An apology and a request for encouragement...

[NumptyNameChange]

I have stated with utter conviction at least a few times on mumsnet, and most recently on the ongoing thread about fines for term time holidays, that homeschooling is not an option for me as a single parent. I was convinced of that as entirely as I would be of the difference between black and white.

It has suddenly occurred to me that actually yes, there possibly ARE ways I could do it that may not be obvious or without complications but are not unattainable necessarily.

So this is partly an apology and partly a big ask for help and encouragement.

It is such a HUGE idea to actually say NO, I won't let you have my son and put him through this whole machine that every instinct in me rejects despite being a teacher myself, and actually maybe i COULD give him something better that didn't leave him screwed or me screwed or us living in the gutter. But there is so much convention and opinion and resistance that it would be easy to lose sight of this or not garner the confidence and conviction to go through with it.

Any encouragement or wisdom would be massively appreciated.

For a little background my son is nearly seven, in year 2 at a village primary and has no SEN or relevant issues. I am a secondary school teacher of Religious Studies and I work three days a week in term time (so obviously some issues to work out there in terms of childcare, affordability etc but suddenly I'm open to the idea that those ideas are potentially not insurmountable and given some of the things i've read on the thread i mentioned before may well be worth surmounting even if it means sacrifice and challenge and massive going against the tide).

thanks madmomma. i definitely agree that a school's reputation can be massively off base. i'm really glad your dd has found such a lovely school.

my ds is very gregarious too which is why i sent him to school and reception was lovely for him. year one was a drag and he seemed to be learning nothing in school and becoming disheartened, year two more of the same and even more mindless homework that was totally undifferentiated and lacking in any clear objectives or outcomes. i'm not anti all school - i personally had a good primary experience with very creative and liberated teachers who could happily just facilitate the learning of a very able child and free them up to learn at their own pace and thrive rather than worry about ticking boxes. i had poetry published when i was 11 thanks to a teacher there who submitted it off her own back to a publisher of children's verse. they took really good care of me and provided a massive relief from the stress of home.

ds isn't having an awful time at school or particularly bad experiences. i just don't see any real learning taking place for two years now, he's going through the motions doing the national average type work and learning which for him represents standing still. they are doing, for example, weekly maths tests that are presumably prep for levels at sats. he does the same test four weeks in a row getting 15 out of 15 every single time then they move him to the next one which is only marginally more challenging and make him do that five times. the tests so far have been on the ten times table and then the five times table and then wow a mixture of ten and five times table questions. fine if children aren't able to do those things but bother to notice that he is working way above that level and actually bloody challenge him so the poor sod doesn't get bored to death or, as happens to a lot of able children, get to a point where they don't know how to cope with challenge anymore and get so used to cruising along that when they get to a point that is challenging (sometimes not for years but it will come) they don't know how to stretch anymore because they assumed it either comes naturally or can't be done.

Yeah that sounds shit. Dd1 isn't particularly academic, which is kind of easier in some respects.
With the younger two I'm dreading the whole 'sound it out' shite. Don't know how to spell a word? 'sound it out' then. No. Teach the fucking spelling.