What sort of person do you need to be to home school

[Stefka]

My DS is only one so I have plenty of time before this is an issue but I am thinking about it already.

I have worked in schools and I just don't like what I see. Teachers work hard but the system just seems messy in so many ways and in my heart I just don't want to send DS to school.

I was saying to someone the other day that in an ideal world I would home school him and she said why not just do it. I think I wouldn't be up to it. I am not that smart - I am a rubbish speller, completly hopeless at maths and my general knowledge is not great. Topic like science and geography I know very little about so I don't think I would be able to give DS the information he needs.

On a seperate query what happens later on in relation to exams etc?

If I could go back to pre-school age I would have bought a good supply of the Roderick Hunt Oxford Reading Tree books because I just love them so much!

I would have bought a load of home ed books, read loads of home ed websites and blogs.

I would have removed my 2 boys from pre-school or insisted on being there as well to avoid the enforced and stressful separations.

Lastly I would have spent time at the home ed meet ups with them as well as at the normal Parent and Toddler groups.

I might well have had one or two more children and been knackered for 5 more years...all worth it. School was so rigid I felt I couldn't manage another pregnancy with school runs mixed in. That sounds feeble but I was used to being pregnant on my own terms at home. SPD problems too.

If I could go back to pre school age-knowing what I know now, I would never have sent them!

Other than that, I would have carried on doing as we did before they went to nursery/school-enjoying ourselves living life and learning as we went along.

I'd have joined our local home ed group and talked to other like minded people.

I'd have joined several email support groups-our local one, the HE Special Needs one and the HE Early Years one

and I'd read as much up on the subject of autonomous home education as possible, so i got it into my head that sitting down and being taught is not the only way to learn!
I'd have saved myself so much time deschooling myself and so much worry!
Authors including John Holt, Jan Fortune Wood and Alan Thomas would have been top of my list( see the 'books about home education' thread here)

I'd have started to go along to national and local home ed camps and gatherings as soon as possible.

I really don't want any more children-but I would so love to go back to the beginning with the three I have and do it all again-without school!
By golly we'd have a ball!

I have huge misgivings about school generally and knew that I would never send my kids to a school with the NC or SATs. Nor would I send them anywhere with over 20 in a class or somewhere where music and art and drama weren't equally important as maths and science.
However i also knew that I wanted to continue with my own work ( I'm an author) which meant I needed time to myself.I couldn't be that parent who was with my children all day every day, not because I don't like them but because I LOVE my work. It was a heartbreaking decision.
I was lucky to find a school that fitted the bill perfectly - it's five mins away and they have twenty two weeks holiday a year . This has been perfect for us, though costs an absolute fortune.
When the DCs leave at 11 I don't know what I'll do. I won't find another school like this and yet I ask myself all the time if I really can HE and continue to work. Ahhhhhh.

I would quite like to have a part time job too although so far nothing has happened for me so I will just wait and see how it all goes. I need to look at all the options although sadly private is not going to be one of them as we are on a very low income.

Going to try and get some of the books from the library and do some reading. I just don't feel good about schools and what happens there. It seems that children are the least important people in those places. I also had an awful time at primary school where I was told on a daily basis that I was stupid because I was bad at maths and spelling. My last teacher told me that if I ever went to university she would eat her hat. I did go although I never went back to have it out with her as she is very old now. I am pretty sure schools can't do that sort of thing now but it really trashed my self esteem and I don't like the idea of putting DS in the hands of people who could do that.

Yes I often feel that school generally seems to be more about governemnt targets etc than children and their education.
I realise, of course, that I am very lucky to a. have found such a great scholl and b. can afford it.

stefka I planned to HE from when I was pg with my first. I spent my time reading books, reading blogs, getting to know other HEors via the web. When my oldest was 2, I started meeting up with other HEors in real life regularly.

That's the best preparation IMO! I personally wouldn't bother spending much money on specifically educational things - just make sure you have plenty of lovely, enjoyable books in your house, and then be led by your child/ren. If you buy stuff in advance, you can bet your bottom dollar it'll never be needed/wanted!