Be honest, I want everyone's views......what do you think of home ed???

[3Ddonut]

I suspect this may get nasty, but please try to keep it nice ladies (and gents) I really like the idea of home ed, I would dearly love to home ed my dc but there are some problems, firstly I work 3 nights a week and my dh works 2 full days,my eldest dd is 5 and she really loves school, but some of things that she says about school unsettle me, I always said that it is their choice if they want to go to school or not, which is why she is there and my ds is in nursery but I wish she'd want to stay home and the longer that she's there, the more I feel that we're wasting time...

I've read a lot of the other threads and see that you can do some home-ed stuff alongside school but I don't think that it's enough for me, I want them to remain interested and not be moved on from one thing too quickly or forced to spend time on things they dislike.

We're already a close family because of mine and dh's shifts there is nearly always someone in the house and we get to spend a lot of time with the kids. I suppose I'd just like it to be more of the same.

My main concerns are that the dc would resent us for it in the future (although I would not take a happy child out of school) I also worry about the effect of home ed-ing the children would have on future employers and university places, I do worry about the socialisation aspect although the kids are in a few groups and are very social, they interact well with adults as well as other children, I'm concerned about how much time I'd have to work with them with working full time myself (no opportunity to cut hours)

I'm going round in circles at the min, I think my ds would be more open to the idea and I'm considering not sending dd2 to nursery at all.

The other biggie is that the school they attend is out of area and it's a really good one, they wouldn't get back in there if we deregistered, I've considered flexi-schooling but I feel that would bring more problems than solutions....

OK, Open fire!!!

MB, I was thinking about what you said about improving upon the lesson each time, but when you HE you don't sit down and talk through the subject from beginning to end. You discuss the subject and if your child doesn't understand it, then you have to think about a better way to explain the concept and so would be 'improving' as you went along.....

I don't do a 'wole' subject tho. I'm taeching a sequence of 5 lessons that fit together

Each lesson will build on the last, and will factor in recap activities.

amd I do what you descrobe in every lesson. All teachers do! You check for understanding and if they don't 'get it'you have to switch tack.

The difference is that next year I'll probably teach it again, will remember the stumbling block and will be ready for it.

That is the bit that doesn't happen for most HEdders, because you don't teach the subjects as often as we do in school

I keep thinking back to DrNortherners post about how good each of her teachers were, I suppose mine would read a little like this:

French - Scary perv

Chemistry - I can't even remember my chemistry teacher....?

Physics - Mad (insane) perv

Biology - On the edge of a breakdown.

English - OK, but prefered the 'bright group' lots of reading aloud (even up to our GCSE's...)

Maths - The head, she was very old and barely turned up to any lessons, result? two people in the group got a 'c' the rest 'failed' we were the second top class in the year

German - Good, thorough teacher, he 'helped' us pass by stopping the tape during our oral exam and whispering the answer or using mime

IT - Back seat teacher, I did well because I put a lot of extra work in.

RE - Good teacher, bit mad

Music - Was Ok.

Not a great bunch really, nothing too bad about them, but not great, I feel that I could teach my kids as well as any of them.

Totally understand what you are saying, I suppose it's the benefit of having 1 to 1 at home though, when I didn't understand at school I wouldn't have dared to speak up for the worry of looking stupid in front of my friends.

I am not 100% happy with state education - i hate the broad brush strokes and especially the who,e SATS arena. I alos evy the capacity and generosity to HomeEd - I would love to do it on a p/t basis, I think.

But to follow-up on the MI / Juules exchange, I aghree with MI. And whereas i can see that, yes, you socialise, children have access to a wide range of adults etc - the crucial issue for me is that they are all adults of your choosing, within your HE choices and horizons. One of the things that i thnk is veyr important for DS is that he brings things to me from a world that is not mine and not of my knowledge. I thiink that that is a key part of growing up. It was my job to give him confidence, and to support his ongoing journey towards independence. The fact that he has a world which is not decreed by me (apart from registering him), that he has to negotiate on his own, bring things back from 'his' world into 'my world' and share in a knowlege which we make our 'family world' is empowering.

I actually think it is a big plus that DS has to negotiate things that I don't actually agree with or methods that I would not implement (within reason, obviously - and as long as he is handling it rather than going under).

I have no criticism of HE, and am sure that for many children it is by far the preferable route. Personally I think I would find it claustrophobic and self-referential, however many other adults were involved.

Well at my express yourself and do what you like school, I had a very weird bunch of teachers too. As a result I am very keen on the idea of formal learning whether you are interested in the subject or not. I have faith that curiosity and interest can still be harnessed in a school environment - and ultimately if you embrace the formal system - and do lots of informal follow your nose stuff at home too - then you equip your children with CHOICE. Which is important. Choices to decide who they want to be and what they want to be.

If all Home ed children end up with a hatful of GCSEs and A'levels then it is a totally credible and fun thing to do I think. If you don't have them, I worry you've denied your child the options available to them as adults.

You sound like you want to go for it 3Donut, so you should. You'll have fun I reckon.

(actually I would like to pack DS off to MB to be educated. He really likes science, MB, and is commonly known as 'professor' by his teacher and classmates - can I put him on a train? I'll send some luncheon vouchers each week.)

Well I wasn't gonna post again but I am now.
I would like to say how we approach the lack of facillities;
Science is covered in our home in the main, but we also follow the NC and have booked a monthly science workshop at the LIFE Centre in Newcastle, it's tailored for our needs (10 children maximum), we have so many children (HE) wanting to go we have 2 groups running concurrently with a waiting list. We cover all the experiments from KS1 KS2 right up to Gene therapy (when we get to that level). Do KS1 children in school get to visit a place like this monthly with all the hands on experiments and expertise available? (maybe if you pay oodles of cash for a private ed). The topics are agreed a year in advance and supplementary websites and visits are recommended for follow up work, should you decide to delve even deeper (bearing in mind it's kS1 atm)
We have music groups, art clubs, theatre visits, with drama workshops tailored specifically for older and younger children, again these things are available every month, not once a year as in school. There is soooo much to choose from that my kids may only have one trip out per year in school.
There's a language group in the off'ing, maths clubs (with an emphasis on group problem-solving).
and somewhere in the midst of this and more I ferry to ballet, piano, guitar, gymnastics oh, the lists are bloody endless.

The alice in the looking glass is a very valid point imo, because I do look back now and think, "what was I thinking, sending my kids to school, how insane was I to think that was a good idea?" It is like seeing the shadows on the cave wall, but then as a HE'er you turn around and see the true cause of the shadows, and we are all the better for it.

I've just (sudden flashback) remembered something that my Mum said to me, that when I started school I changed from a happy child to scared to say or do anything and I became very withdrawn, I think that only now, am I starting to regain my confidence (25 years later) no wonder I want to HE my children, I'm terrified of losing the happy children that they are. That's what I couldn't put my finger on.

Because I suppose - and this is ONLY my experience and not an anti-HE thing at all - when seeking to tell a child you are going to liberate them personally and to buck formal education, you can actually just limit them terribly.

Sorky thanks so much for posting that, I live within an hour of the LIFE centre (where are you?) and could commit to that, wow, it all falls together when you look doesn't it?

And yes, hundredtimes, we would aim for the dc to have formal qualifications as I think that is what you need to get through life, even 15years since I left school, it still matters as to what I did there...

ah 3d, then you would love the online message board I run for my A level students. It lets them post and ask for help from me, or from other members of the class, with a user name. I teach one child who has never spoken to me in person, but we 'know' each other very well!

It is great for kids on the autistic spectrum too!

I also had crap teacher, but teaching has come on so much since I was in school in the 60s and 70s.

and FWIW I don;t think that schools are perfect either. But neither are they are unrelentingly crap as some would have you believe

Oh well then 3Donut, I think you're going to have a great adventure!

that sounds great MB! (I think you are the best teacher I have ever met ) I know that teaching has come on a lot and school facilities are better, I keep settling myself with that info.

we have a wiki space for them to play in too.

They are going to use that tomorrow

Well I can only answer for my kids, but they have the freedom to be exactly who they are, no conformity, peer pressure, developing their personalities in a nuturing environment, discovering what they love and loathe, not forced into this, that or the other and I have never heard so much laughter .

There certainly are some kids that come from very different background where we are and some children I would prefer them not to mix with but that isn't in there best interests to limit who they mix with so I don't interfere.

The person who mentioned the poor social of 2 people who were HE may have met to people with SEN, as that does seem to be a common reason for HE particular children I have noticed. In which case they may well have been worse if they had gone to school, just a thought.

3D pm me if you like!

pm?

No MB I agree with you some schools are fab, same as some HE'ers, there's crap in every sphere of life.
I would consider a little school run by parents and local people, a 'home school' if you will. It's been something I have been giving thought to recently.

private message - click on the envelope by my name

MB, you say you don't like to give away where you are, but I've had an inkling that you're close to where I live and I've just had a nose on your profile and I see that I am right.....so, can I come to your lessons, I suspect you teach round the corner from me!

I really rather like my privacy

oh, I didn't know you could do that!!! I'm not subscribed to that service, and I'm off out to work just now....but thanks, I may do that soon.

I know, I'm sorry, I'm just so super nosey that I really want to know if I'm right, lets think, you can on my profile where I'm from, so am I close???? Am I, am I, am I?????!!!!!!!!!!!!

does a shape feature in the school across the road from you? for one of the facilities that you said your's doesn't have?

Nowhere near!

Honest!