Whatever prompts a family to home educate, they can usually find sufficient in common with other home-educators to make coming to events worthwhile. The family’s particular needs and perspective will determine how involved they become. No one is excluded on the basis of difference in approach, but it follows that families with a lot in common tend to meet more frequently.
Once established as home educators, families find their own way of doing things. There is a continuous debate between those taking a structured approach and those who favour non-structure. Even defining the two approaches is fraught with difficulties because it is not easy to state where structure begins. Maybe attending a horse riding lesson once a week constitutes a structured education activity in one family’s mind whereas it only rates as a hobby or pastime in another family’s. It may be easier to think in terms of a path along which families travel - some favour a relaxed approach while others prefer more structure. A number of families find that they have a natural tendency towards one but most probably have a mixed approach. There is a range of parenting styles in the group however most families attending our events find a way of getting along that is acceptable to all. Extreme behaviour, either from adults or children, that threatens the harmony of the group has to be resolved even though this is sometimes difficult and painful. Unresolvable situations may result in discontinuing membership. Fortunately, bad incidents are extremely rare.
