August 6, 2025 • 41 mins
In this episode, we talk with Ben Feliz (14) and Addison Harding (13), home-educated children and contributors to the anthology “Hidden Voices Speak.” Addison came up with the idea for the book, Ben designed the cover, and they worked together with others to publish it. Both care deeply about children’s rights and wanted to respond to recent news stories and new UK legislation affecting home education.
They discuss the motivation behind the anthology, which was to give home-educated children and families a chance to share their experiences directly. Addison notes, "Nowhere in the bill do they ask what the child thinks," highlighting the lack of young voices in education policy discussions.
Ben has always been home educated; Addison has experience in both school and home education. They describe learning based on curiosity and individual interests. The book includes contributions from both children and adults. This conversation provides a direct account of home education from young people who live it every day.
🔗 Relevant links
- Buy the book and support Ben and Addison: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hidden-Voices-Speak-Anthology-Educated/dp/B0F3DP9KQZ
- X.com page for the book: https://x.com/hidvoicesspeak
- Learn more about the Homeducation Family Festival where Ben and Addison gave a talk: https://hefestivals.co.uk/
If you want to know more about the political aspects of Home Education in the UK, then we recommend that you listen to our episodes with Randall Hardy
🗓️ Recorded August 5th, 2025. 📍 The Addisons, Whityham, UK
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jesper Conrad (00:00):
Today we're together with Ben and Addison
and we might have met them, butwe might just have passed them
as we have.
All of us here have just beenat the Home Education Family
Festival, hif, here in thesummer in UK.
So first of all, ben andAddison, welcome, it is good to
(00:24):
see you.
Hello, hello.
Cecilie Conrad (00:26):
Hello Hi.
Jesper Conrad (00:28):
Yeah, and for the people who are not watching the
podcast as a video, but justlistening to it, you could maybe
think was that younger voicesthan normally?
And the answer is yes, theseare our youngest guests ever.
Yes, these are our youngestguests ever.
So the reason we want to speakwith you is because you also
(00:48):
gave a talk at HEF.
I unfortunately didn't see.
That was about your book.
Hidden Voices Speakno-transcript.
Ben Feliz (01:11):
Ben Knappelman.
We both live in London, I'm inBrixton and I'm 14.
Jesper Conrad (01:16):
Henry Suryawirawan.
And then what about you,addison?
How old are you?
Addison Harding (01:19):
Addison Young.
I am 13.
When I first started the book Iwas 12, but about half a month
ago I turned 13, and I live inSouth London.
Jesper Conrad (01:34):
What did you give a talk about?
Addison Harding (01:37):
What was it all about?
It was about Hidden Voice toSpeak, like talking about the
process of creating it and justlike the way the whole thing
worked, just like thinking ofthe idea and the process of
making it and all of that andour experiences, kind of
(02:03):
basically that.
Jesper Conrad (02:04):
Yeah, can you share what Hidden Voices Speak
is for the people who don't knowof the book?
Addison Harding (02:12):
Well, so Hidden Voices Speak is an anthology
where a bunch of home educatorskind of got together like
writing about our experience asa way to kind of make a
reference point to the people inParliament so that they can use
(02:38):
it to know more about what homeeducation is, because the way
they talk about it so far isjust a bit unknowing mildly said
yeah well, how brave yeah Ithink it's quite interesting.
Cecilie Conrad (02:57):
We start this podcast by asking about your age
we've never done that before,but because all of our other
guests have been not minors andobviously there's a point to you
guys being minors.
But the whole concept of havingthis podcast is the exact same
as most of our other podcastinterviews.
(03:17):
Someone wrote a book and thenwe talked to them about it.
So I just want to pay myrespect to the fact that this
has something to do with youbeing younger, but that's mostly
because that's you've got aspecial perspective, being the
children's generation, theactually home educated, not the
(03:37):
home educating and I find itvery interesting.
I want to read the book.
I'm yeah.
Because I haven't done so yet,though.
Jesper Conrad (03:46):
Often, the people we talk with are people who are
, as Cecilia is saying, doingthe homeschooling and can have a
lot of views, and we have beenin doubt if we should invite
voices on of people who are homeeducated and being like so how
is it so?
Cecilie Conrad (04:04):
now it's happening.
Jesper Conrad (04:05):
Thank you for doing this.
Cecilie Conrad (04:08):
Can I ask you so this is an anthology of stories
from the perspective of thehome?
Educated younger.
Addison Harding (04:17):
Yeah, so kind of feel about it and how it's
been for them.
And it also has the parents andhow they feel.
And then it also has expertswho know a lot about home
(04:42):
education and their views andthen like unpublished voices
where people have said why thebill is bad to the education
committee so several times yousaid it's people speaking.
Cecilie Conrad (05:01):
Is it because it's an interview book?
Addison Harding (05:04):
It's not really an interview book.
People have put in what theythink about home education and
the bill, but in a way it's justa bunch of people expressing
their views through the book, ina way.
Jesper Conrad (05:23):
On one of the last days on HIF we had our good
friend Randall Hardy over for acup of tea and he is not happy
about the bill.
But for many people out therethey don't know what the bill is
about or why it is not cool.
I don't know if you, edison orBen can explain briefly about it
(05:43):
.
I mean I couldn't.
So if you can't, then all isgood.
I can't really explain theabout it.
I mean I couldn't.
So if you can't, then all isgood.
Ben Feliz (05:48):
I can't really explain the full build, just
because there's so much to it.
I could explain some of mypoints that I think are bad with
it, like I couldn't summarizethe entire build.
Cecilie Conrad (05:59):
No, no, no, no, no, but actually, the points
that you are focused on are thepoints that we would want to
hear about.
Ben Feliz (06:05):
One of the main problems is the register that's
included in the bill for homeeducated children, and one of
the main things that I'm focusedon is it says that both parents
must be on the register, whichwill be a problem for people who
are victims of domestic abuseand that sort of thing, but
their court cases are continuing, so the abuser has not yet been
(06:30):
convicted, so they would stillkind of have to be on the
register and eligible for theinformation on the register.
Cecilie Conrad (06:37):
So we've heard about this thing of the register
and it's interesting.
We have an internationalaudience, people from all over
the planet listening.
What is it?
100 countries are listening tothis podcast.
So you have a political pointof view which makes a lot of
sense to me.
And we come from differentcountries, you guys and us, and
we've discussed the register andthe bill with a few Brits over
(07:01):
the summer we spent here inEngland, because where we come
from back in the 80s I think itwas, the register was
established in our countryEverybody and it had nothing to
do with home education, becauseit's a very small movement in
our country Back in the 80s youhad maybe like nine families at
home, I think.
No, it was just a register foreveryone.
So in Denmark, everyone gets apersonal identification number
(07:24):
at the moment of birth.
Within the first three minutesyou're registered and there is
no way around it.
You can, of course, free birthat home.
It is legal.
Obviously.
It's your body.
You can do with it what youwant, but you cannot move
through life in our very smalland very controlled and
systematic country.
It's a very small country andeverything is very digitalized.
(07:48):
So it's interesting from this.
So I've had a personalidentification number most of my
life.
My children had them within thefirst three minutes of birth,
and I find it highly problematic.
But I have also, at the sametime, given in, because there is
no way around it, literally noway around it.
It's like breathing I have tobreathe even if there's
(08:09):
pollution in the air.
In the same way, I can't havechildren without giving them
this number.
It's just impossible.
So it's interesting to see howa country is now fighting it and
why it's fighting it.
Jesper Conrad (08:22):
All the home educating children in my country
are it?
Cecilie Conrad (08:24):
All the room-educating children in my
country are registered, all ofthem, everyone's registered,
with both parents, becausethat's how your basic
registration is.
It holds the information of whoare your birth parents or
adopted parents, your legalparents, basically.
So I find it funny to talkpolitics because it's not my
(08:46):
main thing, but can you explain,or do you want to explain how?
How does this feel like apressure, especially
specifically for the homeeducated?
I understand the domesticviolence problem, but that's
actually it has nothing to dowith education.
I don't think there is moredomestic violence in home
(09:07):
educating families.
Probably most likely there isless.
So in what way do you thinkthis is problematic for home
educators specifically?
Addison Harding (09:17):
Well, I think that personally I mean I haven't
read the entire bill I think itwould be weird if I have I was
just asking about this specificthing of being registered.
Cecilie Conrad (09:34):
Yeah, how you've not been registered.
There's no list ofhome-educated children and
there's no mandatory register ofeveryone in your country, and
this is what I'm trying to rollout.
Now they want to throw all thehomemade kids.
In what way is this actually aproblem?
Addison Harding (09:52):
Well, I just think that the fact that in just
five clauses for us it's justkind of worried, tons of things.
I mean the thing is is thatwith going out of school, you
have to like, you have to speakto your local authority and they
(10:14):
have to give their approval andthey have to say that it is in
the child's best needs.
But how do they know it's inthe child's best needs?
And then when, even if you arehome educated and you manage to
like and you manage to getthrough, they can come whenever
they want into your house andthey have to decide if it's in
(10:39):
the child's best interests todecide if they keep on like home
educating or not.
And like nowhere in the bill dothey ask like what does the
child think?
And like I mean it's.
I guess even if the system wasperfect and everything worked,
(11:04):
then what about the data?
The data has been hacked beforein the past being out there in
this software.
Imagine, like some I mean Idon't think most hackers are
friendly people who hack thingsjust for fun.
I mean I think if they got holdof the information, they'd
(11:27):
probably use it for like I don'tknow bad things, and it's just
like yeah, and it doesn't saywhat they're not allowed to use
with the data.
They can pass it on if theywant to.
I guess it's.
(11:51):
I mean, and that's just keepingthe local authority don't slip
up somewhere and just like Ithink.
I genuinely think that if thelocal authority came into my
house right now and lookedaround, that they would think
that I'm not having a suitableeducation, even though every
single time I speak to my MPabout the problems, they just
(12:17):
say well, it's not like it'sgoing to affect you at all, you
seem like perfectly good at homeeducators.
But I think that if the billgoes through, I'm going to come
up to him once I'm in school andsay, see, see.
Cecilie Conrad (12:37):
So yeah, just yeah there's a little thing to
say about it, but it's reallyfunny if someone walked into
your house right now to check ifyour homemade was good enough
and you're being interviewed byan international podcast because
you wrote a book and you can'tfind that good enough.
Jesper Conrad (13:00):
That would actually be hilarious or you
(13:22):
have to sit down and do yourmath.
Oh, I agree, but it is one ofthe things that we see when we
have talked with a way where youare in some ways, I think,
dehumanizing the parents insaying to them, basically, we do
not believe you can care foryour own child, and that just
baffles me every time that wethink that people can't take
(13:45):
care of their own children.
Cecilie Conrad (13:49):
I kind of want to be the devil's advocate.
Could we imagine a world wherethis might be very naive, like
my little pony style, but couldwe imagine a world where the
laws would protect us?
Ben Feliz (14:04):
Yes, but not with the current people in jail.
Cecilie Conrad (14:07):
True, true, yes I'm just trying because we sound
like we just know we went outof the system and we're
anarchists and yes we are, butin a way, if the laws were
protecting us, if we had theright to home educate, if it
gave us protection from like,gave us options instead of
(14:32):
restricting us, if it, I feellike, in theory, in our country,
home education is in theconstitution and that's the
reason it's one of the fewcountries in Europe where you
can still legally home educateand we're not under any threat
by the government.
Well, we are, but they cannottake the right to home educate
away because it's in theConstitution.
(14:53):
And I think, oh man, could youbuild a great system on top of
that?
You could give home educatorsspecial rights.
You could give them discountson, let's say, books and bus
tickets.
You could give them the samerights as schools, for museums,
museums are free in England,they're not in Denmark.
There are so many things thatcould be done that would make
(15:14):
the life better.
You could make, like, a taxreduction for home educating
families, because you're notusing the school system and you
have a hard time.
You know working and homeediting.
So in a way, you're totallyright, ben.
It's about who's in charge andwhat is their agenda, because
it's not.
I don't like rules and laws,but now that we have them, they
(15:40):
could work for us.
It just feels like they'reworking against us and they are.
Addison Harding (15:49):
Yeah, that is what hopefully could happen and
that's what I think anyone wantsto happen.
But in the government's pointof view, the home education
system right now isn't working,so they have to fix it, but it
is but.
Cecilie Conrad (16:06):
But what about the home educating system?
Do you think the governmentdoes not?
Addison Harding (16:12):
like I don't think.
I think they don't like thefact that, like, I don't think
they like the fact that, I mean,they understand what goes on in
school, but I think they don'tlike the fact that when you're
home educated, it's hard forthem to understand what goes on.
(16:38):
In a way, like for them, theykind of have got to the point
where they think, well, ifthey're not going to school, how
come, and what are theylearning?
Are they being raised badly?
And I guess that's what they'redoing right now.
They're trying to find out andthey're trying to, in a way,
(17:03):
help us, but in a way they'rejust not helping us.
We just need to be given somespace from the local authority
and the government.
We just need to educateourselves in ways that we want.
To Ben, do you agree with that?
(17:23):
Yeah, to Ben, do you agree withthat?
Jesper Conrad (17:24):
or yeah, I would.
One of the things I findunfortunately hilarious is that
I at some point look up thenumbers from the school system
in Denmark where they talkedabout how big a percentage, when
they finished I think it was8th grade, were on a
(17:45):
satisfactory level, bothmature-wise and in preparedness
to take a further education, andthe numbers were that they were
proud enough that they were uparound 75, which means that one
in four is failing the schoolsystem.
(18:06):
if you turn it around and lookat it and I do not believe that
one in four of the homeschooledcommunity is failing meaning
learning less than we hope theywould, being less mature than we
hope they would.
So I think that you are quiteright in the view that if they
do not know what's going on,that you are quite right in the
(18:27):
view that if they do not knowwhat's going on, then they maybe
don't understand it.
But if they put the samejudgment on the public school
system as it sounds like theywant to do on the home ed, then
it would be a miss.
One thing I would like to gointo is the book title Hidden
Voices Speak.
So why does it have that title?
Ben Feliz (18:53):
So the reason we chose that title is quite a lot
of time the government.
Because children aren't on aregister when they're home
educated, or at least the onelike some of them are.
Because, like some of them areon it for a particular reason.
They call them hidden childrenand we kind of want to say like
(19:16):
they're not hidden here they'rekind of they're expressing their
views.
Yeah, ben did you think of thetitle?
By the way?
Addison Harding (19:21):
I can't remember maybe, but I'm not sure
yeah, I just can't rememberwhere it came from.
It was just like bit of like asudden stroke of inspiration, I
guess yeah, it's a really goodtitle.
Jesper Conrad (19:33):
When I didn't know.
Cecilie Conrad (19:34):
The government called it hidden children in
England.
Addison Harding (19:36):
That's interesting invisible children,
I think.
Ben Feliz (19:40):
I think it's hidden, but I'm not entirely sure or
falling through the cracks yeah,that's another line they use.
Addison Harding (19:46):
Oh, yeah, I hear that a lot when my mum Not
entirely true or falling throughthe cracks yeah, that's another
line they use.
Oh, yeah, I hear that a lotwhen my mum writes her entry in
the book.
She took inspiration in sendingthe government a postcard from
through the cracks.
Jesper Conrad (20:02):
Nice.
So are you also sharing yourpersonal stories in the book, in
the anthology?
Ben Feliz (20:14):
Addison, is I more talk about my current personal
life?
I don't talk about my previouspersonal life, though if we did
make a second edition, I mightadd an entry about my previous
personal life.
So how is it to be homeeducated?
Jesper Conrad (20:26):
Though if we did make a second edition, I might
add an entry about my previouslife, yeah, so how is it to be
home educated?
Addison Harding (20:33):
Fun, I guess it's just like.
It's like you can explore yourinterests, like at school.
In the past, like amongst otherthings which happened, I have
had days where I get taughtsomething and it's a really fun
lesson, and then the next daywe're going back to something
(20:55):
else and it's like you get to dothat really fun lesson every
day, where you get to explorewhat interests you in a way, and
it's like it's just you get toexplore your interests and you
(21:18):
don't have to, in a way.
Cecilie Conrad (21:21):
I think it was a very, very good example or like
mental picture you paintedthere, where it's true that in
school sometimes there can bethis occasional teacher or this
class, or even maybe this week,this process of something in
history class or something inmath that just ignites your
brain and you're like, but thething is it keeps changing and
(21:43):
you only have it like for onehour on Wednesdays.
And when you home educate youcan go for that spark all the
time.
And if the spark is not there,then maybe just chill out
because you know you're allowedto have fun and not necessarily
go for academic achievement allthe time.
I think it's that was a prettyone.
(22:04):
It's like having that lessonevery day all the time.
And what about you, ben?
How do you feel?
I'm sure our listeners are socurious to hear the voices of
home-educated children.
What's your experience, youthink?
Ben Feliz (22:21):
So my experience is a bit different to Alison's,
because I'm educated my entirelife, so I've never gone to
school.
So for me it's like I feel likeit's kind of a bit similar to
what Addison was saying, thoughI don't have the school
perspective.
I feel like I'm able to like doeverything that I would be
(22:43):
doing in a school, but I'm ableto do it in a way that suits me,
like in science when we'reexplaining experiments and like
how different compounds work andour teacher kind of like, um,
because we go to a group so likewe have our teacher there, um,
(23:03):
and he like actually does theexperiments in front of us, so
we can kind of see we get atangible view of the experiment.
Addison Harding (23:13):
He explains a lot of stuff.
Go to classes together.
Ben Feliz (23:19):
Yeah, we do a lot of classes together, yeah.
Cecilie Conrad (23:23):
So the big difference between doing classes
as a home-educated child and asa school child, I suppose, is
that it's voluntary.
Yeah, you decided you want thescience class.
I think a lot of business willthink about this.
So did the parents decide thescience class or did the
children decide the scienceclass?
(23:45):
We decided decide the scienceclass or did the children decide
the science class?
We just thought and that thesame, the same question will
also probably be in the mind ofa lot of listeners, who decided
that they should write a bookabout it, about the bill and
about the perspectives of thehome educated.
So I'm jumping away again fromyour personal experience.
Uh, maybe I'm doing that too.
Maybe we can go back to it, butI'm just.
(24:07):
I think we need to ask thatquestion.
Addison Harding (24:13):
So where did the idea come from, you think?
Well, I guess it was kind of asudden stroke of inspiration.
In a way I was.
I just wanted to.
I mean, I didn't know muchabout Bill when I went to a
(24:34):
protest on the 8th of May.
Jesper Conrad (24:40):
March.
Addison Harding (24:42):
Sorry, yeah, and yeah, I don't think I would
have gone, but I neededsomething to take my mind off
things, so thank goodness forthat.
The pet had just died.
(25:02):
A what A pet, what.
Ben Feliz (25:07):
But, anyway.
Addison Harding (25:08):
Yeah, so I went to the protest and was glad to
see all my friends and I waslike I just was glad to keep my
mind busy.
And then I kind of felt a bitof the injustice of the whole
thing.
And I think there were likesorts of speakers or something
(25:30):
because, um, uh, juliette ingliswas like going around saying to
everyone, like offering to tospeak, and I thought, well, why
not speak?
I don't know much, but I knowwhy home education is good.
(25:52):
So I went up there and I spokeand Well, in a way, that kind of
made me feel like I mean, I wasbeing listened to in ways, but
like I just felt like the wholeinjustice of the whole thing
wasn't being listened to,because in the background there
(26:13):
was like this really big protestalso happening and I saw them
like protesting and one personclimbed up onto the top of Big
Ben and like they had to gethelicopters down and they would
get like all that happening.
And I was just thinking, well,of course they're what they were
(26:36):
protesting about was important,but I just felt like our small
protest, like I just wanted likea way to have a way to express
my views and show what I felt,but I didn't really.
(26:57):
And then I tried to explain howI felt to everyone, to explain
how I felt to everyone and in away I kind of just said it and I
talked about it and it was abit of like a brainstorm in a
way.
But in the end we kind ofthought, like of the idea of
(27:20):
Hidden Voices, beat, and I waslike like a book or something in
a way.
Voices be and I was like like abook or something in a way, and
then after that I just thoughtI would never hear from it again
.
But in a way, that's how homeeducation is like you have an
idea and you get supported tothe end in a way.
(27:40):
And I got supported.
And here I am now.
Well, not I, we worked on abook, it was a team effort.
Ben designed the cover.
I wait a bit, everybody wait abit, and after all that that it
(28:06):
was published and yeah, I guess,that's how it came about it's
super awesome.
Jesper Conrad (28:14):
I like ideas and I like making ideas a reality,
and I did something similar whenI was very young, but older
than you guys.
I was 16 and made an amateurfeature film and one thing is
making the product, but thewhole learning journey of it,
(28:37):
everything you learn along theway, that is it's pure gold and
that is one of it's like theessence of home ed.
In the same ways that you havean idea, you follow it through
and you learn.
So much by creating a work ofart or a product like a book is
(28:58):
the reason I wanted to interviewyou was because we were at HEF,
where you also gave a talk, andat HEF I talked with our good
friend Kavita and I was askingher oh, I need an idea for who
we could interview and shesuggested YouTube.
Was this your first HEF forboth of you?
Addison Harding (29:19):
So, yeah, it was my first.
Ben Feliz (29:22):
I've had Gordon previously, but but not for
quite a long time.
I went pre-COVID, but thenstopped going, and then this was
my first for quite a while.
Jesper Conrad (29:32):
Yeah, Can we talk about HIF and what it does for
people?
I know what it do for me as anadult and I can share that.
First, I just love seeing mykids and all the other children
hang out for a week, go and do alot of stuff and I like to see.
(29:55):
What I really love about goingto HEF is when I look at all the
home educated children there.
Then they seem very relaxed andin themselves.
It's like it's a group ofpeople who know who they are.
There's not tooling in thecorner or weird things happening
(30:16):
.
They're just nice towards eachother and is having fun for a
week.
I don't know if it's the samewhen you are there, but that's
what I see from my end of it.
Addison Harding (30:27):
Yeah, it's pretty much that I mean yeah, I
think I want to, I would love togo again.
It was, yeah, I really loved toface it away.
Unfortunately, I had to leaveearly, though, because my dad
(30:49):
had to get back to work, so Imissed the end bit, but, like at
the beginning and middle, itwas just like great, I was
getting to do all that things.
Ben Feliz (31:01):
What about you, ben?
So I ended up staying for thewhole time and I really enjoyed
kind of meeting lots of newpeople from maybe we have
different views about stuff andpolitical standings and all of
that, but we were able to talkwith each other as kind of
(31:21):
equals and as friends, insteadof like trying to form into
groups based on what we believe.
Like, of course, like ifthere's a massive difference of
opinion, like you don't hang outtogether, but like if if you
have a relatively similaropinion to someone, then you
still kind of you're still kindof able to hang out with them
(31:43):
and talk helpfully aboutdifferent like issues that you
care about nice it's a verybeautiful community.
Cecilie Conrad (31:50):
It really is.
Yeah, I think I have actuallytwo more questions about the
book and then I think we shouldwrap up.
Yeah, sorry, I just want tomake it clear for the listeners
is is this book?
Would this book be aninteresting read for those who
are not part of the Englishgovernment?
(32:11):
Is it also an anthology justsharing about how it is to be
home educated in England thesedays, in this day and age, and
what it looks like to have thatkind of life?
Is it relevant for everyone whoare curious into the life of
home educators, or is thatmostly pushing against the
(32:37):
political agenda?
Ben Feliz (32:38):
yeah, I think it would be an interesting read for
anyone, and definitely foranyone who wants to understand
more about home education.
Addison Harding (32:46):
It is mainly aimed at government officials,
but I think definitely peoplewould, those who want to, who
are against the bill, but it'salso about those people who just
(33:15):
are curious about what is thishome education, what's like,
what is it, and like they kindof find out and, yeah, I think
that it's a bit of an insightinto people's lives, the life of
home educators, and you get thepicture.
(33:36):
Of course, the main themeoccurring is the bill, but you
can definitely read it withoutknowing about the bill, like you
could definitely read itwithout knowing about the bill,
and it's mainly about hereducation, which if you find
interesting, then you can readit Definitely.
Jesper Conrad (33:54):
The stories, the voices we hear speak.
Can you share a little aboutwho it is More like?
Is it a lot from the children'sperspective, or is it adult
perspective, or is it a mix?
Where are we?
Addison Harding (34:11):
It's a mix.
I think there's like might beslightly more adults than
children, but then there's liketons of children as well, like I
think Ben would you say.
There was like 23 children.
Ben Feliz (34:22):
I think what I would say is I'm not entirely sure.
I think there are actually morechildren, but it looks like
there are more adults because ingeneral the adults ones are
longer.
Cecilie Conrad (34:33):
They just babble on yeah yeah, they babble on.
Interesting.
Are you planning to write morebooks?
Ben Feliz (34:40):
Well, I am.
I'm in the middle of writingsome fiction.
Cecilie Conrad (34:43):
Interesting.
Ben Feliz (34:44):
And I believe we are thinking of making a second
edition of it.
Cecilie Conrad (34:48):
Do you want to talk a little about your process
as an author of fiction?
Ben Feliz (34:54):
My process as an author of fiction is just like
so.
I take a lot of inspirationfrom authors that I read,
because I do a lot of readingbooks as well, which is actually
quite a funny story, because Ididn't really get into reading
until I was about nine, but thenI read Harry Potter straight
off the bat.
Jesper Conrad (35:15):
It's a really good place to start.
Cecilie Conrad (35:16):
It's often the story, isn't it, isn't it?
Jesper Conrad (35:19):
Yeah.
Cecilie Conrad (35:20):
One of our children who's only started
reading when he was 13 and he'snow never leaving his book.
That's the beauty of homeeducation.
So from being an avid readerand enjoying reading books to
venturing into writing a book,so that there's a gap there.
I feel like, yeah, whathappened?
Ben Feliz (35:41):
I, so my mom teaches our English classes, so I
thought that helped.
And then, just like, I oftenhave ideas for like stories and
I wanted to kind of write themdown, so I started writing it
and we also have a class wherewe write tips and, yeah, I've
come up with quite a lot ofideas.
(36:01):
I don't know if I'll actuallyfinish all of the series,
because there are quite a lot.
Addison Harding (36:06):
You thought of 53 ideas for books.
Ben Feliz (36:11):
It might be 53.
It might be more by now.
Cecilie Conrad (36:13):
But life is long .
Addison Harding (36:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Cecilie Conrad (36:16):
So we usually say in our family for every 10
projects you start, you'llsucceed at least with one.
I'm not saying you couldn'tsucceed with nine.
Yeah, it's just to exceed atleast with one I'm not saying
you couldn't succeed with theother nine.
Ben Feliz (36:30):
Yeah.
Cecilie Conrad (36:30):
It's just to splurge it out there.
So yeah, it's just interestingto speak to another young author
about how are you, are youenjoying it?
Writing?
Ben Feliz (36:39):
Do you have a?
Cecilie Conrad (36:40):
system to it.
Ben Feliz (36:41):
It can be a bit tough but like, if I get stuck I just
move on to the next one andkind of write until I have
inspiration for the one I'mworking on and then I go back to
that write some stuff perfect.
Cecilie Conrad (36:54):
With more than 50 projects, you should have at
least.
Yeah, great.
So where do we?
How do we look at?
Are you?
Can you send us an email whenyou publish?
Just send us an email when youpublish the first.
Ben Feliz (37:06):
Yeah, I will.
Cecilie Conrad (37:08):
We could do another interview.
Jesper Conrad (37:10):
So, Edison, if people want to read this book,
where do they find it?
How do they find it?
Addison Harding (37:17):
Well, they can find it on Amazon.
The price is reasonable in myopinion, it's like £8.50 or
something, although if you wantto get it, you can get it on
Kindle as well through Amazon,but on Kindle it's completely
(37:40):
free.
But for those of you which iswatching, watching, if you are
going to get it, please don'tget it from kindle, because for
us to produce a kindle edition,because we did it through amazon
, we have to pay a pound, so itkind of makes it hard for us to
(38:00):
um yeah keep it going, but andthose of you consider sending
one to your MP as well- yes,that's a good plan, but
Cecilie Conrad (38:12):
people do want to get it on their Kindle.
As me, I'm based out of the van, so I try to read everything on
a Kindle.
Do you have some sort of buy mea coffee any way to contribute
to your project.
Jesper Conrad (38:27):
Or you buy a physical copy and send it to an
MP.
Cecilie Conrad (38:30):
I could send a physical copy to an MP and
download the Kindle version toitself.
Jesper Conrad (38:34):
Yes.
Cecilie Conrad (38:35):
That's the solution.
That's what we recommend If youwant to Kindle for themselves.
Jesper Conrad (38:39):
Yeah.
Cecilie Conrad (38:41):
Good plan.
Jesper Conrad (38:41):
Yes, Ben and Addison, it has been a pleasure
having you here and I hope thatmany more people will read the
book.
Hear the voices that are nolonger hidden speak about how it
is to actually be home educated, instead of being claimed as
being fallen through the cracksor whatever the MPs claims when
(39:07):
they talk about what they don'tknow.
And hiding.
And hiding yeah.
Cecilie Conrad (39:13):
We're not hiding .
Jesper Conrad (39:14):
None of them we know are actually hiding.
They are very vocal and veryout there.
Thanks a lot.
It was wonderful having you on.
Addison Harding (39:25):
Yeah Well, see you, bye.
Ben Feliz (39:29):
Okay.
Today we're together with Ben and Addison
and we might have met them, butwe might just have passed them
as we have.
All of us here have just beenat the Home Education Family
Festival, hif, here in thesummer in UK.
So first of all, ben andAddison, welcome, it is good to
(00:24):
see you.
Hello, hello.
Cecilie Conrad (00:26):
Hello Hi.
Jesper Conrad (00:28):
Yeah, and for the people who are not watching the
podcast as a video, but justlistening to it, you could maybe
think was that younger voicesthan normally?
And the answer is yes, theseare our youngest guests ever.
Yes, these are our youngestguests ever.
So the reason we want to speakwith you is because you also
(00:48):
gave a talk at HEF.
I unfortunately didn't see.
That was about your book.
Hidden Voices Speakno-transcript.
Ben Feliz (01:11):
Ben Knappelman.
We both live in London, I'm inBrixton and I'm 14.
Jesper Conrad (01:16):
Henry Suryawirawan.
And then what about you,addison?
How old are you?
Addison Harding (01:19):
Addison Young.
I am 13.
When I first started the book Iwas 12, but about half a month
ago I turned 13, and I live inSouth London.
Jesper Conrad (01:34):
What did you give a talk about?
Addison Harding (01:37):
What was it all about?
It was about Hidden Voice toSpeak, like talking about the
process of creating it and justlike the way the whole thing
worked, just like thinking ofthe idea and the process of
making it and all of that andour experiences, kind of
(02:03):
basically that.
Jesper Conrad (02:04):
Yeah, can you share what Hidden Voices Speak
is for the people who don't knowof the book?
Addison Harding (02:12):
Well, so Hidden Voices Speak is an anthology
where a bunch of home educatorskind of got together like
writing about our experience asa way to kind of make a
reference point to the people inParliament so that they can use
(02:38):
it to know more about what homeeducation is, because the way
they talk about it so far isjust a bit unknowing mildly said
yeah well, how brave yeah Ithink it's quite interesting.
Cecilie Conrad (02:57):
We start this podcast by asking about your age
we've never done that before,but because all of our other
guests have been not minors andobviously there's a point to you
guys being minors.
But the whole concept of havingthis podcast is the exact same
as most of our other podcastinterviews.
(03:17):
Someone wrote a book and thenwe talked to them about it.
So I just want to pay myrespect to the fact that this
has something to do with youbeing younger, but that's mostly
because that's you've got aspecial perspective, being the
children's generation, theactually home educated, not the
(03:37):
home educating and I find itvery interesting.
I want to read the book.
I'm yeah.
Because I haven't done so yet,though.
Jesper Conrad (03:46):
Often, the people we talk with are people who are
, as Cecilia is saying, doingthe homeschooling and can have a
lot of views, and we have beenin doubt if we should invite
voices on of people who are homeeducated and being like so how
is it so?
Cecilie Conrad (04:04):
now it's happening.
Jesper Conrad (04:05):
Thank you for doing this.
Cecilie Conrad (04:08):
Can I ask you so this is an anthology of stories
from the perspective of thehome?
Educated younger.
Addison Harding (04:17):
Yeah, so kind of feel about it and how it's
been for them.
And it also has the parents andhow they feel.
And then it also has expertswho know a lot about home
(04:42):
education and their views andthen like unpublished voices
where people have said why thebill is bad to the education
committee so several times yousaid it's people speaking.
Cecilie Conrad (05:01):
Is it because it's an interview book?
Addison Harding (05:04):
It's not really an interview book.
People have put in what theythink about home education and
the bill, but in a way it's justa bunch of people expressing
their views through the book, ina way.
Jesper Conrad (05:23):
On one of the last days on HIF we had our good
friend Randall Hardy over for acup of tea and he is not happy
about the bill.
But for many people out therethey don't know what the bill is
about or why it is not cool.
I don't know if you, edison orBen can explain briefly about it
(05:43):
.
I mean I couldn't.
So if you can't, then all isgood.
I can't really explain theabout it.
I mean I couldn't.
So if you can't, then all isgood.
Ben Feliz (05:48):
I can't really explain the full build, just
because there's so much to it.
I could explain some of mypoints that I think are bad with
it, like I couldn't summarizethe entire build.
Cecilie Conrad (05:59):
No, no, no, no, no, but actually, the points
that you are focused on are thepoints that we would want to
hear about.
Ben Feliz (06:05):
One of the main problems is the register that's
included in the bill for homeeducated children, and one of
the main things that I'm focusedon is it says that both parents
must be on the register, whichwill be a problem for people who
are victims of domestic abuseand that sort of thing, but
their court cases are continuing, so the abuser has not yet been
(06:30):
convicted, so they would stillkind of have to be on the
register and eligible for theinformation on the register.
Cecilie Conrad (06:37):
So we've heard about this thing of the register
and it's interesting.
We have an internationalaudience, people from all over
the planet listening.
What is it?
100 countries are listening tothis podcast.
So you have a political pointof view which makes a lot of
sense to me.
And we come from differentcountries, you guys and us, and
we've discussed the register andthe bill with a few Brits over
(07:01):
the summer we spent here inEngland, because where we come
from back in the 80s I think itwas, the register was
established in our countryEverybody and it had nothing to
do with home education, becauseit's a very small movement in
our country Back in the 80s youhad maybe like nine families at
home, I think.
No, it was just a register foreveryone.
So in Denmark, everyone gets apersonal identification number
(07:24):
at the moment of birth.
Within the first three minutesyou're registered and there is
no way around it.
You can, of course, free birthat home.
It is legal.
Obviously.
It's your body.
You can do with it what youwant, but you cannot move
through life in our very smalland very controlled and
systematic country.
It's a very small country andeverything is very digitalized.
(07:48):
So it's interesting from this.
So I've had a personalidentification number most of my
life.
My children had them within thefirst three minutes of birth,
and I find it highly problematic.
But I have also, at the sametime, given in, because there is
no way around it, literally noway around it.
It's like breathing I have tobreathe even if there's
(08:09):
pollution in the air.
In the same way, I can't havechildren without giving them
this number.
It's just impossible.
So it's interesting to see howa country is now fighting it and
why it's fighting it.
Jesper Conrad (08:22):
All the home educating children in my country
are it?
Cecilie Conrad (08:24):
All the room-educating children in my
country are registered, all ofthem, everyone's registered,
with both parents, becausethat's how your basic
registration is.
It holds the information of whoare your birth parents or
adopted parents, your legalparents, basically.
So I find it funny to talkpolitics because it's not my
(08:46):
main thing, but can you explain,or do you want to explain how?
How does this feel like apressure, especially
specifically for the homeeducated?
I understand the domesticviolence problem, but that's
actually it has nothing to dowith education.
I don't think there is moredomestic violence in home
(09:07):
educating families.
Probably most likely there isless.
So in what way do you thinkthis is problematic for home
educators specifically?
Addison Harding (09:17):
Well, I think that personally I mean I haven't
read the entire bill I think itwould be weird if I have I was
just asking about this specificthing of being registered.
Cecilie Conrad (09:34):
Yeah, how you've not been registered.
There's no list ofhome-educated children and
there's no mandatory register ofeveryone in your country, and
this is what I'm trying to rollout.
Now they want to throw all thehomemade kids.
In what way is this actually aproblem?
Addison Harding (09:52):
Well, I just think that the fact that in just
five clauses for us it's justkind of worried, tons of things.
I mean the thing is is thatwith going out of school, you
have to like, you have to speakto your local authority and they
(10:14):
have to give their approval andthey have to say that it is in
the child's best needs.
But how do they know it's inthe child's best needs?
And then when, even if you arehome educated and you manage to
like and you manage to getthrough, they can come whenever
they want into your house andthey have to decide if it's in
(10:39):
the child's best interests todecide if they keep on like home
educating or not.
And like nowhere in the bill dothey ask like what does the
child think?
And like I mean it's.
I guess even if the system wasperfect and everything worked,
(11:04):
then what about the data?
The data has been hacked beforein the past being out there in
this software.
Imagine, like some I mean Idon't think most hackers are
friendly people who hack thingsjust for fun.
I mean I think if they got holdof the information, they'd
(11:27):
probably use it for like I don'tknow bad things, and it's just
like yeah, and it doesn't saywhat they're not allowed to use
with the data.
They can pass it on if theywant to.
I guess it's.
(11:51):
I mean, and that's just keepingthe local authority don't slip
up somewhere and just like Ithink.
I genuinely think that if thelocal authority came into my
house right now and lookedaround, that they would think
that I'm not having a suitableeducation, even though every
single time I speak to my MPabout the problems, they just
(12:17):
say well, it's not like it'sgoing to affect you at all, you
seem like perfectly good at homeeducators.
But I think that if the billgoes through, I'm going to come
up to him once I'm in school andsay, see, see.
Cecilie Conrad (12:37):
So yeah, just yeah there's a little thing to
say about it, but it's reallyfunny if someone walked into
your house right now to check ifyour homemade was good enough
and you're being interviewed byan international podcast because
you wrote a book and you can'tfind that good enough.
Jesper Conrad (13:00):
That would actually be hilarious or you
(13:22):
have to sit down and do yourmath.
Oh, I agree, but it is one ofthe things that we see when we
have talked with a way where youare in some ways, I think,
dehumanizing the parents insaying to them, basically, we do
not believe you can care foryour own child, and that just
baffles me every time that wethink that people can't take
(13:45):
care of their own children.
Cecilie Conrad (13:49):
I kind of want to be the devil's advocate.
Could we imagine a world wherethis might be very naive, like
my little pony style, but couldwe imagine a world where the
laws would protect us?
Ben Feliz (14:04):
Yes, but not with the current people in jail.
Cecilie Conrad (14:07):
True, true, yes I'm just trying because we sound
like we just know we went outof the system and we're
anarchists and yes we are, butin a way, if the laws were
protecting us, if we had theright to home educate, if it
gave us protection from like,gave us options instead of
(14:32):
restricting us, if it, I feellike, in theory, in our country,
home education is in theconstitution and that's the
reason it's one of the fewcountries in Europe where you
can still legally home educateand we're not under any threat
by the government.
Well, we are, but they cannottake the right to home educate
away because it's in theConstitution.
(14:53):
And I think, oh man, could youbuild a great system on top of
that?
You could give home educatorsspecial rights.
You could give them discountson, let's say, books and bus
tickets.
You could give them the samerights as schools, for museums,
museums are free in England,they're not in Denmark.
There are so many things thatcould be done that would make
(15:14):
the life better.
You could make, like, a taxreduction for home educating
families, because you're notusing the school system and you
have a hard time.
You know working and homeediting.
So in a way, you're totallyright, ben.
It's about who's in charge andwhat is their agenda, because
it's not.
I don't like rules and laws,but now that we have them, they
(15:40):
could work for us.
It just feels like they'reworking against us and they are.
Addison Harding (15:49):
Yeah, that is what hopefully could happen and
that's what I think anyone wantsto happen.
But in the government's pointof view, the home education
system right now isn't working,so they have to fix it, but it
is but.
Cecilie Conrad (16:06):
But what about the home educating system?
Do you think the governmentdoes not?
Addison Harding (16:12):
like I don't think.
I think they don't like thefact that, like, I don't think
they like the fact that, I mean,they understand what goes on in
school, but I think they don'tlike the fact that when you're
home educated, it's hard forthem to understand what goes on.
(16:38):
In a way, like for them, theykind of have got to the point
where they think, well, ifthey're not going to school, how
come, and what are theylearning?
Are they being raised badly?
And I guess that's what they'redoing right now.
They're trying to find out andthey're trying to, in a way,
(17:03):
help us, but in a way they'rejust not helping us.
We just need to be given somespace from the local authority
and the government.
We just need to educateourselves in ways that we want.
To Ben, do you agree with that?
(17:23):
Yeah, to Ben, do you agree withthat?
Jesper Conrad (17:24):
or yeah, I would.
One of the things I findunfortunately hilarious is that
I at some point look up thenumbers from the school system
in Denmark where they talkedabout how big a percentage, when
they finished I think it was8th grade, were on a
(17:45):
satisfactory level, bothmature-wise and in preparedness
to take a further education, andthe numbers were that they were
proud enough that they were uparound 75, which means that one
in four is failing the schoolsystem.
(18:06):
if you turn it around and lookat it and I do not believe that
one in four of the homeschooledcommunity is failing meaning
learning less than we hope theywould, being less mature than we
hope they would.
So I think that you are quiteright in the view that if they
do not know what's going on,that you are quite right in the
(18:27):
view that if they do not knowwhat's going on, then they maybe
don't understand it.
But if they put the samejudgment on the public school
system as it sounds like theywant to do on the home ed, then
it would be a miss.
One thing I would like to gointo is the book title Hidden
Voices Speak.
So why does it have that title?
Ben Feliz (18:53):
So the reason we chose that title is quite a lot
of time the government.
Because children aren't on aregister when they're home
educated, or at least the onelike some of them are.
Because, like some of them areon it for a particular reason.
They call them hidden childrenand we kind of want to say like
(19:16):
they're not hidden here they'rekind of they're expressing their
views.
Yeah, ben did you think of thetitle?
By the way?
Addison Harding (19:21):
I can't remember maybe, but I'm not sure
yeah, I just can't rememberwhere it came from.
It was just like bit of like asudden stroke of inspiration, I
guess yeah, it's a really goodtitle.
Jesper Conrad (19:33):
When I didn't know.
Cecilie Conrad (19:34):
The government called it hidden children in
England.
Addison Harding (19:36):
That's interesting invisible children,
I think.
Ben Feliz (19:40):
I think it's hidden, but I'm not entirely sure or
falling through the cracks yeah,that's another line they use.
Addison Harding (19:46):
Oh, yeah, I hear that a lot when my mum Not
entirely true or falling throughthe cracks yeah, that's another
line they use.
Oh, yeah, I hear that a lotwhen my mum writes her entry in
the book.
She took inspiration in sendingthe government a postcard from
through the cracks.
Jesper Conrad (20:02):
Nice.
So are you also sharing yourpersonal stories in the book, in
the anthology?
Ben Feliz (20:14):
Addison, is I more talk about my current personal
life?
I don't talk about my previouspersonal life, though if we did
make a second edition, I mightadd an entry about my previous
personal life.
So how is it to be homeeducated?
Jesper Conrad (20:26):
Though if we did make a second edition, I might
add an entry about my previouslife, yeah, so how is it to be
home educated?
Addison Harding (20:33):
Fun, I guess it's just like.
It's like you can explore yourinterests, like at school.
In the past, like amongst otherthings which happened, I have
had days where I get taughtsomething and it's a really fun
lesson, and then the next daywe're going back to something
(20:55):
else and it's like you get to dothat really fun lesson every
day, where you get to explorewhat interests you in a way, and
it's like it's just you get toexplore your interests and you
(21:18):
don't have to, in a way.
Cecilie Conrad (21:21):
I think it was a very, very good example or like
mental picture you paintedthere, where it's true that in
school sometimes there can bethis occasional teacher or this
class, or even maybe this week,this process of something in
history class or something inmath that just ignites your
brain and you're like, but thething is it keeps changing and
(21:43):
you only have it like for onehour on Wednesdays.
And when you home educate youcan go for that spark all the
time.
And if the spark is not there,then maybe just chill out
because you know you're allowedto have fun and not necessarily
go for academic achievement allthe time.
I think it's that was a prettyone.
(22:04):
It's like having that lessonevery day all the time.
And what about you, ben?
How do you feel?
I'm sure our listeners are socurious to hear the voices of
home-educated children.
What's your experience, youthink?
Ben Feliz (22:21):
So my experience is a bit different to Alison's,
because I'm educated my entirelife, so I've never gone to
school.
So for me it's like I feel likeit's kind of a bit similar to
what Addison was saying, thoughI don't have the school
perspective.
I feel like I'm able to like doeverything that I would be
(22:43):
doing in a school, but I'm ableto do it in a way that suits me,
like in science when we'reexplaining experiments and like
how different compounds work andour teacher kind of like, um,
because we go to a group so likewe have our teacher there, um,
(23:03):
and he like actually does theexperiments in front of us, so
we can kind of see we get atangible view of the experiment.
Addison Harding (23:13):
He explains a lot of stuff.
Go to classes together.
Ben Feliz (23:19):
Yeah, we do a lot of classes together, yeah.
Cecilie Conrad (23:23):
So the big difference between doing classes
as a home-educated child and asa school child, I suppose, is
that it's voluntary.
Yeah, you decided you want thescience class.
I think a lot of business willthink about this.
So did the parents decide thescience class or did the
children decide the scienceclass?
(23:45):
We decided decide the scienceclass or did the children decide
the science class?
We just thought and that thesame, the same question will
also probably be in the mind ofa lot of listeners, who decided
that they should write a bookabout it, about the bill and
about the perspectives of thehome educated.
So I'm jumping away again fromyour personal experience.
Uh, maybe I'm doing that too.
Maybe we can go back to it, butI'm just.
(24:07):
I think we need to ask thatquestion.
Addison Harding (24:13):
So where did the idea come from, you think?
Well, I guess it was kind of asudden stroke of inspiration.
In a way I was.
I just wanted to.
I mean, I didn't know muchabout Bill when I went to a
(24:34):
protest on the 8th of May.
Jesper Conrad (24:40):
March.
Addison Harding (24:42):
Sorry, yeah, and yeah, I don't think I would
have gone, but I neededsomething to take my mind off
things, so thank goodness forthat.
The pet had just died.
(25:02):
A what A pet, what.
Ben Feliz (25:07):
But, anyway.
Addison Harding (25:08):
Yeah, so I went to the protest and was glad to
see all my friends and I waslike I just was glad to keep my
mind busy.
And then I kind of felt a bitof the injustice of the whole
thing.
And I think there were likesorts of speakers or something
(25:30):
because, um, uh, juliette ingliswas like going around saying to
everyone, like offering to tospeak, and I thought, well, why
not speak?
I don't know much, but I knowwhy home education is good.
(25:52):
So I went up there and I spokeand Well, in a way, that kind of
made me feel like I mean, I wasbeing listened to in ways, but
like I just felt like the wholeinjustice of the whole thing
wasn't being listened to,because in the background there
(26:13):
was like this really big protestalso happening and I saw them
like protesting and one personclimbed up onto the top of Big
Ben and like they had to gethelicopters down and they would
get like all that happening.
And I was just thinking, well,of course they're what they were
(26:36):
protesting about was important,but I just felt like our small
protest, like I just wanted likea way to have a way to express
my views and show what I felt,but I didn't really.
(26:57):
And then I tried to explain howI felt to everyone, to explain
how I felt to everyone and in away I kind of just said it and I
talked about it and it was abit of like a brainstorm in a
way.
But in the end we kind ofthought, like of the idea of
(27:20):
Hidden Voices, beat, and I waslike like a book or something in
a way.
Voices be and I was like like abook or something in a way, and
then after that I just thoughtI would never hear from it again
.
But in a way, that's how homeeducation is like you have an
idea and you get supported tothe end in a way.
(27:40):
And I got supported.
And here I am now.
Well, not I, we worked on abook, it was a team effort.
Ben designed the cover.
I wait a bit, everybody wait abit, and after all that that it
(28:06):
was published and yeah, I guess,that's how it came about it's
super awesome.
Jesper Conrad (28:14):
I like ideas and I like making ideas a reality,
and I did something similar whenI was very young, but older
than you guys.
I was 16 and made an amateurfeature film and one thing is
making the product, but thewhole learning journey of it,
(28:37):
everything you learn along theway, that is it's pure gold and
that is one of it's like theessence of home ed.
In the same ways that you havean idea, you follow it through
and you learn.
So much by creating a work ofart or a product like a book is
(28:58):
the reason I wanted to interviewyou was because we were at HEF,
where you also gave a talk, andat HEF I talked with our good
friend Kavita and I was askingher oh, I need an idea for who
we could interview and shesuggested YouTube.
Was this your first HEF forboth of you?
Addison Harding (29:19):
So, yeah, it was my first.
Ben Feliz (29:22):
I've had Gordon previously, but but not for
quite a long time.
I went pre-COVID, but thenstopped going, and then this was
my first for quite a while.
Jesper Conrad (29:32):
Yeah, Can we talk about HIF and what it does for
people?
I know what it do for me as anadult and I can share that.
First, I just love seeing mykids and all the other children
hang out for a week, go and do alot of stuff and I like to see.
(29:55):
What I really love about goingto HEF is when I look at all the
home educated children there.
Then they seem very relaxed andin themselves.
It's like it's a group ofpeople who know who they are.
There's not tooling in thecorner or weird things happening
(30:16):
.
They're just nice towards eachother and is having fun for a
week.
I don't know if it's the samewhen you are there, but that's
what I see from my end of it.
Addison Harding (30:27):
Yeah, it's pretty much that I mean yeah, I
think I want to, I would love togo again.
It was, yeah, I really loved toface it away.
Unfortunately, I had to leaveearly, though, because my dad
(30:49):
had to get back to work, so Imissed the end bit, but, like at
the beginning and middle, itwas just like great, I was
getting to do all that things.
Ben Feliz (31:01):
What about you, ben?
So I ended up staying for thewhole time and I really enjoyed
kind of meeting lots of newpeople from maybe we have
different views about stuff andpolitical standings and all of
that, but we were able to talkwith each other as kind of
(31:21):
equals and as friends, insteadof like trying to form into
groups based on what we believe.
Like, of course, like ifthere's a massive difference of
opinion, like you don't hang outtogether, but like if if you
have a relatively similaropinion to someone, then you
still kind of you're still kindof able to hang out with them
(31:43):
and talk helpfully aboutdifferent like issues that you
care about nice it's a verybeautiful community.
Cecilie Conrad (31:50):
It really is.
Yeah, I think I have actuallytwo more questions about the
book and then I think we shouldwrap up.
Yeah, sorry, I just want tomake it clear for the listeners
is is this book?
Would this book be aninteresting read for those who
are not part of the Englishgovernment?
(32:11):
Is it also an anthology justsharing about how it is to be
home educated in England thesedays, in this day and age, and
what it looks like to have thatkind of life?
Is it relevant for everyone whoare curious into the life of
home educators, or is thatmostly pushing against the
(32:37):
political agenda?
Ben Feliz (32:38):
yeah, I think it would be an interesting read for
anyone, and definitely foranyone who wants to understand
more about home education.
Addison Harding (32:46):
It is mainly aimed at government officials,
but I think definitely peoplewould, those who want to, who
are against the bill, but it'salso about those people who just
(33:15):
are curious about what is thishome education, what's like,
what is it, and like they kindof find out and, yeah, I think
that it's a bit of an insightinto people's lives, the life of
home educators, and you get thepicture.
(33:36):
Of course, the main themeoccurring is the bill, but you
can definitely read it withoutknowing about the bill, like you
could definitely read itwithout knowing about the bill,
and it's mainly about hereducation, which if you find
interesting, then you can readit Definitely.
Jesper Conrad (33:54):
The stories, the voices we hear speak.
Can you share a little aboutwho it is More like?
Is it a lot from the children'sperspective, or is it adult
perspective, or is it a mix?
Where are we?
Addison Harding (34:11):
It's a mix.
I think there's like might beslightly more adults than
children, but then there's liketons of children as well, like I
think Ben would you say.
There was like 23 children.
Ben Feliz (34:22):
I think what I would say is I'm not entirely sure.
I think there are actually morechildren, but it looks like
there are more adults because ingeneral the adults ones are
longer.
Cecilie Conrad (34:33):
They just babble on yeah yeah, they babble on.
Interesting.
Are you planning to write morebooks?
Ben Feliz (34:40):
Well, I am.
I'm in the middle of writingsome fiction.
Cecilie Conrad (34:43):
Interesting.
Ben Feliz (34:44):
And I believe we are thinking of making a second
edition of it.
Cecilie Conrad (34:48):
Do you want to talk a little about your process
as an author of fiction?
Ben Feliz (34:54):
My process as an author of fiction is just like
so.
I take a lot of inspirationfrom authors that I read,
because I do a lot of readingbooks as well, which is actually
quite a funny story, because Ididn't really get into reading
until I was about nine, but thenI read Harry Potter straight
off the bat.
Jesper Conrad (35:15):
It's a really good place to start.
Cecilie Conrad (35:16):
It's often the story, isn't it, isn't it?
Jesper Conrad (35:19):
Yeah.
Cecilie Conrad (35:20):
One of our children who's only started
reading when he was 13 and he'snow never leaving his book.
That's the beauty of homeeducation.
So from being an avid readerand enjoying reading books to
venturing into writing a book,so that there's a gap there.
I feel like, yeah, whathappened?
Ben Feliz (35:41):
I, so my mom teaches our English classes, so I
thought that helped.
And then, just like, I oftenhave ideas for like stories and
I wanted to kind of write themdown, so I started writing it
and we also have a class wherewe write tips and, yeah, I've
come up with quite a lot ofideas.
(36:01):
I don't know if I'll actuallyfinish all of the series,
because there are quite a lot.
Addison Harding (36:06):
You thought of 53 ideas for books.
Ben Feliz (36:11):
It might be 53.
It might be more by now.
Cecilie Conrad (36:13):
But life is long .
Addison Harding (36:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Cecilie Conrad (36:16):
So we usually say in our family for every 10
projects you start, you'llsucceed at least with one.
I'm not saying you couldn'tsucceed with nine.
Yeah, it's just to exceed atleast with one I'm not saying
you couldn't succeed with theother nine.
Ben Feliz (36:30):
Yeah.
Cecilie Conrad (36:30):
It's just to splurge it out there.
So yeah, it's just interestingto speak to another young author
about how are you, are youenjoying it?
Writing?
Ben Feliz (36:39):
Do you have a?
Cecilie Conrad (36:40):
system to it.
Ben Feliz (36:41):
It can be a bit tough but like, if I get stuck I just
move on to the next one andkind of write until I have
inspiration for the one I'mworking on and then I go back to
that write some stuff perfect.
Cecilie Conrad (36:54):
With more than 50 projects, you should have at
least.
Yeah, great.
So where do we?
How do we look at?
Are you?
Can you send us an email whenyou publish?
Just send us an email when youpublish the first.
Ben Feliz (37:06):
Yeah, I will.
Cecilie Conrad (37:08):
We could do another interview.
Jesper Conrad (37:10):
So, Edison, if people want to read this book,
where do they find it?
How do they find it?
Addison Harding (37:17):
Well, they can find it on Amazon.
The price is reasonable in myopinion, it's like £8.50 or
something, although if you wantto get it, you can get it on
Kindle as well through Amazon,but on Kindle it's completely
(37:40):
free.
But for those of you which iswatching, watching, if you are
going to get it, please don'tget it from kindle, because for
us to produce a kindle edition,because we did it through amazon
, we have to pay a pound, so itkind of makes it hard for us to
(38:00):
um yeah keep it going, but andthose of you consider sending
one to your MP as well- yes,that's a good plan, but
Cecilie Conrad (38:12):
people do want to get it on their Kindle.
As me, I'm based out of the van, so I try to read everything on
a Kindle.
Do you have some sort of buy mea coffee any way to contribute
to your project.
Jesper Conrad (38:27):
Or you buy a physical copy and send it to an
MP.
Cecilie Conrad (38:30):
I could send a physical copy to an MP and
download the Kindle version toitself.
Jesper Conrad (38:34):
Yes.
Cecilie Conrad (38:35):
That's the solution.
That's what we recommend If youwant to Kindle for themselves.
Jesper Conrad (38:39):
Yeah.
Cecilie Conrad (38:41):
Good plan.
Jesper Conrad (38:41):
Yes, Ben and Addison, it has been a pleasure
having you here and I hope thatmany more people will read the
book.
Hear the voices that are nolonger hidden speak about how it
is to actually be home educated, instead of being claimed as
being fallen through the cracksor whatever the MPs claims when
(39:07):
they talk about what they don'tknow.
And hiding.
And hiding yeah.
Cecilie Conrad (39:13):
We're not hiding .
Jesper Conrad (39:14):
None of them we know are actually hiding.
They are very vocal and veryout there.
Thanks a lot.
It was wonderful having you on.
Addison Harding (39:25):
Yeah Well, see you, bye.
Ben Feliz (39:29):
Okay.
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