‘It’s great. But it’s on me that they get educated’

A MOTHER of six who home-schools her children said she wants them to embrace learning at their own pace.

Emily Rainsford Ryan, whose children range from 20 to four years old, took her eldest child out of school when she found the competitive sports were making him anxious. Her two eldest are now in college and achieving top marks.

The family, who live in a rural village on the border of Laois and Kildare, enjoy a ‘slow’ morning where they feed the animals, which include a cat, a dog and chickens before breakfast.

‘The rest of the time, they work away, drawing, making and playing. It is absolutely amazing seeing how they do things and put them together. We read to them for an hour at night. They are reading and doing stuff all through the day. We read to them an awful lot.’

Emily’s children do not have a set curriculum and teach themselves through reading, drawing and play throughout the day.

One of her children taught themselves to read by four and a half, but another did not read until the age of 11. Emily said: ‘If you leave kids alone, they will learn. They are interested in what we do. When I am reading, they are watching and learning.

‘We have had vastly different ages when the children learned to read. One read at four and a half and another did not until 11. He was building and creating and doing a lot of maths instead.

‘He went for it and when he started reading, he read everything. He is the most widely read of the family. We have no limit because I know they will read and write. They are doing that all the time.

‘It is great but the responsibility is large. It is on me to make sure they are educated. But then in a way when you leave kids be, they are fantastic at getting on with the work,’ she added.

Emily’s two eldest sons did not complete Leaving Certs but instead had an interview and a one-year course before starting degrees in media and games development.

‘The boys’ time at college is very full on. They work long hours. They really found it a great challenge. But they have been getting top marks in everything. They have never done science or maths in a structured way and they were fine. Just went in and took to it.’