There are two gifts we should give our children:
One is roots, the other is wings.
When I worked in education marketing (for almost 11 years), the power of education was the ethos behind every single resource we created for our clients. Disney, Rio Tinto, Tideway, the National Marine Aquarium, the Wellcome Institute, and the PDSA among many others, all had this guiding principle at the forefront of their education offerings. And it’s still something I believe in passionately today. So when Freddies Mummy UK tagged me in her education and parent blogger tag, I was only too delighted to join in. Because as Clare says, education can happen absolutely everywhere, and not just in a classroom. Here are her questions:
Education and Parent Blogger Tag questions
What is your highest educational achievement?
I have a BA (Hons) in English and Drama.
What was your favourite subject at school?
I think that would be a tie between History and English Literature. Although to be fair, the former often tends to inform the latter.
How are your children educated? (public, private or homeschool etc)
Flora attends a public Middle School (Years 5 – 8).
Why have you decided that educational route for them?
We’re very fortunate that the state schools in our part of the world are very good. Flora’s First school (Reception – Year 4) was rated Outstanding by OFSTED. That coupled with the fantastic extra-curricular activities, wonderful teaching staff, and amazing encouragement and support afforded to all the children made it an easy first choice.
Her current Middle school (Years 5 – 8) has an excellent reputation and a very strong emphasis on STEM subjects, which she is very keen on. It’s early days yet but she’s loving it and comes home bubbling over with enthusiasm each day, which is a great sign 🙂
What is your child’s favourite subject?
Science, without a doubt. She’s insatiably curious and some of her absolute favourite activities are the Letterbox Lab subscription boxes we do every couple of months. These teach science in a fun, practical, and hands on way – encouraging creativity and thinking outside of the box. We love them.
What is your favourite educational game?
I love Trivial Pursuit. The thrill of getting an answer right, and the amount of knowledge that you pick up while playing, make it such fun. Just as long as I don’t get any football, cricketing, snooker. athletics or boxing questions…
I would say a tie between the wonderful Cressida Cowell for her How To Train Your Dragon series, (and whom we met at a Bath Literature event a couple of years ago), and Jeff Kinney for his Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. But Jeff Smith’s Bone comic book series is fast jostling for top position too.
What is your child’s favourite FREE educational game?
Minecraft. I’m sure purists would argue that it’s not an educational game as such, but it teaches patience, design and technology, engineering, and encourages creativity. Plus when she plays with her friends in their worlds, it incorporates teamwork.
What does your child want to do when they grow up?
She used to want to be a palaeontologist, then an astronaut, then a cat and fish breeder. For the last few years she’s been pretty focussed on wanting to become a marine biologist. Whenever we go to Cornwall, the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth is always a port of call on the way down and the way back. So this year we’ve visited four times… When she was younger, she used to love Bristol Aquarium too, but the NMA has got more to offer her these days.
Do your children want to go to university?
Yes, she does. Although she will need to win the lottery to afford the house with built in swimming pool and fish tanks that she wants to live with while studying…
The power of education
So there we are, my completed education and parent blogger tag. Not my usual fare but a subject that I feel very strongly about. What do you think? Do you agree with me about the power of education? I’m tagging the following fabulous bloggers, but if you’d like a go, or if you know a blogger who might, please do let them know. And please tag me or ask them to tag me too, I’d love to see what everyone thinks. I can’t wait to read what Mel, Becca, Karen, Jo, Rebecca and Steff come up with in the meantime!
#01 Melanie from Fraser’s Fun House
#02 Becca from Becca Blogs It Out
#03 Karen from The Mad House of Cats and Babies
#04 Jo from A Rose Tinted World
#05 Rebecca from Northamptonshire Mums & Kids
#06 Steff from Steff’s Journey
“The important thing is to not stop questioning.
Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
Albert Einstein
I love your daughter’s ambition and can see she’s made to work in science. As a former Science Lead Teacher in Primary Schools it always makes me happy to know of children that are excited by science and encouraged to learn more outside of school. Long may it last!
Thank you so much, I hope you’re right, she’s got such a curious streak and we really want to do everything we can to encourage that – #STEMGIRLS! 🙂
Wow, I didn’t know you did that role for 11 years, what an interesting job. What made you leave? What an interesting tag! A house with a swimming pool and fish tanks sounds expensive, bless her! Xx
It was a fab job, no two days or projects were the same, I learned so much! Sadly my boss retired so I was made redundant. But luckily I have a lovely new job now so all good 🙂 And yes, she has expensive tastes, I wonder where she gets those from…. xx
Wonderful post and a great idea for a blogger tag.
My son is 11 and following a week spent on Tenby beach this year with a snorkel has decided that a career in Marine Biology is for him, how odd! I thought it was quite a unique field but seems my boy is not alone!
Thank you and yes, it’s a great tag – please do feel free to carry it out if you’d like to? And yay, a fellow marine biologist in the making, how exciting 🙂
This was such an interesting post and you gave such wonderful answers – I feel like people often ignore the benefits of creativity and such when it comes to games so it’s nice to see that you highlighted those positive aspects. It’s so cool that your daughter wants to be a marine biologist, what an incredible path! Wishing you and your family all the best of luck! xx
Oh, thank you so much, how kind. The questions were so good, they really made me think about how education matters and what it means for Flora. Fingers crossed she fulfils her ambitions! Xx
Great tag! I love that it focuses not only on the traditional school route, but also the other educational opportunities that are out there.
Thank you, learning outside the classroom is every bit as important as curriculum adherence, so I’m glad that point came across!
I love Trivial Pursuit too! Such a fun game! I had never seen this tag before, it’s a super cool tag! I can’t really take it but nonetheless!
Oh yes, Trivial Pursuit rocks 🙂 This is a new tag post but it’s a fab one!
Thank you so much for joining in with my education tag. I absolutely LOVE your daughters university house! What on Earth does she want to live in when she graduates!! I love her ambition, it is such a great quality too have
Thank you so much for tagging me, it was such an engaging post to complete. And thank you, she has goals for sure, just not sure the bank of mum and dad are going to be able to bankroll them all, haha x
I work in education, I thoroughly enjoyed this post! I hold your daughter reaches her ambitions in the future, even that house at uni! Lol
Lainy x
Oh, thank you, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! X
A house with a swimming pool and fish tank sounds perfect to me! You’ve got to admire her ambition. I loved reading this tag Lisa, it’s great to see Flora is so interested in science and that she wants a career in marine biology. My friend studied the course at Plymouth university and really enjoyed it.
Thank you, Kim, yes, we do admire her ambition, just not her financial acumen, haha. And coincidentally, Plymouth is where she’s planning on studying too! X
This is such a cute post. I love that Flora is so into science, that was never something pushed on us in school until GCSE, where we were told at the very end of Year 9 that everyone in the top 2 sets had to do tripe, by that point I already hated it and the way it was taught. It’s so nice seeing her get excited about the subscription boxes. And her current career choice is pretty cool providing it doesn’t change. It’s a shame about that bank you’re going to have to rib to pay for her dream accommodation though x
Sophie
http://www.glowsteady.co.uk
She’s so curious about everything, it’s lovely, we’re very lucky. And yes, I know, I think it must be partly to do with the way it is taught at school nowadays, plus all the LOTC opportunities available, none of which were around when I was her age. I’m not sure village banks keep that much money overnight so we’d better start planning now, haha! x
It’s cool that your daughter already knows she wants to go to university, I wish I’d known at that age. I was in my 20s before I decided to go to university
I think it’s more to do with the subject matter, she knows she can’t work in marine biology without a degree of some sort. Plus the idea of living away from home all expenses picked up, I’m sure…!
This was a great tag! Something a bit different to the norm too. I love how curious and interested Flora is in science and nature. A marine biologist would be an incredible career. I loved English in school too. Also history, psychology and P.E. And we’ll definitely have to have a game of trivial pursuit one day! x
It is, isn’t it? I thought it was such fun to complete, and a real showcase for Flora’s interests too. Yay for a fellow English and History fan (not PE, haha) and yes to Trivial Pursuit, we’d smash it! x
English was my favourite subject at school! I could never get on with PE ever – I hated it!
Love, Amie ❤
The Curvaceous Vegan
Oh I did too, I’m so lazy! 🙂
Love all the different jobs that your daughter wants to do when she grows up. Curiosity, imagination and passion – is what its all about. We also love the fact that you seem not to be dictating to your daughter what she should be doing. You are allowing her to explore and find her own way. Certainly giving her the wings to fly! Thank you for letting us in x
Thank you so much – that’s exacctly what we’re aiming for, to give a a few steers, but let her decide her own paths 🙂