Support thread for new home educators

[ToffeeWhirl]

There seem to be a lot of us around at the moment, so I thought it might help us all to have a place where we can swap ideas, chivvy each other along on the bad days and cheer for each other on the good days.

I have two boys, the oldest is 12 and is just starting out in home education. My youngest is 6 and is still at school. Fortunately for me, he has just told me he's missing school and looking forward to going back .

We have had a good summer, with lots of dog walking, excursions, get-togethers with friends and family and minimal rules on television watching and computers. I have had a lovely time ordering books for our home ed library (failed to reign myself in on this ) and planning what we are going to study .

The plan at the moment is for DS1 to do a bit of Science, Maths and English every morning. He has a tutor for English once a week and we are going to get him a Maths tutor too. We will spend the rest of the time doing projects, reading together, practising handwriting, art, etc etc. Fridays are going to be 'free' days for informal learning, such as excursions.

I have been in touch with the local HE groups and we are planning to meet up with other HE families.

I'm spending some time today organising everything - plans, timetables, files, folders, lapbooks, etc. We have a visit from the LEA next Thursday, which gives me a good deadline to work towards.

I would love to hear how the rest of you newbies are getting on. And words of wisdom from the more experienced home educators are very welcome too!

I just felt the other primary taught more informally and hands on style how I would choose to teach at home.

But if cant persuade hubby then its a no no.
havent mentioned it to dd,.

shes happy and settled where she is in terms of freindships.
the grounds ,facilities nice its certainly convieniant.

just lack confidence in them these days and have nagging doubts over picking the wrong school.

its last year infants I know the sats only for teachers benefit but do worry about outcome if she ends school year behind again

Been researching numicon and cuisinere rods and think might purchase both and use on weekend or to help with maths homework as dd is more visual, practical and hands on.

I think could help dd but current school not pro maths aids.

Mam.

What particular reason might your dh not be in agreement? I ask, as mine wasn't at first and now he is finding so many positives, that when he voices them I have to make a huge effort not to say "I told you so". The first time I mentioned the idea to him it was so funny. He asked if I'd lost my marbles/ leave of senses etc.
I can see why you lack confidence in schools after reading your posts, and I really feel for you. If you want to use the aids I think you should, as whether school like it or not, she's your dd. I know I used to do things and wasn't sure if the school liked it or not. But I'm a terrible rebel.

Mam, with a go-the-extra-mile mother like you, your DD is going to be just fine. I think those of us whose parents made poor choices often agonise about the implications of every decision we make about our DC, meaning that we were anxious children and are now anxious parents, but our kids do benefit.

Agree with morethan that you should use study aids if you like, from what I see at work they are beneficial.

Toffee, your house sounds like mine!

mam - if she's happy and settled and the grounds and facilities are good, those are major pluses. I sympathise with your frustration though.

TBex - all my energy and time goes into home ed now and there's not much left over for housework. It shows! DH and I agreed we should have an 'INSET' day and spend the day decluttering.

morethan - my DH was against home ed too, at first. It takes a huge shift of attitude to accept it if you don't know anything about it.

Well, both DSs tried out EducationCity and neither of them liked it. DS1 thought it was a silly name, as that in itself put him off (there's an indicator of his view of 'education' ).

On Friday, DS1 spent most of his time devising a logo for a website. He then sent it off to the moderator and was incredibly chuffed when he received a complimentary reply. He started work straight away on another one. It was lovely to see him so engaged in his project. He was using paint.net and when he didn't know how to do something, he looked it up on YouTube and learnt from other people's instructions.

I spent yesterday evening working out a scheme of work centred on 'Shadow', the Morpurgo book we've just finished reading together. I realised we can cover all sorts of subjects using that book - English language and literature; religion; geography (tracing the journey of the main characters from Afghanistan to the UK); human rights (asylum seekers); history (war in Afghanistan); current affairs (what is happening now), etc.

DS1 has his first Maths lesson from a tutor on Monday.

First Maths lesson went really well . Phew.

Great news toffee.

Our move is sorted! Put a deposit on a rental house this morning. Removers provisionally booked.

LA are being ridiculous over a school place for DS. they won't tell me until after we've moved where the places are. Schools are not allowed to talk to me directly about admissions.

After our move when I should be unpacking I have to then view schools, apply, wait two weeks for an offer and then another week for the acceptance. This leads into the Christmas holidays so all in all DS will be out of school for almost 7 weeks.

I haven't told them I'm home edding Dd but grrrrrrr!

Hello Helen

Glad you have found somewhere, even though it means a drag with the school system. When we moved we were given all the details about local schools. Have you called them directly as I found the schools more helpful than the LEA, and I don't understand why they can't talk to you directly.Some even sent out info by post. Obviously we weren't allowed to register until the move but thats fair enough.It seems a weird LEA, or maybe its a southern thing (joke).
Being positive, 7 weeks may go quite quickly and at leasrt up till xmas you can have some nice themes and topics to do, and crafts will be sparkly and colourful.

Helen - that's great news about the house! Not such good news about the school situation though. It does seem ridiculous. How do you feel about having two DC to home educate?

morethan - I have only just started thinking about Christmas and hadn't thought of all the nice Christmassy stuff we can do together .

DS1 and I did some geography today by tracing the journey of the characters from 'Shadow'. We followed the trail across a world map and looked at images on Google Earth. DS1 wasn't very interested and he kept losing focus, which meant I ended up doing most of the work. It made me feel a bit downcast as I wondered if DS1 was actually learning anything with me. However, DS1 told me that his concentration was actually better with me than it had been at school. I don't know how the teachers coped...

You ladies (men?) can certainly write!

Sorry I've not been around. I'm loving HE. Well, I'm loving having my son around all the time. Each day is different, some days we achieve a little and other days we don't seem to achieve much. I've decided that if we start anything more structured it will now be after Christmas.

Hi Colleger.

Ditto. We are having a good time and with all this rain certainly not missing the trek to school and getting soaked. I know its selfish but I'm looking forward to winter, snow and sledging in our park. Its near enough our back garden.
We have slowed down with the academic stuff, partly due to the lack of confidence of dd with maths and English and also time constraints. We're still not getting through nearly enough. The music practice is brilliant though and she justs gets on with it as part of her routine now, and it takes up most if not all of the morning. After lunch theres not alot of time for much more, and with little auditions and concerts coming up she's in her element.

Glad you are enjoying H.ed and so glad your ds is practising, It really saddens me when I see talent going to waste. How did he go on with the Orchestra, and is it the one that has the summer school course and no weekly rehearsals? I'm sure you know the one I mean. I was surprised when I looked into it and had presumed they all rehearsed every week and did concerts etc.

I've cut practice from 2 to 1 hour on bassoon and he seems much happier to do it. He's given up an orchestra he feels is too basic and sticking with the challenging ones and this has surprised me. Currently he's only at one orchestra a week which isn't enough but I'm not pushing for JD and I also enjoy having my Saturdays free. We'll see how things go. I'd rather take our foot off for a short while than him decide it was all too much and stop.

Have just heard that there's a new home ed group starting up in my town soon. Just what I wanted! Am really hoping I can drag encourage DS1 to go. It would be good for both of us to meet other home educators.

I have just seen this thread, is it ok if I join you ?

My ds is 6.5 and really struggled at school with anger issues and low self esteem so we removed him half way through the summer term last year. He is doing so much better both with his self esteem and with his reading/writing.

I would love to share tips and advice with you all.

Welcome to the thread, englishpigdog . We are all new and finding our way here. It helps to have others to share these early days with.

It's great to hear that you son is doing so much better now he's out of school. That was a brave decision - I know how difficult it is to go against the assumption that children will go to school (my son is 12 and we deregistered in July, so it took us a bit longer ). Are you enjoying home educating your DS? What sort of things do you do together?

DS1 has ended up having a day off formal work today. I had to meet friends this morning, so left him playing on the computer. Then he had to come into the nearest town with DH and me so I could keep an appointment at the hospital. DH took him bowling whilst I was busy. It is always an achievement to get DS out, so we were proud of him for coming with us.

Can I join please?

We've got a place at the school of our dreams, just at the top of the road, fantastic environment, caring, and supportive. And yet...I still want to home ed. I wish I'd had the guts to just do it (DH's support is not 100% though); and now DD has been in school for two weeks, and I'm totally unhappy about our choice.

How do I know, how did YOU know, what was best for your DC? I'm in a total quandary. My heart has always told me that children are too young to be in full time education at 4/5. DD is doing 1/2 days but we have pressure to do full days and I don't want her coming home exhausted, just wanting to slump in front of tv etc.

I want a vibrant, full, fulfilling education for her, that I can share her journey with to an extent, not feel excluded from, at this very young age.

Am I talking selfish twaddle? Driving myself mad.

LittleMcF, your post sounds like it was written by me 4 years ago (even down to the school of your dreams at the top of the road) when DD1 started school and was coming home exhausted. I too knew that 4 is too young and sent her for half days - it was a gut instinct that she would be better being HEd, but it took 4 loooooong years before I acted on it and I regret it bitterly. I have my chirpy, energetic, affectionate little girl back instead of the negative, moody, listless teenager-in-waiting I wrangled with for years.

I finally made my decision after becoming a teaching assistant (initially supply, then at her school where I still work part-time) and seeing the unbelievable amount of time that is wasted during the school day, the boredom/bewilderment/resignation of the pupils and the impossibility of teaching large groups of children of wildly different abilities and attitudes.

I have two other daughters in school and pre-school, but I hope that they will be HEd after Christmas - we're only a month in and DH is already convinced, having been very doubtful.

EnglishPigDog, at your name. Reminds me of my brother's war comics!

A good day for us. Latin tutor and then spending five hours with a home ed group which consisted mainly of boys from 11-18. Off to music theory and choir soon. Having to slot in a small amount of music practice today - not as much as needed but tomorrow is another day...

Little - my experience was very different from yours. I knew for sure only when we'd tried school for many years for DS, although I had nagging doubts for a long time beforehand. I had no experience of home ed, so it's been a steep learning curve for me. It sounds to me as if you know already what you really want to do and it's just a matter of getting DH on your side.

Is your DD enjoying the new school?

TBex - interesting to hear your insiders' view of school.

Colleger - sounds like a great day. Is this a new home ed group you are going to? Five hours is a long time - it must have been good!

It's a drop off group so even better! :D

LittleMcF

Hello pleased you found this thread, a few people including myself didn't find it easy.
I don't think you can be certain that H.ed will be right for your dc, I think you just need to consider all the issues you can think of, and try and cover all eventualities. I think it is also more clear cut if there is a particular/ outstanding problem that really gives you no other choice. This wasn't the case for us, I did research, talked to dh, then dd and 4 months later she left school. You have very good reasons to H.ed of course that isn't selfish, because you have your dds best interests at heart. Our dd was also exhausted and missing out or we were having to make decisions to stop activities she so dearly wanted to continue. I don't think it gets easier as they get older as my dd is 8. I think you should get facts/ theories for your dh, they tend to like these imo/e. Also do some research and be sure its for you and dd, then I'd say go for it. You can always reregister if you change your mind.

I think I'm turning into a whacky hippy! It was confirmed yesterday when I drove past a banner with an open day for a school and the world "school" seemed like such a dirty word and screamed oppression to me!

Colleger - well done on finding a drop-off group .

Took DS1 on an introductory visit to a farm today. We had such a good time . DS1 climbed into the pig pen and fed and brushed them, threw grain for the hens and collected the eggs, fed the sheep and groomed a horse. He seemed to be enjoying it all and I really hope he'll want to go again. We certainly do! Grooming the horse was one of the most relaxing things I have done for a long time.

Apart from that, we have done very little today. DS1's hand is still hurting him, so he can't write . Plus I have little DS here today, thanks to a croupy cough.

Found a great website for making your own comic strip, by the way (DS1 is making a comic strip to show the characters journey in 'Shadow'). It's called Pixton.

Hope everyone is getting on ok.

Hello again :)

Everything is going ok here but does anyone else find that they seem to remember very little from their school days? Sometimes it feels like I am learning it all over again I quite often have trouble organising lessons too. The links on here are great. Here is one I found today that might be useful for someone else too: www.planet-science.com

We have a home ed group that meets fairly near us but DD is not that keen on trying it. She seems to be becoming even more socially awkward around others if that is possible. Sometimes I wonder if home ed is making it worse (we think she has aspergers). It's not as though she was a social whirlwind in school though. Maybe I just worry too much...

Things are still ok here. I've switched things round a bit. We're doing more English as that's what she needs. I'm being a bit more relaxed about the humanities.

DS is going to join the HE experiment after half term.

Intersat- yes, I have forgotten most of what I learnt from school too. Thanks for that link - it's really useful (has a good bit on cells that I might use with DS1). DS1 is not keen on attending groups either. He wasn't even sure about going back to the farm, even though he'd obviously enjoyed it. Finally, I suggested that we pay him a small "salary" for going once a week. He has now agreed to go - funny, that!

DS1 is very antisocial too. He finds groups of people incredibly stressful. I really want him to attend the local HE group, but I know it's the last thing he'd want to do.

Helen - glad HE is still going well. I'm sure DS will settle into it quickly too.

It's DS1's 13th birthday tomorrow. I can't believe I am the mother of a teenager. Makes me feel very old!