Thinking of home schooling ...

[SlothsAreNotSoLazy]

Hiya,

I'm a mum of 4.

My eldest 2 boys have attended primary school since reception. They both previously went to our local surestart 5 mornings which was fab, we opted to keep them there throughout nursery as we wanted to 'put off' school for as long as possible.

My eldest is 7, in year 2 and extremely capable but finds school such a chore and we find it hard to encourage him when we disagree with the sytem ourselves! (hours sat down at school, piles of homework, spelling tests and exams!)

Our 2nd son is 5 and in year one. He is less academic but the sweetest little lad ever and so creative and free and I'm dreading that being squashed.

Our other 'big' issue is religion, in that we sent them knowingly to a catholic school because it was the best option we had but as closet athiests (as far as the school is concerned) we just cannot abide the overwhelming religious connotations pushed into every lesson.

My husband is not sure about HE, i suppose its confidence and the times when we struggle with the boys behaviour .... but I can't help wondering if the negative behaviour is connected to thm being at school?!

The more I look into it, the more I want to do it.

But lack of confidence and self assurance are holding me back.

People have always said we are 'different' in our approaches to our children, all but the eldest were born at home and I want to do what is best for them.

I can't stop thinking 'You only get to help them through childhood once!!' but I don't know if that is encouraging me or stopping me as I dont want to take them out of school to find ive donr the wrong thing!

I'm in South Manchester.

Hi there.

When you say you are "different" - how do you mean (being nosy)

If you take them out of school and it doesn't work, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from going back to school again.

I just mean we don't automatically go down the assumed route with them. We don't do anything spcial but don't always agree with what most people see as 'normal'

My honest opinion is that you should go for it. As Cheermum says the LA will have to find you a school if it didn't work out.
As a friend of mine says, we so very often hear of parents say I wish I'd taken them out of school much earlier (or never sent them), I've never heard any HE families say they wished they had sent them to school earlier!

Find your local home ed group-'MADCOW' in Manchester is very active-I'll go ask my friend who runs it, how best to get in touch.
Go along with your DH and chat to other local home educators and talk to the children and young people, and find out how it works for them.

"Free Range Education: How Home Education Works" is a book sometimes recommended to help family members to see how home education works, quite easy to read, it has 20 chapters written by different families, explaining how home education works for them. It might give you more insight.

"This is a superb book. It is informative, entertaining, down-to-earth and above all, honest. It mixes facts, figures and statistics with front-line experiences. All types and styles of home-educating are covered, there are scores of pointers to other sources of information and it is quite refreshingly not one-sided - we hear of the pitfalls as well as the joys. I have read many excellent books on home-educating and this one puts them all in a nutshell and comes across as the most human of the lot. Put simply, this should be the first choice for any prospective home-educator."

I think you should go for it too.

I considered it a few years ago as ds1 wasn't offered a school place but he eventually got a place on appeal and part of me was disappointed. Ds thrives on school, it has been the making of him so it would be unfair to take him out. Ds2 hasn't started yet, if I ever thought that it wasn't working and we had the opportunity I would consider HE.

It sounds as if your boys aren't loving their experience of school so far and you sound very keen so there is no harm in going for it. You can always put them back in school later if needs be.

SlothsAreNotSoLazy I've spoken to my friend. The MADCOW (Manchester HE) group is a closed group, so you'll need an invite. If you send me a private message with your contact email addy, I can forward it to my friend and she'll send you an invite.

Hello, I am in S.Manchester and started home edding last Sept. DS is 6 and would be in Year 1. It is great! There are plenty of activities and you can join SHEP and Madcows for info on what's on (you get a daily email). Feel free to PM me if you want more info, or even if you want to meet up with the kids so they can have a play while we chat. Someone did this for me whilst I was in the early stages (she's been home edding for about 20 years) and it really put my mind at rest so am happy to 'pass it on' so to speak!

Hi, im about to start home schooling and could do with joining some groups, any help appreciated

You'll find all the local groups on facebook nowadays.

Search for "home education" with your county, then try with your nearest big city, sometimes even your nearest town. Send a join request, and then watch your "other" message box on facebook because usually the admins write to you and say "why do you want to join?" and you just have to say you are thinking of HE and aren't a journalist or a LA education welfare officer wanting to have a nosy around or anything :-)

HI there, I home educate my 5 children ages 13, 10, 8, 5 & 2. They've never been to school. When I started years ago there weren't many home edders around but now there is so much available to us. I started a blog which has been added to Home ed UK if you want to check out theworldistheirclassroom.blogspot.com or you can follow our journey on instagram @ theworldistheirclassroom my advice would be to remember it's not 'school at home' so they do not have to be sat with paper and pencil. Just follow their interests and grab any learning opportunities that arise. Hope all goes well for you all.