Tigermoth, thank you for your kind words. I am very happy with the decision I've made, it seems to be working out better than I ever expected just at the moment.
A typical day or week? I could point you in the direction of my blog... Hmm, well as you predicted, there is no typical day or week, that's the beauty of it
We do all kinds of things, sometimes we do all kinds of 'educational' things, sometimes we do none. We cook, clean (important life skill!), play with lego/trainsets/playmobil (design and technology, or whatever they call it these days!), play board games (maths, learning to share, take turns, logic etc), run round in the garden and play on bikes (PE!), watch schools TV, read lots of books, play with educational CD-roms.
I have a heap of workbooks, (English, maths, science) which we dip into when the mood takes us. If I feel he isn't doing enough I will leave a worksheet lying round, and he usually takes the bait! One of his favourite things to do is to type on the computer. He keeps a diary which he will type an entry for as and when he feels like it, and he types stories he's made up. He's also really interested in poetry at the moment, so we're reading a lot of that. For maths we do lots of counting - he can count in 2s, 5s and 10s and do simple addition. We do weighing and measuring too, and playing with manipulatives. Geography is easy as he is obsessed with maps! He loves to plot routes to various places. We take part in postcard/xmas card swaps with people from HE email lists which we plot on the map. We're doing a project about our town, and we're going to study England and Britain and then do some other countries. The town project kind of covers history too, and I'm also planning a chronological study of history - starting right from the first humans (It's really fascinating, I'd forgotten I really loved history at school!) We do loads of art, drawing, painting, collages etc. I want to start doing some art history - and study some artists, but I need to do a bit of research first. Science is mostly through gardening and cooking, and we kept tadpoles over the summer, which were really interesting to watch.
We go on lots of walks, collect 'treasures'(leaves, fircones etc) which we might then use for art, or look up the names of if we don't know, we go swimming, go on visits (in the last few months we've visited a windmill; a watermill, the local museum, a castle etc). My dad is currently teaching him chess (which he has picked up in two lessons!)
Whatever we're doing I see it as a learning experience - I don't see the need to do something 'educational' all the time.
Hmm, anyway, I hope that begins to answer your question! It's not comprehensive, by any means!
It's funny, what you said, because I do feel that my children's education is my responsibility, and I'm not prepared to hand the responsibility over to someone who may not have their best interests at heart.
I try not to worry about the future. Having children is a big responsibility, whether or not you choose to HE. Whatever life changing...erm, changes, may come our way, we'll figure it out as we go. In the same way that a move may force a child to move from a school they love, if it had to happen then I guess it would. I can't envisage a situation which would make me want to stop, but if that were to happen then we'd just play it by ear, I guess.
As far as life after HE, well, I'm planning to do an OU degree, which will keep my brain working and improve my prospects, but I have no great career plans in mind. I plan to childmind, and I think once the children are old enough, I will foster.
There is no reason why I can't pursue my dreams - that is what I'm doing with the degree. But for now, the children are my main focus, and I'm happy with that - I get restless now and again, but who doesn't, and I plan to keep moving forward. For now it is enough to enjoy my children and their learning.