Will i be able to teach them enough?

[TOMOLBEN]

I have toyed with the idea of HE for my DS2 for over a year now. He is currently at a small private school. I also have an 11 year old DD, a 9 year old DS and DD2 is 2. The older 2 are very happy at school, so I shall not be HE them.

The 7 year old has never liked school. He is very shy in public but can be a monster at home. This worries me as I dont know if he will co-operate. I have discussed it with him and he is keen on HE.

My main concern is will I be able to teach him enough to be able to sit his exams when he needs to. I really am keen on the idea but a bit scared in case we fail to provide an education he would get from the prep sch he is at. I thought i could buy lots of books with maths excerises etc, then take trips to places which will lead onto topics we can discuss.

In 1 way i am excited in another very unsure what to do. Then I think do I leave him and just wait until DD2 is school age and start HE with her? Its so confusing!!!! Any advise, trip ideas, work book ideas etc would be greatly appreciated

I would firstly work with the school to see if you can rectify the problem that your DS2 has with school.

There isnt exactly a problem at school. He is very quiet but he gets on well and is a liked little boy. HE is something that really appeals to me and it would also help with the financial burden of having 3 in private school. Although we are covering the costs and maintaining a comfortable lifestyle it is a really struggle.

The school would definately have him back, if after a term it didnt work. There are only 7 in his year so they need the fees!!
My DS has quite a lot of time off due to medical reasons so I think in 1 way HE would be beneficial.

Thank you for your reply x

It is not as much a case of teaching as much as enabling learning. Learning comes in all forms and a lot of it may be learning together.

Have you read any of the HE books ?

You don't need to do formal teaching for long hours every day - it is intense one to one and you can achieve a lot in a shorter time than school. So he would get a lot more time to do things he wants to do, which should make him more likely to cooperate with the bits he is less keen on.

Why not give it a go until say Christmas and then review (beware it will take a few months to adjust).

I havent yet read any books on HE but I have sent hours on the internet reading different articles etc. I think I will get some books and have a read. Do you recommend any?

He loves singing, piano and acting so I am hoping he will have more time doing these kinds of activites, which as you say may persuade him to do the academic things 1st.

I think that I shall give it a term and see if his is co-operative or just takes the mick!!! I would have no problem getting him back into school as the classes are so small.

Thank you for your advise. I am sure I shall be back on soon looking for more advise :) xx

Enough? You will be teaching him more than the school My kids have already learnt about the Solar System, Dinosaurs, Life Cycles, Human Body-things that are sometimes taught much later in Juniour school. I am a very structured home edder but i only teach a max of 1-2 hours in the morn and the rest is learning through structured play Good luck with your journey x

There are many different ways of home educating that you can try. Most parents find that it takes some experimenting to identify the best way for their family.

As you are concerned that your son may not cooperate, you might like to look into autonomous education or "unschooling" as it is called in America. This involves letting the child decide what, when and how to learn while you provide whatever help he asks for. This can seem a particularly big step into the unknown, since the child isn't going to choose to learn exactly the same things at the same ages as he would at school, meaning that he will look to be "behind" in some areas based on school criteria. It can take years to see that he is actually learning all that he needs and that he can learn really fast and well when he is ready and motivated. Some parents find the idea of this approach appealing, whereas others are driven to it because their children simply refuse to cooperate with other methods!

Whichever approach you choose, you may well need to give it more than a term in order to be sure whether home ed is the right way forward for your son. I'd have thought two to three terms would be a good trial, though some children respond so dramatically well that their parents can see straightaway that home ed will be a success.

This seems an ideal time for you to try home education, as you say your main worry is whether your son will be in a good position to do well on exams when the time comes. Since he is only seven that is such a long way off that you can afford to do some experimenting with his education now without much pressure on. It's great that the door is open for him to return to his current school at any time in the future if you decide you want that.

books :

I got these 2 - I can't remember at the moment which I found more useful - sorry.

How Children Learn at Home
Alan Thomas, Harriet Pattison

Learning without School: Home Education
Ross Mountney

Actually if you are interested in either of them pm me - maybe we could agree a price (would have to check postage costs - may not be worth it since delivery is included in the online price usually).

Thank you all for your help. I managed to get a couple of books so I'll be having a read. My DH and I have decided to start with DS2 in September and just go with the flow, if at any point it turns into a disaster he will have to go back to school.
I really hope it woks and am looking forward to starting. I popped to WHSmiths and was amazed at how many books on so many subjects were avaliable. It is never something I had looked into before. Having read all the positive replies I have had also many of the threads and think it is going to be fine.
Thanks again for all your advise x

good luck and enjoy. Don't forget the local library - you can pick up lots of useful stuff there, and the internet is a goldmine.