Am considering Home Ed but need to convince DH (& perhaps me!)

[Anilou]

Hi!

My DS is due to start at the nursery in our local school in September. However, I have a number of links in the Home Ed community and am feeling more and more like that's what I'd like to do for him. It seems like such a postive move for a family. But I am worried about the practicalities.

My DH reckons we can't afford it - and to do a lot of what I'd like to do I guess he's right. But I also know that we can survive on one salary. We just have to make some changes to our lifestyle.

I'm not the best at getting out and socialising, myself. So I'm also worried that I'll limit my kids in that area. I know it doesn't have to be like that but these are all concerns, aren't they?

I guess I'm looking for advice on how I might organise myself and my family to make this practical. Anyone had any experience here?

money - you pays your money and you takes your choice. A family living happily doesn't need all the material stuff imo. We buy lots of things from charity shops; we don't need much in the way of smart work clothes; children don't need school uniform. We don't run a car - bus, bike, taxi, train works out cheaper. There are all sorts of ways of living frugally.

socialising opportunities - I think you have to just treat that as part of the role you are taking on. If your children want to go to groups or classes or organised activities, then you make the best of it, yk? I know some mums who go to HE groups and actually spend their time reading a book or doing some work in a corner, and that's quite accepted.

Really, you just need to go on living your life, that's all

Does your dh know much about it? Mine was not on board at all at first, but I didn't nag (much!)- just every so often when he'd ask me what I was doing, I'd say 'oh I'm just reading this thing about HE, apparently it's really brilliant because... [insert compelling reason to HE here.]' And we got together with loads of HE families and he saw the light

Thanks for the advice. I agree, ommmward - what you need is very much a matter of expectations. We'd get on well with much less than we have at the moment. But I guess it needs us all on board with what we expect. If DH wants life to be different then it's going to add a lot of stress. We both need to be fully behind this or I don't think it'll work.

Yes, robberbutton, my DH does know quite a lot about it. I've been into homeschooling - particularly focussed on expats - for some years. As a trained teacher I send a number of people lessons for them to use with their kids. But the focus has been on 'them out there' not us doing it!

We have a good school in our village and I've always planned on sending the kids there. But the closer it gets to actually sending them and the more I find out about homeschooling, the more it feels like this is the way of life I'd prefer. I don't think it's about 'letting them go' as such. As a teacher with experience at the other end of school (secondary up to A'Level), I've come across so many kids who are bored with learning. My DS is so open to everything and keen to learn. I love seeing him grow and develop his understanding of the world. I guess I worry that school might knock that out of him.

Also, as a teacher, I don't believe that school is the best place for socialising kids. From my observations, kids are very different with their school friends to the way they are with their home friends. It's particularly true of teenagers.

I'll keep [gently] working on my husband to figure this out. I'm trying to find some people in our area that we can meet with and find out what we could be doing here and abouts. (We're in Hertfordshire.) With HEAS local, I imagine there will be plenty of support!