if you could take a year off before DD goes to secondary school.....

dadwithadaughter · 2016-04-01T00:43:04+00:00

What would you do and where would you go if you had the luxury of taking a year off with your child before they start big school?

G1raffe · 10/04/2016 10:26

Thank you :)

JustRichmal · 10/04/2016 09:24

I sent her back to school because I don't think I am capable of teaching her all the GCSEs to the same standard as secondary school. You also get a feeling of what would suit each individual child and taking her out of primary seemed right for her, as did putting her back into secondary.

I found the home ed groups to be very mixed and very fluid. Some were home edding long term, others for a short time. There were also quite a few, so I could find one we liked. One I phoned even invited us along in the holidays before dd had left school to see if we would like it.

May I suggest you try posting on the home ed section, then you will get more views than just mine to help you decide.

G1raffe · 09/04/2016 21:17

What made you send her back to school after? We'd like to take the time to learn a new skill or see new things but just playing sounds fun too.

The home ed groups were quite welcoming to you doing it for just a year? I always got the feeling the ones around here were quite ideologically anti school so might be hard to slot into for a year! It sounds you had a lovely year :)

JustRichmal · 09/04/2016 18:54

Educating a child 121 takes a lot less time than 30 learning altogether, so there was lots of time to get the teaching done in the morning then go out in the afternoon. There are lots of groups and classes for home ed children now. One of the favorite things was meeting other parents in the park and letting the children go den building while the mums or dads chatted.
One of the big differences I noticed was that play dates from schools will involve one other child coming round, whereas, with home ed, children of all different ages tend to play in groups.
There are also concessions for taking your child on educational trips. So for days out, it is worth asking the place you are planning to visit what they offer. Generally they will ask for the letter from the LEA as proof you are home educating. Also places are less crowded than at holiday time.

G1raffe · 09/04/2016 15:57

Ooh just what did you do? I suspect if we do it it will be less world travel and more fun things for a year.

JustRichmal · 09/04/2016 14:58

Have you tried posting in HE section as well?

We took dd out of school for year 6, (but were not in a position to travel). It was something I would definitely recommend; a wonderful year of being with our child and a fantastic break from the education treadmill.

It took some thinking about and putting the letter in to school was quite a daunting step, but with dd now happily settled in senior school, we are glad we did.

Railworker · 09/04/2016 12:28

This thread is setting my mouth-a-watering for adventure with the dc's! My eldest is summer-born. Does anyone know how possible it might be to either defer a place/sit 13+ pre-test entry exams a year late with an end of July child? I fear I may be thinking the impossible, but I have always wanted to take the time to travel with the whole family. I've always questioned whether DS might not be happier and more emotionally in tune with the year below cohort (he's fine academically in current year group). This would open a gap of travel time. DD might need a different plan though.... And DS would go to a senior school where no-one would know him from his old school, hopefully softening the social effect of swapping year groups. The seed of an idea is beginning to grow.

What a dream! Don't shake me awake too roughly.

Original poster

dadwithadaughter · 05/04/2016 21:25

ShanghaiDiva thank you for some excellent recommendations, both for NZ and for China. If DD takes up Mandarin at school then we will clearly make China a priority. Guilin, yes, thats the place I have wanted to get to between business trips, but its not worked out yet.

OP posts:

DessertOrDesert · 05/04/2016 13:48

I'd love access to decent chocolate desserts, but unfortunately desert living and melt in the mouth chocolate isn't a combination I've found here!
The desert city I live in is mucky, chaotic, and restrictive. But you won't get a visa, so it's irrelevant
Sounds like South America is out for valid reasons, it just seemed to combine many of the activities you desired, along with the stable language component DW seems to desire.
So, what about Arabic?? You can ski in Dubai

LunaLunaLovegood · 05/04/2016 13:15

When my eldest was 6 I loved the idea of a year away before high school. However I now actually have an 11 year old and to be quite honest, with a year off, he would want to spend most of it playing football with his friends. Our school system isn't perfect but he is so securely embedded in it he would hate the idea of missing/going back a year.

ShanghaiDiva · 05/04/2016 13:08

I am in China, but not in Shanghai.
Some of the the areas worth considering:
Guilin - limestone karsts, cycling though the villages and taking a trip down the river on a bamboo raft and there is an amazing evening show on the lake.
Harbin - for the ice festival
Xi'an for the warriors also drum tower, goose pagoda and you can cycle along the wall. There is also a muslim market there as a lot of uighers come to Xi'an to study.
Chengdu to the panda breeding centre - amazing.
Yunnan province amazing scenery and the largest concentration of non-Han Chinese in China.

NZ North Island is fabulous - recommend Rotorua , Waiheke Island, Napier, for the deco architecture and of course Hobbiton! There is also an amazing museum in Wellington (te papa?) which my children loved. We spend 6 hours in there. I love NZ - have been 5 times :)

Original poster

dadwithadaughter · 05/04/2016 11:11

G1faffe where would you like to go? Where have you been that you would like to take the family to see again? What do you expect to lear from the trip?

OP posts:

Original poster

dadwithadaughter · 05/04/2016 11:08

DessertOrDesert given your name, what about deserts? In my previous post i mentioned the Atacama. One of my favourite movies is Lawrence of Arabia and my least favourite holiday ever was getting stranded at the eastern edge of the Sahara, so I am ambivalent about deserts. Nit so about desserts, kf which I am unambiguously a fan!

Which are you?

OP posts:

Original poster

dadwithadaughter · 05/04/2016 11:02

DessertOrDesert you are absolutely right, Spanish is probably the most useful language to learn for /on this trip. My Spanish is absolutely appauling, as I was reminded yesterday when trying to buy a taco from a food truck in Florida. DW speaks a bit, but there is no doubt that Spanish is one of the most spoken languages in the world. Given that we plan to keep a home in SoCal in the future its probably important we brush up.

I left South America off the list, not because I dont want to go, just because we will be there a bit before the fantasy year off.

My travel bug started in 1986, when I had my first short career break. I met up with a friend who was travelling down from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego on a post university gap year. We met in Lima, Peru and travelled by bus and train to La Paz in Bolivia; on the way we flew over the Nazca Lines in a tiny tiny plane, saw perfectly preserved pre-Incan bodies in the Atacama desert, drank Pisco Sour in Arequipa - the most beautiful Castilian town I have ever seen; climbed Chacaltya (24,500 m - higher than Everest base camp); played football on a floating Island on Lake Titicaca and hiked the Inca Trail from Cuzco to Macchu Picchu, including the most extraordinary meal on the train. All of this needs doing again, but as I write, I am thinking we may do this one school holiday in the next few years.

By the way, there is a ski slope on Chacaltya, by far the highest in the world. I walked for 10 minutes to the summit - i am no mountaineer!

I have always had a passion for visiting Venezuela to ride on the Pampas and to climb into the Lost World of Arthur Conan Doyle in Roraima. I think my DD 6 yr old would be entranced by the prehistoric world high on the limestone pediments there - perhaps that should go on this list.

Thank you for your thoughts

OP posts:

Original poster

dadwithadaughter · 05/04/2016 10:18

ShanghaiDiva health is definitely one of my major concerns and is firmly on the list for more thinking. I am very worried about places in Africa like the skeleton coast in Tanzania. I guess this is one of those things that we wont ever get comfortable with, but we will do the best we can to mitigate risk.

From your name, I presume that you are in Shanghai. I have been to China many times, though on business, but I had a lot of free time when there. If have done the touristy sites around Beijing and the Great Wall. I have had some great city dining and night out experiences in Shanghai, but China has not grabbed me yet. I could do a few trips to investigate - where would you suggest? The warriors in Xian, that amazing looking limestone pediment valley with the cormorant fishing - Guanxi Zhuang, I think. Where else warrants a slot on my fantasy world tour?

You also mention NZ. One of my favourite memories was driving with DW round the south island - as you say, a different geography every day - Scotland one day, then Kent, then Bordeaux, then the Giants Causeway, then the Grand St Bernard, then the Fjords. Just amazing, want to show that to DD and re-live the land in Lord of the Rings! My only regret is that we didn't do this in a big RV - would have added to the adventure.

I have not been to the north islands - I understand that Bay of Islands is meant to be amazing.

OP posts:

G1raffe · 05/04/2016 07:32

Oooh following. Wed like to do this (especially of she gets into grammar when the time comes!)

DessertOrDesert · 05/04/2016 07:29

If you want a language consistency, what about Spanish?
Some time in Spain, then off to South America. Skiing in Chile or Argentina, some Amazon rain forest / Incas history, and "pop" up to LA as required, rather than back to Europe? Not utalising much of your list, except Disney would fit geographically!!!

ShanghaiDiva · 05/04/2016 07:11

From your list one of my concerns would be access to healthcare in some of the places:
Laos - for anything serious you would need to be evacuated to Bangkok
Yangon - also not great
Tibet - altitude sickness and if the tour is actually in Tibet (and not Nepal) it can be a difficult process to get permission to go there.
NZ really is a fab destination and is amazing for learning about geography/geology - earthquakes, geothermal activity, mountains, lakes and fab wildlife - penguins, dolphins and whales.
If you plan to go to Tokyo and Tibet/Nepal would definitely include China - really easy to get around with the train, but visa may be a problem unless your travel plans are detailed and have hotel bookings.

Original poster

dadwithadaughter · 05/04/2016 00:49

VocationalGoat my current thinking is to come home about almost as often as we are away, otherwise it could just become a logistics exercise in travel. Perhaps 6 weeks away, then 3/4 back in London.

We like California and are often there; we were based in LA where my BIL has a house last summer. MIL came with us and we left them both in LA for week long trips to Montecito ( near Santa Barbara) and Laguna Beach, to the south. But to make it special we might skip this unless its part of a bigger trip.

Because LA is very familiar to us, we might consider this to be an 'at home' part of the fantasy year off.

I would like to pick at least 4 from the list below. It would be nice to do something adventurous with her so that she can tell her children and we can spend a lot of time together before we become too embarrassing to be around!

We are in Florida this week. DD still likes Disney but not like last year, the magic of the Magic Kingdom is definitely wearing off, she is, however still very entertaining and a joy to be around..... Most of the time.

OP posts:

VocationalGoat · 04/04/2016 16:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

VocationalGoat · 04/04/2016 16:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

dadwithadaughter · 04/04/2016 16:10

So far, these are my favourite destinations for this idea

Tea house trek in Anapurna region of Tibet
SE Asia circuit including Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos.
Train from Bankok to Singapore & Rangoon to Mandalay Express
Small boat on the Flores sea, Indonesia
Diving the Barrier Reef and Winebago around NZ
Tokyo and Kyoto cherry blossom season
Long road trip in US, possibly PCH then South American highway to the Darrian and Hawaii / Galapagos
Tanzania skeleton coast + Safari
Ski season in Europe

OP posts:

Original poster

dadwithadaughter · 04/04/2016 15:59

We have been talking about this within the family the last few days. Subtle, but important, differences of opinion are beginning to emerge.

Since dropping a year before secondary school is not meant to replace the discarded year we dont need to educate for the first year of school but we can prepare DD to do well in that year but leave it at that. For this reason informal home schooling will be adequate snd we wont need a tutor to travel with us.

DW feels learning a language is a key objective, which will mean a very extended stay in one country, ie skiing in France / Switzerland for a season and the summer in France, for instance. I dont feel the same - i think we should spend no more than a month than 6 weeks in any one country.

This is still a fantasy concept and a long way off execution, but we might do it. Any more ideas and advice are welcome.

OP posts:

cressetmama · 02/04/2016 16:26

We travelled with DS for six months when he was eight and took him out of school completely. Travelled around the world with time in California, Fiji, NZ, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Dubai. We spent three months in NZ and a month in Sri Lanka. DS had odd days in local schools where language permitted but we just read, did some maths and kept a diary with him, and visited lots of museums, galleries plus interesting historical and geographic places wherever we were. Getting him to study was not easy but the following year he was diagnosed with poor visual processing speeds. Fast forward nine years, and I don't think any harm was done to the educational process. Hats off to the head teacher who gave us the blessing to go!

DeliveredByKiki · 02/04/2016 04:07

We're planning a shorter trip, more like 5months and with younger children (they'll be 5&8 or 6&9 depending how the planning. Goes) but we're doing South America - probably sticking to 3 countries.

They're good travelers because we live abroad and does transcontinental flights annually but actual constant traveling will be very different and they're homebodies so we're doing lots of shorter trips in the lead uk to acclimatize!