Hi!  Im Patrea,   Kiwi mum of one teenage girl that along with my husband and said teenager towards the end of 2021 became so totally and utterly disillusioned with the cluster *&^%$ that is the education system we decided to go down the Home School Route.

From that very moment I was engulfed in shear panic , you know the sort of panic when your heart ends up somewhere in your butt, sweaty outbreaks sitting bolt upright in the middle of the night struggling to breath thinking WHAT HAVE I DONE.  Not that it was just Me of course, this monumental decision hugely affected my husband and most importantly our daughter but lets be real about this, who is going to be assuming the role of teacher? 

The dormant researcher in me fired into life, soon I was scouring the internet, library anything I could think of to prepare for this journey but no matter how many rabbit holes I went down in my quest for answers. I could not for the life of me find anyone saying heres what your day could/should look like, this is a great way to set up a work station, some hurdles you may face and heres how you can navigate any tricky territory.  Any blog post or group seemed to be full of mantras like dirty floor happy kids! happy clappy, hearts and flowers peace love and mung bean stories about how FABULOUS life was and look at our gorgeous, bright and well behaved little geniuses,  don't get me wrong this  is lovely! and Im DELIGHTED that homeschooling is working out for them and that their wholesome lifestyle of education mixed with Kombucha making and beading projects are working for them - in fact I have friends who are right into their Kombucha making and beading projects and they don't  even homeschool,  they simply do it for pleasure and I say have at it ! You do you boo, but what about people like ME? Where does a 49 year old mum go when she's dragging herself through life by the fingernails lucky to take the coat hanger out of her shirt before putting it on, at the same time with serious control freak issues, a love of organising and the thought of a dirty floor leaves me cold to be honest, bugger the happy kids what about germs?! You get the picture.

 

So  Home School Daze is my way of both cataloging mine and my family's journey into homeschooling life, the highs the lows the lot. In doing so hopefully I will bring some levity to a heavy commitment (that can at times lets be honest have the ability to bring even the most together person to their KNEES) while at the same time demystifying some of the most confusing and overwhelming parts of the journey from initial form filling, to choosing what homeschooling path is best for you and your family and all the gory bits in between.

 

The very fact that I've begun this blog makes me feel a sense of achievement, I have survived now almost three years of homeschooling and (A) not one government department has had to intervene and my criminal record is still squeaky clean (B) My marriage is still in tact (C) My child is thriving (the most important bit really) ok she hasn't made Kombucha or beaded yet but hey its only been a year and finally (D) I still have clean floors (just).

 

So come with me on this (adventure)?! As we navigate the ups and downs and embark on our journey of homeschooling,  you never know, you may just learn something!