dearth of he locally?

[madwomanintheattic]

so we are contemplating unschooling ds1. i've made some enquiries locally and it seems less promising than i had anticipated... i'd be interested in any views on my ramblings!

our current school board does not recognise he - but we can register with a school board in the city, so not a huge problem. you are supposed to register by 30 Sept each year though...

you can get some funding from some boards if you agree to the school board retaining a portion of the responsibility for some areas of the curriculum. fully blended, partially blended, or fully autonomous, and there are different assessment strategies you are required to fulfil for each, which blow my mind.

i asked a friend who used to he and now works as an lsa whether she knew anyone locally that i could get it touch with - and she's not sure if there are many that he here now, and if so, they are probably all younger. (she did say that local school board aren't great with he though)

i registered with a busyish local-ish yahoo group asking for anyone local to get in touch. no response...

and i've just found out that my staunch he friend has put her dd in school for a year because she lives rurally/ non english speaking country. and now i'm in a bit of a panic because she has he for the past 6 years happily, but has gone for school rather than he as a lone family... i need to speak to her!

the legality behind it seems v complicated here, and i can't find anyone local to either network with and meet up for a bit, or ask questions about school boards etc (there seem to be about 6 i can choose from). i can go into the city, which is an hour's drive (longer any minute once the snow hits properly) and i probably will do that in the next couple of weeks. there seems to be a lot happening in the city, but i feel a bit out on a limb.

am i crazy to be contemplating this without being able to find a local network? do i just start calling different school boards and asking questions?

does anyone he without meeting up with other he families or parents? (am i only feeling like this because it's the great unknown? )

i've discussed the option with ds1 - he's digesting it. i've told him i don't want an answer immediately, but for him to think about it. and that we'll find out some more.

To my mind, it depends a bit on how old your DS is, and what scope he has for spending time with others in his general age-group. If there's plenty of activities for him to do where he can spend time with other DC, eg Scouts, football, orchestra, whatever, then the lack of an HE network isn't that big a deal. But with younger DC where they can't really go to a lot of groups, it can be harder to find suitable opportunities for them ,and I think that's where an active HE group would make a big difference.

I'm afraid the rest of your post about school boards and funding went over my head - I think you'll need info more specific to the legal position in your country to consider what routes are practical!

i knooooooooow most of it has gone over my head too!

he's nearly 10 and goes to cubs, a climbing club twice a week, and swimming lessons. we could go into the city a couple of times a week if we needed to - i know they run skating and a few other meet-ups. it sounds alot when i write it down like that!

Wow Madwoman, what country are you speaking from? Cos I don't think there is any obligation to 'register with a school board' here in the UK - if you have withdrawn your child from school (properly de-registered, I mean) you're automatically on the LEA radar as a home educator and will be contacted about it at various points, but there is no legal obligation to follow the National Curriculum (or any curriculum if you're off down the 'unschooling' route) provided you can produce some cogent articulation of your education philosophy / proof that you're not turning your child into an antisocial dozo.
The whole find-a-local-HE-group thing is fraught with difficulty for anyone not in a large city, I agree. I live in Northumberland, half an hour's drive from Newcastle, and as a lone parent I do find it taxing to be contantly flying back and forth to provide the DD with social and educational opportunities with other HE kids, but as she's 14 I feel it's important, and the only HE kids locally are one family who live several miles away, whose kids are much younger than mine so that most of their educational and play needs and wants are quite different from my DD's.
Yes, people do HE without local contact - I did and do! - and it was only after I started that I finally managed to link up with a few people scattered around the local area (by local I now mean "within a thirty-mile radius", a whole new definition of local in my book) - thank God for the internet is all I can say! Even if you can't find anyone in your area, bookmark boards like Mumsnet and Education Otherwise, and Google other HE websites and boards, there are lots, all stuffed with useful information. As for talking to school boards about home edding, it's a bit like talking to a pig farmer to get advice on how to be a vegetarian - it's not in their interest to help people home educate, they get funding based on the number of children registered in school! Not to mention the whole philosophical divide. So find your info on the Home Ed websites - they actually support you! Good luck!

thanks kinetikat. i'm in canada btw. i've managed to register on a few of the yahoo groups and have found a few people in the city that i can chat to.

we are having a brief 'thinking and pondering' period until christmas as the paed has suggested we get a full psycho-ed evaluation done. so that gives me time to make some more contacts etc. there is definitely a lot going on in the city, and i've found one school board in particular that is very he friendly and will even come out and advise you on the process. we are so far out that we have to be autonomous, which is a good thing, as we can't be suckered into any hard sell of the board itself, and they will just be advising on autonomous he.

thanks for the encouraging words about being out in the sticks! it's really helpful to know that others manage.

ds1 seems to be interested, i think. we aren't pushing it, but have mentioned it a few times and discussed the possibility with him, and have just left it open. he knows that by christmas we'll be making some decisions, and from his comments he's still working through his feelings himself. he's the type of kid that hates being railroaded, which is why i think he just withdraws at school, so we're keeping it all open for the next few weeks... we've had a few flashes of 'if i was he, i could this today!!' though, which i think is quite positive (usually about random maths stuff... weird kid)