Yesterday Hannah went to a Home Ed chess club with some friends. Her dad taught her to play just before Christmas and she is really enthusiastic. I'm going to have to brush up my own skills because she beats me all the time. They had a half hour lesson first and then played games against each other. There were "children" of all ages, up to late teens, but Hannah was the youngest who sat through the lesson and played games.
Then in the afternoon she and the friends she went with went to visit a relative newcomer to the HE group we normally go to and made friends with her three children.
I wasn't even there, but hearing about it later, both from the other adults and from Hannah made me realise why I am so happy we made the decision to take Hannah out of school and how well she has flourished. Not only is she learning a new skill, but the social opportunties open to her are so much wider than those offered by school. Where in school life could a 6 year old interact as an equal with an 18 yr old as Hannah did with one of her opponents yesterday? Obviously he was a better chess player than she is, but from the reported conversation they had, they were chatting away very comfortably. Of course neither of them has been mostly obliged to socialise only with children of the exact same age for much of their time.
And apparently there was a 17 year old boy there who already has a degree and completely autonomously educated. so Graham Badman can put that on his needles and knit it!
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