Calling SS on Tuesday

Just In case anyone is still around, thank you for kind responses to my comment.
I asked my grandson if he is really happy to be back at school and he beamed and said, can you see it in my face? But Nanny I’m cross with you. We are only just starting fractions and I know about those already and it’s a bit boring”. So cutting up cakes and pizzas, partitioning the vegetable beds, deciding how much of a packet of seeds to use in one season, checking what we needed for the supermarket delivery and so on has put him way ahead of his peers in maths without a worksheet in sight. That’s unschooling for you. As for the OP’s ‘testing’ of these 7 year olds who she has rarely seen, in those circumstances the average 7 year old would clam up. And have you looked at the National Curriculum lately? I reckoned just talking to my grandson for an hour while we explored our local riverside he would learn more than during an entire day at school and I’m not exaggerating; what he did miss out on was contact with his peers, licence to act daft with friends at playtime and real puddings with his school dinner.

Minerva, you are what some of the younger members of my family would refer to as ‘goals’.

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Reported

If you do ring ss, there’s always the chance they could get put into care. What will you think then?

Zombie thread- 2021!

MawtheMerrier

Zombie thread- 2021!

And? It’s a forum, I had a question, I posted… if the op doesn’t answer it’s fine, I won’t lose sleep over it.

If she did ring them, that was over a year ago.
Isn’t the question academic now?

Granypie, both parents are responsible for bringing up their children. Whether separated or not, they will still need to discuss and agree on many issues, including education.

I am a bit concerned about how your DIL is being treated in this.

You say that your son is very ashamed that he has "allowed" this to happen, and you have said that your DIL must be "made" to put them into school. What actions would your Son have taken if he had not "allowed" this to happen? What actions are you intending to "make" your DIL put the children in school?

You also make reference to your DIL breaking the law by failing to send the children to school, but don't seem to recognise that if that is the case, then your son must be equally culpable? So if you report your DIL, your son will probably also be interviewed by Social Services to ascertain what part of his responsibilities as the childrens father he has taken on this. I don't think SS will be particularly impressed to learn if it is the case that he has taken no responsbility for 7 years.

Others here have pointed out that you should not contact Social Services and that it is the responsibility of the parents to bring up their children. I would respectfully suggest that instead of calling in Social Services you have a long think about how you can best support both parents, which in turn should help the children thrive.

And both you and your Son should treat your DIL with a bit more respect than can be seen from your posts here.

I am sorry if this sounds harsh, but you can't possibly know what has taken place within their marriage or what discussions have taken place about educating the children, but it does sound as though your DIL has been left to get on with it, and is now a single parent who will be needing more support rather than less.

oops just noticed the above posts re date.

I would love to know the outcome... and actually hope it's positive for everyone - but especially for the children.

Do come back Grannypie and let us know. I do hope you all are feeling more settled.

Although this an old thread, it would be nice to know what happened.
My grandaughter was a "failed" home schooler when she was out of formal education for over a year. For all the little "formal education" she had experienced in her time out, she went back to school streets ahead with very few gaps. The tragedy was my daughter had actually asked her daughter's old school if she could liaise with them as the reason she removed her daughter was that they were moving and the local school could not take her. The school would not cooperate so my daughter was left to her own devices.

Sadly OP s rarely come back and tell us what happened.

I hope you didn't end up calling.
1. Not your children
2. They're only 7.
3. Unschooling is legal.
4. Unschooling doesn't mean no education. They are learning things. Its just what they're interested in at the moment and in a way that's comfortable. ( no shoes maybe, more hands on, less sitting at a desk).

I unschooled. We went to the park once a week, a museum/zoo/etc once a month. I took DS to the store with me to help pick out food, learning how much money each thing costs, cooking at home with me. He did swimming lessons, soccer lessons and others longer than his friends who only could in the summer. He was way more interested and focused on his day if he slept as long as needed. The list of benefits goes on. Like I said, they're still learning. They're just not sitting in a desk to do it.