Help needed for mummy hoping to home school

[Luckymetwins]

Hi only just found this thread having been on MN a while but so glad I did.
I really want to home school my twin boys but friends and family think I'm mad, I'm sure many of you have come across this yourselves, so feel I really need to know my stuff.

I have no clue as to where I start with this they don't go to school until Sept 2009 but I need to get things sorted and know what I have to do and when before hand to see if it's something I can do long term.

Can someone please tell me how I go about getting started, do I have to ask permission (of sorts) to be able to do this?, who needs to be told that I'm not sending them to local school.
Are there books etc you can study from to replicate what they would be doing in main stream schooling?

Also do they get tested through out with exams to tell if they are learing the right things and are doing o.k for there age etc.

Any great site I can look at that others have found helpful?

Also I'm not that hot on English, very pratical but my English grammer is not great will this hold us back or is it o.k not be a brain box?

TM

Our DS has just turned 2 so I guess we are in similar positions. I started looking at HE a few months ago after noticing that a few people I know on other forums HE their children & was curious. After a lot of reading I realised that it was the obvious thing to do for our family and DH agreed so I am like you trying to figure out how to go about doing it.

You dont have to inform anyone or ask permisssion if you start HE from the word go, as long as your LOs arent registered at a school. You also dont need to replicate anything they do in school, so no national curriculum etc. As long as the education is appropriate to your childrens age ability & aptitude & allows them to find their place in society then anything goes! Exams arent compulsory either. The best I would recommend is read, read & read as much as you can & find some local HE groups. There is loads of help out there from organisations, websites, local groups, books etc. My links list on my pc is huge! These might be helpful for you:
EO
Free-range education
Freedom in Education
link{http://www.home-education.org.uk/Home Education UK
Home Education Information UK
John Holt Information [highly recommend his books!]
Muddlepuddle
Schoolhouse

That should be enough to keep you going for a while! I have a small list of discussion groups as well (mainly yahoo ones) although tbh, most of them are linked to some of the above sites.

Where abouts in the country are you btw?

Wow thanks thats a lot to get my teeth into, I didn't realise you just "did it", so there is no one checking up on you then?
I have seen a lot in the papers etc about children not attending school and the parents getting in trouble for this , how do you go about getting around this as I would want to take my children out and about and would hate to get stopped or in trouble (hope that makes sense)

Having grown up going to school and eveyone I know doing the same it seems very odd that you just don't send them without informing someone of your plans, and they leave you to get on with it.
I assume you can take exams etc if you want, but do you have to pay for these yourself do you know? I was hoping I could work with the local school for thoses sorts of things and also to help we know what I should be teaching them at what stage but early days yet and will have to look into this.

Will have a good read through of the website links you have posted and see if I can get my head around it.
I'm fine about the early yrs but worry more about 11+ yrs and will I be able to teach them all they need to know.

We live in the Bristol area, and it's really not about the schools here, although bulling does worry me, it's more about how they will change as people, I know you can't wrapped them up from the world but I can (hopefully) give them a really good start and keep the wonderful confidence and spirt intacted.
I have always felt I have learnt more from doing things and the hands on approch to life rather than what I have read about in books.

Where abouts are you? Have you found there to be many good support groups for HE?

I would get reading and stop worrying

I loved the books Free range education by Terry Dowty

anything by John Holt

Educating children at home / Alan Thomas

and Doing it Their way / Jan Fortune Wood

Luckymetwins.
I agree with FaZ I de-registered my 7 yr old dd in July so we are complete newbies to HE. I only started looking into it in June though! But after all the stuff I read: John Holt, (a revelation!) Free Range Education and I joined Education Otherwise and HEAS, there quickly became little doubt that it was the right thing!

Your little ones are young enough for you to have loads of time to do your research and meet other HE families. You will be totally inspired by them all as I have been!

Everyone I've met in the HE community have been the loveliest people, including the children!

Yes you will encounter a lot of negativity and some downright rudeness!
But I've also had a lot of positive responses too, and no one seems to have a good word to say about schools anyway!!

Go for it and good luck!

all this stuff is great, lmt. I would specifically add Gareth Lewis's books (the freedom in education ones) especially "one-to-one" for practical activities and reassurance.

I am in Cardiff, btw, so know the HE scene this side of the bridge. There certainly is one, and there's a meeting every other week in Newport. A couple of us in the Cardiff-y area with under 5s also meet weekly but that might be a little far for you? How old are your kids?

Ahh thanks for all your message very reassuring, I spoke to a friend I don't see often just yesterday, she also has twins and I got a very negative opinon from her and it has made me worry if it's something we can do.

I think I am a bit worried about the cost too but I have been on a lot of the sites mentioned and they all say the same "it's as expensive as you want it to be" I just wonder how true this is if you want your children to take exams and follow a more school like structured learning.
I think at the moment I'm feeling I want someone to tell me what I should be teaching them and when but hopefully the more I read and speak to others I can get my head around the more relaxed
aproach.
Also they say you don't have to take exams but surly for your children to get into college or university they would need GCSE's and A-Levels or they will find it very difficult..?
I have looked up our local college and they do courses for GCSE/A Level Maths and English which is the ones I would worry about them not having and there are not too much money (of course it will all be different by the time they reach 16) So I do feel more happy that if they get to 15 they could just enrole in a few classes part-time to get the results on paper that they may need.

I think I just felt a bit over welmed at the thought of becoming their teacher and having no clue of what they should know by a certain age.

FillyjonktheBananaEater, thanks for your reply that is a bit far from us but I'm sure with Bristol and Bath so near to us there should be a support group somewhere
My two are nearly 2, I think I need to get a couple of those books to read and join the Education Otherwise website, I think the more I here from other mums (and dads) starting out the more relaxed I will feel.
Would love to hear about how your choosing what to teach them and when, that's what is worrying me.

Thanks x

Glad you found the links useful - Ive set up an "education" folder in my favourites & add anything that looks useful or interesting (even if I dont think I will nedd it until he is older) just in case so its starting to get rather full as I read more!

The LA (as the LEAs are now called) if they find out you are HEing might ask for a visit & examples of work, but from what I know you dont legally have to do either and mostly giving them an idea of the kinds of things you do (called an educational philosphy) will suffice. As far as I understand it the onus is on them to say why they think you arent providing a suitable education if they are asking you for lots of evidence etc. Kind of like social services needing a reason or tip off before then can investigate iyswim. From some of the discussions I have seen on places like the EO yahoo list there appear to be 2 schools of thought on LAs pestering parents: some who agree to do some or all that the LA asks to keep the peace & avoid any hassles, and others who stick to what they legally have to do because it sets a prescedent that the LA is allowed to ask for visits etc. The fact that you are starting from scratch and will have not had any dealings with the LA (if your children did go to school & you started HE the LA would be informed when they were de-registered) then I wouldnt worry about it until or if it happens! Might be worth getting in contact with some HE people wuthin your area to find out what the LA are like. Some are bad & some are good. Postcode lottery as with everything else! Joining EO I have found useful because it gives you an instant address book of members to contact nationally and in your area.

Truancy patrols are mentioned occasionally on some of the discussion lists and from what I have read they have a set of guidelines they should operate within & these specifically mention HE so you should not have any trouble from them. Simply state that you are HEing and they should leave you alone. EO do a card you & your children can carry stating that you are HEing and quoting the law aboyt HE. Truancy patrols are only meant to catch pupils registered at schools so HE children are not covered by their remit. They also, I think, have to patrol in a certain area & time etc, so you could if you did want to avoid questions etc, simply not go to those areas on those days. Again, other local HErs might know about this

Im on the border of worcestershire and warwickshire & there seem to be quite a few groups in & around the area. There are regular meetups, coffee mornings, workshops & trips to things like ice skating, bowling etc as well as visits to local attractions & educational activities. Really looking foward to going to a few things this autumn. A lot of the groups welcome toddlers so it will be nice to make some new friends.

I am not really worried about the qualifications side of things just yet. They will probably all have changed by the time DS is old enough to do them anyway! Lots of HEers dont bother with GCSEs and simply go straight onto A levels or only do the bare minimum or just the subjects they like. From all the HE people I have talked to & read messages from online qualifications are certainly not things that have to be done & universities are usually quite flexible about HEers (as they are of course with mature students as well). A levels etc can also be done by correspondence courses as well remember.

I have started doing some reading on autonomous education and looking at how much DS has absorbed so far am leaning quite strongly towards it as our way of HEing him. I love the idea of letting him dictate what he wants to learn and letting him learn at his own pace, rather than at whatever age the national curriculum states he should.

Thanks Terramum, your posts has answered a lot of my questions so thanks, I had a chat to DH about it last night and he's 100% behind me HE but does want them to take GCSE and I'm fine with that.

May get one of those cards when the time arises, not for when they are little but when they are in the early teens and maybe what to op out I would hate for them to feel any worries about it.

God feel so excited yet scared, also I feel so happy I'm going to get to keep my children with me, not in a over protective way but I have always seen starting school as the time I will lose them as they become moulded by other (teachs, children) but now I will hopefully be able to see what my children will be like because of choice they make rather than peer pressures (hope I'm making sense there)
I know I'm a very different person because of my schooling and I would hate that for my boys.

Many thanks ot oyu all for all oyur help, have put this thread in my favorites as it's been such a help.
x