having bad time at the mo

[pinkkoala]

we have been home edding since sept 09 as we couldn't get dd 5yrs into our first choice of school.

but lately we have been having a rough time, she was 5 at xmas she still can't read, she doesn't seem to have any attention or concerntration span, i am really struggling getting her to do any sort of "classroom work".

my mum is getting at me to put her into school, i would like to have a bit more time with her at home to enjoy other stuff rather than her stuck in school but don't want her falling behind either.

is it possible to send her to a schools after school clubs or any of their dance/drama after school clubs or can i send her part time to school and then still have some teaching at home.

we a re currently using schofield and sims workbooks, letts workbooks and some stuff from the early learning centre, also oxford reading tree reading books, what else can i try.

If you can, try not to panic... Children learn and develop at their own place. Many European countries don't even begin to encourage children to read until ages 7+. I lived in Spain for many years and my child attended a Spanish school there, which was literally learn through play until the age of 6.5.

I believe in the UK there is 'too much, too soon'. Too much pressure and too many guidelines. Each child develops at their own pace.

Give it time, and don't let anyone, family or not, pressure or persuade you into something your motherly instinct goes against.

Hi,

Please don't worry too much. I went through all that when I first started HE with my ds when he was 5. We did a little an often appraoch, say twenty minuest three times a fday interspersed with play, and by the age of 6, he really enjoyed doing work with me and picked up reading/writing within a few weeks - he had never been bothered before. We are very structured and have been from the begining as that is just how ds learned best and how I function best having him at home, so do what ever you feel is best with your child.

Also, he has been out doing activites every evening since we stated HE. I think it makes all the difference to him as he has something to get to every afternoon which he enjoys. He does drama, dance, music etc. He has made so many friends that way as well. There are lots of after school clubs around too. Ds used to go to one two afternoons a week right at the begining before he got involved in some of his clubs and loved it.

Hi

I think she's behaving completely normally. She is still very young and would only be just at, or nearly at the stage of starting formal learning in a lot of countries. Have you read 'How Children Learn At Home' by Alan Thomas and Harriet Pattison? Or anything else about informal learning?

One thing that being in the home ed community has taught me is that home education doesn't have to be anything like school education and your children don't have to keep pace. One of my elder daughter's friends didn't read at all until 11. Now they are 14 and you honestly wouldn't know any difference between them. This girl, when you talk to her, comes across as so educated and intelligent and is quite capable of reading the hardest texts. A friend of my younger daughter's, who is 8, isn't reading at all yet. My daughter just reads stuff for her at the moment when they are together. I can bet you any money that a few years down the line there won't be any difference in their reading ability at all.

We are so pushed into this country into thinking that little children must be pushed into school work at a ridiculously young age. Other countries don't do this. A lot of them don't start their children on formal learning until very much older, and yet, by about 10, they have overtaken British children.

I'd really, really suggest dropping the workbooks and just going along with her interests, just enjoying life together. The learning will come naturally alongside that. My eldest is 14 and I can tell you I couldn't name a single one of her home ed friends who is "behind" her, despite the fact that she was in school being pushed until the age of 12 and they were mostly at home enjoying themselves! It takes courage, but it really does even out in the end.

Hi.

I also have a DD who would have started school in September, she'll be 5 soon.

We're completely autonomous, no instigating classroom type work from my side at all. She really isn't falling behind her schooled or more structured HE friends - although they're all progressing at different rates in different areas. Which makes complete sense as that's what they've done since birth (the one's we've know that long anyway).

We do have some 'workbooks' but DD doesn't see them as work. They live in various spots around the house. Some are with her Nanna's crossword books, some on the bookshelves, some with the colouring in books. She calls them her 'puzzle books'. She usually does something in them once or twice a week. She needs my help to read any instructions so we so these together.

We also have a work box, which lives by the kitchen table. I print off worksheets from the internet that I think she'll enjoy and are simple enough for her to do with little or no help from me, some colouring in, some matching pairs or groups, tracing letters etc. That comes out if I'm trying to cook or something and she is asking for something to do.

Those are the most formal things we do. At all. The rest is all for fun but she's learning all the time through it. And the information she requests is at a much higher level than she'd be able to get through reading age appropriate materials; because its verbal and not written we're discussing things using terms like equilateral/isosceles/scalene triangles, the respiratory system etc. Not in a planned 'oooh, I'll teach DD geometry' but just through answering all her questions like 'when I put [all the triangles I cut out] in a pile they're different shapes, why are they all triangles?'

We don't do any books from reading schemes - I just read to DD and she's starting to read out words she recognises. But she just played a free trial on a game called Reading Eggs, which she did enjoy but not enough for me to spend money on. Might be something your DD would like if you do more teaching, you get the 2 weeks free to decide if it's any good.