Nearly a year ago Little M. went to a dyslexia assessment centre in London to do the dyslexia test. The results were overwhelmingly negative and a huge blow for him, even though he never said anything about the sadness he felt. The stress of that day left his body and spirit on the train back home when he started crying out of the blue. He was diagnosed with profound dyslexia, and according to the assessor, he should be in a special dyslexia school. Of course, she didn’t put any of that in the official report since the councils in the UK have no money for kids with educational difficulties and schools in the UK minimalize their resources to accommodate our kids. Before homeschooling, the Little M. was in an alternative school that took very little notice of his learning hardships and difficulties even though we flagged that up to his class teacher on several occasions for over a year. In fact, it took the class teacher a year to get SENCO involved in our discussion. …

A lot of the scientists, teachers and influential voices in the education sector tell us that children learn from observing and imitating the grown-ups in their lives. I believe this to be true and have often seen Little M. doing stupid stuff, which his dad or I have done. I know that our family is not an exception for teaching the younger generation the bad and ugly habits, which we, the grown-ups, cherish with such a devotion. Children are smart and very observant, and whatever we do, they will imitate. For instance, if you spend a lot of time on your phone or tablet, your child will want to do that too and if you decide to limit your child’s access to electric devices they will ask tons of questions and will want to know why you can be on your phone all the time and they can’t (by default kids are very much justice and equality driven). If you work all the time and never have any quality time for your children and your …

Wroclaw is a wonderfully cosmopolitan city in the south-west of Poland, where I was born and where I go back to at least twice a year. The city has changed massively since I was a child and I’m beyond grateful for that. When I’m in Wroclaw, apart from visiting friends and family, I always go back to those five places for food, coffee and drinks, and I can honestly recommend them to anyone who is travelling through, visiting or thinking of settling in Wroclaw (the order is random):   Pod Papugami – and old, established a restaurant on the Main Square (Rynek). The food they serve is traditional but with a touch of modern spin and the menu is always changed a bit with each coming season. The interior is full of old classic Hollywood posters, which gives the place a unique and one of a kind feel. Over the years the quality of food and the service has not changed and has always stayed delicious. Pod Papugami has been opened for as long as …