want to ask homeschool parents please

[rumkem]

what is the reason(s)? and when did you decide to do it?

i am pondering about it...
(the following question will be for myself if i am strong enough to do it, mmm)

hi

i don't personally home school my dc. i have seen the positive and negative sides though as i know 2 peple who do it. one has done it for years, with the help of an au pair and various tutors as she feels that she is not very consistent and organised. she makes sure that her dc have adequate contact with other children (playing as well as clubs). they are well educated and confident. another one does it because her ds had problems adapting at school. her ds is behind in speech, has little contact with other children and still can't read at 5 as she is not very good at working around him and her dd who is 1 1/2. depends on the individual. write down the positives and negatives and maybe have a test run for a week during the holiday to see how you would cope. hope this helps a bit.

I am surprised that you have no replies. I don't do it, but think secretgardin has a good idea-do a bit of a trial now, in the holiday, and see if you can cope/enjoy it and more importantly DC enjoys it.

Try posting this in the home ed section.

And secretgardin - regarding your firends 5yo "still" not being able to read at 5. My Ds coundn't read at 5, even though he'd been in an "outstanding" school for two years. And no, he's not just thick.

LynetteScavo - too personal and i think you are being a bit touchy. reason my friends' is not reading is that she is not trying very hard to help him. he does know the alphabet or recognise numbers as she is not consistent and spend very little time on home schooling. i would never ever call a child "thick".

sorry, i meant does not recognise alphabet or numbers. time for another cup of coffee!

I am being touchy - "still can't read at 5" really grated on me.

It seems on mumsnet unless your child whizz through Harry Potter by the end of reception they must have some sort of SEN.

I think I'll go and have breakfast - maybe I'll be less touchy then.

you still don't get it, this thread is not about you, it's about home schooling. all kids are different and mine were certainly not whizzing through harry potter . still not at the ripe old age of 8! it is about children getting the right adult guidance and support in an enviroment where they will grow and learn. every child does things when the time is right for them.

Oh, I get it.

You even seem to get it now.

my point is that children need the oppertunity and right enviroment to learn. i used this boy as an example as i know him well and know that he is capable of a lot of things, but not getting the chance to learn or express himself properly. i don't get your point as you seem to have a chip on your shoulder about something and need to get over it for the sake of your ds

hi

I home educate because of bullying in school. I was not really aware at the time that you could HE but refused to send him back and was not concerned of the consequences at the time. On making further enquiries and finding out there were huge numbers doing it, and all quite legally, I have never looked back.

I do have other DC who are at school and one of them will most likely be HE once he finishes primary school. He is happy there and would never move any of my DC out of school without it being their own choice. I have one aged 14 who loves school and will be staying there.

The little one is happy at the moment but does not want to go to secondary school so the time will be right when he is ready.

School does not suit everyone and my HE child has never been happier so I know the decision was right.

Like I said; I get your point, secretgardin.

I really don't care if you don't get my point. As you siad, this thread isn't about me. {smile]

I'm not sure that doing it for a week would give you any real idea of how Home Education would be, unless you are planning to do it in quite a formalised "It's 9 o'clock we're going to do learning now" kind of way, which most HE parents are actually trying to avoid.

My DS was HE for 2 years, just because it was a practical way of giving him a tailored education which couldn't fit into the available schools, so I'm looking at it from a different perspective than you - assuming you are thinking about not sending your DC to school when they reach that age, rather than taking them out of school because of issues there.

The massive advantage of HE is that you can genuinely tailor the education to the interests and abilities of each child. It's not at all unusual for an HE child not to be reading at 5, because education is about a much wider range of things than meeting expected targets at standard ages. In many countries, children won't start learning to read till 7 or 8 and quickly reach the same level as those who start being taught at 4.

An older HE child will not automatically study "Victorians" and "The Home Front" because those are this years history topics, but maybe wants to know about castles, the Vietnam war, the history of motor sport. They don't have to do 10 GCSEs at age 16, but can do some or none at whatever age suits them.

Obviously they won't have covered some things which they would have done in school - but if they learn to be confident with literacy and numeracy, and have transferable study skills - the ability to search for information, decide what bits are relevant, summarise that in their own words, put across their own interpretation etc - then they will be "educated" people, and be in a good position to live happy and purposeful lives.

If you want to try it out, I'd say you should consider using the "preschool year" to do that. Then you can see how you and your DC get on together, and join local HE groups to see what activities and support are available. If you don't feel it suits you or them, you can still send them to school.

HTH

AMumInScotland - my friend imported some kind of american education package, which is very formal. she told me she is supposed to do it for an hour and a half with her ds (in a room with blackboard etc), but does it very sporadically as she always has other things that occupy her time. this means that her ds is playing by himself or his very little sister 99% of the time and has even resorted to climbing the neighbours fences when he hears other children. i live too far away from her now, but know her well enough to know that although she is nice mum, that her ds is going to suffer in the long run as she is not good at one to ones and she doesn't turn outings into learning oppertunities. my concern for this boy is that he might not ever learn to read or write properly. my other friends' dc are HE in a more informal, but effective way as she understands that she has got to put a lot off time and effort into home schooling as well as them being in contact with others children.

That doesn't sound very good, though it can be very hard to know what people are really doing when you're not there. Could you encourage her to find an HE group to join? That way her DC would be getting the chance to interact with other children, and she'd be able to compare notes with other parents on how they go about it. It doesn't sound like the formal approach suits her, but she maybe doesn't know how else to approach it.

sorry didn't see that there is 'home ed' section on talk board.

i myself had very good experience with my schools. i am hoping the same for my dd. however i haven't found anything inspiring in my area.

my partner went to one of the best gramma school in his day and hated it....

Have a look at the education otherwise website for lots of support and info.

I homeschooled DS2 for 6 months when we arrived in Australia as he is dyslexic and had really fallen behind at school (there was very little school support) and I wanted to give him a "boost" before putting him back into a school system. He was 8 at the time. DD (then 3) was around too. We had an absolutely wonderful time, we joined a home school support group and did activities with them, did lots of "educational trips" to museums, art galleries, historic houses etc, as we were newly arrived in the country it was a good way to learn the basics of Australian history, native animals etc. We swam lots (PE of course). BUT DS2 really wasn't motivated to do much "formal learning" and I realised that although it had been a great way for him to settle down in a new place (he was the only one of my three children who didn't want to come), he wasn't keeping up academically. Luckily by then his older brother had settled really well in a fantastic school which had a primary section as well, DD had been offered a place at the pre-school so I put his name down for a place and luckily one came up for the following school year.

I really believe if you have a bright, motivated child, home schooling is a wonderful way of enjoying your children and watching them grow. You are not restricted by a set cuiculum so you can let them be guided by their interests and give them a really rich educational experience. You can nurture and guide them and you don't have any inconsistencies with home v school expections of behaviour. I know a lot of very happy, bright home scooled children here, there is no problem with socialising as there are plenty of clubs/sports groups around. I think it is really good to know that if school doesn't work out for any reason there is another option which is in no way second best. It's not for everyone though.

I home-eded mine because we couldn't get a school place apart from the most notorious school in the borough. We were home-eding in London which was great because there are so many free resources and a wide HE community for social interaction. We then moved to a county which had the best state schools and because of this virtually no one HE. The kids were pretty lonely and after 5 months they asked to go back to school.

So consider where you are living and if there are any support groups. Also do not put too much pressure on yourself as the kids need quite some time to de-school and you need time to adjust to a new lifestyle. Partners need to also know that when they come home from work the kids must spend time with him as this will be the only break you have.