The do try this at home school

📣 BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! 📣

In her spare time my incredibly talented 12 year old daughter has been illustrating an entire picture book, completely independently.

I wrote the words for this book when she was 5, after I was inspired by a conversation with my Nan. But I kept it in a drawer because I could never create the illustrations for a whole picture book. We rediscovered the story this year, and I am very proud to say that it is now complete and available to buy on Amazon!

Evelyn will be getting all of the profits from any sales. We really hope you like it. It’s for very young children, but there is also space at the back to write your own story for older children.

“Find a Penny, Pick it Up is the second enchanting collaboration from mother-and-daughter duo Sarah and Evelyn Vaughan. Inspired by a heartfelt conversation with her nan, Sarah’s story captures the simple magic of imagination as we follow the adventures of one tiny penny. Brought to life with beautiful illustrations by twelve-year-old Evelyn, this delightful book reminds readers that sometimes, the smallest moments can hold the biggest meanings.”

Link in bio and stories!

Dover Castle was looking spectacular today, we had a brilliant afternoon looking around all of the non touristy bits and finding some very old graffiti.. one from 1813!

Sometimes it can feel like the weight of the world falls firmly on your shoulders when you are a Home Ed parent in September.

This year I am finding it really tough. Even though I’ve been doing this for years and years.

Every now and then the enormity of the responsibility hits me hard. Everyone is sharing photos of their children going back to school, and mine are still in pyjamas… so am I.

BUT then I realise that my eldest child has not stopped playing music and performing for the entire summer and my daughter is undertaking two NVQ courses at the age of 12, whilst also running a small creative business.

I am doing alright and so are you.

Our children are learning constantly through doing the things that they love. They are not restricted by desks and walls and curriculums and timetables. They are just free to learn.

So if you have got the September wobbles, take a long, slow, deep breath, give yourself a hug. It’s all going to be ok. You’ve got this. X

Just getting ready to deliver all of the props we have made to the local primary school for their Shakespeare play tomorrow evening, where two of my children will also be providing some music.

Today two of my children are at their home Ed hub, and then we are off to a music event tonight.

I don’t think I’ve ever been less isolated in my life. I’m also exhausted! I’ve not even mentioned that we were at the local university for the creative arts last week because both of my home educated children have their work in an art exhibition there….

Someone send more tea please. 😂😂

Home education?! Why would you do that?!!

I’ve been doing this for 9 years now, yes it’s hard work, no I don’t own a house or have a pension or have a posh car, BUT myself and my family are rich in so many ways.

If you would like to learn more about our home education experience, I have a new blog post on my website, link in bio and stories.

Now that the Little Ships that helped in the evacuation of Dunkirk in WW2 are all safely home, I thought I’d share some photos of the amazing flypast and parade that happened in Ramsgate Harbour a couple of weeks ago!

It included one of the oldest flying Fairey Swordfish biplanes in the world. We felt very lucky to see it.

DO NOT IGNORE THIS MESSAGE - AND PLEASE REMEMBER TO SHARE
It’s time for action now, if you want to protect home education as we know it. We have no time to delay as there’s only 4 weeks to get responses in. (11th Feb).
DO NOT BURY YOUR HEAD IN THE SAND. THIS WILL AFFECT YOU AND THE ONLY WAY TO STOP IT IS TO SPEAK UP!

The children’s well-being and schools bill is not just a register of home educated kids, it proposes to change your right to deregister, demands a ridiculous level of detail about people involved in the learning (this includes your Nan, neighbour, postman etc), every website used, etc, it in effect bans most styles of home education, it allows the LA to decide what is best for your child, prison if you fail to abide by an Sao even if it was served maliciously (which some LAs do), and so much more harm. Whoever wrote it clearly does not understand home education at all.
What we need you to do is write your your MP, with explanations about why each section of the bill is wrong, and that a register won’t actually find the missing children. And we need you to submit a response to the bill committee.

We explain the bill and how to write to MP and committee here and in many other posts, read this page first then look back over the older posts for further explanation on the bill, https://educationalfreedom.org.uk/2nd-reading-of-the-childrens-wellbeing-bill-and-home-education-register-what-next/

And here is where you can submit your response to the committee. Again the link above will help with your reply.

https://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2025/january/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-bill-call-for-evidence/

If you are feeling confused or overwhelmed by all of this please take a breath and reread our website info about the bill, and the kind of thing needing to be said to the MP and committee. We have tried to keep things as simple as possible as we know it’s confusing and scary.