KATE NICHOLLS

I come from a family of self-educators. Both parents were classical actors with a passion for Shakespeare and literature. Stories have played a powerful role in my life. I am a lifelong learner: see Big Learn

I inherited my fizzing energy from my mother and my tireless curiosity is inspired by my father, whose multifarious skills made him a true renaissance man. Also, I inherited his dyslexia. As a child this was a stumbling block for me, in my day little was understood about the disorder, and I struggled with reading for pleasure. However, once I found my way I was rarely seen without a book. I still fumble with my spelling, missing out words or reversing letters. However, my battles as a child have enriched my empathy and given me patience, qualities that my students find extremely comforting. On leaving school I followed in the family footsteps, and for several decades enjoyed a successful career as an actress: appearing at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, Prospect Theatre, at the Old Vic, and making many television appearances.

Over the years I had five children: Emily, Travers, Angus, Maisie and Oakley, and underwent an intellectual sea change. I became fascinated by science and, inspired by reading The Extended Phenotype by Richard Dawkins, I began studying biology: in particular genetics and evolutionary biology.

Armed with a deeper understanding of the natural world, and a desire to empower my children by raising them in a developing country, I moved to Botswana in 1996. In time, we joined a lion research project, and for the next eleven years I raised my young family in a tented camp, with no electricity or running water (eventually we laid a pipe – regularly dug up by elephants!). We lived in the wild and followed the stories of prides of lions 365 days a year: a privilege we never took for granted.

It was in Botswana that I began homeschooling: an adventure that fills my days with delight: see Homeschool. It was a challenging, dynamic journey “Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down.” Ray Bradbury.

The choices we make as parents have lasting consequences and teaching my children was a challenging responsibility. I wanted my children to see how science, the arts and the humanities were interconnected parts of a whole and to learn as a team. I devised each term around a project that enabled me to integrate all subjects. This remains a core principle of my practice. During their time in camp my three middle children wrote a book about their life: The Lion Children was published in 2001, by Orion in the UK, and in four other countries.

In time, Travers, Angus, Maisie and Oakley graduated from homeschool to university. Respectively they got degrees in Biology and Conservation; Literature and Creative writing; Fine Art, and English from UC Santa Barbara; Stanford; and Dublin University, National College of Art and Design.

Emily was educated in the UK by the state. In those days, the notion of homeschool never occurred to me. She 17 when we moved to Botswana: aiming to continue her A-levels by correspondence. There was no easy internet access, and life was full of many diverting adventures: we soon realised our plan was bonkers. So, Emily stopped studying and instead relished her experience in a new country. Shortly after her 18th birthday, she returned to the UK to work and fund a round-the-world ticket. During her travels, Emily decided she wanted to study psychology. So, she took a foundation course and got her degree from Goldsmiths College, University of London while raising the first of her three children. What a girl! Raising children while continuing her education has presented challenges that she has met with grit and style. She is a brilliant teacher, and her advice is invaluable. She’s applying to do her master’s degree now, and she will juggle family and academic life with her usual grace and good humour. The moral of this tale: don’t worry if your child drops out at A-level. Everyone finds their path.

Travers has dyslexia. Aged nine he was assessed at Aston University, and we were told grimly not expect too much from him academically. What folly. We found a revolutionary school that offered dyslexic and dyspraxic boys nurture and guidance. Travers’s time at Bruern Abbey was life-changing. Amos Alcott’s tender yet radical, vision of blending home and school was the central tenet at Bruern. With careful tutelage in a small class, Travers gained confidence and new skills. When I took over the children’s education in Botswana, I applied what I had learned from Bruern’s teachers. Travers’s dogged determination and tenacity inspired his siblings and me. There is no doubt his dyslexia slowed his progress, and perhaps had he been in mainstream schooling he would have struggled.

He had grit and the freedom to work at his own pace. Away from the school table, he was developing and honing exemplary wilderness skills, and he blossomed. Surging forward, he passed his SATs (refusing extra time), co-authored a book and was accepted by the College of Creative Studies at UCSB. Later, the boy who would never go far academically went onto get his Masters in Conservation Biology at Oxford. He was a director of the leading green training, employment, and residential efficiency organisation in North America RisingSun for eleven years, and is now Vice President of Godwill in the Bay Area, California.

There was no magic. No pushing and pulling. He used the gift of time, the chance to find his confidence outside of ‘accademia’ and grasped all the opportunities life opened out.

Angus has a brain like a sponge and startling recall. He presented a fresh challenge. He needed constant intellectual stimulation and fresh insights. For me, balancing different age groups and varied learning styles required effort and ingenuity. Of course, I didn’t always get it right! There were many hiccups, but I relished the challenge. Angus’s good humour, quick wit and joy in learning played a significant part in our success. Devising robust study programmes, integrating British, American and South African curricula, experimenting with tutorial-style classes, and not slogging through deadend GCSEs ensured that he and his classmates maintained intellectual vivacity and enthusiasm. In addition, a wonderful maths/science teacher joined lion school two days a week, offering her skills and a new voice at the table. Angus graduated from under our camelthorn tree with multiple offers from colleges: he chose Stanford. The American liberal arts education satisfied his eclectic interests and offered him the opportunity to switch from a science to an arts major without censure. He is now EU science correspondent for China Daily, putting his skill as a writer and his thirst for science to good use.

Maisie is whip-smart and a gifted artist: her skills presented me with a dilemma. I can’t draw a stick man, and as she grew older, it became clear that she needed more than my admiration and encouragement. Also, Maisie was in a tough spot in the class, being the youngest of three middle children with a feisty younger sibling yapping at her heels. Without a peer to compete with, she felt the pressure of academic comparison with her two older siblings. Homeschool was not an idyll. Balancing classes, worrying, planning, and working into the small hours took up more time than class time. When Maisie was 16 she took a foundation art course at Leith School of Art in Edinburgh, Scotland. Sharing a flat with a friend who had been a student at ‘lion school’, Maisie managed her life and her studies. Was I worried? YES. Did I trust her? YES. Returning to Africa Maisie decided she wanted to study at Dublin University’s National School of Art and Design; she graduated from NSAD with a first-class degree in Fine Art. Her thesis on olfactory art fluidly embraced art and science. Spending her time between Italy, Botswana and Peru, she is carving an exciting career, combining her skills as an artist, conservationist, and intrepid traveller with her experience in field biology. maisiemcneice.

Oakley was a barefoot child, raised in the wilderness.  Popping in and out he joined classes at will (often staying for prolonged periods) absorbing through his pores stories, science, history. Oakley didn’t begin formal schooling until he was seven. By then he was able to draw in the sand a cell and all its organelles, while describing protein synthesis. Not because he was a genius — it was something that had caught his fancy while sitting in on a biology class. His schooling was cheerful, and though his classmates were older he integrated with ease. However, one by one, his siblings and their friends graduated: this was tough.

Moreover, his education was interrupted by major traumatic events that caused serious upheaval.  As a result he had to enter mainstream education. Academically this was not a problem, but it took time to find a school that was the right fit for his personality. In time, we were able to resume homeschool, and on returning to England aged 14, he chose to continue working with me. Our circumstances had changed, and I was not able to devote as much time to our classes: this meant he had to take responsibility. He floundered for a while, and so did I. But he had a strong foundation and used his liberty wisely. In 2011, he got accepted by several American universites, he chose UCSB is dream school.

Oakley graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2015: After graduation, Oakley optimised his time in the States by working for a year in a start-up tech company AdmitSee.  The boy, raised among lions, who slept cheerfully in a tent for most of his childhood embraced 21st-century technology with vigour. Nothing could give me more joy. AI and Nano Technology are the next big steps into the future. Medallia, the company Oakley is working for now in London, was formed in 2001. When he was taking his SATs, his present job had not yet been created. That’s how fast things are moving.

Final thoughts: The world is changing more rapidly than at any time in human history. We can no longer plan for the future with confidence: Our children and our grandchildren will be living in unpredictable times. However, we can be sure of this: diverse skills, flexibility, creative thinking, life-skills, emotional intelligence, intellectual and creative vivacity and a sense of corporate responsibility will be essential. Kindness, curiosity, courage and compassion are human qualities that transcend grades and entrance exams: they are the gateway to the future.