Have you learnt anything through homeschooling?

[homeschoolmyarse]

Just having a little stand off with ds.
Homeschooling is an absolute nightmare in this house.
But if he was less resistant and more pleasant I think I could enjoy it
Lots of maths memories coming back and liking relearning chemistry and physics. And midsummer nights dream and poetry. Think I’d forgotten everything I learned.

That they don't do much in school. DS (11) is getting through 2 weeks of work in a week plus quite a lot of daily extras that I am adding in (reading, duolingo, harder maths) and he is still finished by 2pm!

That children learn very differently and approach their work differently. I have 3 primary age children. One just gets on with it in a rush and produces great work but with lots of small errors that he will need to learn to correct as it will let him down in the future. One is a slow perfectionist. The third doesn't like instruction much and wants to learn everything through investigating by himself. Hats off to teachers as the lesson plans they are providing cater to all 3 styles (and there must be lots more learning styles). That the free Twinkl website has loads of stuff on it. That BBC is right that in this situation the work should be pitched slightly lower for children to keep their confidence up. That you cannot sit with the children but need to prepare in advance and give them clear, simple instructions so they can get on with it (if you need to work). So planning the night before is essential like it would be for a teacher.

I am an ex teacher. I love a class full of kids and I still tutor 1:1 and love it.

I hate homes schooling my own kids. They respond completely differently, because I am mum.
I am fortunate in that they are all teens now and so accountable to school and not to me. My youngets is year 7 and has needed some help and structure, but I haven't had to teach anything. If I dare to make any small suggestion that isn't what she things the teacher means, we have a crisis!

@Equimum - read up on Visual Processing Disorders. Here's one article which describes the 8 different visual processing disorders, all of which can have a big impact on a child's ability to read and write www.churchillstl.org/learning-disability-resources/visual-processing-disorder/. When you learn more about vision, you realise how complex it is, and how many different abilities it depends on.

It may be that your DS has one or more of those (it does tend to be a mix) rather than dyslexia.

I mention it in particularly because you mention difficulty with copying. That actually requires some pretty hefty visual processing skills: tracking words on both texts despite going back and forth and changing focus, also visual motor ability (between eye and hand). It's not so easy if some of those skills are weaker.

My DD's Visual Therapist recommended Write from the start: Unique Programme to Develop the Fine Motor and Perceptual Skills Necessary for Effective Handwriting if you can get hold of it

I have learnt how to spell agoraphobia and that I couldn't care less about similes

Campalumpa I know a lot of teachers (myself included) aren't sending the same amount of work your child would normally cover in a week.