lots of questions re HE and history reading books

[othermother]

Hi all,

I've been considering home edding my 2 youngest for a while now, but my dh is slightly resilient, but I'm working on him

The youngest (6) has suspected aspergers syndrome, loads of issues and he really doesn't like school. He's so much calmer when at home too, though to be fair, he's not disruptive at school, just as soon as he comes out he's a massive ticcing, licking, aggressive hyper bundle of not-much-fun.

Older daughter (9) has been asking me about HE for ages now too.

Anyway, was wondering, do you think it's possible, or a good idea even, to maybe HE for 2 or 3 days a week and send them to school for the remainder of the school week? My dh seems more accepting of this idea.

One more thing... my son is very behind with reading and writing, although he is hugely knowledgeable about history, geography etc (in other words, things that interest him) and I've been looking to find some easy reading books for him that he will be interested in. Do any of you have any suggestions? He loves the library and tries very hard to read the books on history there, but they all seem to be geared towards the more advanced reader. I want something really simple, but with plenty of facts.

Thanks for reading.

We use an American course for history but it is a world history course and covers history in chronological order. Having said that, it is intended as a read aloud rather than independent reading. It's called "The Story of the World" and there are 4 books. Alongside each there is an activity book you can get with lots of ideas for other activities (art/craft, recipes, colouring sheets, a map to fill in) and other reading suggestions - both literature and factual (history). However, some of the books are hard to get as they are American.

I would also recommend the Usborne History Encyclopaedia (internet linked) - lots of pictures as well as being chronological.

Boys always love the Horrible History books. You can read aloud just now and then, when he is a more confident reader, he can read them himself. They are an absolute hoot and kids really remember things that they find funny and interesting.

Other things to think about are ones like: the Art from the Past series, which has loads of practical projects relating to the cultures of the ancient and mediaeval world:
the Great Events series which concentrate on one single event like the Moon LAnding or the Great Fire of London and are aimed at this sort of age:
The HOw to Avoid Becoming..... series, which are absolutely hilarious but packed full of info:
the A Soldiers Life in.... series, which boys seem to like because it is about soldiers:
Usborne (I think) do pop up books about ancient Rome/Greece etc.

There are tons more, I'll have a think and a look at what we have and get back. Also, the BBC have a brilliant history section in their schools pages, full of info, games and quests. Another brilliant resource is Mr Donns History Pages, can't remember the web address but just google Mr Donn. Another idea is to read historical type books together, things like Sir GAdabout (knights), the MAgic Treehouse series (love these!), Rosemary Sutcliffe novels, Eric the Red, Greek/ROman/Norse/Celtic myths, Robin Hood, King Arthur type things. All good fun and the kids can pick up plenty of fascinating insights.

As far as flexi schooling, I'm not sore about it too be honest. U here, it it at the discretion of the head teacher and, as far as I know, most are pretty unwilling because of the disruption it can cause to both the pupil and the class. And then there is the issue that you would be tied into doing what the school does, iyswim, and keeping the kids up with their classmates, limiting your chances to explore their own interests. It also dictates where you have to be and when, taking away a lot of the freedom of HE. I think your AS son might find it hard to deal with to be honest, I know that my boys would. BUT you know your own children best. Perhaps you could do what I did and tell your OH that you will give HE a go for a trial period of 6 months or a year and then review? This often pacifies slightly anti dads for the beginning and then, when they see how happy the kids are, they often come around.

Thank you both for your replies

He adores the horrible history series but I shall look at all the other suggestions. The Mr Donns site sounds intersting, he's much happier on a computer as it doesn't involve actually putting pen to paper (he has difficulty with fine motor skills). Loads for me to look at anyway, thanks.

Re the flexi schooling: I get what you mean about it possibly being hard for my son to deal with, that is something I'd also thought might be a problem. It's just trying to get on my dh on board that's the difficult bit. I shall have to talk more with him about all this and try to talk him into a 6month trial.

We also have a pile of very easy history books by, I think, Usborne. They are level one readers and are about things like Vikings, Pirates, knights, ROmans. They are called things like Beginners Vikings and give a kind of easy introduction to the topics at an appropriate level of reading (aimed at kind 0f 5 -6 year olds).

Yeah, my husband was totally against HEing my youngest 3 kids, even though school was a complete nightmare for one reason and another. I started with a one year trial and the idea that, if it was a complete disaster, they could always pick up where they left off at school. Needless to say, they have never gone back. DS4, 6 and AS, has never even been to school. He may seem behind in some ways (reading and writing) but he knows far more about other things than most kids his age. And remember that in many countries, kids don't even start formal education until they are 6 or 7, so why worry. Learning shouldn't be a competition, especially at that age.