Home Educating

[Kathleen1992]

I want to Home Educate my 2 children. My son went into year R this year and first day is scratched in the face so hard it bled. This girl caused issues in nursery too but ADHD has always been brought it as the reason why she's violent to children and adults.
I wanted to home educate anyway but as my family were so anti it I said I'd give school a go but I'm just not feeling great about it.

Has anyone else done home ed straight away or anyone got experience of home ed from age 4?

I home educated my two from the beginning. At first I did it as a way of delaying school start, because I felt four was too little for formal education. I wanted my kids to learn through playing instead at that age. But I soon saw how my children and their older home ed friends were thriving without school, and there never did seem a good enough reason to change to school!

No doubt when you take your children out of school, your relatives will tell you that you didn't persevere long enough. "Maybe it would have got better." "Give the school a chance to sort it out." "Ask for a meeting." "Teach your child to speak up when he's hurt." I don't know how long you're expected to carry on before people would accept that an alternative is acceptable: a month? a term? a year? And then at the end of the year, people would say that next year's teacher might be better, or a new school might be better, or that your child must learn resilience by dealing with difficult people.

But home education doesn't have to be a last resort. You don't have to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that school wasn't working out for your child. You can do it just because it feels like the best way forward.

I think few relatives who are worried about HE believe that it will harm a child in the short term. They will be worried about the long term. So one way to reassure them, and to stop these discussions, is to tell them that you are going to home educate for a few years and then you will reassess. The decision doesn't have to be forever. School is always an option. By the time your eldest is, say, seven, they may be able to see for themselves that their fears were unfounded and that your child is turning out just fine.

One great thing about home educating from the beginning is that many people will agree that four year olds don't need to be in formal education. There are other countries which start later than we do, and their kids turn out fine. So there is less pressure on you this way than if you were to start later. You can experiment slowly with different educational approaches to find what works for your kids.

You won't (yet) get anyone looking aghast that your four year old doesn't write in sentences or know all his times tables. And by the time that might start happening, you will have hit your stride. Either he will have mastered those things, or you'll have seen all the other things he is learning instead and you'll have the confidence to know that outside of a classroom environment, it really doesn't matter at exactly what age children acquire each skill.

My DD (now 7) was exactly the same when she was in reception which led to her being de-registered alongside my DS (now 8) who was in year 1 at the time.

She had an EHCP, my ex-wife and I went to 4 different meetings in the time she attended. We only found out afterwards that she had ASD/PDA. Her EHCP was for her mobility issues which the school mostly ignored leading to her breaking her wrist at school on her 5th birthday. I de registered them both that night.

100% the best decision I ever made for them. My children are thriving, my younger two aren't CSA yet but will be home educated from the start (my 3 year old already is although it's not compulsory yet).

How's things OP ?