advise please - am considering home ed.....

[spudFace]

.........as i am very disillusioned with the quality of schools in my area and private ed is out of the question as i am self employed as my finances are not regular enough to commit to school fees.

Firstly, i have one daughter - would home ed be a bad idea? are their organisations that we can get involved in?

I really dont know where to start in researching the pros and cons for home ed but feel it is a very valid option for us.

We live in bedfordshire.

any tips would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Has she started school yet? I have three and starting school for the first time is very traumatic - for the parent!! Have you been to see the school? Have you spoken to parents whose children are at the school? I think home education can be a very valid option, but I also think lots of children absolutely love school, especially the social aspect. You can still 'teach' them at home - they are at home loads even when they are at school. it sometimes feels as if they are here all the time!

yes, my daughter is at school now in year 5! she recently moved up from lower school to middle school and to be honest i am not happy and want better for her. i am a part time teacher myself and know i have the patience and resources to help her.

am so frustrated with her school. changing school isnt an option as the other schools are C*^p!!

vivace are you musical? love the name!

Not musical but I love music! Is she happy? I sometimes think I teach my kids more than they learn at school and I'm not always happy, but they do like the social side of it all. How will you work if she is at home? Could you supplement her learning at home? Is it possible to move? What are your possibilities for secondary at the moment?

There are lots of home educators on this site, I think. I'm sure they will tell you about organisations. I only know about Education Otherwise - sure you can google it.

Yes, it's completely a valid choice for a parent of an only child

There's a conversation in the HE forum called "how to find other home educators" and you'll find the obvious starting points there. There will be local groups you can join with for certain sure - Education Otherwise is the obvious way to find other people in your area, though you may well just be able to google home education and your local area and you'll get yourself linked to the email lists.

If you are looking at pros and cons, I would strongly advise you to join one or other of the home ed mailing lists (links in the how to find home educators thread) - you'll get supportive advice there. Good luck!

thankyou, thankyou!

i will check out Education Otherwise. No, my daughter is not overly happy at school and i teach from home after school (piano) so my job wont change. dont think we can move at present as we have just moved.

I have been busy reading other threads on this subject and will continue to do so.

thanks again.

x

Spudface-I know there are other home educators in Bedfordshire-check out the 'how to find other home educators thread'. We also have a thread on 'Books on Home education' which I think you find very useful too.

And then there are the main HE websites;

Education Otherwise

HE-UK a brilliant independent website IMHO

Home Education in the UK

HE-Special-UK Resources and information for families with children who have special educational needs.

MuddlePuddle is a webpage especially for HE families with children under 8 years old. Home also to the Early Years email support list where you would find a warm welcome and lots of support.

Spudface - my DS is an only child, and I haven't found that it makes HE any problem. There are plenty of opportunities for children your DDs age to interact with other children outside of school - as well as HE groups, she can still go to whatever "after-school" activities she has an interest in. She may even have more energy and enthusiasm to do those kinds of activities than she does at the moment if she's not happy at school.

You might want to think about whether you are likely to send her to secondary school when the time comes - not that you need to make a decision at this stage, but because it might affect how you want to go about things.

We live abroad, DS1 is 3.6 years old and has special needs (Global developmental delay due to brain injury). I am considering home educating him because I am not sure if the schools here can meet his needs.

I have many questions, I hope I can pick your brains and get some opinions.
Do you think a child with special needs would benefit from home education?
Are parents always the teachers? Due to his problems, DS needs a lot of repetition and is not very open to trying new tasks that he finds difficult. (He needs plenty of motivation). I am concerned that if I become his main teacher our relationship will deteriorate, is it common to get someone else to do the teaching, in my case someone with more experience in special needs?

Thank you.

oh, sorry, I meant to open new thread... will try again,