Bodhi’s Zen Den

03/08/2022

💙💙

Children are very good at being in the moment. Adults, usually, are not.

Not because we don’t want to be, but because we don’t really know how to anymore.

From a young age we’re continually asked to move on from moments we’d rather stay present in because there’s always something else to do. To work towards. To tick off. The next subject, project, worksheet, group activity, lesson, bell, lunch break, assembly, class, test, homework assignment...all week, every week.

The model built for our children is based entirely on the concept of a start, a finish, and continual progress in between. Children rarely get the chance to slow down. They cannot simply choose to stop. Even a gap year after more than a decade spent in classrooms is scrutinised. If an 18 year old takes a break, won’t they fall behind their peers? Stay in the race. Keep up.

But races have more losers than winners. That’s just the way they work. And while we’re off chasing abstract things like ‘progress’ and ‘success’, we run past the people, places, and moments in our lives that would love to have us pause just a little bit longer.

By the end of it, the beautiful, natural art of being present is all but lost. In its place: a continual, nagging belief that we need to keep busily working towards a distant finish line.

Some of our children are lining up to start the race right now. Others have been running it for years.

What a life-changing thing it would be to tell them it doesn’t actually exist.

05/02/2022

Can we talk about parents not being qualified to teach their children?

Being a trained teacher involves a lot of things. It’s a skilled profession that takes study, and preparation, and ends with a hard earned qualification. But it’s important to understand that a good deal of that training relates to skills that apply specifically to a school setting. That apply to managing large groups of children, and delivering curriculum and testing schedules on time with results a school’s administration expects.

If that’s not what you’re trying to do - and, as a home educating parent, it’s not - most of those skills just aren’t necessary.

I think if you asked teachers what it is that slows down or prevents children’s learning the most, they’d tell you it’s the schedules, tests, expectations, and pressure that get in the way of them working closely and patiently with their students.

And if you asked them what the ideal learning scenario would be, I don’t think they’d talk much about the teaching side. I think they’d talk about children being ready to learn, being open to learn, and the physical and mental environment they’re in being conducive to it. Which, of course, is clearly reinforced by what we know about the brain. By what we know about how children best learn.

Researchers know, and teachers know, that long-lasting knowledge and skills are not gained just because we decide to deliver them. They are gained when a person is ready to receive them. When, ideally, they’re actively seeking them out.

So, let’s agree: the most critical factor in a child learning at home is not how qualified their parent is to teach.

It is knowing who their child is and what makes them tick. It is knowing when to push forward on something and when to ease back. It has having the time and space to do that. It is that beautiful synergy between a child ready to explore something about the world, and a parent in tune with how and when to open the right doors so they can.

*That* parents can do. *That* parents are qualified for.

10/03/2020

Well done Clayton 👍🏻 your dedication & determination is truly inspirational ❤️❤️ this little boy chose to finish primary school even though he had the option to finish the same time as his older brother & even though he knows he’s finishing curriculum based education in July he’s made massive progress with his school education. Now he’s taken on a new challenge & he’s smashing it. Well done son we’re very very proud of you 🥋 ❤️❤️❤️❤️

01/12/2019

Cams had an amazing day at the Mind Body & Spirit at Theatr Clwyd. Met some lovely people, sold some units but best of all it’s built his confidence up. Positivity is the key to everything. Thanks Lou & Emily for taking him 💖💞💖

15/11/2019

Working on something a little different today. Shoe tidy with seat. Still a way to go but made up with progress 😉👍🏻 cams taken about 40k pictures (I’ve narrowed it down🤣) so I guess he’s super proud to.

10/11/2019

I’ve made my first batch of crystal altars, available at the crystal rooms today love cam ###

22/10/2019

PE today 😉

20/10/2019

More & more businesses, collages & universities following this trend. Exam results aren’t the best way to gauge a persons abilities. There is way too much emphasis on GCSE’s being the pathway to success.

When recruiting new staff, the Virgin Group will no longer ask candidates about their exam results, Sir Richard Branson has announced.

08/10/2019

After several months of planning & hard work he’s finished his first crystal shelves & has had an offer from a shop to sell them. 👍🏻 Now he’s going to make a blog about his journey to get to this stage. Stay tuned, the next projects are brilliant 😍

21/09/2019

17/09/2019

This is a great read & although it doesn’t all apply to every school environment, it does make you think about the actual learning times of an average school day.

This is a question we have been frequently asked “how are you going to replicate all the education they are missing ?” You can cover multiple subjects with one exercise at home & they’re learning & achieving, without all the distractions & restrictions that comes with a school environment. We’re not saying it’s better just that home ed kids aren’t “missing out”. 😉

How much time in school, is actually spent learning? I’ve been in the education system, one way or another, for 30 of my 35 years: first as a school pupil, then as a University student, and t…