This couple is raising their seven kids without school or rules
One couple in the north of England decided to home school their 7 children but now their family has attracted the attention of the media for the free way they’ve chosen to raise them.
Gemma and Lewis Rawnsley live in West Yorkshire. They have seven children Skye, aged 13, Finlay 12, Phoenix 9, Pearl 8, Hunter 5, Zephyr 3 and 1 year old Woolf.
These parents have chosen a different path for their children; they only have three rules – but other than that, they can do whatever they want.
Rawnsley’s children all don’t go to school and follow the U.K. school curriculum.
Gemma and Lewis Rawnsley make sure their children can read and write but other than that they are free to choose what they want to do each day.
Education inspectors visit every year and Gemma admits their children are behind their peers academically but doesn’t believe this is important.
This mom believes that her children learn skills at home that they wouldn’t learn at school.
The only rules in the household are that the children do not lie, hurt anyone or be offensive.
“People see my son with the pick axe and will think ‘how dangerous’,” Gemma tells The Mirror. “But not if you teach them how to use it, it’s not.”
Gemma had a tough childhood. That is among the reasons why she and dad Lewis want to make sure their children enjoy life and make their own decisions.
“I didn’t have a stable upbringing. My mission has been about helping my kids have the most interesting, fun and happy lives in a house filled with the love I never had,” Gemma tells The Mirror.
They can make their own decisions, including what time they go to bed and how they have their hair, with mom Gemma saying it’s not about “ownership of your kids.”
Finlay, one of their children, loves to cook and can prepare a three-course dinner for the family.
“We’re relaxed about things other people might find shocking, but we’re probably more on it in terms of guiding and bringing them up than other people are,” Gemma tells The Mirror.
“We really think about how we bring them up and we get so many compliments about how amazing the kids are. So, it seems a bit wild on the surface, but it works.”
Watch the family in action in the clip below.
