This is interesting, and your views on this would be much appreciated.
I have been to the local HE group and tried to speak to other HE people, with varying success admittedly. I think it would get better with time but I have noticed that for the 100 odd members of the local HE forum, there only seems to be the same few families who regularly attend the HE meet.
In the interest of providing lots of character forming experiences for my darling child, I posted on the forum about activities for HE children in the local area. Imagine my surprise and intrigue when I get an off-list email about joining a group, inviting me to a soft play area for an informal meet up.
I decide to go. It is daytime and a public place and I haven't given the people my address or any thing unsafe, so if I walk through the door and spot a bunch of crazies in the corner I can do a swift about turn and no harm done.
So, the day arrives and to my relief they all seem pretty normal. There are five families and they chat about the things they have done this week and admit the negatives as well as the positives (always a good thing in my view!) Then, after about an hour (I think my interview has been successful) I get told of some activities they do....that are not on the list.
Turns out this is a secret splinter group! Apparently there were a couple of violent nutters in the main, well publicised group and they all got fed up with their offspring getting regular beatings from them and informing the parent didn't make the blindest bit of difference, so they decided to set up a secret cell! Exciting non?
I feel honoured as I have been invited to join the secret society and attend the events they organise. However, I am aware that I will have to choose "sides" at some point as I can't attend both groups, it just wouldn't be the done thing, would it?
5 comments:
Love the label! This is an interesting one.
Does the offending family still go to the other group? And is their behaviour still bad? Sometimes, when a child is just out of school, they seem to explode, like a pressure cooker, and gradually they calm down.
If you like both groups, perhaps you could be the catalyst to make the "secret" group, less of a secret!
In our area, we have 2 weekly groups, one fortnightly (ish), another starting soon, plus one weekly all day group which is further away. Some families only go to one, others go to lots, but it's nice to be able to choose groups that "feel right".
The all day group has a bullying policy (I believe), so perhaps that something that would help the splinter group "come out"?
Hope some of my waffle helps :-)
i've experienced a kind of simlar thing except the splinter group wasn't cloak and dagger, but more focused at younger children. The violent nutters tend to all be older, and WITHOUT younger siblings so don't go. Hurah!
i think you should go to both groups as you please and as the kids like. we should all feel free to move around social circles and groups and joining one group shouldn't exclude you from the other, and no-one should make you feel that it should. hmmm. i'm not even sure i like the idea of 'belonging' now because i don't want to 'belong' anywhere. anyway, i thought one of the attractions of home ed is that it can make us feel all righteously marginalised and excluded!
I agree, if you like both then go to both of them. Splinter groups, secret or not, happen a lot in the world of HE.
Shirl x
Thank you for your comments, I am going to be a rebel and attend both groups. No doubt this will make me even more shocking. Yaye.
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