Can someone explain to me HOW you HE?

[AddictedtoCrunchies]

I've been lurking on these threads for months and it fascinates me. DS is 2.4 so I've got plenty of time yet to make a decision but I'm interested to know exactly HOW you HE?

What's a normal day? Or are there no normal days? How do you teach them to read? And to write? What about maths? Science? Do you teach languages eventually? History, Geography? Do you go out to visit museums?Etc etc.

I'm really keen but finding it hard to get out of the mindset of being at school and learning different subjects. Also, do you have to have a reasonable level of education? (I don't have a degree but consider myself reasonably intelligent.)

Also, and this is the thick question, I work part-time so I'd have to stop working as DS couldn't stay in nursery once he passed 5. Wouldn't I?

Interested in your thoughts.

A 'normal day' is different in every family.

I didn't 'teach' reading (in fact, I'm not sure that anyone knows how to teach reading). I read (a lot!) to my DC (now 18 and 16), they listened to audiobooks, we sat and looked at books - all sorts of books, some chosen by them, some by me. As I'm sure you have discovered, your DS wants to do everything you can do, so he'll want to read and when he is ready he will start. This might be at 3yo or not until 9yo (boys tend to be later but most children start between about 2 and about 12). If he is spotting 'his' letter, can recognise the MacDonalds or CBBC logo, and knows which way up text goes, he is already doing 'pre-reading' activities.

Writing may come at the same time but is often later - there are fewer reasons to write than to read.

I'd be surprised if you are not already doing maths - counting steps, ticking off dates to significant events (we had to make an 'advent' calendar for my DD's 3rd birthday!) or sharing grapes and sweets.

IME, children are natural scientists - the world isfascinating and they want to know how it works. We have learned German (which I had done at school) because my DD did an exchange at 13yo and Russian (of which I had no previous experience) because we have visitors from Belarus. There are many resources around (especially computer programs) and you can learn together.

We did a lot of trips to various museums and other places of interest - and you can do them in term time when it is quiet.

In primary, the day is not so much broken into subjects (and in EHE, we don't need to do subjects at all). After all, adults don't expect to break the day into subjects. When you go shopping, you use maths, reading and a bunch of other skills but you don't need to identify them. If you watch a film about the Vikings, go to a museum, buy and build a model longboat and work through a computer game based on a Viking village, you cover a variety of skills.

The parents don't need to have any particular level of education. You need enthusiasm to be with your child and facilitate his learning.

Can someone else (partner, grandparent, neighbour) look after DS when you need to work? EHE can take place at any time, so they do not have to follow a particular programme with him. Perhaps his grandparents would like to do craft, or baking, or nature walks with him? I have worked (from home) throughout my period of EHE. As the DC get more competent, they can do things themselves and your time is less constrained. (Although, if you work outside the home, you'll be constrained for a while before you can leave him for any length of time.)

What's a normal day?

No such thing for us. One common kind of day involves a trip somewhere interesting in the morning, or something social in the morning with me in charge, and then a quiet afternoon at home with Daddy. Another normal kind of day involves a quiet morning at home and a trip out later with Daddy, or with me when I get home from work.

How do you teach them to read?

Read lots of books with and to them. Give them free access to the internet. Often play DVDs with the subtitles running. Wait for the penny to drop.

And to write?

er. No idea. I mean, I make marks, they copy me and make marks. we've never ever sat down and done Learning To Write, it just evolves as a child gets interested in the principle.

What about maths?

again, it evolves from convesration, at least at primary level

Science? Do you teach languages eventually? History, Geography? Do you go out to visit museums?Etc etc.

I really don't divide up our lives in those subject-y ways at this point, just follow interests of the children. A zoo trip could be biology, or it could be maths or art or a million other things depending on what catches our interest today.

As for language - obviously we all learn to speak Dora the Explorer level Spanish at pre-school age (well, duh)...

"Also, do you have to have a reasonable level of education?"

No. There is no minimum requirement excpet to be interested in helping your children. Paula Rothermel's work suggests that while children of highly educated parents get a certain amount of value added compared to their schooled peers, children of parents who are not themselves well educated get a massively bigger whammy of advantage over their schooled peers by being HEed. Don't flame me, flame Paula Rothermel for doing the research...

"Also, and this is the thick question, I work part-time so I'd have to stop working as DS couldn't stay in nursery once he passed 5. Wouldn't I?"

well, nursery stops being an option, but you could always use afterschool clubs or childminders or swap off childcare with friends...

That's brilliant.

Yes I suppose we already do maths but I hadn't considered it that we do. We count the stairs when we go up and down and he knows the numbers 1-10 (but not necessarily in the correct order). We spend a lot of time at the bus station watching the buses coming in and out. I tell him the numbers which he repeats then we talk about who might be on the bus and where they might be going.

We look at books together but it's more about looking at the pictures and me asking questions about them

Also, he goes to Nana's one day and Grandma's another while I work so that's an option that would continue.

Sometimes it needs someone else to put things into perspective. What is EHE?

SDeuchars
Your DC are 16 and 18 - are they or have they done/exams? I worry that if DS doesn't have the requisite five GCSEs then he may be penalised?

Ommmward
A trip somewhere interesting..could that be the park or does it have to be a museum or somthing similar?

Is the theory to try to learn about something everytime you do something (iykwim)?

Thanks for replying.

EHE = elective home education [i.e. that the parents have chosen it rather than the child being excluded from all schools in the area or whatever]

interesting trips range from the park through sainsbury's to grand extravaganzas across the country on the train, or local museums/stately 'omes/ zoos etc etc etc

The theory is to stand back and just live life, and watch your child suck the educational marrow out of it, rather than to be thinking about Educating Them at every moment. Read some of Sandra Dodd's unschooling site, or the Joyfully rejoycing site or something like that

What is EHE? Elective home education - to distinguish between what we do and education out of school by the LA (for example if a child is ill).

SDeuchars: Your DC are 16 and 18 - are they or have they done/exams?

They have done no GCSEs but have taken Open University courses since 13-14. DD has 190 points with the OU (120 is the equivalent of a year at uni) and has an offer (conditional on the course that she has just completed) from a university to do Law with German Law in October. You can read about my DC at the home ed exams website.

A trip somewhere interesting could be to anywhere: the park, a museum, the cinema, the supermarket, your local fire station, the theatre, ... depends on what you find interesting. Many EHEers will be going to the cinema free in October with National Schools Film Week.

Is the theory to try to learn about something everytime you do something (iykwim)?

Nope, the theory is to live. Then you can't help learning.

We do things quite differently to the PP as we are pretty structured in what we do. We did phonics using Letterland from the DCs being 2 or 3 and then moved on to reading. We've had various workbooks and textbooks; quite a few American resources; science kits. Generally we work in the mornings and do more relaxed stuff in the afternoons - science experiments, read alouds, art and craft, playing, reading, watching a DVD, board games - whatever we feel like. We also do French and Spanish with a couple of other families every week and go to a Book Club once a month.

Having said that, if the weather is nice or something comes up, we just go out and do something else.

As far as working goes, I teach 2 days a week (in a school!), so DH works 'compressed hours' and has 1 day at home and we have a nanny comes in for the other day (cheaper than a childminder with 3 DCs!). She does cooking and sewing with them and keeps an eye on them as they finish any work off.

We will probably be doing some GCSEs/IGCSEs, and am looking into their doing OU courses when they are older.

I'll tell you what we did today so you get an idea of what it might look like with littilies, pre "academics". Mine are 4, 2 and 8 months.

We all got up about 8:30ish, had breakfast/stories then the kids played while I washed up. All went to the post office to collect a parcel, then to the park. Got home just before 12. Everyone helped make 'pizza bread' for lunch, then it was 'quiet time'- DD(2) napped and DS(4) played in his room/listened to story CDs for an hour. I normally get to read/lie down but unfortunately the baby had other ideas! Nevermind, it's great when it works! Mum came over at 4 to play with them while I cooked tea, then DH got home and it was bedtime (preceeded by lots of stories for DS- DD likes to 'read' in her bed!)

I try to get outside every day: park/forest/or just garden. We do lots of errands (drs, shops, library) We do an activity (cooking, painting etc) or go out for a picnic. Tomorrow evening two of DS's friends who go to school are coming over for tea, or sometimes he climbs through the fence to play with the boys next door when they get home. He goes to football on Saturday mornings with DH and Sunday School. Would like him to start beavers or similar, and go to school holiday clubs when he's old enough.

It's pretty good

I wrote a blog post last week on how my family home schools. We're quite casual. Generally we follow a computer based curriculum for the basics and do lots of reading, museum trips and extracurricular activities to round it out.

It works pretty well and isn't too time consuming - often my 9 year old will teach the 6 year old so they learn a lot together.

Forgot to say everyone drenched the kitchenhelped wash up after lunch, which took ages. They're all settled by about 10pm 8-8:30pm on a good day, which is later than I would like but I try not to worry about it as they can sleep in if they need, and don't get tired out by school/nursery.

We HE autonomously. That means (to us) that I don't plan anything with the primary goal of the children learning things. Our primary goal is that we are all happy and having a nice time. Learning just happens when you're in that environment. Questions get asked etc.

So, for example:

What's a normal day? Or are there no normal days?

Well, our days follow a pattern - we all get up; we all have breakfast. But other than that our days are far from being the same. We play; have picnics; visit places; visit friends; do workbooks; play games; bake........loads loads more.

How do you teach them to read? And to write?

I read to them a lot, as does DH. We talk about letters and letter sounds as it comes up. We read to them some more. We tell them how to write things when they want to know for writing stories/cards/notes/lists etc.

What about maths?

We do 'maths' when we bake, when we play games, when we play with dice or cards, when we count, when we share out sweets, when we sort out lego - maths is everywhere :-)

Science?

As with maths - playing in the garden/woods/park; looking at bugs; sewing veg and flowers, baking, building towers. Questions get asked all the time - 'how does that work?' 'Why does that happen?' - looking at the weather etc.

Do you teach languages eventually?

My husband has managed with a very poor languages education - why wouldn't you unless you were going to spend time ina country, in which case you'd be motivated to learn. Having said that, DD1 and DD3 go to a french club once a week led by a french man who lives locally, and DD1 absolutely loves it and has, so her teacher says, a natural affinity for languages, so I foresee her following that up over the years.

History?

My girls have had big interests in the Victorian era and World War II in the past. We made a big timeline for our stair-wall and add things to it as they come up. They also have been very interested in Mary Anning as we holidayed in Lyme Regis at Easter

Geography?

We have big maps on the wall. Talk about where various family memebers live/are on holiday. Talk about which countries were involved in the war. we've played looking at where lots of our things were made an dfinding it on the map.

Do you go out to visit museums?

We go where the childrden want to go. The park, musuems, castles, cathedrals, woods...

"I'm really keen but finding it hard to get out of the mindset of being at school and learning different subjects."

Yes, that is hard, but if you start out now, you've got plenty of time to build up a trust in autonomous learning.

"Also, do you have to have a reasonable level of education? (I don't have a degree but consider myself reasonably intelligent.)"

No, I don't think so. You have to love your children, and enjoy their company, and enjoy learning to learn alongside them , and not mind answering questions!

"Also, and this is the thick question, I work part-time so I'd have to stop working as DS couldn't stay in nursery once he passed 5. Wouldn't I?"

Not necessarily - child minders will sometimes take HEd children. Or family members, or you coudl stop work or change your work. Think creatively

having said that, I think I'd rather not work outside of the home too much - I do work 3 or 4 hours a week, but it's in the evenings and days when my DH is around, and I can work as much or as little as I like, so it doesn't impinge too much on my mind space and time with the children!

That's brilliant - thank you very much for your replies.

I changed my mindset when I got in last night. Instead of doing all the chores I decided to just play with DS and do the chores after he went to bed.

It was great!! We played cars and put them in lines and circles (his idea) then we did some dancing. Then we had a big roll-around-bundle on the mat before bath time.

This morning I let him walk all the way to nursery (25 mins) and we saw buses and cars and bikes and allsorts. It was very exciting.

I think I'm getting there slowly..

The only skill you need is to be able to learn yourself and have a level of imagination. So what if you don't know how an engine works? If your ds asks, you brainstorm, together, how you are going to find out!

Carmen I've just had a look at your blog and I love the pics of your room. That's how I envisage it - bright and inviting.

My eldest is 3, and she won't (unless something odd happens) be going to school. Obviously she isn't school age yet, but we plan to basically carry on as we are doing now. She has plenty of books (in fact I sell books for Usborne so she plays with all my samples!) and toys, some of which are "educational", some of which aren't labelled as such, we do a lot of nature walks (google nature detectives for some brilliant resources), lots of colouring and drawing, we go to groups, we have friends round, she potters about while I feed the baby or work from home, she bakes, we do lots of running about and dancing, we go on trips to museums and get to run about as the place isn't full, and so on.

DP is planning on joining me working at home (I have just started so we are waiting until we can fully rely on my income while he gets started off) and then we will just muddle along. We plan on getting friends who are "experts" (ie they happen to have an interesting hobby or job) to come and visit and show the kids their skill, and we plan on doing some written work and some running about, but we can be a lot more adaptable.

Thanks Crunchies.. those pics were taken on a 'good' day [griin]

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