Roll call whose still here

[morethanpotatoprints]

Hello,

Just wondering who is still about and thought a roll call would be good.

[Velvetbee]

Hello.

[Nigglenaggle]

Hey (waves) what's up?

[ToffeeWhirl]

Hi, morethan, I'm still here and still happily home educating DS2. DS1 is learning online with the LEA and we're waiting for them to sort out a suitable school place for him (won't hold my breath), but I have been thinking of helping him study for an iGCSE in the meantime. The trouble is, he wants to study Japanese and Cryptography!

How's your DD?

[streakybacon]

I'm still here, and will be for the duration.

Ds is nearly 16 and we're making plans for sixth form. Not even the remotest possibility that he'll go to school for his final year. HE all the way .

How is everyone doing?

[Velvetbee]

1 going to 6th form next month, 3 still at home. Looking forward to giving the younger ones a bit more attention.

[morethanpotatoprints]

Ah, how lovely to hear your all still here.
it was very quiet on here before the holidays.
We too are still here and probably will be for the next few years yet.
Although, we are visiting high schools on open evenings as I never want dd to think she doesn't have the option to go.
I secretly would like her to stay at home as I know it will benefit her far more, but the decision needs to be hers really.

Blimey Streaky and Velvet, 6th form. They are all grown up practically.
Toffee, what fantastic subjects, you know you'll have to let him do them as there wouldn't be an opportunity at school. Depending on what he wants to do in the future as well, he could really be unique.
DD is working towards grade 6 in 3 instruments now, which is equiv to A level in standard (level 3), but it may take about 12/18 months before she is really ready.

Hello Niggle.

[ToffeeWhirl]

Good idea to do a rollcall, morethan. This is such a quiet board and it's nice to see who else is out there.

To be honest, I don't expect DS1 to get very far with Japanese (he may surprise me), but he has worked hard at cryptography and anything to do with computing. Did I mention he now has an Asperger diagnosis, which explains why he found mainstream school so difficult?

Your DD is obviously still doing really, really well in her music. She sounds very motivated.

[NettleTea]

yes, I am here. finally de-registered DD, 13, at the end of June and have DS, 8, giving school one last try to see if he has a teacher who is not mean.

[NettleTea]

My DD is looking at Japanese too

[ToffeeWhirl]

Interesting, Nettle. Any ideas how she'll learn it? DS1 has been looking at tutorials online and can say a few words.

I took DS2 out of school because of a poor teacher, Nettle. One bad teacher can ruin everything. I knew I could do better than her and I was fed up of seeing DS2 so unhappy.

[morethanpotatoprints]

Toffee

Too motivated, I worry sometimes. She has been told she is singing way beyond her years and tackling stuff that CC, Hayley Westenra et al were singing at 16. She can't really do much more at the moment until a bit older, but lots of other musical things to tackle, achieve and accomplish.

So glad you finally got a diagnosis, it does tend to explain a lot. With ds2 it was far too late.

[NinnyNoodleNoo]

Hi, I'm new here, but not new to HE as I HE-ed my eldest two boys (one 20 and working, one 18 and off to Uni in a few weeks) for a few years. I have three younger children, dd (10) HE, ds (8) school (was HE until last year) and dd (2). I've home-edded for over 11 years now, which is a rather a scary thought!

There was a HE Japanese class not far from me at one point. Not sure if it's still running.

[morethanpotatoprints]

Hello Ninny
Wow, 11 years, there was me thinking 2 years was good
I bet your house is full of fun.
if you don't mind me asking why did your 8 year old go to school? I'm incredibly nosey

[ommmward]

I'm around too :)

[morethanpotatoprints]

Big wave to ommmward

I don't mind saying that between you and Saracen you have given so many of us the benefit of your experience, its brilliant you are still here.
If anyone posts about something autonomous I know your advice will be brilliant.
Now where's that Saracen for a full house H.ed bingo

[ommmward]

[NettleTea]

Toffee, I doubt she will do GCSE, so she has a couple of books, a free download from Amazon and some youTube tutorials. Whether its something she will stick at or just dabble I am yet to see.....

[NettleTea]

Poor DS has had a run of teachers who were pretty mean and inconsistant with their dishing out of punishments, which was very sad. He is scared to make the move as he finds change quite disturbing, he is scared to miss out on friendships despite these last few months being the first time he has actually made two REAL friends, rather than people he just knows as they have always been there.

[CaisleanDraiochta]

I'm still here too, hello :)

or should that be konbanwa!

Japanese is actually one of the easier languages to learn, unlike english with all it's irregularities and exceptions. I love that the months of the year are literally 1 month, 2 month, 3 month etc.

Anyway DD (8) and DS (7) have been HE for nearly 5 months now and we're all in agreement that we will keep on with it for the foreseeable future. DD's confidence and self-esteem has flooded back. The girl who would meltdown at the mere suggestion of picking up a pencil in school, now says writing is her favourite thing, that she can't stop herself from doing it everyday! DS's big achievement this summer, has been that he has finally made a best friend

[MidnightDinosaur]

I'm here (NC but more of a lurker anyway) I'm in NZ though so probably here at different times to most of you.

HE'ing ds1 who is 5. Ds2 (3) goes to kindy twice a week, he wanted to go and loves it but he'll be HE'd too. (They both go to daycare on a Friday at the moment too, ds1 being the oldest there as all other 5 year olds are in school)

Just signed ds1 up to mathswhizz. Anyone got any experience of it?

[streakybacon]

We used Maths Whizz a few years back but at the time it only went up to KS3 level. We'd used it in conjunction with Conquer up till then and kept going with Conquer to exams.

Ds liked Whizz because it's bright and colourful and I liked the parents' progress reports. But I'd bear Conquer in mind for when ds gets older. Don't forget Khan Academy too .

[ToffeeWhirl]

Midnight - I used Maths-Whizz when my children were younger (probably about 12 and 6). They loved it at first, especially the rewards they earned (seem to remember a helicopter that DS2 particularly loved) but grew bored of it after several months and I didn't renew my subscription. I think it's good for young children because of its playful nature.

I'm using ConquerMaths with DS2 now (he's 8) and trying to persuade DS1 to do it as well because it's so good. DS2 enjoys earning certificates as he makes progress and we print them out and file them in a display folder so he can admire them. I also get a weekly parents report to show me how he's doing. I usually insist he does 20 minutes a day, although we have let it slide over the last couple of weeks.

[MidnightDinosaur]

Thanks for your replies.

Maths is his favourite subject at the moment and as I'm getting the subscription at a reduced price through a HE group, I thought it would be good to try. I'll keep in mind the others though.

We still do a lot of learning through play and this along with reading eggs (also reduced price) seems to fit in well with that as he doesn't feel like it's "work"

[morethanpotatoprints]

Good afternoon all, hope we are all well today.
As I was looking through websites for this year I stumbled across this language site. They do include Japanese, but I haven't looked at any of it yet so couldn't vouch for its quality or anything.

//www.pimsleurapproach.com

This year dd is completing KS2 French as she did Italian last year. If they are only primary and you have the time it isn't difficult to find resources or make them.
We did have a tutor for the time aspect but all she does for any language is cover the topics for the Key stages. It may be much more time consuming when you come to GCSE though.

I have a list of the topics somewhere if anybody can't find them.

[ToffeeWhirl]

Thanks for that link, morethan. I'll have a look and see if it's something DS1 might try.

Have you tried to assess where your DD is in her learning in comparison with her school peers? I know that goes against much of the usual home ed philosophies, but I was wondering how my DS2 is doing and I don't know how to find out. I don't want him to fall behind as he may join school again later.