I took the dds out of school and nursery today and yesterday - dd2 has a bad belly, dd1 says she has but tbh I don't believe her. They are 5 and 2.
We have read books, written stories, researched a beetle that we found, played on education city, done some ancient egyptian colouring in, done colour mixing with play dough and generally had a great time. If I was HE ing I would throw in a trip out to somewhere relevant, an 'afterschool' club or an outside tutor somewhere in there, and I would let dd1 play out in the street with the other kids in the evening.
I think I would keep dd2 in her nursery for the 15 hours that she will get free from January, to give dd1 some time to do big girl things, and also because dd2 wouldn't be getting the clubs and street playing that dd1 gets, through being too little.
I study and work from home, both of which could fit into times when DH is home, the kids are in bed or the kids are doing their own thing.
Dd1 is a geeky child - she likes other kids in small doses, but clams up at school and won't show what she can do. Her only school friend is also one of the kids who plays out in our street. We also don't like her school bing catholic, but n other places are available.
We were going to HE from the start, but I became unwell. I am 99% sure I'm ok now, and know all the triggers etc to avoid. If anything, HE would help me, but of course that isn't a reason to do it. It would also make it easier for me to help care for my elderly Nana as she lives mikes away- I could take the kids across and give my mum a week of respite instead of just doing the odd night. Again, not a reason in itself, but is another tick.
DH has been 100% anti, but he has started saying things like 'if we HE'd, you would be in charge' and already does HE style projects with the kids...
I'm thinking of proposing a trial period. What would be reasonable?
I say proposing - it is to help me decide too, I'm not just going cap in hand to DH.
Also, me and DH are both pretty much of the structured camp, and we like the well trained mind style, but maybe not so rigid. So I'm thinking of proposing a loose timetable - does this seem good?
Over a week:
Rainbows, dance classes, football classes and so on - not being at school means she can do this kind of thing more
At least three outings a week - we are within 30 - 45 minutes public transport of 4 cities, each of which has a few museums etc, plus the beach, a wildfowl park etc - school have done three trips in the entire of last year
A nature walk every week, and recording it for a file so we can see how it changes. Recording could be photos, videos, writing, drawing, charts etc depending on what we are doing. Printouts from nature detectives could be good.
I can teach her music theory and keyboard/cornet, as and when she is feeling musical.
About five sessions a week of formal work, including worksheets, writing stories, using the number rods and adjective cubes, story of the world activities, etc - what people see as 'school work'
Use of education city, google, cbeebies website, word processing, ipad apps and so on throughout.
Then of course just general reading, going to the shops, playing games, making food, making models, watching tv, playing with friends, and o on.
Finding a local qualified teacher who is happy to be paid to meet the girls maybe half termly, just to let us know how they are doing by school standards. We don't have to act on it, but I think me and DH (and wider family) would be happy to be informed.
Is this all mad?
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Possibility of HE rearing its head again...
BrittaPerry · 10/10/2012 16:29
She manages about that at weekends and summer holidays, but I think it s a good point that it ould be too much day to day.
Eg, today we skived her off school, and we were going to look up about Ancient Egypt and make a book, but then we found a beetle, so we looked it up on a website and found out about it, took picturesof it and found the best place to release it. Then we looked in an encyclopedia (using the index) and found diagrams of insects body parts, drew a picture of the beetle and labelled it. Then we read about different types of insects and found some cool ones. We then made up a name and worked out hw to spell the made up name, and made up a story about the beetle, andtalked about what could stop it being rare.
Then it was lunchtime :-)
She has free access to a big box of workbooks that she often helps herself to in her playroom, and the uisinaire rods get bought out daily by her choice. Looking around tge room at her toys, she has a model skull and brain, a cople of microscopes, a globe and various word matching games. ...I think she is just a bit of a geek 
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