Reception Education

[purpleopendoor]

Hello all,
(new to this site)
I am a proud mother of 4 children and my youngest child did not get a school place for reception in my borough... However I will be starting home educating in January. I need some advice about how to's and what not to do's....

[KarenHL]

Hi,

Because you mention a Borough, I presume you are somewhere in London. There are loads of Home Ed groups around London.

My DD will turn 5 in January and so does not legally have to be 'educated' until Easter (the obligation starts the term after they turn 5). Seeing the headache so many have had chasing places at preschools/primaries, I'm jolly glad to be out of it. It is hard for us managing on one salary, but from what we have seen of DD and other HEdded children, we believe it is worth it. We started a year ago, at preschool age - and it has gone so well for us, we did not apply for a reception place.

It is worth checking out the websites for Education Otherwise and HEAS, to get contact details for groups local to you. Also worth seeing if there is a Yahoo Group for your area (I found them invaluable for asking/answering questions, as well as co-operative stuff).

I wouldn't worry too much about the 'how' as almost everything is learning experience at this age. I believe the two organisations I've mentioned do have helplines that give free advice.

If you intend to get your child into school on a different intake, you may find it useful to check the National Curriculum targets for your child's age group. This information is freely available online -although do bear in mind that as a Home Edder, you are under no obligation to follow the National Curriculum. I know of one business that sells primary-aged packs that follow the National Curriculum - PM me if you want details.

HTH

[FlamingoBingo]

My tip would be to read as much as you can about how HE works - in particular how children can learn naturally, without a lot of formal teaching.

Browse the threads on here; read books - Free Range Education is very good; and How Children Learn At Home also helpful.

[Saracen]

Do you think there are good prospects of getting your child into a school you'd be happy with in the near future? If so, you might want to talk to the schools about how they teach the various subjects, and try to stick to that. For example, it might prove confusing if you teach a different style of handwriting to what your child would later encounter at school.

I'm sure you will still find that your little one has plenty of time on his or her hands to do whatever appeals.

If it isn't likely that you'll get a place at a school you like, then you can afford to take a more relaxed long-term view of your child's education, in which case I echo what everyone else said!

[purpleopendoor]

Thank you so much for the replys...

Massive Thank you x