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Home ed

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Original poster

Home ed a place to really let rip and debate

178 replies

singingmum · 09/07/2007 12:21

OK so it seemed needed so I'll start.
I HE.It is best fro my dc's in my opinion and that of my dp.
Why? Well a number of reasons really.I'll be short as have tired fingers from posting on other HE threads where anyone who wishes can see the full story.
My dp,my brothers,my friend and myself all attended the same comp over diff years.It was crap.
I actually became bored of learning the same stuff over and over again.My dp and brothers were pigeon holed for having learning difficulties(ie dyslexia)and were taught very badly and left to rot.My friend could learn much but was often left to it and did not do as well as she could.
My son had mega probs caused by nursery and am not putting either of my dc's go through that as my ds is bright but may have aspergers and my dd has dyslexic tendencies.
So as everyone has been letting rip indiscrimenently(bad spelling sorry)I thought I'd put it all in one place.
Let rip ladies and gents

OP posts:
SueBaroo · 09/07/2007 19:49

f-word? Fundamentalist? I think the 'a' spelling is right. Mine was just silly.

ahundredtimes · 09/07/2007 19:50

Bah! Tis the standard of education in this day and age.

Saturn74 · 09/07/2007 19:51
Grin
SueBaroo · 09/07/2007 19:55
Grin
SueBaroo · 09/07/2007 19:57

Oh, and fillyjonk makes a good point about not being separate in the UK.

juuule · 09/07/2007 20:06

John Holt was a hippy?
John Holt
It doesn't seem to say anything about that here.
Well I didn't know that. Something else to go away and look up

Blandmum · 09/07/2007 20:06

Oh, feel free to ignore my spellings, unless it relates to Biology

Can't spell. Can teach.

I'll be a little provocative, since 100x is itching for a spat. There are times when children need to be taught. And when that happens they are best taught by people who really understand the subject.

SueBaroo · 09/07/2007 20:14

No substantial disagreement there. But I've never been sold on the idea that the teacher must always know more than the pupil. But then, I've no real problem out-sourcing for subject areas that need extra input. Bridges crossed when we get there, iyswim.

remembers the letting rip

erm..and.. we'll just let them read Genesis for science!!!.. erm, maybe..

lionheart · 09/07/2007 20:18

Does out-sourcing mean you hire a tutor? Or find another HE who does know about the topic?

fillyjonk · 09/07/2007 20:18

john holt is my mastermind subject. god there is a need for an autobiography of him, preferably written by me.

I have all his books, incl the desperately out of print ones, and i also have a lot of early gws magazines. i am truly a groupie.

his collection of letters - "a life worth living" is also good, and can be bought quite cheaply if you shop around.

Anyway, I meant "hippy" as a bit tongue in cheek-my parents were "hippies" but are not tories-but

he was part of the World Federalists and lived in various alternative communities. But its his IDEAS about the environment that are really important, I think. He actually composted, and maintained a wormery, although he didn't have a garden-he took the compost to the local park- and recycled his bathwater and so on. He was also quite seriously left wing, in contrast to the other emergent HErs.

aaargh need to go, kids

Blandmum · 09/07/2007 20:20

You have to know more than them to 'unpick' preconcieved ideas that are stongly held and very wrong!

For example the belief that plants get their 'food' from the soil, or that heavy objects fall faster than light ones.

Unless you really know your stuff you , and the kids can get mired down in misconceptions and end up re-inforcing strongly helpd stuff that is just plain wrong. Rosalind Driver is the person to read about this.

I teach all 3 sciences at ks3, and do a reasonable job with all three. But I teach biology best. My biology lessons really 'fly' because I can pull on a lifetimes experiences and depth of knowledge (she says rather boastfully ) In biology I can give depth , bredth and context to a degree that I can't in Physics, and to a lesser degree chemistry.

and teaching is a skill all of its own.

SueBaroo · 09/07/2007 20:21

lionheart it would depend what it was, tbh.

fillyjonk · 09/07/2007 20:23

but mb, I WAS taught most of that in science, by specialist teachers

have you come across rosalind driver? she has a book looking at primary school teachers (iirc she doesn't look at secondary but i read it years ago) wrongities in science. it is a bit shocking.

SueBaroo · 09/07/2007 20:28

teaching is a skill all of its own
-------

True enough. I only met about three teachers in my school and Uni career that possessed the skill to a really high standard. Thankfully I only met three that were completely bone-headed and really didn't belong there.

Everyone else was in the happy medium. I'm content that I am too. wonders if that bold statement will prove more controversial than the Genesis remark

Blandmum · 09/07/2007 20:34

Fili I have read quite a bit of Driver's stuff, I quoted her earlier in the thread. She factored quite a bit in my PGCE.

Agree that there are poor teachers out there, but I think that the standard of understanding of science would be improved by having more, better quality teachers rather than kids 'learning alongside' parents who don't understand it either

fillyjonk · 09/07/2007 20:44

sorry didn't see quote

atm though that is NOT the situation re the teachers.

so what do we do?

SueBaroo · 09/07/2007 20:44

I don't doubt it. I was exceedingly cheesed off not to study science properly at school, I had to take 'combined science GCSE'. I got an A, but it doesn't really make up for it grumble grumble

Personally, although we're fairly free and easy in approach atm, we're gradually introducing more guided curriculum, so we'll just have to see how we get on with much further down the line.

aviatrix · 09/07/2007 20:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Blandmum · 09/07/2007 20:51

TBH, sue, I've taugh combined science at GCSE to kids who have gone one to do 3 sciences at A level and they got As no problem.

The problem isn't combined science so much, as the lack of good science teachers......particularly physics teachers. Even though kids do combined science, they should still be taught by subject specialists wherever possible, so the biology bit by a biologist, physics by a phsicist etc.

As far as we can we do this where I teach. We have almost 30 kids doing physics at A level , and over 40 doing biology. It pays dividends.

What do we need to do? Get more keen, enthusiastic people to teach I suppose! Now how you do that is the key

I think in some ways admitting that teaching is a skill, and recognising it, would help to raise the profile of the profession. All too often people think that 'anyone' can teach, and 'anyone' often can't.

SueBaroo · 09/07/2007 20:56

I don't disagree - my best mate is a teacher (Primary) and she does a damn good job in a very hard situation. Dh actually trained to be a teacher at Uni, but he felt at the time that he didn't have the patience for it.

Oh how things change when you have your own kids, lol.

Teaching at home is very different kettle of fish, though, for all the reasons we've gone over many times.

sarah293 · 09/07/2007 21:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Blandmum · 09/07/2007 21:08

I'm glad I entered teaching after I had my own kids. Gives you a bit more perspective I think (or gave me at any rate).

Many things in science are so complex, it would be unrealistic to expect the kids to work them out from scratch (True of other subjects too, but I know about science, so I'll stick to that)

So something like the Krebs Cycle is amazingly complex I would think that uderstanding it from scratch would be beyond all but the frightningly few number of super bright kids. But a good teach can taken them through it in baby steps, because they already understand the process in depth. Many biological systems are tough to understand because you have to understand everything before you can understand anything IYSWIM.

I also feel that HE may limit children to exploring what they (or their parents) already find interesting.

When I was 11 I wanted to be a History teacher. I lucked in, and got a fantastic biology teacher who changed my life. Had I been HE, I would never have discovered the sciences. Now you could argue that I might have enjoed history just as much.. But somehow I doubt it.

ShrinkingViolet · 09/07/2007 21:09

OK I'll have a go at letting rip . Why should my child have to put up with a bunch of mediocre teachers at school in order to work with the one or two good ones?

Blandmum · 09/07/2007 21:10

Riven I don't think that only schools can teach. I think that there are somethings that are so complex that they can only be taught by people who have a considerable understanding of the topic. Be they tutors, teachers, parents with true expertise in the subject whoever.

Blandmum · 09/07/2007 21:10

Why should chidren be limited to one teacher?

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