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Home ed

does anyone home educate all of their children

22 replies

thesunshinesbrightly · 15/09/2009 16:32

I have 3 children all vary with ages.

Does anyone HE more than one child?

Do they benifit from it?

I'm in two minds i don't know if this is the right thing to do?

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thesunshinesbrightly · 15/09/2009 16:34

Sorry i mean benefit

That's not a good start, is it?

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julienoshoes · 15/09/2009 17:14

I took my three children out of school when they were 13, 11 and 8.

TBH I wouldn't have dreamnt of doing it for one and not for all as they were all unhappy in school.
BUT only you know your family. I have home ed friends who have one or more children still in school, as that suits the individual child.

My children benefited in every way possible.
They have changed from unhappy stressed people, who had various physical ailments such as Asthma and stomach aches and headaches, to happy, relaxed people whose physical ailments dissappeared/were dramatically reduced once school was out of the picture.

They gained a social life that they enjoyed. Bullying stopped.
They achieved qualifications results way beyond what the schools predicted.
Their SEN 'symptoms' reduced dramatically too, once we stopped trying to fit a square peg into the same round hole as everyone else.

They are 22, 20 and very nearly 17.
All are adamant they will autonomously home educate their own children.

We have had a wonderful life together.

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julienoshoes · 15/09/2009 17:17

Oh I also menat to say home educating three seems not uncommon amongst the families we know-and there is one well known in home ed circles mom who home educates all 12 (or is it 13?) of her children.

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thesunshinesbrightly · 15/09/2009 17:41

omg that's alot of children

you sound really positive and your children have obviously gained, i think their is a big issue in schools with bullying and it is resulting in home eduction.

i'm terrifed home eduction is the wrong thing to do and my children will miss out, but it's great to hear how positive you are.

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stressedHEmum · 15/09/2009 19:51

I He 4 of my 5 kids ( age 16-6), eldest is at uni. I have been Heing for 5 years and can't imagine any of them going to school, now.

They are all much happier, more laid back less prone to mysterious head aches, tummy upsets or whatever and have benefitted in lots of ways. It takes a bit of organising and a lot of patience on evrey ones part, but I would definitely recommend it.

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thesunshinesbrightly · 15/09/2009 20:06

thankyou both
it all sounds really positive
i didnt realise how many people home schooled(if thats a word lol)

i didnt know we had a choice.

mumsnet is fab

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TheDMshouldbeRivened · 15/09/2009 20:10

I HE'd my older 3 for 9 years. I reckon its easier than 1 cos they can entertain each other.
ds1 went back to school at 14, ds2 tried it a bit when he reached 14 but he's back out. dd2 is at school so now am just doing 1 and I reckon its harder.

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LovingTheRain · 15/09/2009 23:29

Sorry for jumping into your thread thesunshinesbrightly!

stressedHEmum, What sorts of things do you do with HE your DCs? I have 4 and was wondering about doing it, especially for DS who's 5 but not really sure what I would do all day.

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thesunshinesbrightly · 16/09/2009 00:16

Thats ok lovingtherain carry on it's an open thread for anyone.

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thesunshinesbrightly · 16/09/2009 00:19

it's hard decided what too do

i don't fancy the idea of social workers coming round to question me.

i thought it was a matter of choice.

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ommmward · 16/09/2009 09:07

"i don't fancy the idea of social workers coming round to question me."

they'd have no business doing so. it's very clear in the 2007 guidelines that home ed is NOT grounds for welfare concerns

I can't get the link on this computer (no pdfs) but google 2007 home education guidelines and you'll get the document - that's what the authorities are supposed to stick by. If anyone starts demanding to visit you, education welfare officer or social worker or anyone, you write to them very politely saying that that is not convenient and asking them to tell you which law they are basing their demand on.

You would have to be prepared to provide evidence about the education you provide but it's completely legally acceptable to do that in written form through a statement of your educational philosophy, and it's also completely reasonable to say "thank you for your letter asking for evidence of our home ed provision. We have just embarked on this journey and I will be happy to provide you with information about our educational approach once we have established it and settled in to it. Please contact me again to ask for this information in 3 months"

Very important to leave the ball in their court so it's on their to-do list not yours

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julienoshoes · 16/09/2009 09:44

It IS a matter of choice!

The law gives you that choice to educate your children "at school or otherwise"

Ommmward is absoultely right. The choice of how you give information about the education you are providing is yours too

The Elective Home Education :Guidelines for Local Authorities is what Ommmward was referring to.

Have a look!

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julienoshoes · 16/09/2009 09:49

I'll bump again the threads on books about HE and websites about HE etc.

There you can find a wealth of information lovingtherain

You might find some of the books useful for ideas of what families do all day and how they home educate.

thesunshinesbrightly it might be a good idea to go along to a local HE meeting and talk to families there.
You'll get some idea of what the LA is like in your area and hopefully you'll be reassured about your children not missing out.

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stressedHEmum · 16/09/2009 11:09

Lovingtherain,

16 year old mostly deals with himself. He uses a standard Scottish text book for maths (Heinemann Higher Mathematics), reads very extensively at an adult level of both fact and fiction. ATM he is reading OUP Short Introduction to The Russian Revolution, Bloody Britain by TOny Robinson, Animal Farm (for a quick look at novel study in case he wants to do some formal stuff next year)and some random fantasy novel by Ian Esslemont or Trudy Cavanagh or somebody. HE is also investigating Ninjutsu, reading about the history and traditions, finding out, and in some cases practicing, fighting techniques. He bought himself a practice sword and you can often find him in the garden waving it around! He has some science text books that he works from when he feels like it and is addicted ti Lego Exo-force robot building.

Younger ones are fairly eclectic as well. I try and do some maths and English of some kind most days (maths using standard text books but with less regard for published age/year group than kids abilities.I expect the middle 2 to read for at least an hour a day as well. After that we are mostly child led. I read aloud every day as well. Have just finished The Number Devil and am beginning Penrose the Mathematical Cat and the story of David livingstone. Most days we have games and puzzles like Tantrix, Tip-over, Logic links, Lego Mosaics. They practice their instruments every day (DS3 (12) guitar, DD (10) violin, DS4 (6) ocarina) for about 1/2 an hour. DD loves arts and crafts an messing around with gluing and sticking sparkly stuff. DS3 likes Scratch and messing about with Word and Excel, we do the odd science experiment and I have about 1 million books of all kinds available all the time. DS3 also is beginning to learn a bit of basic Latin, because for some reason he wants to!

6 year old does some maths ( sums, time etc.) some reading (Simple books with short, easy sentences like Snap Dragons and Project X by ORT), a little bit of writing practice, mostly just letter shapes ( he doesn't enjoy it so I don't push it) every day. The rest of the time, he mainly plays. I make things like blocks, math manipulatives, cars, speed stacks, jigsaws ( which he avoids like the plague) available all the time. He loves mazes, dot to dot and such things, so he does a lot of these. He doesn't like art and crafts, but we do some colouring in, paint splotting or whatever most days. And, most importantly, I read to him, anything really that he wants to here from Thomas the tank to stories about eels breeding in the Sargasso, or Mrs Pepperpot to Astrosaurs. I don't really see any need to force him into things that he doesn't want to do at the moment because I don't want to put him off.

We also subscribe to Gridclub, they use Funbrain and the BBC children's websites, Nick junior games, Starfall.com (reading) and a ton of other good sites. Kids also help with things like meal planning, shopping, growing the veg, doing the washing (DS4's favourite)and other things like that. At the mo. we aren't doing anything because a couple of them are ill. But the winter is long, wet and dark so there will be plenty time to catch up then.

Hope this helps at all. I won't claim that it is easy and sometimes I just want to escape, but then I remember how miserable they were when they were at school and nursery and how much easier it is not to be tied to school times and fake standards. it may seem as if my whole day is taken up, but it isn't at all, the kids can get on with their maths or whatever on their own once they know what they are doing and things are much more flexible in here than in a schooled family. the reasons I am a Stressed mum don't really have that much to do with HE

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FlamingoBingo · 16/09/2009 11:14

Our four DDs are home educated. I would never send some to school and keep some at home - would have two tiers of education then . Unless any were desperate to go, that is.

Mine are 6, 4.5, 2.5 and 12m.

We play, read, watch tv, play on the computer, do craft, do sciency things, go out to museums, go to home ed groups, meet up with friends, go to the library, go shopping....we just live, really.

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LauraIngallsWilder · 17/09/2009 08:46

Hi all

I have only just started HEing mine, ds aged 8 and dd 5
I cant imagine only HEing one of them - they entertain each other so much of the time
Also taking and picking up one from school would be a real hassle - far easier to HE both

StressedHEmum - that is a fantastic post about what you do with your kids, very helpful for newbies like myself. Very nice for me to see that I am basically doing what you are doing, I am reassured (fantastic suggestions of books and websites I havent heard of as well!)

We are currently taking an autonomous with structure approach, which they are both happy with - they both have a bag with their current work in, they do a certain amount from there each morning then spend the rest of the day doing other stuff - ds automatically chooses to read and learn so no problems there
History, science and art in the afternoons with board/card games and computer/internet thrown in

For now activities outside the home are limited to swimming, rugby and church.
After christmas Cubs and Rainbows

They are very happy atm the socially and fun wise - and we havent even met other local he families yet (I am assuming when we do the fun factor will shoot up!!)

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LauraIngallsWilder · 17/09/2009 08:51

I forgot to add we dont do anything according to a timetable - apart from getting up, eating and going to bed at roughly the same time each day!
Following a structured timetable would be very stressful for ds (and me!) and dd would refuse!!

Also although I KNOW this is the right thing for my kids I still have 5 moments everyday when I think "arghhh I made the wrong decision!"
Especially when people say "Why on earth would anyone take their kids out of school!?!?"

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musicposy · 18/09/2009 00:36

I home ed both of mine - I started with one and then the other soon wanted to follow! I think that even parents who start with just one child end up doing the whole lot - because the siblings see what a great deal the child at home is getting - and as a parent you can't really do something for one and then refuse the rest!

It was initially quite hard having two at home having just had one, but I love it now and so do the girls. It's great that they can bounce ideas off of each other, and quite often, something one is doing will spark the interest of the other. My eldest is doing Geography GCSE at the moment and this week has been making buildings out of lego to look at how structures withstand earthquakes (washing machines). My youngest was fascinated by this and has been building lego towns and shaking them all week as a result! Often one will think they are not interested in something until they see the other doing it, and then they want to give it a try too. So it's great, and with three you'll have triple the ideas and triple the fun.

You'll probably find them getting on well toghether, too, if you home ed them - I've noticed a big difference.

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juuule · 18/09/2009 08:13

Of our school age children we have 1 at college, 2 at secondary school and 3 home-ed.

We did have 4 home-ed but she decided she wanted to go to secondary school this September.

The 3 at home ar 14, 9 and 6.

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CommonNortherner · 18/09/2009 09:05

I only have one, but the majority of the other home edders I know do it with more than one child. As has been said above, often it happens that other children want to be home educated too.

Like everything in life, different choices mean you miss out on different things. Children in school miss out on some things home ed kids have and home ed kids miss out on some things schooled kids have. You can't have everything in life, you can only make the decisions you think are best right now.

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musicposy · 18/09/2009 21:49

That is such good advice, CommonNortherner. When I was deliberating for ages whether to take my youngest out of school, someone said to me "choosing means losing". Because whatever choices you make in life, you gain some things and you lose others. I think in doing the home edding, we've gained a lot more than we've lost. But the only thing you can really do is what you feel is best right now - and if it turns out not to be best after all, change it.

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Cadmum · 24/09/2009 07:02

I have all four of ours at home. I did have only ds1 (now 12) and dd2 (now 3) for a brief spell while the middle two went to a small Montessori school in order to learn French quickly because we live in the French speaking part of Switzerland.

I love the freedom of having them all here. We are somewhat autonomous but loosely follow the recommendations of The Well Trained Mind.

My house is full of books. I am constantly wading through papers and the clutter can be extreme but the benefits are immeasurable. My lot are very much happier and they are learning at a fabulous (child-led) pace.

The only things that happen daily are maths, spelling, and some form of writing.

Ds1 takes a few classes on-line. His algebra and physics are nearly beyond what I can comfortably teach without feeling one page ahead so we outsourced.

Ds2 (7) was thinking that he might like to try the local school and actually came up with a pros and cons chart on his own to make the decision. I enjoy watching them think for themselves.

Must run and prepare for our day but feel free to ask questions.

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