I raised a glass

but I haven’t let my guard down, and I’m certainly not taking a holiday 😉

I toasted our victory at 9.30 last night (mine’s a bud since you’re asking 😉 ) and I joined in the facebook celebration too. I watched on twitter as ppl counted down to the relevant clauses actually being thrown out.

But overall, despite this step forward (or perhaps a step back from the brink?), I felt underwhelmed. And when I saw the reaction on lists last night and this morning, my mood dropped further. The lack of awareness even within our own communities is quite staggering, and I’m guessing the rest of the population hasn’t really got a clue what has or hasn’t happened.

I’m not sure that thinking of what has gone on as battles and war is helpful. This is not a situation we can win once and for all, so this war would never end. As I don’t want to live in a war state for ever, I’m not going to think of it that way. Yes, we can see off some attacks, or win some battles, but we are never going to stop ppl wanting to control us. Ed Balls has already said that if they get back in, they’ll come at us immediately, and ignorance is rife in the reporting of what has gone on.

So what can we do instead?

Celebrate parental choice, independence and responsibility. Be out and proud, confirm that you home educate and it’s legal, but has no reflection on other ppl’s parenting or education choices. Support each other on lists, twitter, facebook and most importantly irl.

Must get round to organising those T shirts.

Challenge ignorance wherever you find it. In the papers, in person, online. But more than anything, I think we need to let ppl know that home education is a very real option. It doesn’t have to be an all or nothing choice, you could home educate one child for a while, or all of them forever. Flexi-schooling is a workable option for some, and head teachers should be more open to it. Parents lead the way and are best placed to choose a path for their children, not schools, not MPs and not the DCSF.

Politicians are the servants of the electorate, not the other way around! I’m looking forward to educating our local PPCs about that, as well as my views on democracy, home education, digital rights and so on. (btw, never assume that because you are in a safe seat you can ignore PPCs from other parties. Educate them now and then if they get parachuted in somewhere else, the process has already been started.)

I am finding much to be positive about on this beautiful sunny day, but I’m not going to just kick back and lie in the sun.

(I haven’t read around the blogs yet, but I do believe there were rather a lot of posts on this subject last night, and there’s a list over at renegade parent.)