Re-started my he year again!

[BleepyBloop]

I feel so strange. I started our "official" he year last October (our first year of he). Well, not only we all took turns being really sick but we moved house. Also some curriculum choices did not pan out so I had to make some major changes. (sigh) In short we'd have to start over in January. Now we are making good steady progress.

Questions: Has this happened to anyone else here? Also, do I have an obligation to follow the school year (September-July)? And, does it look bad to the LA if you start the he year at a weird/awkward time of the year?

It doesn't matter to what any body else things of your educational year-you have taken (back) responsibility for the education of your children-you are in charge!
What you say goes!

The LA have no right to make any demands on anything you do-unless they have reason to believe an education is not taking place.....and you may have made changes to the way you educate them, but they will have been learning, even with sickness in your house-and definitely when you moved-think of all of the new events they will have encountered, all of them will be educational. Hell, life IS educational!

Our home based education did change dramatically-we were really quite structured at first, but that didn't work for us, so we became totally informal/autonomous home educators. We had NO timetable, No formal work, NO unnatural break between what is life and what is learning. We followed NO school terms, and definitely NO curriculum! We were very clear indeed in our written report to the LA, that we wouldn't have a visit, they wouldn't see the children, and that we didn't follow any sort of plan, and there was no formal work for them to see. The LA have always accepted this.

The vast majority of my home ed friends (and there are hundreds!) educate informally too. So you have nothing to worry about!!

Take a look at the Elective Home Education : Guidelines for LAs written in 2007 by the Department of Education, to tell LAs about home education
Especially look at section 3.13 which tells the LA what you don't have to do, and you'll see you are doing fine.

Section 3.13
Children normally attend school for between 22 and 25 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year, but this measurement of ?contact time? is not relevant to elective home education where there is often almost continuous one-to-one contact and education may take place outside normal ?school hours?. The type of educational activity can be varied and flexible. Home educating parents are NOT required to:

teach the National Curriculum
provide a broad and balanced education
have a timetable
have premises equipped to any particular standard
set hours during which education will take place
have any specific qualifications
make detailed plans in advance
observe school hours, days or terms
give formal lessons
mark work done by their child
formally assess progress or set development objectives
reproduce school type peer group socialisation
match school-based, age-specific standards.

so relax, have a drink -you are doing fine!

oh and how will the LA know about you if you've moved house?

You have no obligation to follow the school year at all. They are learning all the time - sometimes it is more formal than others - and in our experience it varies over time how much of each we do.

Also, unless I've missed something, from the HesFes thread your child is only 4?

The LA have no duty to be even asking anything about your educational yet-education isn't compulsory until the term after your child's fifth birthday!

If they are asking now, tell them to sling their hook!!

Hi. I remember you as we started at the same time. We have also changed what we do and I'm sure we'll change again! At the moment we have a system that's working brilliantly but I'm sure it won't forever. I've just had baby 4 as well which has been an education in itself. Most of all we're just having a lot of fun!

Sorry I disappeared. I just went through a cancer scare and I lost track of things (I kept up school pretty much ok though :D ). My son is 5 and a half now. Yes, learning takes places everywhere but sometimes I doubt the LA sees things the same way I do.

Thank you for the words of support. I know the law but sometimes you need to hear it from your peers as well.

"I doubt the LA sees things the same way I do"

Doesn't matter what the LA thinks, they have the guidelines to adhere to, quote them if they get upperty.

Write yourself an Educational Philosophy (a sort of why you are doing this) Say in it that your learning is lifelong and doesn't adhere to any formal timetable-they have to have regard for that, rather than their school based ideals when looking at the education you are providing.