Forgive me if confused but deschooling?

[mam29]

eldest just completed year 1 and been mixed year.
she has a few freinds, is quite sensitive and found year 1 hard in some ways.

Been researching flexi schooling as really like idea teaching one day a week when sisters in nursery as in class 30 its hard to get 1 to one attention in order to progress.

The idea would be hour literacy and numeracy in morning readinga book, workbooklet for maths.

topic work in afternoon which includes

science
history
art
geography
languages.

but the way I would like to do it is make learning fun.

This summer we trying to have crash run on how we woould like it to work.

so she wants to learn more about butterflies

so we got book from libary butterflies
we will look online
thinking getting butterfly experiment seen on tv so we can watch the catterpillers turn into buttreflies and explain science /theory behind it.

visit nearby butterfly farm

let her draw and paint her favourite butterflies.

thourght this would encompass science/nature
art
also help with reading/writing comprehension.

I also said pick a country

she chose spain
so we got book from libary
will use interernet,
learning basic spanish words which is helping with her readinga s english word alongside
doing some spansih cookery
eating in spanish restuarant.
making a spanish scrapbook was going to go travel agent free brouchures
drawa map of spain
do a little spanish music
do some spanish history

so around 1 topic shes chosen herself

we do geography/history, cookery, english, language and art.

reason this appeals is find the national curriculum too prescriptive.
its the levels i object to as year 1 report they labelled from such an early age she could be late bloomer.

shes not very confident and finds some subjects hard
she said she struggles with maths/topics-reading and spelling as improved , writing could be neater.

worried about year 2 as has added pressure of sats and school would expect her too move up 3sublevels by end of year 2 to be where she needs to be-this quite frankly seems daft to me but cant change the system.

my question is keep reading about this deschooling and baffled what it really means.

dont feel brave enough to home ed fulltime as she likes some aspects of school and we like the school.

I guess everyone home eds differently but for me

would be couple structured hours in morning on

reading, writing /numeracy
topics and trips in afternoon
maybe some educational games on computer which she finds fun and hour of crafts/free play-no tv.

have visions of informal lunches with picnic in park
or maybe going down local pool and getting her to swim as feel bad dont take her often as she loves it but hard with 3kids and adult/child ratio.

im guessing reading some threads maybe im too prescriptive.

in some ways like i mentioned above it is child led as shes helping pick the topics and im helping her find out more.

I can understand a few weeks break as you may get in school

but when people say deschooling

does that mean no direction?
no structure?
no bedtime?
child litteraly doing what they want ie watching kids programmes on tv or playing non educational computer games?

If i flexi schooled would not be deschooling but simply offering a less pressured child focuses education on that day.

but am curious as keep hearing the word a lot

obviously theres adjustment where they get used to not being in school.

but how long do parents wait before they shape qand start the education they wish to give their child?

testing aside do people have list of topics /subjects to cover so that educations broader than national curriculum in school so reading, maths, humanities, english, art, science.

just as a parent using school, system i find good aspects and bad.

to home ed run with some of good stuff schools do and eliminate the bad?

I think de's hooking is a termnthwt some home educators use to describe a period of "downtime" that some parents and children need to get the structure and the negative aspects out of their systems before the new processes of home education start. I don't think there is a particular time Nything- it varies from family to family, and some families don't do it at all.

Two things leapt out at me from your post. One, a practically one, is that he sort of flexible schooling you're thinking about is not very easy to achieve- schools qnd LEAs tend to be against it. Have you asked about whether it's doable wqhere you live?

And the other point is that the day you're imagining sounds very like an ordinary day in a primary school. If you did have a day a week with your dd, I'm sure you could come up with something more imaginative and exciting!

What levels is your dd at now, and what does her teacher say about her progress? What are her predicted levels for the end of year 2?

I think that with flexi schooling you get the worst of both - the rest do not disappear into a cuboard when she is not there - they do lots of things that she misses and friendships forge ahead. One day is particularly difficult because all subjects are following on from the day before or the week before and she has missed that part or missed being part of a group. It is putting the class in a straight jacket so that you can be free e.g you think she is going in for Maths but the class was having a wonderful time on the project the day before and the teacher wants to carry on - do they stick to Maths or does the teacher have to deal with a DC who isn't doing the project.
You may miss out on HE groups because something comes up on a school day.
If you do HE you don't have to worry about deschooling etc- just do it the way you want. Have you actually looked at schools because you seem to have a lot of misconceptions - they do much of what you mention. E.g my DS chose a country - Italy in his case and they actually had a butterfly farm and watched them all go through the stages.

I also thought that the day that OP was describing sounded like a typical one at school but they have far more resources e.g is it worth buying the caterpillar eggs for one DC.

It seems to me there are two ideas behind deschooling.

One is to allow children who have had a bad time at school to recover from that. A child who has been bullied at school or who has had a rough time educationally may have low self-esteem and be too stressed to get stuck into any sort of work. Some time off, like a school holiday, can be very beneficial

The other is for both parent and child to let go of preconceptions about how education has to be done. It can be helpful to approach home education with more of a blank slate rather than carrying on directly from school. By stopping all formal educational work for a while you may notice new things about how your child learns. Then you can start introducing educational activities and watch how your daughter responds, or you can just carry on with informal learning.

So I think that perhaps deschooling wouldn't be appropriate or necessary in your case. You can't/shouldn't try to get school out of your system if your daughter is still going to be attending school four days a week.

Doing a trial run of home education in the school holidays often sounds like a good idea to the parent but may not give you a good idea of how it will work later on. Your daughter may just need a break from everything if she has found school somewhat difficult. She may be wanting and needing to have holidays now like her classmates.

You have some reservations about how well the school system is working and will work for your daughter, and it sounds like you have lots of enthusiasm and ideas for educating her yourself. Have you considered taking her out of school altogether instead of flexischooling?

I hate talking terms of levels when they this young

but thats how system is.

shes got a 1b in everything

numeracy
literacy
science
writing

the classroom assistant says thats fine shes made good progress.

shes had 8weeks extra help in smaler groups for reading which they say they cant do all time.

shes in clas of 30 and her year 1 teacher said its hard for them to get one to one as so much to fit in.

They have had a lot of homework froim day 1 in reception-more than other local schools.

so they started reqarding/phonics/sounds in reception.

in year 1 shes passed the silly phonics test.

shes level 3 for reading-think theres 10 but schools being bit vague over that.

A couple of her class have upset her by being overcompetative an saying they way above that book.

most days she seems overtired and grumpy.

shes a bit of a worrier and quite scatty short attention span.

right now shes seems more practical and loves crafts/sports/art ect.

at end of reception i was concerened she was becoming reading resistant and hated doing homework.

year 1 shes had 2-3books a week brought home
maths exercise-weekly
spelling test-weekly have whole week to earn 10word and does on friday.

i have been told some of kids doing better in reading have 1 fiction book and 1 non fiction.
been told homeworks even more in year 2 plus the dreaded sats.

the expected level they hope them to reach at end of year 2 is 2b
thats climbing 3sublevels in a year.

I know shes not masivly behind.
I always say as long as shes happy and doing her best.

did feel like one to one reading maths-1 day a week may give her boost.

aslso the topic work and educational visits in afternoon may get her more enthusiastic.

I have thourght could do extra work but shes tired as it is with all the set homework they get given. adding extra plus 5days school sounds too much.

i dont want to hot house her to be einstein.
want to give her educational breather, and one to one time to really focus on stuff shes not confident on and learn new things.

I know they do project work in school.

she did ireland in year 1.

just think they cram so much into one school day

9-3.15. if she had one home day we could go slower pace and cover less topisc in taht day but maybe go more indepth on ones she enjoys.

I do realise it could be a battle getting permission.

right now its thourght in my head.

done bit of research.

its her last year infants

just would hate to end year 2 with her sightly below again and cosnatnt playing catch up and stress of sats.

I get on very well with her headteacher
im hoping if plead my case , type up decent proposal with research and examples and even suggest term by term reveiw and work we do over summer might persuade him.

he might say no then i guess im bit stuck.
as would rather not fully home ed but would have no hesitation if she wasent happy or falling further behind every year.

we very fortunate to have loads decent museums near us including interactive science museum.

we also have zoo, safari parks not too far.

im sure i cant maybe make it more creative/exiting than average day at primary school.

Well, first of all she's not below average- she's fine.

And year 2 SATs shouldn't be stressful- it's mostly teacher assessment.

But what I think is that you seem not very clear about what you want to achieve- on the one hand you say you want to give her an educational breather, and you think they pack too much into a day at school, but on the other the day you plan seems to be more of the same, only in a way more so because it'll be one to one. You don't want more pressure from school, but you are talking about improving her levels by doing extra work at home.

I think that if you were going to push for flexible schooling ( and as I said, that's very difficult to get approval for) to do sorting completely diffent fro school based education then there is an argument for that, but i'm not convinced by just having another, more intense, one to one school day.

I'm sorry if I sound unhelpful- but you need to be very sure of what you want to do and achieve before you undertake something like this, and it seems to me that yoummight need to do a bit more thinking.

saracen-I do feel like year 1s been challanging.

her school report says although its been challanging shes tried her best.

There are many aspects of the school she attends that I love.

But year 1s been very stressful for everyone school included.

A not so good ofsted,not so good sats.
not the be all and end but very much focussed on

huge clampdown on attendance and lateness.
my eldest not an early morning person. no sense urgency mornings can be farught and stressful with baby and toddler in tow also.

plus problems in finding

is every evening after school/tea we do homework

i want her to have time to chill watch tv,play in garden,have hobbies.

seh does rainbows and gymnastics and loves them both.

we have odd playdate so freind over for tea.

i like a 7pm bedtime as she very tired by then.

sometimes after school manic as tea and toddler tantrum plus baby to contend with. hubby does long unsocial hours so evenings and weekends.

so idea of one set day when toddlers in preschool with give my 6year old lot more one to one time as babys quite easy.

my toddler does one whole day at nursey and starts 3sessions at preschool in sept.
baby will start one day nursery from jan.

so hopefully new academic year my time be better managed and the juggling a bit easier.

its not even idea I concieved untiL few weeks ago

when people i know discussed homeschool

i was admit bit anti:(
but more research I done can see its merits

however at this moment in time with 2young kids 20months apart and no childcare help from family dont feel fulltime homeschool be for me.

if she was very unhappy or being bullied i would consider it.
but shes happy at the school, has freinds
shes just a little bit behind others in her class and not confident in some things.

shes also much more aware of what other peoples levels are.

from what i read about flexi schooling it seems quite positive.

one thing that gives me slight hope is girl in year above

does 1 day out in foreign language school as shes french
do you think that classed as flexi schooling as its her native language.

In year 1 I havent been pushy parent apart from the 2parents evenings and report not had discussion with school as entrusted they do right by her.

just I can see shes found leap from reception early years to key stage 1 nc quite challanging.

seeker I feel 1bs good but school website says its below.
it seems some schools strive for 1a and some 1b very confusing
the school website where your childs at says 1 b below.

her readings much better than her maths so kind of baffled why same for both with no real explanation why still dont feel any the wiser.

I take on board some of your points,

im still very much at thinking research stage
as its quite uncommon and most against the concept flexi schooling
so yes I have to be sure , get hubby to agree and put in convicing argument /proposal for it.

i guess im concerned if im too out there or move too far away from national curriculum then they may say know as would disadvantage her progress on national curriculum levels.

like i say its not really about the flipping levels its about makeing learning fun and building up her confidence.

I even looked at local forest schools.

came to home ed board and looked up articles and blogs as flexi schooling quite rare it seems unless you guardian reader and live in london have child called satch and take him on educational trip to new york

im quite down to earth normal would like to think.

when she started school and I picked a school i had set ideas of what i thourght it would be like.

I remember looking and thinking how handy ofsted and sats results were.

now 2years into the system i feel theres too much pressure and testing.

I think that you have to be quite sure what you want before you do anything-a lot of it seems contradictory. You also need the long term plan-is the HE for ever or is the plan to get back at secondary level?

I don't think that flexi school is the answer unless you have a hugely confident and popular DC and a very bright one. (or one who can't medically cope with full time).

I am not familiar with flexi schooling as there are no schools in our area openly offering this, and I don't know any families doing this. However, the little I have heard about suggested that even if the school did agree there could be problems with them not covering everything they needed to. As the dc were still in the system schools were less trusting of parents abilities to teach. Wheras with H.ed a dc is out of the system and education is solely the responsibility of the parents

You have to get a school to agree to flexi schooling, it is up to the Head.