Home education - are you doing it or considering it ?

[Sweetypie]

I have read several threads but they are all quite old..... and the HE are all gone (or changed nicknames).
Is anyione else doing it now ?

we're flexi-schooling my autistic 4yo at the moment. If school goes horribly wrong we will HE (thought about doing it from the start but then we were offered a place in a school that I thought we wouldn't get a place in iyswim so we decided to give it a go).

My family have been HEing for 6 yrs now.Got 2 monsters aged 3&9.Are you considering HEing.I started a thread on this a few days ago.My partner and I enjoy HEing although we did try school first but it just wasn't right for out son so started then and have decided that after the last school experience no way was our daughter going.Am on mumsnet most days although sometimes take a while to reply.

Yes I am looking into it - it sounds right but I have two worries at this stage...

1. Will my kids be with "us" all the time ???? We don't have relatives near by so no "free" baby sitter (and for that schools sounds great) - I am not worried about socialisation as our friends who HE have loads of friends (including us and our kids )
2. My oldest who is still in pre-school keeps talking about going to school - because some olders ones just started. How do I explain that he won't go to school (haven't done that yet as we have completely decided.... we are visiting our local school at the moment) By the way, I am not tryind to start a debate of the percieved good and bad... I just want to hear people's experiences.

We didn't have time to worry about anything but now that we HE we've found both family and friends to be very supportive.If you have HE friends then maybe you could arrange to look after each others kids once in a while to give each other a break.As for the not going to school explanation at first they seem to act like it's school hols and then they just continue.When my daughter says about going to school I just explain that our kitchen(where lessons invariably take place )is her special school and she just excepts this.As she sees her brother at home it helps and maybe you could explain that he will be like your friends children.My son is now at an age where the other children think it's cool that he doesn't go to school.
I won't say that He is for everyone as I have had problems as there are a few parents in my area who have said that I keep my children prisoner not letting them go to school.I have been accused by some of taking away theree freedom but I believe I have given them it back.I think the best thing is that if you start to HE and it doesn't work you always have the option to put them in school and no harm done.
My son has a few probs and Heing allows him to follow his interests and increases the range of subjects as he is bright and our local LEA doesn't help bright children especially ones with ADHD etc.
I live in South Wales and am not near anyone who HE's and that can sometimes be difficult,but it sounds like you may have a few families who can help you.It may be worth getting in touch with some local families and hear what they went through,this could help you with your decision.
Sorry for length of post but hope it helps.

I'm seriously considering it. The education system here now seems so awful, and DS is a sept 1st baby, (now 4) so will be the oldest in his year by a long way, so I'm worried he will be bored and become a trouble-maker.

He's very bright (we all think that about our kids don't we), and we're doing reading and sums already, along with having a globe, etc etc etc.

Seriously looking into the possibilities, even if we do it just for the first years, looking for an assisted place at the local boys private school at age 7.