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Home ed

Find advice from other parents on our Homeschool forum. You may also find our round up of the best online learning resources useful.

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Original poster

national curriculum and home ed

26 replies

pinkkoala · 09/09/2009 09:14

are there any teachers or other experienced home ed people who could help with finding out what the children follow at school with the curriculum.

we are teaching dd at home, 5 in dec. but would like to try to follow some of the schools curriculum as she will be going in a couple of years time.

we have heard of the oxford reading tree to help learn to read, but what about other subjects.

also any ideas on how to stop her getting distracted, both our neighbours have pre school children and one side are always calling her name when they are in the garden and the other side does a runner from her mum when she gets in the car and taps on our front door this all causes distractions and i have a hard job getting her interested in her work, i am getting a bit frustrated with it now.

OP posts:

anastaisia · 09/09/2009 11:08

Avoiding the National Curriculum is one of my reasons for HE.

But you can find out what DD would be doing at each Key Stage here.

Can't help with the distraction problem because we don't do work as such - but perhaps remembering that most of reception should be play based anyway might help with the frustration levels; not fitting in work at certain times might not matter too much, especially as you'll cover FAR more in a one to one setting than a whole class would cover.

julienoshoes · 09/09/2009 11:48

pinkkoala Have you found MuddlePuddle which is an excellent website for families who home educate children under 8 years old.

They have an affiliated Early Years HE email support list folks there will be bale to offer support and advice for you on the subject of distraction and curricilums.

lolapoppins · 09/09/2009 13:06

I buy all workbooks etc from big bookshops where they are arranged in key stage sections. I find that works well. Also, I take a sneeky peek at school websites - they usually have their curriculum plans for each year on them. I find that useful for nicking topic ideas for things like geography and history.

My ds is almost 7, and w first started HE when he was 5 (half way through reception). He was so easily distracted at first, didn't want to do anything, but it got a lot easier once he could read, he got more confident and started to enjoy the work we were doing.

I started him on education city.com as well, he loved being able to do the learning games on the PC himself, and I found that really helped with concentration. They are quite short activiies, especially for reception and most kids I know who use them really enjoy it.

We also did really short bursts of work at first, 10 - 20 mins a few times a day and then let him run round and play for an hour or two inbetween. He couldn't read/recognise letters at all when he left school, so we had to begin with basic phonics, so it was better to do it in short spurts.

We used Oxford Reading tree, I bought the books in big packs from amazon. You can get work books to go along with some of the levels too. Not everyone is a fan of ORT, but it gave me piece of mind to know exactly where ds was with his reading compared to kids of his age in school. Although, if you go down that route, she will end up at a much higher level of the books than school age kids, just because she will be getting one on one reading everyday and can go through books/levels at her own pace rather than when a teacher deems it so! We only used ORT for reception and part of year one, as he tore through the reading levels and moved on to reading any book he liked (this was within 6 months for a child who could not read his own name at 5 and a half when he was taken out of school!). They really helped him.

Don't know what to say about your neighbors though. Can you tell them you intend to teach inbetween certain times, or would that be terribly rude? I suppose it depends on how good friends you are. It would drive me up the wall too.

streakybacon · 09/09/2009 18:19

You could try Primary Resources www.primaryresources.co.uk. They have free worksheets and other resources listed by subject and key stage/year which could guide you to what's been done at Nat Curr.

another is Parents In Touch www.parentsintouch.co.uk but you have to pay a small subscription - I think it was £15 for three years.

juuule · 09/09/2009 19:40

National strategies on DCSF site.

National Curriculum website.

You can download the targets and programme of study such as this one for the subject of
English

The curriculumonline site has closed down but you might find some of the links towards the bottom of the information page useful.

piscesmoon · 09/09/2009 19:53

Schools are moving away from the National Curriculum. I would suggest looking at a school that has a very good web site and click on the different subjects and key stage 1. It should give plenty of ideas.
this is a school in Durham iwill see if I can find more. Primary resources-as mentioned is good.

piscesmoon · 09/09/2009 19:59

Topic Box is a favourite of mine here Great interactive maths games here

piscesmoon · 09/09/2009 20:01

This school in Lancs gives lots of links to subjects and other schools.

angrypixie · 09/09/2009 20:08

I'm a primary teacher and would say a resounding NO to Oxford reading tree. If you are going to teach her phonics as her primary reading strategy then these are really poor early readers. If you want a scheme, although I don't think you need one, I would suggest you look at Ruth Miskin 'Read Write inc'

juuule · 09/09/2009 20:13

Snaith Primary is quite good, too.

piscesmoon · 09/09/2009 22:31

I agree angrypixie-I can never see why mumsnetters are so keen on Oxford Reading Tree, as if it is the only scheme. There seems to be an obsession with it!

Runnerbean · 09/09/2009 23:15

I've used good old Peter and Jane ladybird books for my youngest, the original 70's ones. They were good enough for me, in the good old days!
Not impressed with ORT, maybe because it's a "school" thing, and I'm a little biased.

Runnerbean · 09/09/2009 23:17

" i have a hard job getting her interested in her work",

hang on she's 5.

I think you've hit it on the head, work

It shouldn't be work it should be fun.

piscesmoon · 10/09/2009 07:51

If she was in school she wouldn't know that she was doing work-perhaps that is the answer-as Runnerbean says-have fun (they learn without knowing it).

angrypixie · 10/09/2009 07:53

My moon must be in pisces - agreeing with you all the way.
Reception is learning by stealth....fun!

FlamingoBingo · 10/09/2009 07:57

I think you should take a step back, let her play while you read some stuff about informal learning:

How Children Learn At Home

Learning All The Time

Anything else by John Holt.

I know that some HEors want some more structure as their children get older but really and truly your 5yo does not need to be doing work. In many other countries, she wouldn't be starting school for another couple of years yet.

She will learn plenty by playing, helping you get on with life, visiting places with you that you would take her anyway, and being read to. I find my children learn best when my primary reason for doing anything is not because it's educational, but because we just fancy doing it for fun.

For reading, get hold of a copy of Read With Me by Liz Waterland - I can't recommend it enough.

juuule · 10/09/2009 08:38

"If she was in school she wouldn't know that she was doing work"

Mine have always know when they were doing "work" at school. Even in nursery.

LauraIngallsWilder · 10/09/2009 08:40

We are using jolly phonics
And once she is beginning to read Usbornes phonics readers and then usbornes farmyard tales - both available as sets (about £10 each) from the book people or bananas books (might still be available)

I agree ORT is overpriced and overrated - the stories dont interest my ds at all!

Library is best place to get easy to read books as you can swop and swop again for new ones for free

LauraIngallsWilder · 10/09/2009 08:43

only £7.14

Farmyard tales in a book - my 5yo loves these stories. They have an easy sentance at the top of each page, a harder one at the bottom so kids can join in as you read

piscesmoon · 10/09/2009 08:49

Well mine didn't juuule!
I think that the OP would be very surprised if she went into a reception class. They did have a bad phase where they were sitting down and doing the Literacy Hour etc but it was a dismal failure and luckily it has gone back to play based learning.
HEers seem to think that they are the only people who read books on child development and learning-teachers are in the job because they love it and they also want to give the joy of learning-if the government would let them get on with it and trust their own instincts we would all be better off!
Anyway-lets not get side tracked onto the old argument-this thread has nothing to do with it-OP asked for help and I hope that she has found the suggestions useful.
It might help if she visited a reception class (without DC and there is no need to tell them that you have no intention of sending her)to see what they do. Just a suggestion-no intention of converting-merely a fact finding mission-it may at least show an alternative to the Oxford Reading Tree.

piscesmoon · 10/09/2009 08:51

The local library is a good place to go. Ours has a section that is coded into different reading ages.

FlamingoBingo · 10/09/2009 09:26

"HEers seem to think that they are the only people who read books on child development and learning-teachers are in the job because they love it and they also want to give the joy of learning-if the government would let them get on with it and trust their own instincts we would all be better off!
Anyway-lets not get side tracked onto the old argument-this thread has nothing to do with it-OP asked for help and I hope that she has found the suggestions useful."

Who's being argumentative? And who said HEors are the only people who know about how children learn?

juuule · 10/09/2009 09:46

"Anyway-lets not get side tracked onto the old argument-this thread has nothing to do with it".

I could have agreed with that statement but then you had to throw in a somewhat disparagaging comment.

"HEers seem to think that they are the only people who read books on child development"

Maybe some do. Just as much as some seem to think only schools and teachers aseem to think that only they are capable of educating a child?

lolapoppins · 10/09/2009 11:05

I think it's whatever works for the child tbh. ORT worked for us as ds liked the stories - our dog lookes just like the dog in the books so it sparked an interrest in reading for him.

Anything he enjoyed was fine by me, and the reading levels ment I could deflect nasty comments from people I knew with kids the same age at school, I had a way of showing them he was learning despite being at home. I did however, get lots of nasty comments at HE goups about using them, so I was in a rock and a hard place. Infact, I have found it is other home educators who can be the most critical over how I choose to teach my son.

However the OP wants to home educate her child is up to her, I too hope she has found some of the links useful.

piscesmoon · 10/09/2009 19:11

I think that people have taken my words the wrong way. Of course HEers are interested in child development and how DCs learn-I was taking that as read. I just sometimes think that they don't take into account that teachers have read the same books.
I shouldn't have got sidetracked and apologise to pinkkoala whose OP was just asking for help. There is nothing wrong with Oxford Reading Tree-it is just that it is worth seeing the alternatives.

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