Thinking of temporary home-ed. What do I need to know/do?

[Pascale73]

I was directed to this topic on a thread I posted about returning from abroad and trying to find a school place (or rather places). I hope this won't be too long and complicated...

I have 3 DC, they have grown up in another country, but we are in the process of organising a move back to the UK - we'll probably arrive back this summer. We'll be staying with family temporarily when we get back, and I really like the idea of home educating until we have found a permanent home, so that the DC don't have to start a new school, and then possibly move to another new school a few months down the line. I'm envisaging maybe a term spent home educating, maybe less if we quickly find somewhere to live.

The idea of home educating is very new to me though, and I'm trying to work out how it would work.

We live in a country where formal education starts later. DS (8) is in the second year, DD(7) is in the first year, and DD2(3) attends daycare currently, but will be Reception age in September.

I'm assuming there'll be some gaps with the two older ones' knowledge. They speak two languages, and though they can read and write in English, it does get a bit (a lot, in the case of DD) influenced by the spelling and phonetic rules of their second language. Also DD is only just starting to write, whereas her peers will have been writing stories for 3 years. I am a bit worried about that.

I'm not sure whether I should be trying to "plug" any gaps in their knowledge before they start school, or if I should try and do more fun stuff with them, like visiting museums etc.
Are there workbooks or worksheets available that we could go through?

Do I have to inform the council that I'm home educating temporarily?

Do I have to keep a record of what we have done - perhaps to give to the DC's teacher once they start school?

Do I have to plan what we are going to do in advance, or tell anyone official what we are going to work on in advance?

It's very important to me that they keep up their second language, so I'll be looking to find a tutor or classes or something for that. (But tbh I would be doing that anyway, even if they were starting school straight away.)

What else do I need to think about, and is there anything important that I need to do?

[ommmward]

"I'm not sure whether I should be trying to "plug" any gaps in their knowledge before they start school, or if I should try and do more fun stuff with them, like visiting museums etc. Are there workbooks or worksheets available that we could go through? "

Opinions differ. If you're wanting to prepare them for school, it would be worth looking at the national curriculum and making sure they've covered the basics for their age. THere are hundreds of workbooks around, and free worksheets online. WE don't use them, so I can't point you at the good ones!


"Do I have to inform the council that I'm home educating temporarily?"
No. That's not required (and there's really no point - they very rarely have advice or services to offer - better to find the local HE community to be honest)

"Do I have to keep a record of what we have done - perhaps to give to the DC's teacher once they start school?"

No. Some people keep a diary or a blog. Some people keep the paper products. Some people take photos of the work and then chuck the paper away. Some people keep very little record at all, just enjoy responding to their childrens needs and interests as they go along. Up to you.


"Do I have to plan what we are going to do in advance, or tell anyone official what we are going to work on in advance?" No and no. I know one person who meticulously plans out exactly what they will be doing, and tries to keep to it. The rest of us do a mixture of making it up as we go along, and trying to be responsive to the children as we go along.

"What else do I need to think about, and is there anything important that I need to do?" Get yourself hooked in with your local home ed community as quick as you can, because that will provide you with advice, reassurance, sports, social and co-op-style educational opportunity.

Have fun!

[streakybacon]

You might find it useful to read the 2007 Guidelines for LAs for Home Education here

It will tell you all you need to know about rights and responsibilities, both for the LA and the parents.

I agree with finding local HE groups too. Most operate via Facebook so do a search for HE or Home Education in the area where you'll be living.

[Saracen]

Hi Pascale, welcome!

I second everything that ommmward and streakybacon said.

Schools, particularly in urban areas, are used to welcoming kids who have come from schools abroad with different curricula, so I'd be optimistic that they'll be accommodating. Your kids can read and write in English somewhat, so that helps.

If I were in your shoes, I'd be guided by whether I thought my kids would mind much about not knowing all the same things as their classmates. In my opinion, if they have strong self-esteem and aren't too fussed about being on the back foot at times, there's no need to get all proactive about the few things they'll eventually have to work on. You could just wait until they are at school, see what's actually an issue, and tackle it then. But if you have a sensitive child who hates being unable to do things, then you can help him to feel more secure by preparing.

My dd went to school for the first time at the age of nine and was a little worried that she would be behind. So, a few months beforehand we went to WH Smith's and sat on the floor looking through workbooks for her age. There were plenty to choose from, all clearly linked to the National Curriculum for each year group. She was reassured to discover that she mostly knew the stuff already, and chose a couple of books to take away in order to brush up on some things. If she hadn't been worried, I wouldn't have bothered.

This could be a fantastic opportunity to explore your children's new home by visiting nature reserves to identify wildlife, reading aloud some classic stories set in the British Isles, going to science centres, or doing day trips to big cities. Even if you are keen to get in some handwriting and maths practice in advance of your children's return to school, you can easily accomplish that in an hour a day and have plenty of free time to get out doing things!

You don't have to inform anyone that you are home educating, plan work or keep records. If your Local Authority happens to discover that you are home educating, they may ask you for some information about how you are doing it. This can be very brief, just a page or two to describe your approach. For example, you could give details of how your children are doing lots of hands-on learning, list recent and planned museum visits, mention daily practice from such-and-such workbooks, weekly swimming sessions, preparing to rejoin school when a suitable place is available - that sort of thing. There are examples online if you want ideas about how to present it and what kinds of things you might include.

I wouldn't bother writing anything up in advance for the Local Authority, as the LA is unlikely to approach you anyway during the brief time you'll be HEing, so preparing it "just in case" might well be a waste of time. Anyway, it's easier to do after you have been home educating for a little while and have figured out how you want to home ed. People often need to adjust their initial plans as they go along, which is to be expected and is absolutely fine.

[Saracen]

Oh, and I also don't think you need to keep records for the children's future teachers. They'll assess their new pupils when they arrive. I'm sure they'll be used to doing that for new kids.

I'd just tell the school anything about the children's background which you think a teacher might misunderstand. For example, if you point out that your daughter's English spelling is influenced by the phonetic rules of the language in which she has been doing most of her work, the teacher will understand that this is a temporary issue and won't push for a dyslexia assessment or hearing test. Also if you say what they are good at and what they love, a caring teacher may be able to use that knowledge to make them feel more at home.

[Pascale73]

Thank you for all the advice and support, it is really helpful.

I actually feel rather excited about it all now, whereas before I felt a bit daunted. I love the idea of all the day trips! (I really want to take them to the south coast and hunt for fossils, DS would love that.)

It's hard to say whether the DC would be upset or not if they didn't know all the same things as their new classmates. The older ones are an odd mixture of anxious and resilient, though they are confident and self-sufficient about lots of things, they can get knocked back easily. They seem a lot younger for their age than their UK counterparts too, and I think that must be partly a cultural thing. (Even though they actually do grown-up, responsible things like walking to school on their own, which I think they wouldn't be doing yet in the UK).

I think it would depend on the teacher a lot, whether s/he was supportive of the fact that the DC might have learned to do things in a different way, rather than them thinking they are doing things the "wrong" way. I don't think the DC would stand up for how they have been taught, I think they would just assume they were wrong.
Thinking about that, it makes me realise how important an understanding school and teacher are going to be.

So I think home educating until we can find the right school is definitely the right thing to do, rather than just throwing them into the first school that has spaces. (well, that's what I now think. Not sure DH is there yet, but at least we are discussing home ed. I will show him this thread).

[Hakluyt]

My brother and his family did something very similar. My niece found being the exciting nine day wonder very trying indeed- but my nephew loved it. There were one or two little practicalities that made things more difficult that we could possibly have thought of- they were actually worse than the big differences. One example was that dn wrote numbers in the continental European way, which meant to English eyes her 1s looked like 7s. This caused a disproportionate issue - a mixture of dn being too reserved to speak up for herself and a less than understanding teacher. Hard to anticipate things like that, though.

[Hakluyt]

our favourite fossil hunting ground!

[Pascale73]

Hakluyt what a great link, thanks!

Yes, 1 does look like a 7, I hadn't even thought of a little thing like that being a problem! DD still writes in block capitals too, which might be another.