If you homeschool…

[Hejustdisappearedintothinair]

Can I ask why? What age your child is, what an average day looks like and how often they socialise with other kids?

My ND daughter couldn’t cope in school so we took her out temporarily and it worked so we deregistered my son as well. For me, I have the chance to give my children the chance to be children.
No day looks the same. We just live like there is no school so imagine the kinds of days when it’s the weekend or summer holiday and it’s like that everyday.
My children socialise most days. The home ed world is huge and we are spoilt for choice of clubs, classes and social groups.

I home Ed my 4 - started because my oldest was waaaay too smart for reception- like already reading at 3. But we found we prefer the life style. My kids socialise with other children of all ages from 7am-7pm 5 days a week. Our learning is mostly autonomous and free flow with some forced English and maths (only need for force maths on one to be fair the others adore it). My 10 year old is learning Japanese and my 13 year old is preparing to sit her level 2 maths and English this summer.

When do you do the teaching? Do they see kids daily? Do you know if this is the same in all areas of the uk? How do you afford it? Sorry for all the questions!

This, word for word!

My best friend home educates, her ds couldn’t cope with school due to autism and the chaos of the school. They go to lots of home school events, he does lots of clubs like scouts and sports ans art meet-ups and what not, seems really good for him and he’s come on leaps and bounds since leaving school

Home educate. In the UK, you home educate, you don't home school.

Wake and Scotland have different rules to England, and ni is in general similar to England but with lower intervention from the education authorities compared to many areas of England

I find people start off structured with many trying to mimic school but at home. Then over time, you find how it works best for you and your kid. Lots of online resources, classes etc available - learning can look very different to when you were at school! Join a local home Ed group via Facebook to find local meet ups. Don't forget kids can do ordinary activities too like sports clubs, drama classes, brownies etc

We home educate our 4 year old because we know we can provide a more rounded, useful and meaningful education for him than school can. He socialises with other children Monday - Friday at various clubs and groups that he attends. A typical week includes literacy, numeracy and some kind of STEM project, reading, board games, playing, drawing, cooking and playing with his friends.

Honest question to those who home ed: are you unemployed? Hoe do you get the time to support the kids through all the required hours on the daily?

I homeschooled my three older children. From the time they started until we moved to a place with a tiny rural school - they were 9, 12, and 15 at the time they went to school.

Typically we tried to get sit down school work done in the mornings and outside things done in the afternoon. It was unusual for school to take longer than the morning other than reading for the older kids. We didn't follow the public school curriculum but other programs that I felt were better than what is generally offered in schools.

As far as socialisation - I did some childcare so they had some socialisation there, plus they were close and played together a lot. Most days we'd go out in the afternoon, and once they were older they have neighbourhood friends. We did programmed activities a number of times a week, maybe some sport or swimming lesson, they tried circus, they did theater, there were homeschool meet ups at the library, etc. We'd go to museums. They always had music lessons and sang in a choir, and attended church pretty regularly and had friends there.

In general, apart from kids kept home due to significant issues like autism etc, I have found homeschooled kids are better socialized than kids in school, more comfortable with adults, able to hold conversations, and particularly good at getting on with groups of children of all differernt ages.

I would say that we see other children 4 or 5 days a week. Mostly the same children as they have a great set of friends.
Most of their learning is done through play and life. It’s very hard to get your head around that idea when you only know school but children are designed to learn. I read to them and we discuss the books, we play a lot of maths games, we do science experiments, art projects, they have access to instruments including a piano. My now 12 year old is becoming a bit more structured and does online maths, English and humanities and my 10 and 6 year old do workbook maths a couple of times a week. But nothing is forced and if it doesn’t work, we change it.

There are no required hours. If you are known to the local authority, you need to prove that your child is making progress but there is no set curriculum.
It’s very mixed on work. Some families decide to go to a one parent working family, others both work part time and others both work around each other and use childcare or groups. A lot of parents are self employed and use that flexibility to work evenings or whilst children are at home.

My children genuinely mix with children in more social-economic classes now, than at school. They have friends who are in single parent families , living in social housing and friends who live in 2 million pound houses who choose to home educate rather than go down the private school route. And those children all go to the park and the children and parents are all friends.

We home educate because I thinks it’s better for my kids. They have far more time playing and having fun basically. The social aspect you have to work on and be aware of, although I find there are a good number of meet ups in our area- and I make sure I attend a lot of them.

My kids do a lot of extra curricular clubs as well, they’re not tired from being at school so they do more than average. (The cost of these definitely adds up).

The “education” bit of it I actually find pretty easy; lots of resources out there and I find I can cover a lot of material in a shorter space of time. We do a lot of “educational” trips out, which I think is a great way of learning.

Kids are 6,4 and 2.

Will give a detailed response to your questions if you give some additional details. Are you considering home education yourself? I don't want to waste my time on a thoughtful response if you are just being nosey.

The LA failed to find a school for my high needs SEN child. I couldn’t find childcare for him. So I had to stop work and teach him myself at home. Then when my dd started struggling with the behaviour of the other children at school I just pulled her out to home Ed. My kids are much much happier and are learning at a greater rate than they did at school without the trauma they were getting from school.

it’s best for my kids but I’m furious I cannot work because the LA do t give a fuck about my son. The stress broke my relationship and I became a single parent. I’ve paused my mortgage and pay interest only. Not paying into pension. When my son leaves home I will be in my 50s trying to get a job and facing my old age in poverty.

we have a list of daily tasks they work through before they are allowed screens. SEN child needs constant support and encouragement it’s hell. Non Sen child has a club every other day ish and gets her social from that. Forest school for some social too. But my SEN child struggles significantly with other children so it’s limited and impacts non Sen child more than I’d like. Still better for her than school however as she was being constantly bullied emotionally and physically hurt by the boys at school and the teachers basically said they can’t do anything about it.

ideal world then there would be enough SEN schools for children like my son so I do t have to home educate. And space for the disruptive ‘mean’ boys my dd suffered because they were always excused as being SEN. Too many different needs forced into mainstream and then all the children suffer. My dd is also very bright and far ahead in most subjects but struggling with spelling and handwriting so at home we adapt and customise her learning in ways schools cannot. My preference would be for schools to be able to meet my kids needs and me be able to work and not be forced to live off the state and judged by everyone as a lazy scrounged as I am now

Yes all my four Grandkids
. Eldest 3 now left school.
Youngest is 10
Home Ed groups twice a week.
Swimming once a week.
Museums/ libraries.
Walks.
Out in nature.
On line maths ( his favourite and above his peers).
Online history and geography .
Physics and science at home ( making circuts and growing crystals and finding out all about the solar system).
Home Ed isn't like lockdown sat at table all day doing work like at school.
He's thriving and happy and MH is much better ( all ASD).
Eldest is now at UNI and working P/T
Other two at college

You don't HAVE to do any teaching. As in sitting at a table like school / lock down.
Find some home Ed groups in your area on FB.