Structured HE anyone?

[IslaValargeone]

We have just withdrawn dd (8) from school to HE.
At this stage we have not decided whether it is permanent or not.
Anyway,I'm struggling to find any structured HE sites or forums, and am struggling to find groups that we fit in with.
Anyone offer any help? I'm feeling a bit out of my depth and doubting my decision at the moment.

Send off for a copy of The National Curriculum to use as a 'base' for anything you do - it isn't perfect but it will provide a good structure. I am a teacher btw.

alittlebitofstructure.webs.com/

And if you do want the national curriculum as a guideline curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/

If you send me your email address, I can send you an invite for "A Little Bit of Structure". It's a private forum - we could do with some new members, it's a bit quiet at the moment!

There are lots of structured HEers out there. Is there anything in particular you want to know?

Sorry for the very quick posts with the links. We are having on of those days where I seem to have 101 things to do and am trying to do them all at once. One day I will be organised ha-ha-ha

My DD is almost 8 and has been HE from the start. We started off very autonomous but a little over a year ago she started to want more structure. We are very lucky where we are because there seem to be a fairly equal amount of autonomous/structured HE families.

What is it you are feeling most daunted by?

Thanks all.
Tinuviel thanks I shall e-mail you.
I feel a bit overwhelmed by everything at the moment, not least because everyone seems to be autonomous, and because we do not know at this stage how long we will be doing it, I don't want her to fall behind if we decide to return to school.
Also feeling a bit out on a limb as I don't seem to fit the profile of home edders we have so far encountered.

Oh yes, I forgot to say I wanted some guidance on the best resources. There seems to be lots of stuff on line but I don't know where to begin sorting the wheat from the chaff so to speak.

IMHO you should try to use proper published text books workbooks and published schemes from long established educational publishers for the most consistent quality.

Lots of stuff online is of very variable quality and often needs an expert eye to sort wheat from chaff.

Have a look at educational publishers such as: Nelson, Folens, Stanly Thornes, HarperCollins, Heinemann, A&C Black, Hodder, Letts and Lonsdale.

Avoid workbooks for sale in the supermarket unless they are for back-up!

Spelling is shocking - sorry - Stanley!

www.free-range-education.org.uk/ is useful too.

I've already applied to alittlebitofstructure.webs.com - didn't realise it was by invite

Have you heard back from them, nipples? You may be able to do it direct but I know when we were on ning, it had to be by invite and we still have an invite thing, so I generally offer to invite people!

I've just checked and you obviously can!! I've just approved you.

I had periods of being structured where I spent ages planning activities, essentially directing my son and once I knew he was very unlikely to ever go to school he became an autodidact and I gave no unsolicited input. As everyone has suggested getting the national curriculum helps, I also used to get a lot of books from educational suppliers of text books and exercise books - you can also see what your child's old old school is using or ask them. There are loads of practise books for studying in Smiths etc which make a start and help to keep children roughly in line with schools.

For older children there are mail order services- there is a small school on the Isle of Scilly that offers home education work packs (for a fee) www.littlearthur.org.uk/home_ed.html

I think some home education groups can be a bit cliquey which is off putting and unwelcoming. A sort of bully mentality can occur when only one style or approach is approved of. I was lucky because although we didn't particularly get on in our local home ed group, we did meet another family who 12 years later are still very dear, life-long friends. We did many activities together and shared lesson ideas when the children were younger.

So much depends where you live as to what is available, if you get inspected you could always ask the inspector if there are any other families with similar aged children who like to take a more conventional approach or try starting your own group using a home education charity eg education otherwise as your starting point.

Not sure that I have said anything of any use here!

The Education Show at the N.E.C. in Birmingham is brilliant and it is coming up in March - it is a trade show for educators of all sorts - sign up FREE online for a ticket. If you can get to it I think it would give you a good idea of where you both want to start.
www.education-show.com/education11/website/Home.aspx?refer=1&id=mainLnk1

Tinuviel Thank you!!

Tinuviel I was under there on ning as Posy and lost the site when it moved (probably because I changed my email address). Just tried to log in but it didn't seem to remember me. I've re-registered but I don't know if it will accept me without invite - just letting you know who I am if it comes through to you! Would like to be on there again.
Thanks :)

I've just 'approved' you, musicposy. See you there!

Thank you

Hi there,
I've just applied to alittlebitofstructure too. DS is nearly 4 and I'm thinking we're going to need to apply SOME structure to his day or he'll spend all his time playing with trains!

We're officially 'not' home educating in that DS is attending school. But he has significant special needs which I am meeting at home, so we're pretty much home educating on top of schooling in order to meet these.

I 'get' the unschooling philosophy, and the emphasis on real life skills and the child's interests. Ideally I'd use and internet based tool to capture and record this extra learning, and help me work out what exactly I am doing and what works best within it. Does anyone formally record their dc's learning? And if so, how?