Has anyone started their own school or network of home educators?

[inadreamworld]

I would be interested to hear of any experiences people have had in starting their own school or network of home educators.

DH and I are both teachers and have considered doing this ourselves however I am sure there is a lot of red tape involved.

I know this is not strictly a home ed topic however I thought I would receive the most helpful replies from those who have opted out of the school system. Having taught in the school system myself, I am seriously considering educating our girls at home (they are aged 2 and 6 months so I have a while to think about it).

home educators tend to dot in and out of different networks - some specifically of HEers and some not - as the needs of their children shift. I don't think you'd find that many people interested in setting up formal arrangements to be honest. It all tends to be much more ad hoc.

I mean, if there is no local network of HEers of any kind where you are, then a yahoo group for people to pool ideas is a great plan, but that's all that's really needed tbh. I've seen attempts at post websites come and go but, in the end, what people really want is just a yahoo group where they can offer/ask for skills swaps, or advertise horse-riding sessions they've managed to set up for HEers, or find out if enough people want to do Spanish for it to be viable to get a class set up. that sort of thing :-)

Ommmward is right. I'd start by finding out what's in your area already - you may well find there are yahoo or google groups where people list activities. I've been involved in starting up a couple of home ed groups, because at the time there wasn't much going on in the area. It's not that hard. You maybe put a message out on the local yahoo group to see if there's interest, perhaps find a local venue, like a scout hut and set a date and see who turns up. There's not really much red tape - in our groups we say the parents/carers remain responsible for their own children.

Home ed group meetings can be very informal and just a chance for children and parents to socialise or you can get speakers in, hire tutors and share the cost, organise science/craft/sports activities. In our various local groups lots of different sports are available, organised by home edders who have got together; climbing, tennis, football, table tennis, fencing, horse-riding etc. There are languages taught, history, drama, maths, English, science, first aid, sign language, I.T. - almost any subject you can think of.

I was worried that the children would miss out on certain things as a result of being out of school, but through getting together with other home edders, they've done sports days, Christmas plays, concerts, Christmas parties, residential activity trips.

I'd definitely recommend trying to find a local meet up and going along to chat to home edders - I found it really useful to talk to people about their different approaches to home ed and also to see their children.

Thanks both of you for really useful advice. I will look up what's going on in my local area. It seems as if more and more people are looking outside the mainstream when deciding on education for their children.

"through getting together with other home edders, they've done sports days, Christmas plays, concerts, Christmas parties, residential activity trips. "

I agree, having schooled one right through and home educated three, there is nothing at all our HE children have missed out on.....and LOADS of extra things they have done that schooled children simply don't have time for.