The one thing that saddens me most...

[Colleger]

Is when my friends say they couldn't bare having the kids around them all day.

I don't deny that my boys can do my head in at times but what I do know is that I'm less patient and loving with them whenever they've not been around for a while and they come back. My friends talk as if they shouldn't have their kids at home, that they should give birth and then send them away for over half of their waking day once they hit four, or sometimes before. Yes, some parents have no choice but to say they can't bare it and it would drive them nuts to have them at home just seems so wrong. :(

In just over 100 years we have taught parents that we shouldn't tolerate our children being around us for more than a few waking hours each day. :(

[exoticfruits]

Of course HE is- no one said it wasn't. It isn't a competition. Do what suits you and next time don't bother feeling sorry for people!

[morethanpotatoprints]

Exotic, no the point was education if you read the post.
Chub was implying that 2 hours a day was not enough to H.ed a child and ime somebody who is actually doing this, it most certainly is.
My dd learnt how to wait her turn long before school, all social skills were learned at home as were my other dcs. As she grows up she learns more but we don't need a school for this. I can't see what dd misses from school yet, certainly haven't found anything obvious. So what else she needs i don't know maybe you can tell us all so we all know what we are missing, lol

[Colleger]

Er, I didn't. Not sure how you've concluded that as you know nothing about what I perceive!

[Chubfuddler]

That's fine. No one suggested it isn't. I was attracted to this thread as I was intrigued to know what was so "sad" and was mildly pissed off to find it was something not remotely sad, just not as perfect patenting as the op perceived her own to be.

[Colleger]

And so is home ed...

[exoticfruits]

I think that you are missing the point that the DC gets a lot from all the things you have mentioned! School is about so much more than the academic side.

[Chubfuddler]

There are 14 children in his class. But apart from that I don't see any problem with learning to wait his turn because the teacher is busy. In fact I think that is v important.

As I said, the entirely unstructured nature of home ending is no doubt the attraction for those that do it. That doesn't make it suitable for all, nor am I delusional about what goes on in a classroom. I did spend 14 years at school myself after all.

[morethanpotatoprints]

Your ds will spend the majority of his time in a classroom with maybe 29 other children, a teacher, possibly a T.A if you are lucky. by the time you can take off for settling the class, teacher gaining attention, play times, P.E designing/making things, Roll play, assemblies, and maybe more activities the amount of academic learning is minimal. There is nothing wrong with this but it is no more than a few hours of H.ed tbh.

[Chubfuddler]

It depends what you mean by educational. He certainly doesn't spend 30 hours staring at a text book. I don't think I suggested he did.

[morethanpotatoprints]

chub

Perhaps you shouldn't delude yourself about the 30+ hours at school being educational. I wonder how many teachers and classroom situations you have observed. You clearly don't think your situation lends itself to H.ed but don't think H.ed kids come worse off than schooled kids. At the end of the day its down to the dcs. It was certainly an adequate education for those who went to Oxford, other uni's, college, gained igcse's, A levels. I think you need to rethink your last post or do some more homework on the subject tbh.

[Chubfuddler]

Well I don't think two hours per day is anything like adequate. And the types of activities I read of home eders suggesting as educational are things I do with DS in addition to the 30+ hours he spends at school. As I say, this is a moot argument.

[morethanpotatoprints]

Chub.
I have read posts from established H.ed parents who manage it. Sometimes its parents who work part time, shifts, all sorts of hours. Also there is no need to do formal education between the hours of 9 and 3 as dc don't get this at school. I think it worked out at 1hr 30 per week each for maths and English. I know that all work done doesn't exceed 2 hours a day. So if you are doing the equivalent at home on a 1 to 1 basis the dc are getting more time than at school.

[Chubfuddler]

I do not believe anyone can home ed a five year old and have two working parents. I simply refuse to believe that is possible.

[morethanpotatoprints]

Pictish

Do your dc not have any ambitions then? No interests outside academic learning? You see the fact that dd was so ambitious was the reason we agreed to H.ed. It was getting to the point where she was missing alot of school and I was afraid she would miss something important. Funny thing is most of the activities during school time were managed by the LEA.

[crackcrackcrak]

My experience of he families, which is by no means representative, is a bit .
Actually I know one family having a great time he short term because the local school is awful and they weren't surecwhat. Else to do for eldest reception year.
One parent I know is hell bent on he her ds 'so no one else can influence him' which alarms me a bit.
The other parent I know has exactly the same motivation and alarms me more but more so because she has changed her dd's first name and done some other pretty odd things lately.

[Colleger]

Well I would be thrilled if DC gave up music so we could focus on going around the world!

[pictish]

Oh she enjoys Time Team? You should have said! After she has finished touring with the Royal National Orchestra, she can be a historian. Probably a famous one at that! Her ecstacy will never end!!

Or something anyway.

[morethanpotatoprints]

Seeker.

She will decide to do something else, maybe dancing, comedy, as this is what she enjoys alongside music.
She enjoys history so might find something in this field. She asks to go on a dig and enjoys time team.
I'm not sure really, she's only 8.
She realises she needs a good basic education if she wants to go to college or uni and apart from maths is enthusiastic with all subjects.
I would be surprised if she changed her mind as she is very determined and I said the exact same thing at her age, but for me it was entertainment.
I never changed my mind neither.

[ChazsBrilliantAttitude]

There is no one right answer for any family. For some families HE is exactly the right choice and for some children school is exactly the right choice.

[morethanpotatoprints]

Chub

We are all different, I am a sahm but know of many H.ed parents who work as well, not losing an income.
H.ed works really well for some families and wouldn't be good for others. I personally don't feel that a one fit all education should apply whatever the setting.
I also think there are many ill informed responses from people who don't want to H.ed which is fine if thats what you want to believe. However, when it is my particular circumstance which is questioned, criticised or wrongly assumed I feel inclined to set the record straight. I definitely don't think I am better than a parent who chooses school. But I am a better parent for my dd by allowing her to be H.ed

[seeker]

What happens if she doesn't make it as a musician?

[morethanpotatoprints]

Seeker.

Sorry cross post there. She is really happy and mostly greets each day so enthusiastically, much more than her school days. She loves the fact that she can do music all morning if she wants to and we do so many activities together. She isn't as tired anymore and her concontration has improved and she now feels as though she is in a position to reach her goals and ambition. I'm not sure how much you know of our story but we have 2 much older dc who went through the system and were not the same type of character as dd. They were not interested in music but we encouraged them in sport, their chosen activities. They are now 17 and 21. DD watches any programme on music, listens constsntly, loves opera even though nobody in the family does and announced at 3 years old she was going to be a musician. These were practically her first words

[Chubfuddler]

That's great. But the cost of making my son ecstatic, assuming he would be if he was home educated, would be to make me really quite miserable and to reduce out household income by a good 30%. Im afraid I don't value his ecstasy over my mental health or the family finances.

[exoticfruits]

Great for you and your DD-as I keep saying 'we are all different'.

[morethanpotatoprints]

Exotic.

On the contrary, we can all kid ourselves we are happy or even have a perceived idea we are happy drifting along in our usual way because it is expected, until we experience something that really makes us realise how content, stress free, fullfilling, and happy our lives are. In our family H.ed has been such a positive move for all concerned but especially dd. If she was happy before then she is exststic now.