Home Education

[smallwonder]

I have 3 children aged 3.5, 5 and 6 and I'm expecting another soon.
There are days in my house where I feel we are not doing enough and days where I go to bed feeling quite content with what we've achieved. I just wanted to run this by other HE'rs as I have friends who have a schedule in place with lots of activities taking place in the afternoons (Kumon/Sports etc..) and the mothers have very little time for anything else. I couldn't stick to a 5 day full timetable with outdoor activities like this but I take my hat off to those who can and do.
We are very laid back here and I wonder if anyone else has taken same approach. I involve my DC in the housework, each of them (youngest included) has a job to do be it loading washing machine, emptying dishwasher, helping with lunch etc.. they don't complain and I encourage it! The last few months of PG have been hard, I don't go out as much as we would usually, some afternoons I'm lying on the sofa but I do find that even when they're playing they are constantly asking questions and really using their imaginations. They seem to learn a lot about the 'real world' and have a lot of interaction with adults.
I make sure that we spend at least 1 hour a day on reading/math (DC1 and 2) and then I play it by ear as to what we will do next. It may be their second language, Geography (Food and Farming KS1), Drawing/Colouring/Sticking, DS1 loves writing recipes and going through magazines for food photos and whatnot, DS2 is the complete opposite and will happily talk about things in great detail (often very complex ideas) but no way is he writing it down or colouring. DC3 is learning simply from being in this environment.

I'm not sure what it is i'm really asking here, we have no 'formal' schedule in place, I insist on reading, bit of writing (DC1 follows me around with pen and paper making lists so no problems there) and maths but everything else just sort of 'happens' -- i find that 12-14 hour days with my DC can be long and hard and that they are surely learning enough without heavy schedule.

Sorry if this was a bit of a ramble. Thanks for taking the time to read :)

I think your idea of what is "enough" is being coloured by your extremely busy friends. The amount of academic "work" you describe your family doing is more than anyone that I know in real life who has 5/6 year olds! Among my acquaintances, the norm for this age group is about 20 minutes a day in total, and many of us do none at all. If you consider yourself very laid back, you must think me downright catatonic .

But still they learn, as you have seen.

My older daughter did virtually no formal work ever, except for a nightly reading session from the age of 6.5 when she asked me to teach her to read. When she went to school just before her tenth birthday, she had no trouble keeping up with her class. Perhaps it could be argued that if I'd put in more effort and "worked" with her, then she would have done even better and been streets ahead of her classmates; we'll never know. So I can't be sure our approach was ideal, but it was certainly "enough" and so is yours!

It sounds like your kids are having great fun and learning plenty. If anything I would urge you to go a bit easier on yourself for the rest of your pregnancy and while you have a new baby. You need to take care of yourself so you can be there for your children.

Good luck with the rest of pregnancy, birth and afterward!!!

Our children went to school until they were 13, 11 and 8, when I found out that home ed is a legal viable option.
Our children all have SEN-and the youngest dd2, couldn't read or spell even her own name, when she came out of school-so much good all that formal work had done for her- NOT!

smallwonder we soon settled into our home education with NO routine at all-except that I showed the children the Home Ed newsletters each month and they chose what they wanted to do.
We did no formal work, and I didn't insist on any reading/writing/anything. They only did what they wanted to do. I just facilitated whatever interested them, we went out and about on visits, workshops and camps. I read to DD2 for as long as she needed me to.
All of our home education was informal-very much like your Ds2 does it.

This continued all the way through til the children chose to go on to FE college/do an OU course, where they settled very well indeed academically and socially according to the tutors. (DD2 came top of class with straight distinctions!)
They are all in University level education now and are doing very well, so this very laid back almost horizontal approach worked very well for them.

We know literally hundreds of home ed teens and young people who were all educated as informally as mine, and every single one of them is doing well in Uni/College/work.

Your friends schedules work for them, but make me feel quite ill just thinking of it!

Relax and enjoy! Finding what works for your family is what is important, and then do it, right up to University/Work/FE college.

Good morning and a big thank you for your replies :)

I wasn't sure what I was expecting to hear or what advice would come my way but I'm now very glad that I posted my message, much appreciated!

Saracen, you are most probably right there, there are a handful of families that home ed here and they are all working together to a timetable which just didn't work for me. It would have meant being out of the house on a daily basis for anything between 4 and 6 hours, not easy with a toddler too, not too easy pregnancy and having to come home and rush the dinner, chores etc.. It did make me feel ill to be honest and I decided that as the children are relatively close in age I'd forfeit the social interaction that they may have got being with the others. The helpful replies that I've received have made me feel ever more confident about my decision :)

Julienoshoes, really inspiring to read your reply, thank you for sharing.

So I'm now wondering....DS2 isn't reading or writing yet (knows basic phonics but would much rather discuss the solar system and draw it on a whiteboard than do anything like his older brother who finds it all fun and not at all boring) -- do I just leave it for now? How will he learn if I don't stress on its importance daily?

I feel a huge burden has been lifted from my shoulders -- it felt i should be a good day of formal work, schedules, plans and evaluation of somesort and be able to showcase the kids when necessary!

Phew! Thank you again for your replies, will be visiting regularly! :)

So I'm now wondering....DS2 isn't reading or writing yet (knows basic phonics but would much rather discuss the solar system and draw it on a whiteboard

Hmm. And you think he'll never find a use for reading and writing? Really? :o

do I just leave it for now? How will he learn if I don't stress on its importance daily?

Did you stress about "walking practice" and "speaking practice"? As you can see that he is learning, I'd be inclined to say "don't stress". My DC, HE throughout, "taught themselves". By that, I mean that I read to them and we did lots of activities involving reading and writing (cooking, lists, craft, music, etc.) but I didn't do "teaching reading".

My DD (who still doesn't "get" phonics now she is 20 and in the second year of a law degree). She started to read from about two, plateaued at five and then restarted just at the point I was starting to get uneasy. She did not start to write until about 12, when she began to write novels - we have many unfinished ones lying around.

My DS (now 17, doing OU courses and planning for uni starting 2013) didn't show any interest in reading until well after school age. I knew he could read (despite him denying it) when he was eight because I overheard a conversation when DD said "I don't know how you can be bothered with Asterix books - all those long names" and DS answered "but that's where the jokes are". At nine, he asked DD for the first Harry Potter book (by that time I had read at least the first four to them and we also had them in audio format) and read it in a week. He has not looked back since, although he tends not to read novels.

I was very laid back because DD had "done it herself" but also because he could spell from about 3 - if DD asked for a spelling, DS would jump in and provide it. He is "very good at phonics" - having never been taught. His brain is simply wired that way.

In your position, I'd be inclined to keep an eye on it but not to stress.

"How will he learn if I don't stress on its importance daily?"

That daughter I mentioned, the one who was so severely dyslexic she couldn't write or spell her name, despite all the schools efforts, hated anything to do with me stressing it's importance. She knew very well it's importance. In our society it is the key to independent learning and living. She really wanted to be able to read, every child does.....to read instructions on games, the jokes in cartoons, the written comments on a favourite TV show/film, all sorts of everything that is important to a child, is there in words and means they can't help but want to learn.

BUT...she had become so terrified (by school) of the whole aspect of being made to read, even a couple of minutes left her hysterical and distraught. She really had no reading/word attack skills at all.
So eventually we relaxed and just read words for her, or spelled them as she asked.
She is an extreme case of very severe dyslexia, but even she got there in the end. She began to 'get' reading at 14, by 15 she had begun an OU course which she successfully completed and began FE college at 16 as a normal reader and as I said, ended the level 3 course (A level equivalent apparently) with straight Distinctions and top of the class!

Your lad sounds as though he is learning loads, and is well in control of what he needs to know at this point.
And when reading becomes important enough, and he is ready, he'll learn and then fly!

I am grateful for your advice, support and input. It sheds a whole new light on things :) I wasn't very well this afternoon, went to bed. DC3 napped next to me, DC1 and 2 sat on the carpet with a box of Lego and Transformers between them and although I keep waking every time I had a comfortable snooze I managed to rest. Sometimes I feel guilty about this, or having to stick a DVD on just to have some headspace but today I felt quite different. I really needed this kind of support, just to know that I don't have to be supermum to educate my children and stress us all out :)
Thank you again. All advice is welcome at anytime!

Oooh Lego.
DD2 spent hours with Lego. I noticed one day she was making a village, so we discussed casually, what makes a good village to live in. We decided on a pub, school!, village shop/post office/village green, space to play/community centre....and that's what she built. We talked about lighting it well, but decided environmentally that wouldn't be good.

We spent some time discussing why these buildings made for good village life, and then we went on to talk about building things to scale.....
She made posters for the village fete, and signs for the pub/school/shop, and road signs to keep everyone safe.
So we had covered some English (though I spelled and wrote the words she wanted down for her), sociology, ecology, maths with a good heap of manual dexterity and old fashioned fun thrown in.....all while I was dozing resting on the sofa after a night shift.

Later she said she wanted to convert a big old van and drive around Europe (she still does) so she built a model in Lego first....then we went to the boat and caravan show and explored different models, deciding what were essential to her own design.
We talked more about scale and she went home to draw more detailed plans to fit her designs into the van.
Lots of maths and art there.....and a lovely day out....

Oooh Lego....so much education without noticing!

my DS is 6 and is just getting to grips with reading. We have only recently brought some structure into his education (at the request of his dad, we are separated but 50/50 co-parenting) I had the same worries as you and I'll tell you what put my mind at ease....

I met a wonderful group of older HE kids at a Q&A session at a festival last year. They were inspiring to listen to, engaging to talk to. They were all going on to Uni, to do a diverse range of studies. They were obviously bright, and displayed a huge thirst for knowledge. The subject of learning to read came up....some parents were unsure about how and when to teach their children to read. What to do if your child is a reluctant reader?
One girl in particular relayed her story and it greatly put my mind at ease that DS will learn to read - but he'll grasp it fully when his brain is ready to do so.
julienoshoes knows who I am talking about because she brought that inspirational girl up.

I do 20 mins a day with DS, to practice his handwriting. It's as much as he will do before he gets bored. This weekend he asked to buy a history book in a museum shop, he's sat and pored over it. I know for a fact that he's been reading some of it, because he's relayed stuff to me that he's learnt from it. I don't comment on him having read it because at the moment it suits him if I think he can't read

Hello queenrollo
That's the daughter I was talking about up thread-she'll be chuffed you called her inspirational!

The joys of Lego indeed! I do find that it opens the door for many a conversation/project. It is time well spent when we are all sat round the table, interesting to discover what each child is going to build and do :) Thanks for sharing that too.

Thanks Queenrollo!

It's really inspiring to read these posts and keeps my 'happy/confident HE mum' levels up!

Hi all - was wondering if any of you had turned to online education to help you educate your kids?

Cindy

Hi Cindy!

Yes, we use the internet quite a lot. It's especially good for dipping into subjects to learn a bit about them and find out whether you want to pursue them in more depth.

There are some good TV documentaries and other factual programmes we enjoy watching on-demand, using iPlayer etc.

We use Google when we are after miscellaneous facts, so the documentaries are often paused while we explore related topics and answer questions that have arisen. That leads to discussions about reliability of sources, which I think is an important topic for this generation.

My eldest is 12 and whenever she wants to pick up a new skill, she often turns to YouTube. She has learned how to do new hairstyles and anime drawing, perfected some songs, and helped her dad make plans to build a boat. If she is offered the chance to go along to a workshop or sign up for a series of classes, she'll often check out the topic on the internet to help her get a rough idea what it is about and decide whether she wants to go.

People on the home ed email lists will often recommend sites they enjoy. For example, my daughter and I like Vi Hart's maths videos: Someone recently recommended this excellent animation "The scale of everything": www.htwins.net/scale2/

I think that for our family, education would look very different without the internet. Not necessarily less effective, but different.

What about you; what does your family like to do online?

We use the internet quite a lot, and found it a more effective way of engaging our 6 year old because he's having a phase of wanting to use the computer a lot. For example with the reading - he was a nightmare to sit down with books so we left it but then his gran (who teaches privately and has a wealth of resources) tried him on several computer based reading courses and he fell in love with Reading Eggs.
He actually asked to go on it, rather than having to be persuaded.

He frequently will say 'can we ask google?' so our days are often punctuated by looking things up on the internet. We are careful to always combine this research by referencing from books so that he is learning how to find the information that way too. Also to back up the point Saracen makes about reliability of sources.

DS went through a phase a while ago of wanting to learn about the periodic table and was fascinated by youtube videos of people doing interesting things with mercury. Most of what we learned that afternoon has stuck in his brain and I think the online aspect of that is what really helped.

Queenrollo - you think it's just a phase ? (my 12-year old has been going through that phase for the last six years or more!).

I think DS2 (6) learnt to read on 'Club Penguin'. Books clearly played a big part in his progress, but it was the internet that finally motivated him. He lives in a house full of books (we are/have been booksellers) and I bring back armfuls of library books every couple of weeks. I read to him every night and whenever he wants in the daytime. However, after a fantastic start at reading for himself, he lost interest and refused to read anything. At around that time, he discovered Club Penguin and wanted to know what all the words were. I was too busy to help him all the time, so would sometimes say he'd have to wait until I'd finished cooking/washing up/whatever. His frustration led to him poring over the words and sounding them out. Without me really noticing what was happening, suddenly he could read!

Cindy - 'yes' is my answer to your question. DS2 plays MathsWhizz and also enjoys Club Penguin and Moshi Monsters. DS1 is addicted to a big fan of Minecraft. He often covers topics on BBC Bitesize and he uses MyMaths.com. He also uses YouTube to help him understand coding and creating mods and servers on Minecraft.

Or do you mean online schools? There are threads about this. I have looked into Interhigh and Brightschool for DS1, but am not sure how he would cope with the structure as it might be too intensive for him. I quite like knowing that that option is there for us should we need it.

smallwonder - I am very new to all this, but I have noticed already that I never follow the timetable I drew up to teach DS1. This morning, I really wanted to study English with him, rather than Maths, and we both had a really interesting discussion about the book we are reading. Then he asked if he could write a story about a 'myth' in Minecraft and I thought how silly it would be to make him do the Maths/Science I'd planned when he was enthusiastic about something equally 'educational'. He's typed up a really good story and wants to continue it tomorrow. I'm not brave enough to follow the autonomous education route that the more experienced HEdders have followed here, but I can already see how it happens.

Cindy - thread on Interhigh here. More here (includes the names of other online schools available).

Hi Cindy - not sure if it will be good for your child, but I've been using tute.on with my 6 year old. It covers Maths and English at a National Curriculum level for ages 4 - 18, so he's well covered. One thing I like about it is he had a go at doing some Key Stage 2 tests - and he could do them!!! Was great to see him enthusiastic about learning. Might be worth signing up if you want an online system to support home ed on the cheap. the website is www.tuteon.com , and for a computer numpty like me it's actually really easy to use.

Hope that helps

Thanks for all your help guys! I do find BBC Bitesite to be useful, and my child used it regularly for a while.

YummyMummy - you're not the first to recommend me this site in the last month (it must be new?). I went on the website; is £24.99 a month good value?
Sounds good value for all Maths and English on the curriculum - but like I said I'm new to all this so all feedback appreciated!