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Education

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if you home educate - what on earth do you do all day?

62 replies

debs26 · 24/05/2005 09:16

we are trying out keeping ds1 at home in the mornings because he is having a lot of problems at school. he has now been at home for 8 days and i have run out of ideas. we have his numeracy book from school and have found some great games on the net. have also been to library and have a stack of books but we are both bored. i need to be able to look after ds3 (nearly 1) while we are doing whatever. any help?

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 24/05/2005 12:48

Debs, have you tried making it so the learning is hidden in something else? DS1 (also 6) doesn't sit down and do, say, sums or spellings, he does things tied into a central theme like adding together the legs on a woodlouse and a caterpillar (drawn ones with only a few legs I hasten to add!) and writing about an imaginary bug that he's invented. It's still sums and writing but not just numbers and words IYSWIM

Aragon · 24/05/2005 13:22

Woah! Just read this thread all the way through. I come to Mumsnet because I like the "unconditional" support I see here. Okay I know thigs do get heated at times but thta's part of the way you get another slant on things sometimes. That's not to say it needs to be done in an offensive manner but I haven't seen anything that offensive on this thread - just a few differences of opinion.
Is Debs still about - or have we all put her off? Hope not.

cod · 24/05/2005 13:23

Message withdrawn

roisin · 24/05/2005 13:28

Debs26 - I think I can see where you're coming from. To my mind there are two things you need to be aiming for, and I think you're heading in the right direction:

  1. To help him to learn strategies which will help him back in the classroom: i.e. learning to get on and focus on his work and complete it, and work unsupervised. This is certainly crucial in a class setting, and I agree 100% that standing over him is not going to help. Children can and often do learn far more at home than at school, so don't feel that he has to be 'sitting working' for 3 hrs every morning. I think I would want to sit down with him and agree a timetable of non-negotiable work. Say: 9.15 5 min Literacy introduction from you, then 20 mins sustained concentrated work from him. 9.45 Break 10.15 5 min Numeracy introduction from you, then 20 mins sustained concentrated work from him.

It's vital to make sure he has plenty of breaks and fresh air. And to encourage him, concentrate the praise very much on his attitude, commitment, perseverence, etc., rather than what the end result looks like.

  1. The other side is building up his self-esteem and giving him some emotional support, and just taking some time out to have some fun. Within the context of some structure (above) just make the most of having some freedom to follow some of his own interests ... sending emails to friends sounds great! Maybe playing with Lego, or growing some plants, or doing some sciency experiments, or watching some documentary-style TV programmes, or listening to story tapes, etc., etc.

One thing my boys recently enjoyed immensely was constructing with cocktail sticks and jelly beans. They had competitions to build the tallest structure, the widest bridge, and also the strongest structure. (And then discussed and devised an experiment to test the strength of the structure).

Sorry, this is a bit of a mind-dump, but I hope something in there is useful to you and him!

HTH Roisin

tiddlypom · 24/05/2005 13:48

Debs, I wonder if the National Association for Gifted Children could help, since your ds is bright? The sub is quite expensive, but they may do concessions (if you need one), and they have one-to-one support schemes as well as local groups. They're accustomed to bright children being seen as disruptive/difficult, and tend to go for behavioural responses rather than drugs, eg Ritalin. They have a helpline, too, staffed by helpful people.

Also, this may be asking for the moon, but I'll suggest it anyway. Is there any way you could get a student in to sit with ds while he works, and help/encourage him? We got an Italian student to tutor ds in exchange for speaking English to him, which was a fantastic one-off deal, but you might be able to think of something along those lines, especially if you have an English language school nearby. It would mean he could get used to working quietly with another adult.

Also, in my opinion, there's a great deal to be said for schools programmes on TV, or educational videos from the library - I swear my ds learnt a huge amount from them, even if he was sitting watching TV for longer than most parents would like. My dd is 7 and likes watching them when she's off sick - she then comes and tells me fascinating facts she's learnt off the telly, as if to justify her staying off school

It sounds like you're going through a difficult time, I hope things sort themselves out.

merglemergle · 24/05/2005 13:54

Debs-I'm sure someone has recomended the recent observer article but anyway, in case they haven't-here .

Also-have you been in touch with Education Otherwise? . They are the organisation for home-edders in the UK. If you join them, you get various education discounts!

There is also very likely to be a local home-edding group, which you should be able to access through EO.

I think you are doing what is known as "flexi-schooling"-bascially where you send him to school part time. It is apparently a growing movement in the UK. There is a good article about this in
this book . The book itself does provide a good general overview of differnt approaches to HE-a good balance of mad/evangelists vs pragmatic.

This site also has a lot of useful resources, especially if you are being a bit more structured.

Hope it all gets better.

debs26 · 24/05/2005 13:56

ok am back and now childfree, needed to do lunch and get ds to school. im sorry if i came across as spiky, upset can often be mistaken for that. yes i am a bit emotionally fragile atm, if you want more info check out thread i started other day . i didnt post about all the problems cos i wasnt after support for that. i saw the conversation as - me asking for help. help given. then several people telling me i shouldnt be on computer and both me and school were doing everything wrong. then i got upset and posted with at end TO SHOW I WAS UPSET.

i guess what i was expecting was for someone to say something along the lines of 'we home educate and in the morning do a,b & c, then after lunch we do x, y & z'. there have been some fab suggestions here which i really appreciate (and i wasnt rubbishing all your suggestions aloha, just wanted to get across that counting steps wasnt suitable for him and that i think he does need to learn to work alone). thanks guys, i will check out that book and i think roisin has hit the nail on the head there with her 2nd point, thanks

thanks for all the moral support people who stuck up for me. i wasnt after offending anyone but am getting fairly worn out by it all now and i only want to be able to help him without feeling everything i do is bad

OP posts:
swedishmum · 24/05/2005 21:52

Hi Debs
I've been home edding since October, and have children aged 11, 9, 8 and 16 months. It's easier for me in some ways as an ex-teacher but I underestimated how hard it would be to have a baby around! She now naps late morning which is a big help.

It helps my children if they know what's happening - we're doing this until 10 o'clock then a break in the park etc. I can't suggest any good workbooks for 6 year olds but agree with the jelly beans - it was in Aquila magazine which you may like to look at although some of the material is for slightly older children. The school really should provide work but there's a good yahoo group for home educators. I may not agree with all the approaches but I've certainly found some fantastic resources through them.
I hope it works out at school for your son. Two of my children will return after half term but the third will stay at home with me for a while.

Finally, you need to give it some time - although he hasn't been at school very long I'm sure you'll find things settle down. I certainly did. Try to get out and enjoy spending time with him - estimating, counting cyclists in helmets, weighing out stuff, shopping lists. Try to relax and it may rub off on him.

HarrietLeeds · 25/05/2005 13:15

Just sit by his side while he's doing the work and talk him thru it. Have the TV off and toys away and do not let him get up and wonder around unless for a break or toilet. U just have to e consistent.

swedishmum · 25/05/2005 13:22

Sometimes there's more to it than that - there's no point forcing him to work. Certainly at 6 lots of the maths in school involves practical activities. I agree you need to be consistent, but I think you have to go very carefully to start with.

honeyflower · 25/05/2005 14:07

Debs, lots of HE-ers have blogs, where they sometimes recount in minute detail what they have been doing with their kid. A lot of it seems to be discovery-based learning, and very much led by the child, though maybe that's because the people who have that kind of philosophy of education are prominent in the HE community.

Anyway, some of their blogs might be worth a look, as you could get some very concrete insights into what other people do and what works for particular kids - have a look at codeplacidly.com/ringmaker.php, which links lots of HE blogs

coppertop · 25/05/2005 20:54

The muddlepuddle site is a good one. It has lots of links to resources and also a blog with lots of detail about what they do each day. It's a site I looked at when looking for stuff to do with my ds1 last summer. Try here

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