Education or otherwise?

Moobles is due to start school in September, we've done the whole traipsing around local schools thing and have applied to a few local schools. We find out in April if she's got a place in any of those schools.

We've talked a lot about our options for educating our children, as well as school we've been considering Home Education or Educating Otherwise. It's a scary prospect, sending your child to school, and actually, just as scary considering not sending them to school. In Europe, many children don't start formal education until 6 or 7 and I certainly think that we shoe-horn kids into classrooms too early here.

But, could I cope having the children with me all day, every day? What would we do? How would we do it? How do we avoid just lazing on the sofa all day watching Monsters Inc? On the other hand, do I really want to relinquish all responsibility for Moobles 9-3 5 days a week? Without knowing who her teacher is and what other children she'll meet, I don't particularly want Moobles coming home swearing like a trooper or with an attitude 10 years too old for her.

We're still very firmly on the "undecided" bench, we've got a lot of researching and talking to do between now and September I think. Parenting is such a minefield, every decision needs to be agonised over and seems to have far reaching consequences for a small person's future.

This has all come round far too quickly for my liking, I'm sure it was only last week that Moobles was gagging on her first bit of sweet potato!