How Does Home Ed Work?

[GoldenHaze]

OK, I'm not attempting to stir up trouble or negatively criticising anyone's decision to home educate. I'm genuinely curious. My SIL is home educating one of her four children. I'm not sure of the reasons why and don't want to ask too many questions as she's the ultra-defensive type.

So, I was wondering how home educators can cater for the following, which are available in 'regular' schools.

How do you teach all of the subjects? I mean, everyone has their strong points, so how do you deal with your weaker subjects? I'd be grand at Music, but atrocious in Physics, for example!

How do you teach exercises which involve working as a group, such as building things in design classes or team sports?

How do you afford to buy all of the equipment you need? I wouldn't know where to start with Chemistry equipment, for example. Do you have Bunsen burners and petri (sp?) dishes at home? What about sports equipment?

I'm not trying to pick holes, I'm really interested.

So many different ways of home-educating.
I have bumped the list of HE books for you that might help you understand.

Also (sorry, so many questions!):

How do you manage if you're home educating children of different ages and interests?

Do you feel that home educated children miss out on hearing other people's opinions/questions/right and wrong answers, etc, etc, etc?

Just to reiterate, I'm not knocking anyone!!!

Well, it varies a lot between families - for some, they will home educate in a way that would be recognisably like school, but for others they follow a much more child-led route where the children learn things because they are interested in them, not because the parent decides to teach them.

Even quite structured home education is not the same as school, because parents don't view it as a way to transfer knowledge from the adult to the child. If you take that view, then yes you need to know a lot about physics to teach physics. But by the time a child is reading confidently for themself, they are capable of reading a book about physics, work through example questions, look on the internet, or go ask grandad about that sort of stuff.

For music, a non-musical parent would probably arrange for them to have lessons, if they were interested, since its not something you can do from written info - they might know someone who is musical, or arrange for paid lessons, or swap with another HE parent so both children get some music and some French, for example.

Team work - many HE children take part in HE groups, where they learn the usual "give and take" with other children, and/or they go to brownies/cubs, play with siblings, cousins, friends. They go to football on Saturdays, or "after-school" clubs.

You don't need science lab equipment to learn the fundamentals of science - there are websites with ideas for experiments with household equipment.

HTH

"How do you manage if you're home educating children of different ages and interests?"

My girls are seven years apart and learn under their own steam ("autonomous education"), and I just answer questions and provide resources to each separately if and when they ask. The older one helps the younger one sometimes.

Even people who are following a formal approach with parents giving lessons find it isn't necessary to spend six hours a day on lessons. When a child is off school (with a long-term illness, for example), the LA is only required to supply a minimum of five hours a week of tutoring. Tutors report that this is plenty, because one-to-one teaching is so efficient. So, even with three kids, separate lessons would take no more than three hours a day.

Apparently schoolteachers deal with the wide range of abilities in their classes by "differentiation", covering a topic and assigning different tasks to children of various abilities. HE parents sometimes do something similar, though their task is far easier as they only have a few children rather than dozens!

"Do you feel that home educated children miss out on hearing other people's opinions/questions/right and wrong answers, etc, etc, etc?"

No, because they are usually "world" educated rather than "home" educated. It's unusual for children to spend all day every day with just their parents. The fact that they aren't at school means they have more contact with a wide range of people and ideas.

You sound really interested. I think you might enjoy reading a book or two about home education and looking at some websites. Perhaps if your sister-in-law senses that your interest is genuine and that you mean well, and she sees that you have gone to some effort to understand what she is doing, she may be able to relax and discuss it with you instead of being defensive. She might welcome your input too: I find kind aunties to be a wonderful resource! My SIL looks after the little one while I take the big one to lectures, or takes the big one out to shows, or answers questions by phone on topics she knows about.

?so how do you deal with your weaker subjects??

There?s a wealth of options, but for the sake of time in our case I lesson swop. I?m English, but HEing in Italy, so we?re setting up a deal where an Italian teacher takes my son for Italian grammar and I teach her English. I have two other people willing to do the same kind of swop for Spanish and German.

For the third and forth language I?ll also use be using guided self study materials like Rosetta Stone. There are a variety of packages available (with or without access to an online tutor) for other subjects.
Another option would be to go the whole hog and use an online school academus.org.uk/

?How do you teach exercises which involve working as a group, such as building things in design classes or team sports??

I don?t ( :

I farm him off to his basketball and volleyball teams with his former school friends. At oratorio (sort of church youth club thing on steriods) they get the kids together in their squad to create things, like build forts from boxes and stuff. We don?t have design on the curriculum here until certain types of high schools, but my husband is an antiques dealer\restorer and he and the boy work together to rebuild or hack stuff that isn?t worth much so it doesn?t matter if it gets ruined. Which is really hard on two pairs of trousers. I?d happily let his friends come and join in, but there hasn?t been much enthusiasm for letting their offspring wield hammers and nails so that was a non starter.

?How do you afford to buy all of the equipment you need??

Beg, borrow, steal (joking !) and do without. Most science at my son?s age require very little dedicated equipment and you can usually sub with something from a cupboard. BIL (former science teacher) is hunting us out an affordable but good quality microscope. When it comes to lab based science later on I?m looking into dedicated science camps. Not cheap. Any plans to be a MILF are on hold cos I?m won?t be buying any decent posh clothes for the foreseeable future let alone forking out for the necessary Botox. I would have had to fork out myself even if we hadn?t chosen to HE, because many of my students who attend science high school (we have a slightly different system here, you chose your strand and go to a dedicated school) don?t get to go to the lab very often and their experience there is very limited. Not sure why, might be funds, might be health and safety concerns. I wouldn?t trust half of them with a match let alone a Bunsen burner so I can?t say I blame the teachers that much.

?Do you feel that home educated children miss out on hearing other people's opinions/questions/right and wrong answers, etc, etc, etc??

Research is really easy when you are HEing just a small number of kids (not so much fun when you are trying to keep a class full on task and off YouTube, half of whom still aren?t sure how a mouse works by their teens and are so used to being spoon fed that they don?t have the confidence to start), so to be honest I think he gets MORE opportunity to take on board that there is variety of views, methods and explanations out there for any given topic. He hangs out with his mates when they are doing their homework which isn?t always a carbon copy of we are doing, so he also gets contrast in that context.

Basically I reckon that most people do what we do, roll up their sleeves and get on with it, enjoy the bits where you can really help your children shine and find workaround when you hit an obstacle. I threw up the night before we handed in our paperwork to withdraw him from school. I was so scared by the sheer enormity of the task ahead. But it?s a bit like eating an elephant, one bite at a time and going off to get and electric carving knife for the particularly tough bits.

I don?t mind you asking questions love, I could talk about this all day ( : My husband has very little tolerance for me yakking about the ins and outs of HE, anybody would think I?d bent his ear with the finer details relentlessly for two years?. ohh !

"But it?s a bit like eating an elephant, one bite at a time and going off to get an electric carving knife for the particularly tough bits."

Yes it is like that especially when you get to the tusks....

The most important thing to remember is that 'The National Curriculum' is purely for schools.

Therefore, there is no need to teach all those subjects, with a set many hours on each blah blah.

You can use a book, or not use a book. You can write or not write. You can use a computer or not use a computer. You could have your lessons indoors in the quiet, or forever outdoors.

That is the freedom of HE. You educate your children in your own way.

This does not mean that the HE child cannot get a degree, just because they did not choose a formal education in school. The same child can get into uni without a thousand gcses.

It is really difficult to compare schools to home ed, becuase there are, or can be no similiarites!

GoldenHaze, my DC (18 and 16) have been EHE throughout. DD is now at uni. We followed their interests in an informal and practical way until DD went on a 6-month exchange to Germany at 13. When she came back, she started a German course with the OU (to capitalise on the 6 months). She then did other OU courses (maths, linguistics, general arts) to a total of 190 points. That has gained her entry to university to read law with German law.

She has no qualifications in science but we have done a variety of scientific things (lectures, TV, informal discussion, robotics team, science museum, @Bristol) as she grew up. It has not been necessary to cover the gamut in exam terms - instead, we have used our time and money to concentrate on the things that interested us.

DS started OU at 13.5, once we were in the loop with DD and he saw courses he fancied. He has half of the recommended 120 points for uni entrance in science and another 30 in maths. Next year he will do 30 points in English (giving him 120 points - equivalent to 4 A-levels). We are also doing Russian because we have contact with Russian speakers and we will probably take an exam (not nec GCSE) in it. He does not yet know what he wants to go on to do, although we are sure it is not medecine (if it were, we'd probably be doing things differently). If he decides on university, we'll talk to uni admissions to find out what else they want.

How old is your SIL's DC? EHE often looks very different with a 6yo as to with a 16yo. Older EHE young people tend to be more different from each other (as opposed to being more the same in school) because they are working towards different aims. There is no set pattern of e.g. 14-16 GCSEs, 16-18 A-levels.

How do you teach all of the subjects? See above. I did not 'teach' at all - I facilitated. We use individual teachers and our local Saturday music service for music, clubs and LA classes for sport.

How do you teach exercises which involve working as a group, such as building things in design classes or team sports? No need to "teach exercises" such as these - life throws them at you if you are living it as an autonomous being, rather than being sequestered in a rarefied atmosphere such as school.

How do you afford to buy all of the equipment you need? You don't need that much equipment and you only buy (or borrow) what you need when you need it (and often second-hand, to start with). I have spent much more money on activities than on equipment.

Yes it is like that especially when you get to the tusks....

LOL !

Ahhh yes....tusks.

In my world that would be Italian grammar analysis. cat fur ball noises

Hi all,

Thanks very much for all of your replies. It's very, very interesting.

I suppose when you're not sticking to the National Curriculum you will be covering many other subjects which aren't touched on in schools.

I really like the idea of it. I'd just be worried about money (obviously struggle to do paid work if teaching children during the day - although as a SAHM at the moment, we seem to be coping ok) and also my fond memories of school include silly things like queuing for dinner (which was never easy for me, as the only vegan in the village!); chatter on the school bus; listening to everyone's questions and answers in English; practicing with the school band and the concerts; the sixth form common room etc, etc. I'd just be concerned that some of those things wouldn't exist in HE. However, I didn't appreciate how many activities out of school there are in which children could have all the 'silly', fun experiences too.

SIL's child who is HE (she has others who attend school) is 11. She went to primary school, but was HE at the start of what would be the seconary school term.

I think the little girl was bullied at school, which may have influenced SIL's decision. She said that there's no bullying at home. I'm sceptical of this though as there's bullying everywhere in life. Of course steps should be taken if there's bullying in the school, but I'm not sure if HE is the ultimate answer in the case.

Anyway, sorry I'm rambling! I'm very, very grateful for all of your replies!

"I suppose when you're not sticking to the National Curriculum you will be covering many other subjects which aren't touched on in schools."

Even when you are sticking to the NC (not much choice where I am) you find that thanks to a more individualized approach the child suddenly clicks onto a subject that fascinates them, so it gets pulled into the mix. Although why my son had to go for Chinese is beyond me. I'd have though two compulsory MFLs on top of his two mother tongues would have been quite enough to be going on with. I'm sticking to YouTube and free recourses with that one until we see if it sticks, or is a passing fad.

"I'd just be worried about money (obviously struggle to do paid work if teaching children during the day"

I work, I'm in the middle of setting up my own (mini)language school as well. We have had to juggle our hours and commitments to make sure that I'm free in the mornings at least and papa is free from roughly after lunchtime onwards, if and when needed. We both work from home, freelance, so it hasn't been that hard. The set up you create will impact the extent to which you can work or not I reckon. I have a good friend in the states who is HEing her genius child. Her husband walked out on them a few years ago. So she works fulltime during the day while grandmother supervises genius child (as she eats books, learns about incomprehensible things from museums, online uni classes etc ) and then mum takes over in the evenings. Hard work I'm sure, but they have found a way.

" I'd just be concerned that some of those things wouldn't exist in HE"

No, some of those things don't exist in HE. On the other hand there are plenty of happy memories and "taking the rough with the smooth" experiences within HE that kids at school will never know about (and as a result probably never miss, cos they never had it). S'all swings and roundabouts. I left the UK at 21 years old and lived in Asia before I came here, IME there is enough in life to give people, large and small, common ground and shared experiences without worrying unduly about a single aspect being different to the norm.

"Of course steps should be taken if there's bullying in the school"

Sure, steps can and sometimes are taken. That doesn't mean there is an adequate solution for the child in question though. What looks good on paper and in the report to the LEA doesn't necessarily mean respite has been achieved for the small person on the sharp end.
Bullying at school is not the same as bullying in all other walks of life. You can leave a club or a sport if another kid is making your life a living hell and nobody seems to be able to make them stop. Same goes for a job when you are an adult. The immense benefit of being bullied as an adult, instead of as a child, is that suddenly it is perceived as serious and retribution via a tribunal or the police (if somebody thumps you) is now an option.

Seems to be only the small and powerless that we ask to suck it up and treat being tormented, belittled and assaulted like a valuable learning experience.

That isn't an HEing specific blind spot of mine.

It became cemented in place when I started working in mainstream ed and was forced to be an unwilling spectator to some children quite literally having their daily life made hell, with all the adults around them acting like it was almost a non issue due to the short stature of the protagonists. Adults who worked themselves up into a right state of hysteria yelling persecution the second a politician even looked at their contracts funny, some taking time off work for "stress" as a result. Talk about an odd sense of proportion.

I think it is a good idea to talk about your concerns with uninvolved third parties rather than having the conversation with your sister just yet. I?m pretty sure that is what my sister did. I?m less defensive now I?ve got some experience under my belt and she seems to have a better handle on what the whole caboodle is actually like. So these days we do talk about my boy?s education, I?ll listen to any specific concerns she has and she listens to my response, we don?t always agree, but the heat has been taken out of it. We clashed a bit at the start and if that had continued I think her worries would have become blown out of all proportion and I would have dug my heels in and been defensive of EVERYTHING, even the bits I was having doubts about myself ( =

HEducators allow their children to study subjects at their pace, at times they choose and where they want-

In that statement it's probably more accurate to say Autonomous HEducators rather than plain old HEducators in general isn't it ?

Our DS2 was Autonomously HEd and the only stipulation (from Education Otherwise) was that he must do 27 and a half hours a week and be inspected by the local Council. He was (once, successfully, to my great relief) in England, then we moved to rural Wales and no one came near. That was a very good thing really as he was earning his own living as a fly fishing instructor and taxidermist by the time he was 16. Neither he nor his older brother ever wanted to go to University (TBTG) and hated secondary school, just like their parents.... Life's for living, and learning is lifelong!

Silver - are you being serious?!? EO told you you must do 27.5h per week (of what, exactly?) and be inspected by the local council!?

How bizarre!

" 27 and a half hours"

Wow !! that is 7.5 hours a week more than I was told I have to do, and we have fairly rigid regulartions here.

or regulations even.

Hi to all,

My son is 15 and has asked to be home eduacted by myself his mum as he had so many problems at school bullied ect very good at certain subjects and not so good with others he is working from school books n/c every day 6 hrs per day and is enjoying being taught at home n i enjoy teaching him i help him if hes stuck and if we both dont know answer look on internet books/resources ect.

I only started this a month ago so if anyone whos done this longer could offer info
subjects hes been taught are English Maths and Science which we are having fun doing.

It is so much fun teaching him this way than having him come home upset cus of what had gone off at school i just wish i could have done this earlyer but the idea only came to me a while ago as a resolution to his school problems ect.

Diligent

That's brilliant, Diligent. I'm really pleased to hear it is working so well for you!!

Six hours a day is much more than most HE families do. Think about all the non-academic things which happen at school: breaktimes, moving between classes, teacher explaining to other children how to do something that your child already understands, etc. The actual time that any given child is spending on productive learning is going to be much less than six hours.

Moreover, one-to-one time with you is much more efficient than whole-class instruction because it's at exactly the right level for your son, and he can get all his questions answered.

So my only advice would be, relax and don't get burned out! Depending what your son is working on and whether he is preparing for exams, you are probably doing far more than you need to. You could cut back on the hours so your son has more time for sport, music, or just chilling out. One of the great advantages of home ed is that it takes fewer hours, so it frees children up to have fun and to relax more.

Oh, here are some fun things my daughter is looking forward to doing when she's a bit older.

If your lad happens to be the right age and if he likes science, he might like to go an a free chemistry camp: www.salters.co.uk/camps/apply.htm

Here's a competition to make a science video: www.planet-scicast.com/about_scicast.cfm

And a free five-day engineering summer school (I'm not sure whether it's residential or whether people coming from farther afield would have to arrange their own accommodation: gallery.mailchimp.com/116d5fae1c24c9afe8edc65c8/files/OPITO_2010_Hethel_event_flyer_new_August_dates.pdf

If those things don't float his boat, you could probably scout out some other fun things which he'd like.

Lovely thread :)

Except I am once again a tad envious that my DD will be going to school. She is absolutely desperate to go, so fair enough, she will go. But I'll always be checking this board out as there is so much good advice and hey, just because my DCs will be schooled doesn't mean I can't do home ed stuff with them too, right?! :)