Freedom!!

A had her final day at school on Wednesday, which went very smoothly - a few tears, lots of hugs, some beautiful 'goodbye' cards, and promises to keep in touch. There seemed to be quite a lot of children leaving the school, one other girl from A's class was going, which was good as it took all the focus off A, and gave her a kind of ally. There was an end of term festival for all the classes to perform in, and a ceremony to 'send off ' the top class, so it felt like a proper ending.
I had been very nervous about the whole thing, mainly because I wasn't sure how A would cope with it being her last day, but she coped beautifully (as usual). To be honest I don't think there's much I will miss about school, I'll keep in touch with the people I want to, but it will be a drastic change to our routine.

Yesterday A had a little beach party for her closest friends, the sun was shining and we managed to get the barbecue going eventually - with a little help from another group on an outing. The kids went swimming in the sea and generally had a great time.

So this is it - the end of school and the beginning of home education! Although it doesn't feel like it yet as we are going to have a proper summer holiday first. I still feel a bit ambivalent about it, there is a sense of relief in getting away from all the things I didn't like about the school (and there were quite a lot of elements I struggled with), but it was more of a 'community' than most schools, and there are good things about being part of a community. I suppose the bottom line is - A didn't want to leave, she was happy there, and if money wasn't an issue she would still be there. So although we are both very positive about home education, and I believe it could turn out to be the best thing for A, there is still that sense of it not being A's choice.