you don’t always know what you will find interesting) and this can also be because the learner is goal oriented and really really wants the end goal.

• The learner is developmentally in the right place.

• The learner has some kind of connection to the teacher (not necessarily an adult) which can be positive or negative-means they want to be like them, to show/earn their respect (I’m not sure if that is the right word), prove them wrong or a desire for external approval.

• The learner is threatened in some way – eg failure, though I don’t think that this kind of learning is of the same quality.

I did my teaching registration because I had to, if I wanted to be in a classroom, it was free and on line so I could do it when I could. I did well, high marks, because I am motivated to achieve by being academically competitive (totally developed at school). I did it because I wanted to have my ideas challenged. I don’t feel I learnt much – the Code Standards have vanished, poof. I learned that I still can’t cope with a regular classroom, I still can’t tell children what they have to learn. I still have a problem with “the role of the teacher”.. except I don’t, I just disagree with the conventional idea of what teachers do.

We saw Helena’s Fairy Godmother in the holidays and she had cut out lots of kid quizzes out of the newspaper and tested Helena. Helena’s Fairy Godmother is very much of a different generation, of the times tables, spelling generation. I like this as I really do believe the more different ideas the better the outcome – and this includes ideas you disagree with. I do not mind when people challenge Helena and my decision to homeschool, that they test us… point out our “failures” etc. as I am confident that it works for us and that H is learning and choosing what she is interested in as my feelings are based on observations. The result of the newspaper quizzing was that H didn’t know many of the answers regarding Geography! As someone who is well travelled and loves maps I was surprised!! I felt I talked about this! Helena totally paid attention to her lack of knowledge and the value someone other than her mother placed upon this knowledge, so now we have a timetable. Helena has modified her learning because a couple of the above have been met and is doing something she has previously not shown an interest in.