to home educate due to not getting a decent primary place?

[fluffymouse]

Reposted from home ed to get more responses.

Dd (4) did not get a place at our local school, which was our first choice, to start reception in September. I'm absolutely gutted. I felt that this school would really suit her, and the schools which still have places are terrible (London).

I'm on maternity leave and seriously considering home schooling her for a term, deferring her entry to less preferred school till December, and hoping a waiting list place will come up in the meantime.

Dd is extremely active, excellent motor skills, but speech and language is a bit behind (awaiting salt referral). We have tried gently introducing her to numbers and letters, which she is also learning at nursery, and she is making slow progress in recognition of these. She however hates picking up a pen. While she is able to write her name she usually refuses.

I was planning to do learning in a manner that suits her, through activities, going out looking at things etc as I know she would struggle to sit still. I however worry this would leave her I'll prepared when she does start nursery. I will also have a baby, who will probably be crawling by September!

Any thoughts? I am very new to this.

Bumping

Are you a teacher? Do you have any formal early years training?

Unless you do, the worst primary is going to better than someone with no experience, assistance or guidance. Sorry, but you are going to be really distracted with the baby, and the lines between parental discipline and teacher discipline are going to be very blurred for her.

Have you revisited the school you got a place at? Go in with an open mind.

What will you do if she doesn't get a place where you want after a term? Where is she on the waiting list?

If you think that is in your dd's best interests (and you are the one best placed to make that call) and you are prepared to do it then yanbu. You might even find you want to carry on doing it after.

Just do it. You've been teaching her for the last 4 years and know her better than anyone. No rush for formal school. Try writing letters out in sand so she can 'feel' the shapes easily?

Yanbu in the slightest!

If you are prepared to put the time and effort in to it then YANBU. I wouldn't fret too much yet though, if she's on the waiting list you may still get a place by September.

We moved after the deadline for applications so we applied for, and got a place in our old borough. I just put dd on the waiting list for the school I wanted in our new borough and she got offered a place on the first day of term.

I wouldn't bank on a waiting list place coming up tbh. My cousin really struggled to settle at her school when she started last September so my auntie & uncle wanted to move her to one where she knew more people. Afaik no places became available at all. I don't know if she's still on the waiting list now, but she certainly was until about February, and no joy. (The school they wanted to move her to is by no means exceptional either.)

People don't succeed at HE because they didn't get the school place they wanted. They succeed at HE because they passionately believe in a different form of learning

The obsession with 'decent' schools is fairly amusing. Often, less 'decent' schools have much better sn provision, because they are more familiar with children who need help. For my sn kids, I wanted them in school, for socialisation and all sorts of reasons. (One of mine was not walking independently or talking - she was Statemented for communication). School can be a benefit to accessing services such as SLT - often the school will have a SLT visiting to provide therapy for specific students, who can then provide continuing work and info to key workers.

Visit the school, talk to the teachers, chat to the SENCO.

Then make a decision. HE is fabulous. But so are a lot of schools, whether they have a local 'mn approved' tag or not.

Only you know if she will benefit from more time at home.

Home Ed can be great but you need to do it for the right reasons and genuinely feel that you will enjoy it. Simply doing it as a fallback because you didn't get your preferred school isn't necessarily the best start.

Did you get any of your preferred schools? Are you on waiting lists? Do you know how much movement there is in your local schools?

If you are prepared to Home Ed for as long as it takes (and that could be a very long time) then go for it but ask yourself honestly if this is something you want to do or a panic knee jerk reason.

Well - no one will care - if it is a tactic to influence the LEA.

And you might find school place offers become even more scarce for in year entrants (i.e. if you re-apply in Y1 you might get a worse allocation).

But home-schooling really isn't rocket science - and I disagree with sparechange assessment of it.

UK start school very early. (I am from Europe, and I started school at 7). Reception is mainly a play based curriculum (which cuts both ways for you - you don't really need to worry about academic standards - but an apparently 'not very academic' school can have storming early ears provisions).

It's not the easy option - but it can be rather lovely to spend intensive time with an older child. In London there are lots of museums, activities and clubs (HE and afterschool) & so on - it's just a case of giving her a very rich environment and letting childrens natural curiosity do the rest.

Do some research and if you decide it's the best fit for your family, go for it. A lot more people in the US do it due to bad schools and not enough money to go private. It's a popular option there.

Have a look at the HE board.

Sorry for being dim but I thought all inner London schools are good these days?

The first (of hundreds!) home educator I knew was doing it (and still is, about 16 years later) because she moved, and thought it would be easier to wait for a school place for her four year old than do a really long school run. You don't need passionate belief in any educational philosophy to have a not-even-of-compulsory-school-age four year old at home fora few months - they will just carry on learning, growing and developing as they have been up till now

The only danger is that you might like it

I think there's a difference between good according to OFSTED and good meaning you want your child to attend.

(But - by the by - my DD went through an OFSTED satisfactory/ sub 50% L4 SATS/ high deprivation index primary.

Many of my friends went private to swerve it.

DDs school really cared about the early years stage - and I think DD spent a much happier KS1 sitting in the sandbox than the kids who were getting homeworks and spelling tests from the start. She's now at a super-selective grammar school (which she achieved largely through her own personal drive - she was always a keen learner). It really is worth visiting even schools that 'on paper' look dreadful.)

hi...oh sorry but please disregard the comments that i read above xxx
Pretty much any loving parent can Home Educate their child. Home Ed is just as legal as sending your child to school and you do not need to be trained to teach your own child You can follow the child led approach and allow your children to learn what and when they like. we took our 6yr old and 8 yr old out of school in july after me being sick of the school acting like they own our children, the usual... how often they have to read, what i can put in their lunchbox, when i can take them on holiday...
Our two argued a fair bit for the first few weeks, now they are good friends, we meet up with local Home Ed groups for sports and visits, go to cool places, take advantage of the limitless online resources, visit friends and learn life skills that wouldn't be taught in school. When our kids have found what they are interested in and have decided what they'd like to do when they're older they can find what qualifications they need and study for them if necessary. By following their interests they learn because they want to not because someone says 'this is what we need to teach you so we can tick our boxes and have you at the right level'. you can follow the curriculum if you like, quite often children become self motivated learners when they follow their interests
There is a great network of support especially thru Facebook HE groups (local and national) Honestly, no-one knows your child like you do, and they are all different, how can a room of say 30 kids be expected to all learn the same? please give it consideration, and if in doubt...try it, as a loving parent you are probably doing everything with your child that they need, socialisation will not be a problem 'cause you can get out and about and mix with a huge variety of people. Where else in life are you expected to 'get along' with 30 other people your own age? hope this helps and if you need any advice PM me xxxx
www.educationotherwise.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56&Itemid=60
useful reading.....

YANBU.
Esp if you're I. London because there's such a high movement rate. I've had twins on a wait list because we moved in the window of application and also done in-year applications. The day my DS started a new I got a call about a place at another school if applied to- and a week after that (year 1). With my twins they got places two weeks after the other places had been announced - so once people had accepted or refused places and the shuffling about of places left some free for the waiting list. Don't forget some people will have moved away, some will not take up the places.

You might find you have a place before Sept, but a term of home ed isn't going to hurt

Depend. Do you know how far down the waiting list you are for your preferred school? If way down YABU and you should take the space given, If there is a realistic chance that you kid will get in your preferred school YANBU but you should be aware exactly of the program the school will be doing so that your child doesn't feel left out.

As for schools which still have places because in London YABVU. I'm in inner London and most of our schools are good.

Consider asking your LEA to allow her to enter reception at compulsory school age instead, since your planning to HE this yr anyways you've nothing to lose. That way you can reapply next year and hopefully secure her a spot at a school you'd like her to attend without her missing a year of her education (schooling wise, not HE ofc)

assuming when the school year starts this September she isn't already 5

As a former TA in a reception class I would most definatly say go for it.

We start them into formal Ed far too young in this country anyway.

My main feeling as a TA was sadness at the pressure and stress loaded into tiny 4 year olds.

If I had known how bad it was I would have home educated my 4 for the first few years anyway.

YANBU, if you want to do it go for it and don't bother what others think.
I would advise doing some research though, and maybe contacting your local group if you have one. They may let you go along to a meeting where you can bend their ears to your hearts content.
It's not for everyone but we have found it very rewarding and dd has had the bet education she could have wished for during junior years.

best no bet

Honestly, she's 4. A year of no active 'educating' won't hurt. A year of home ed would be amazing, and school's fine too. Don't do it to try and force the LEA's hand, though. That won't work.