can someone tell me what home ed involves

[uddy]

hi after years of trying to get my asd ds an education im starting to wonder if it would be worth home educating him but i have no idea how to go about it and what the pros and cons are please help

[throckenholt]

basically it means you take responsibilty for ensuring your child has a broad and appropriate education, rather than delegating that to the school.

The problems arise because there is (as far as I know) no definition of what that actually constitutes. I guess we can all say roughly that an adult who can't read, write, or do basic maths, and has little knowledge of the environment and culture they live in has not received an appropriate education. But at what age should a given skill be expected ? And given how many adults who have been through the school system and still don't have those skills, it may be hard to point at home ed and say it can't match a state education.

Those of us who have chosen to go the home ed route, in my opinion, have to be vigilent to give their children opportunities to experience as broad a range of subjects as possible, and not just let them do the ones they enjoy. At least we have to make sure that they have a good grounding in the basics (reading, writing, maths) that will enable them to explore any other area of interest.

[ommmward]

Get yourself onto this email list:

HE special where you will find lots of parents home educating children on the spectrum and with other special needs.

Also, buy or get from your library home educating our autistic spectrum children which is a really inspiring read.

Practicalities: there's a thread about how to deregister, which I'll bump up for you - that's the legal side.

As for how to go about it, the first thing to do would be to just relax and let your happy child reemerge from the schooled shell Do lots of playing together, lots of chatting together, lots of trips to the park.

[Fava]

Hi uddy,
I chose to Home ed my asd son after giving up on two schools. It was by far the best choice for us. 20 months on, my ds smiles most of the time (last melt-down was in July), his confidence is growing by the minute and even more incredibly, he is now able to make friendships. There are different approches to education from formal/structured to autonomous/independent. At the beginning we chose a period of de-schooling where we were totally autonomous, this gave me the oppurtunity to observe and learn how my son learns and also gave us the opportunity to get used to how to live with each other 24/7 again. After about six months of de-schooling my son needed a slightly more structured approach. He finds it much easier to know that on specific days of the week he would be doing some formal English and Maths work but we have managed to keep all other subjects very flexible.
As for Pros and Cons....
As mentioned before the biggest advantage is that my son is far more relaxed, he doesn't feel he has to 'fit' any longer which in turn is making him feel is achieveing and because he is achieving he wants to do more and... I'm watching him blossoming as he has discovered that maths is fun and that he is able to write lovely stories, that science and history are all around and cooking is becoming a passion rather than food being the enemy(just imagine foods are now not just touching but deliberately mixed!).
The only disadvantages are that it can be hard to find a bit of 'me' time and that your house requires ever increasing storage facilities.

[SDeuchars]

Throckenholt, I do not want to pick a fight with you, but I think you raise some important points that new people may want to consider.

throckenholt wrote:

it means you take responsibilty for ensuring your child has a broad and appropriate
education

Actually, it doesn't. It means that you do not delegate your responsibility to cause your child "to receive efficient full-time education suitable (a) to his age, ability and aptitude, and (b) to any special educational needs he may have" (Education Act 1996, s7).

The law makes no reference to broad or appropriate (to what?), although LAs often try to introduce it. As a home educator your job is much more specific - to provide an education suitable to the age, ability and aptitude of a specific child. Arguably, making a 4yo do reading practice before he or she is ready is a violation of this law.

throckenholt wrote:
[EHEers] have to be vigilent to give their children opportunities to experience as broad a
range of subjects as possible ...
At least we have to make sure that they have a good grounding in the basics

The first statement is not true (although many people do want to do that). However, for example, people who have philosophical objections to modern technology may not wish (and have no obligation) to introduce their children to it. Also, the range can be very different from school:

• if you have family in Albania, you may want a young child to learn to talk Albanian;
• if you have some land, you may want to concentrate on growing veg and raising chickens;
• if you have a home-based business, your child can be involved in it.

The second statement by throckenholt gives rise to the question, "what do you mean by basics?" - that may be different for different people.

There is also a question over the time by which someone needs to achieve that grounding. In school, children who cannot read by 7 tend to fall behind and have bad outcomes. In EHE, this is not true and we often say that you only need to learn things by the time you need them. For example, someone reading fluently at 4 has no advantage over someone who does not read fluently until 11 when they apply for the same job or college course at 18.