Here's a fairy-sized pipe or bubble blower - perhaps not the right gift for a soon-to-be 11 year old?

This blog post is by Nicola Baird sharing ideas about thrifty, creative and eco-friendly ways to raise children. This post is a plea for help – do I really have to buy a birthday present for a child who inherits her big sister’s everything, and doesn’t even know what she wants for her 11th birthday? For more info about gifts – giving and receiving – see my book Homemade Kids, with lots of ideas about parenting, click here.

I know, this post’s title “is a birthday present necessary” sounds a cruel question, but my 10 year old, Nell, isn’t sure what she wants for her fast approaching 11th birthday. My feeling is that this will be the last birthday she has when she isn’t clamouring for things – and we should take advantage of that.  After all, the moment a child goes to secondary school there’s a sudden leap in acquisitiveness. Next birthday I’m certain that she’ll be wanting a particular type of shoe, outfit or gadget.

Her dad thinks we should get Nell something. I’m not so sure.

Our sitting room is full of toys, many bought at car boot sales, or given to her. And she still plays with them, just. Although Nell’s current favourite is a round slice from a Christmas tree base, found in the road where it had been put out for the dustman. I rescued it for the log burner, but Nell reckons it makes a perfect theatre for her collection of plastic toy dogs. That’s creative, often buying toys seems to stop the creativity.

As ever with children, it’s not always toys that they want. It’s just that us adults often fail to understand this. We buy, because we know how to do it.

Interestingly the Frugal Dad blog in the US published a piece on the strange rise in toy buying. And it’s all thanks to the economic recession… it makes us spoil our kids with new toys. Here is the post.

Back to the dilemma: the choices are darts board (why???), pogo stick (hard to use) or more Sylvanians (this girl has enough). I’m tempted to give her riding lessons (her Christmas present), or another skill developer (like skating lessons), but first have to battle with dad Pete about what he thinks is appropriate. He’s big on unwrapping... To be honest, Nell is too.

Over to you
What would you do? Get a gift or wrap up a chocolate bar knowing there’s some money saved up for when the birthday girl really needs something (rather than has a seasonal want).

This blog post is by Nicola Baird sharing ideas about thrifty, creative and eco-friendly ways to raise children. This post asks how do you know when it’s spring… For more info about my book Homemade Kids, with lots of ideas about parenting, click here.

On 12 January 2012 one of our family’s three pet hens laid the first egg of the year. The hens have been looking gorgeous for the past week – gleaming feathers, red combs, plump bodies – and now they’ve done what they are supposed to do. This blue egg (on the crumby plate) is from one of our two Aracuana hens (a Chilean breed). I love the way it has a lumpy, non oval shell. It amazes me how eggs for sale in shops look so perfect. Cross fingers another is laid soon, because it’s a sure sign at Mayhem Corner that it is nearly the end of winter.

I reckon it’s on the way to spring when:

• I’m used to being cold so know where all my woollies are located and my bike lights are all working
• Christmas is over (duh!)
• The hens are laying again
• There’s a hedgehog early end of hibernation story on Radio 4 (see more here)
• It’s daylight when I get up (not yet then on 18 Jan)
• I’ve seen snowdrops on the walk to school (tick)

A slight aside
As you can see from the pix Pete has moved into the pond. Joking! A truly happy spring would see him get his shed back. We replaced the shed with a chicken house a few years back much to his irritation. He used to hide in it during any too-noisy breakfasts, or for a secret beer. Indeed his whole life would be improved by a shed, but he claims that the water feature is a reasonably good substitute…

Over to you – what makes you and the kids think it is nearly spring?

Terriers are like oven-warmed cushions or hot water bottles.

This blog post is by Nicola Baird sharing ideas about thrifty, creative and eco-friendly ways to raise children. This post is all about kids and animals with an extra focus on children with special needs… For more info about my book Homemade Kids, with lots of ideas about parenting, click here.

Baby it’s cold outside
My favourite joke is from an ancient copy of Country Life I read waiting for the dentist, a long time ago. It depicts a posh tweedy woman looking at her guest room and saying “It’s so cold I put another dog on the bed.” As you can see from the photo, my dog Vulcan – with his friend Daisy – understand their role as eiderdowns and were quick to cuddle up to me on the sofa. Just like holding a new born it is hard – pointless even – to move when a terrier insists that they will be your hot water bottle. I think the Country Life cartoonist may have it spot on as the Royal Household’s website seems to have more info about the Queen and dogs, than anything else. Turns out she has a dog with the same name as our dog, Vulcan. To think that I thought Pete was naming the dog after Mr Spock in Star Trek, but it turns out he’s a closet Royalist. Here are the details:

“For her eighteenth birthday, The Queen was given a Corgi named Susan from whom numerous successive dogs were bred. Some Corgis were mated with dachsunds (most notably Pipkin, who belonged to Princess Margaret) to create ‘Dorgis’.

At present, The Queen owns three Corgis: Monty, Willow and Holly and three Dorgis: Cider, Candy and Vulcan.”

A dog may not be for Christmas, but clearly they can be for birthdays or because your home has a dog-shaped hole in it.

What dog to get
Dogs are also a top choice for children with special needs. The families I know who have got a dog often decided to do so because their child was frightened by dogs. In each case bringing a dog home has been a huge success, although it’s mum or dad who’s had to do the looking after. And with a dog this doesn’t just mean cuddling on the sofa or walkies. There’s also flea checking, grooming, and teeth cleaning! It’s a lot of extra work, some of which you wouldn’t want any child to do (eg, poo-picking).

Alex, mum of two children and two labradors (let’s hope she forgives me for calling her “bitch”) has this to say about introducing a dog into your family -

“We had been thinking about getting a dog for a while but the issues of what to do with the dog when we wanted to go on holiday kept putting us off. Dariusz, now 14, was pretty dog phobic and we were worried how he might adapt to having a dog at home.

My husband Mark was adamant that he did not want to get “a Paris Hilton dog’ ie a small bijou one. A big dog was not an option (no space at home!)  so we were thinking of a spaniel type dog. Always a pup rather than a rescue dog ,as a pup would come to us with no history and rescue dogs do come with issues. So after my mum’s funeral we had a week in Dorset and then on the way back to London we stopped off at a friend’s house in Somerset. I was looking in the pet section of the Blackmore Vale mag and rang the second advert which was for lab pups as they were only 10 mins drive away. We went to have a look at the only pup (Lucy) that was left for sale and the rest is history as they say.

We did not conciously set out to get a lab we just loved Lucy when we saw her. We also met Lucy’s mum and saw that she was a nice calm friendly dog. Lucy is quite small for a lab as she is from a working strain and these tend to be leaner and not so broad and squat as regular labs.

So the choice of breed was determined by size and temperament. Labs have got a good reputation as family dogs so that was reassuring for us to know that she would get along with Dariusz. When Lucy arrived she was 8 weeks old and Dariusz was absolutely fine with her. He had met her before we got her so he knew that she was coming and he was very excited. There was lots of biting and scratching as there is with new pups but the memory of this soon goes once the pup grows out of these habits.

Dariusz is very interested in Lucy’s social life ie the dogs she meets in our local park. We are lucky as there is a real dog walking community and dog walkers are on the whole very friendly and we tend to walk around in 2′s or 3s so there are packs of dogs and dog owners walking around together. We have made friends with other dog owners particularly one family with a dog similar in age to Lucy.

Having  dogs has been very beneficial to Dariusz. He loves stroking and cuddling our two dogs (we have a younger black Labrador now too) although he cannot cope with scooping up the dog mess. He loves going out with them and seeing them play with other dogs. So far we have not had any bad experiences with nasty dogs attacking our dogs but I guess that could always happen.

I would advise families thinking about getting a dog to think very carefully about the breed and their own circumstances. There are breeds that do not need much exercise like miniature Schnauzers, spaniels are quite nervy and springers especially need a lot of exercise. Always go and see the dog and the mum if getting a pup.

I cannot think of any special advice for families that have got special needs kids other than what you would normally think about when deciding whether or not to get a dog. There is a dog show in November at Earls Court which is a good place to go to if you are thinking about getting a dog but are unsure what breed to go for.They have lots of breeds on display and owners are on hand to give you the pros and cons of each breed.

There is also www.dogsforthedisabled.com which is worth looking at.

Riding for the disabled
If you’ve got children embarking on the Duke of Edinburgh award, they have to do a stint of volunteering. One idea for pet lovers might be to give Riding for the Disabled a go. It’s meant to be especially good if you already like horses and know how to handle them – there’s usually enough people to support the child, not so many to be good leaders. If you go to this website and tap in your postcode loads of groups spring up. Considering I live in central London it’s amazing to know there are 15 groups within reach (by tube).

Over to you
I know animals are expensive, often caged, definitely smelly and sometimes gross (my dog really can be). But they are also lovely to have around, apparently reduce stress and can give children practical caring skills. What’s not to like?

Every one is a thank you note for an xmas present.

This blog post is by Nicola Baird sharing ideas about thrifty, creative and eco-friendly ways to raise children. This post is all about thank you notes… For more info about my book Homemade Kids, with lots of ideas about parenting, click here.

Stuff all the worries Michael Gove gives us about synthetic phonics and THAT test when the poor little mites are six years old. I want to know if my children are being turned into 19th century dinosaurs by forcing them to write thank you letters for things I’d often wish they hadn’t had (that make up kit!) or hadn’t done (a sleepover which didn’t include any sleep). The reasoning dates back a long way…

About 10am one damp Christmas Eve (back in the ’70s) my Granny, by then in her early 60s, rang up my dad to say how disappointed she was with his family’s manners. After a brief chat it turned out that she’d posted our Christmas presents from the local Suffolk post office, but not one of his three children had sent a thank you letter yet!  It was hard to convince her that we hadn’t actually opened her presents.

Perhaps letter writing is a family obsession? My own mum recently wrote me a six-sided letter of which half was telling me off (unfairly I think, but there you go!). The point is that ever since my children were small I’ve encouraged them to send thank you notes for any gifts they are sent. When they were younger this was a picture or a scrawl – now it’s meant to be a letter that makes it on to the second side. But writing letters is a dying art. Lola,13, is a swift texter though. Often my requests are met by a nano-second reply that says “k”, obviously meaning OK I’ll do that. It saves us all a lot of worry, and time.

It’s for Mr Manners
I also try and insist my children send thank you notes if they do an overnight stay.  It’s not just that old habits die hard, but also because it seems like a good opportunity to get them writing at home on something other than SMS or Facebook. But it is rare that their city-living friends do the same - and no surprise in this crazy time-stressed world which would simply pile more pressure on their mums and dads.

Make it easy
Re-use is meant to be better than recycling, so our thank you letters are often on a well-enjoyed card. You can get post-card and xmas/birthday card self-adhesive (or just use a glue stick) sheets. I order envelope re-use labels from Friends of the Earth shop at £2.50 for 100, see here. Nell, 10, would rather draw an individual comic strip for everyone, but it takes so much time that I meanly discourage her. I do wonder though if the people getting notes from Lola and Nell on pre-used cards, in re-used envelopes do sometimes wonder if our family isn’t just eccentric, it’s also rather mean. I hope not.

Now, got to go. Guess what’s on my to do list? Yes, thank you notes.

Over to you
Do you get your children to send thank you notes for gifts and sleepovers? Do you think this is a bit outdated? Or a good habit to retain?

3 oldie parents plus a 17yo, 13yo, 12yo, 10yo, three dogs and a pony go wild in the countryside...

This blog post is by Nicola Baird sharing ideas about thrifty, creative and eco-friendly ways to raise children. This post hopes to give us all a happy new year – once we’ve sorted out how much time the kids can spend on their new gadgets… For more info about my book Homemade Kids, with lots of ideas about parenting, click here.

• In Homemade Kids there are loads of ideas and options looking at all sorts of ways to bring up children in a thrifty, and creative ways. But there are two assumptions about child-care:
• One is that by loving our kids (and looking out for all children, in the sense that every child matters) things will be OK (pretty much whatever we do).
• Two is that being outside – or having access and the clothing/skills to go outside – is vital for children. And their parents and carers.

Give them what they want
After Christmas – and the New Year sales – many readers of this blog will have seen new gadgets arriving into their homes. In the past few days I’ve already met a five-year-old boy who got a Wii (apparently all his friends had one!) and a 16-year-old who used his xmas money to buy  a reconditioned DS. Another eco-writer admitted she couldn’t do any green interviews for radio at the end of 2011 because she’d “succumbed to a Wii”… (again for a boy).

Tainted gifts
Why is it that parents of boys are so keen to give them gadgets? Or for that matter why were both my daughters given make-up by adult relatives? I feel if a child wants something then they should save up or borrow or have a taster over at a friend’s house. I am mystified (and angered if I’m honest) by grown-ups pushing unnecessary, not always age appropriate gadgets and lipsticks on to children. Mind you I’m a grouch and also hated people saying to my baby, “Oh what lovely blue eyes you have, you’ll be a heart breaker someday!” or – even worse – to my pre-schooler “Do you have a boyfriend yet?”

Rationing on the battlefield
Back to gadgets. Even if you haven’t thought about it yet, you will soon probably be thinking about how much time children (and teens) should be spending inside on little square boxes. The Wii, the Nintendo, the laptop, the notebook, the kindle, the smart phone, the TV… My 13-year-old Lola adores catch-up TV for Miranda, Merlin, The Big Bang and Friends – and she has literally years of catch-up to watch all these series. Nell, 10, is a fan of BuildaBear as well as Horrible Histories, Deadly 60 and, bizarrely, Escape to the Country. She’s even recently suggested she’d like to be an estate agent when she grows up…

Although we have some gadgets in our house (ie, no Wii, no Nintendo and I’d be loathe to have them too), modern life ensures there are plenty of opportunities for the girls to be goggle-eyed screen watchers rather than say read a book, get absorbed in a creative project or go outside.

Same problems down under
As I’m writing this in the worst weather – violently windy and wet – on the last day of Lola’s winter school holidays I thought you might enjoy finding out how an ecologist in Australia tries to use logic and adventure to tempt kids outside. It’s a good read – not least because you get to see pix of giant salamander survey hunting and duck-billed platypuses in the creek. Enjoy her piece about “Off the couch and out the door” here. Not surprisingly the American writer Richard Louv is quoted too. Louv’s the author of the best-seller Last Child in the Woods, and his more recent book – for adults – is The Nature Principle, again about solutions to nature-defecit disorder.

Over to you
Do you have limits for how long your kids can enjoy TV or screen games, or is it an all-you-want diet? And more to the point – what’s fun to do when the weather is really awful and you don’t live in Oz?

Nell in cold weather gear points out paddles, spears and necklaces from Oceania. In 2011 the world got far more interesting at Mayhem Corner.

This blog post is by Nicola Baird sharing ideas about thrifty, creative and eco-friendly ways to raise children. This post is one big thank you. For more info about my book Homemade Kids, with lots of ideas about parenting, click here.

My family has a huge list of people to thank for 2011. I hesitate to thank publically as it would be so easy to forget someone (think what trouble that caused in Sleeping Beauty) but if you’ve got this far, please consider yourself thanked. I love readers of my blog!

But I also would like to thank lots of others who’ve made life that much better this year for us all, in all sorts of ways.

IN THE SOLOMONS
The hugest thanks therefore must go to ML and her family who had us to stay for two months during our Solomon Islands trip. They are the most generous, kindest, most entertaining and wonderful set of people (although ML – you’re my favourite!!). It is fantastic that Lola is still in Facebook contact with ML’s boys too.

It was also fantastic to meet up with Jennie Wate again and be reimmersed in Solomon Islands Development Trust – go SIDT! And thank you so much to Navie, Nelly, Rose – all their gorgeous children/husbands – and Sam and his family for dinners, catch up and story. Iufela evriwan kaen tumas. Mifela sori fo stae long home blong mifela, Solomon kolsap home nao!

AT HOME
To get to the Solomons we needed to rehome our hens, find a house sitter and have our dog looked after – all for three months. A huge thank you to Caroline and Louise for taking Vulcan (who won a dog agility class with Louise!); Christina for taking over our house and turning it into a clean palace and keeping it safe and of course  Liz at Freightliners Farm who didn’t just look after Violet and Jay, she also gave us new hen Lavender as a going home present.

Nicolette (the best neighbour ever) and the hedge cutting squad took on our privet monster. Amazingly the garden won a Bronze prize and was described as “very sustainable”. More backhandedly I was told it “could do with a good tidy” – well quite, but we were away for three months, so not really possible…

NEW FRIENDS
Our family had the most amazing offers of accommodation – from Jacquie in Sidney which we couldn’t take up. But we did spend a week with Laraine and Grant at Loose Goose, at Nannup (not so far from Perth). We were WWOOFing,  a genius way to get somewhere comfy to stay and to help out. Pete and I learnt how to put plates on top of fence posts, cut jarrah wood, prune lemon and other fruit trees and pot-rivet. Lola and Nell made friends with a kangaroo, emu and wallaby – experiences they’ll never forget. And if you ever go to Sydney, try kayaking with Patrick, see his website.

AND FAMILY
Pete’s sister Pam gave up her quiet Perth lifestyle to have four of us (and her sister Kaz) to stay for five days.

WRITING & TEACHING JOURNALISM:
Steve Cross and Dominic Murphy have given me work when I really needed it.

Denis Campbell, Christian Graham and Andy Neather were all willing to come into University of the Arts or share with my Year 1 and Year 2 students super-tips on how to write features, run newspapers or make a blog. Fiona Forsyth also sorted out a trip to GQ with the indefatigable Bill Prince. Fabulous to be in the Conde Nast boardroom!

FILMS
if I hadn’t bought a french horn for Lola then I wouldn’t have met Jonas Grimas – what a film making star. He took on the challenge of creating a film about Highbury Fields School, and with Ellen Berry, and a lot of other support from staff made a fantastic 23 minute film, have a look here.

BOOK PEOPLE
Huge thanks to Hugh Warwick who came in to talk to Highbury Fields students about his hedgehog opus, A Prickly Affair, in November, have a look at his blog here.  Meg Rosoff (can’t wait to see her book How I Live Now become a film…) has been very supportive and has promised to visit the school again. We are very lucky! Playwrite Charlotte Eilenberg also came into the school in January 2011 and wowed the students with her knowledge. And a special thank you to Sue Jandy, one of the members of our book group, who was deservedly voted Islington Volunteer of the Year 2011.

PUB QUIZES
Pete does a pub quiz at least once a month – and I’m just really impressed by the team captain’s dedication, Bob Gilbert. For the few pub quizes I’ve attended I certainly wouldn’t have scored as well without the help of Matthew Wenban-Smith’s east end knowledge.

ART AND THEATRE
Kate Baird gave us free tickets to an Arts Theatre show (it’s a lovely venue, right by Leicester Square). And my godson George Selwyn Sharpe  (starring in Living with the Amish) also treated me and Lola/Nell to two free shows – Kes and The Trial.

THIS BLOG
Annie is such a cheerleader, thank you. Christian Graham continues to mentor both Pete and me through the new media minefields. Jane Hutchings over at www.portavie.net made me a second NEW, FAB website www.nicolabaird.com - (the other lovely one from 2010 is www.homemadekids.co.uk)

EXTRA THANKS TO
Highbury Babysitting Circle members, especially Sarah and Robert who hosted a get-together that filled their house with tots.

Caroline Bucknall for looking after Vulcan on the occasional overnights (especially December when Pete and I celebrate our wedding anniversary – this year we made it to the glam Essex town of Colchester (link takes you to my aroundbritainnoplane blog entry).

Clean air and traffic campaigner Caroline Russell has given us all plenty to think about. Follow her via twitter at #highburyonfoot or just vote for her the next time you see her name on an election slate!

And I’m really lucky to have two fabulous daughters and Pete to live with. So here’s a special thank you to them and all who’ve read anything I’ve written this year.  Cheers. Nicola x

This blog post is by Nicola Baird sharing ideas about thrifty, creative and eco-friendly ways to raise children. This post offers a few more pre-Christmas ideas. For more info about my book Homemade Kids, with lots of ideas about parenting, click here.

Lola asked me today “What’s wrong with being normal?” Maybe she wants a DS or doesn’t want to pick up crackers from the street anymore (see nell in pic!). Lucky for me I’d just read a column by the Guardian’s Adityaa Chakrabortty (definitely becoming my favourite columnist) and not only had an answer but could pass his column to Lola, and discuss at the breakfast table.  Here it is – how british workers are losing the power to think. I think Lola might reconsider the danger of normal after this onslaught. But in my defence breakfast was about 10.30am, not too early for Oscar Wilde even?

And anyway we do plenty of normal at home too. Last moment tasks before Xmas completed with joy thanks to having children around who are big enough to find, stir and wash a wooden spoon. See pix above.

• Christmas pudding steamed and filled with shiny gold coins (soak £1s for 24 hours in coca cola).
• Oat balls refilled to soothe Nell’s eczema and winter dry skin.
• Giving the Bond Street shop window displays marks out of 10. They are amazing – but the one I decided to photograph was Luis Vuitton’s luggage shown off with the help of stuffed elephant (toys) balanced on seesaws.
• Plus we ran a serious taste test to help identify clementines from satsumas. Our team – Lola, 13, Netta, 9, and Nell,10 – reckoned that clementines have shinier, oranger skin and in December taste sweeter.
• Some more quick gift ideas here – truffle making and scented oranges.

30 things to stop doing to yourself…
In case you’re not feeling positive. Admittedly there are certainly lots of reasons for that this year if you add in economic doom and gloom, so to avoid, take a look at this useful set of top tips about 30 things to stop doing to yourself (eg, worrying, fearing failure etc). Sent from my wise and wonderful friend in Solomon Islands, see here.

Over to you
Any ideas for keeping the spirits up?

This blog post is by Nicola Baird sharing ideas about thrifty, creative and eco-friendly ways to raise children. This post asks for ways to chill out before Christmas. For more info about my book Homemade Kids, with lots of ideas about parenting, click here.

Christmas was a horribly volatile experience at my home when I was a kid.

The family would manage OK during the day – but by the evening it was festive fury.

There was always a family row, usually between my parents. I have memories from quite a few Christmases of my dad throwing the gift he’d given my mum on to the fire. Suitcases melt like chocolates, nighties flare up like dancing ghosts, doors slam… The drama was always in our living room, not on the TV.  In an effort to prevent this type of experience again I’ve tended to go out with people who don’t suffer from red mist anger. And I don’t ever watch Eastenders…

Knickers in a twist
Being around someone super-stressed isn’t much fun either. It just makes the joy of a long holiday disappear as everyone attempts to co-operate or avoid the stressy one. Obviously meditation or getting outside for a bit of fresh air is one answer. But so is the ability to thank our lucky stars. Here in London my family is safe and warm. What more could I really want? Well, as Nell,10,  might put it, a few gifts under the xmas tree…

In a bid to try and enjoy the run up to the holidays – and especially to avoid financial splurging which is all too easily done – I’ve been collecting moments and things when I’ve felt really happy. They are ridiculously every day. But in the long run these low key moments will probably count as the happiest times of our life… definitely not what the media or marketers would have you believe. So here goes:

1. Walking to school – Nell and I have a nearly half hour walk to (or from) school each day. We chat a lot about dogs.
2. Seeing someone look stylish. Freak entry to this list really, but as I’m swaddled in fleece layers it is a great pleasure to see someone straight out of a fashion plate chasing the same pavements on their way to the tube. Nell and I particularly admired the young woman in a yellow swing coat kicking through the last of the similarly yellow rowan leaves.
3. The last bloom of summer. My roses go on and on. Even better is the astonishing second flowering of my winter jasmine which throws scented wafts down a city centre street. Take that you diesel engines! (see pic)
4. Coping without a car: my pull-along trolley looks hideous. But the smug pride I feel in being able to carry a sack of potatoes, gift bottles of wine, loads of equipment and a stockpile of loaves from the Spence without doing my back in makes me love the world. I heart it as Lola would say. (see pic)
5. Christmas trees in the window – everyone should have a lit up, decorated tree in their window. Unfairly I don’t (it’s to do with the hedge, and the fact that our curtains are closed, see pic), but I love counting and/or admiring Christmas trees as I walk home in the dark, ideally with a companion, preferably a child. Choose the time wisely: 6pm is too early. It needs to be about 9pm when everyone’s got home from work/after school clubs and settled down for a snug evening. Ideally take your kids out for a “midnight” walk to enjoy this experience. Even a buggy ride will be a memorable winter treat…

Over to you
Just re-reading that list makes me feel calm. So what makes you – and the kids – happy without any preparation at all?

This blog post is by Nicola Baird sharing ideas about thrifty, creative and eco-friendly ways to raise children. This post asks if we are giving our kids the right education (rather than asking what school they are going to). For more info about my book Homemade Kids, with lots of ideas about parenting, click here. Read on, or just click the cartoon video link above (it’s 11 minutes).

Do schools matter? Well, yes, yes, yes they do and not just for your child. You need good tracking of every child’s progress, good teaching, good staff management – and good results. Or do you? That’s what the  astute (and funny) 11 minute film attached by clever Sir Ken (see link above) looks at via words and cartoon.

Students are meant to be safe at school (and when they are young it really is childcare).

They are also meant to make progress in every single lesson, an impressive challenge for anyone with a large class of students, especially on a Friday afternoon. Oh yes, and get certificates and higher grades each year, and go to uni and get a job. Hang on, is that possible? Is it 21st century reality?

I’ve been constantly surprised by the ways people react to knowing that I took my girls out of school last summer so we could homeschool as we travelled. People are shocked. But the girls (then 12 and 10) learnt so much – a new language, and the size of the world. They stayed on a volcano, swum in a sea full of things that were quite interested in eating them (a new twist to the food chain), they met loads of people and learnt to talk and listen to a range of views. Instead of music practice they learnt to cook fish, build stone ovens and keep the right end of a kangaroo. I’m convinced they could have had a similarly challenging and creative time had we just stayed home but not used school bells for eductation… But they’re back in school now, and they like it.

I guess the problem is that lots of adults still think education is done at desks. Robinson in the video above is far blunter: he says we’re using an old style of education and treating our growing children as if they were in a factory, batched up in birth year groups.

Given that most of us are either not blessed with teaching skills (find out more about how to facilitate good learning at education otherwise which helps people homeschooling), or patience, or the time to home educate, the answer has been to give our children the best education we can find. It is just such a shame that so many families still think it’s worth buying education at Britain’s fiendishly expensive private schools. Surely every child deserves the best education, which is why what the state offers has to be fabulous.

Read all about it
If you are interested in some of the UK top tales about education there are some fascinating books that help parents understand more about the big picture – rather than just what school will suit Pollyanna (or Lola or Nell for that matter). Try:

Melissa Benn’s School Wars: the battle for Britain’s education (Verso, £10.99). She’s so committed to comprehensive education that she set up Local Schools Network to support local schools and counter media misinformation.

The funniest novel has to be May Contain Nuts by John O’Farrell where a pushy south London mum takes her family on a rollercoaster educational journey. Consider yourself gently mocked by O’Farrell!

Click to view slideshow. I also like the undercover journalism from 1 out of 10 by tony blair’s education advisor, Peter Hyman who became a huge fan of the academy model. A rather more Daily Mail version was seen on C4′s Dispatches when former teacher Alex Dolan secretly filmed her disruptive students. And the new tweak on that is by Katharine Birbalsingh, a deputy head who spoke at the Tory conference. I’m putting her book (found for 10p at the school winter fair) into my own stocking – it’s To Miss With Love.

Now blog readers, get on with that reading list, the test is next week… And no peaking at the answer(s) in the back of the book.

Over to you
Is there anything that made you think differently about what you want your children to get out of school? If so, please share.

Even choosing what's for tea (this is sprayed lettuce) can be an eco minefield - sandra steingraber sorts it out in Raising Elijah.

This blog post is by Nicola Baird sharing ideas about thrifty, creative and eco-friendly ways to raise children. This post suggests a must read book for your festive stocking. For more info about my book Homemade Kids, with lots of ideas about parenting, click here.

If you only buy one book this festive season, then make it Sandra Steingraber’s Raising Elijah. It’s a clever, informative book that helps make sense of the way we help our children grow up.

In it find out how copper chromium arsenic (CCA) isn’t the best choice for preserving outdoor play equipment; or learn how a scientist can still make the obvious mistake of not quite secondguessing what’s under the floor during house renovations.

If you are a questioning person about science and child rearing then Raising Elijah will give you a huge amount of pleasure, information, ideas, solutions (and worry). The world and us mums and dads are lucky to have Steingraber working on our side rather than, say, the fossil fuel industry…

Reading for fun
When my girls have gone to bed then I read a lot of novels – Mr Pip and One Day remain favourites, but I’m currently laughing over Submarine writer Joe Dunthorne’s fabulous Wild Abandon (life in a Welsh commune which features homeschooled kids), alternating it with Jane Eyre.  So, if you’re not tempted by my Homemade Kids, then please consider reading my enovel Coconut Wireless – a story of life, love and gossip in the Solomon Islands town of Honiara.

Pete and I have run two book stalls over the past two weekends and it’s been ego-shocking – between us we sold four books, for less than they cost to buy. And the stalls cost a bit too, definitely not an option to be tried again (hence the begging above for you to buy Coconut Wireless)! Still, at least it made it clear why it is so hard to get new publishing projects going.

I was recently sent a book to review too – also all about kids. It’s a A Place to Play by Natasha Mile (Vanguard Press, £7.99). This morality tale dressed up as a crime story sees three teenagers work out how to save childhood. Action takes place in the late 21^st century, mostly in a chillier Newcastle. England is an altered world – so urban that it’s turned into four main city federations seemingly at loggerheads. Borders are closed (the best mini break you can hope for is on the sky train to Wales) and all schools permanently shut down. Only the elite’s children get fabulous homeschooling so they are ready to step into their parents’ roles. The futuristic setting stamped on to a UK that readers know is a lot of fun – lots of clever weaving of old time Northerners in football strip or micro tops, whatever the weather, (ie, us lot now) allows author Natasha Miles to make her teen heroes seem naieve.  Nevertheless they manage to stumble on to two good secrets, work out a connection and set about restoring order. A book to enjoy if you are worried about the restrictions children now seem to face – lots of car travel, long study hours and a growing tendancy to lock themselves into Facebook friendships. GET IT With the questions A Place to Play throws up about the value of childhood plus corrupting power, climate change and genetics, it would certainly work well as a book club choice. And it’s guaranteed to make you want a cup of steaming hot chocolate the way Martha likes it best – with a bar of chocolate on the side.

Over to you
What’s your favourite book? For you, or for the kids…