Home schooling

[Harimosmummy]

I have two DC - both way under pre-school age - but home schooling is something I'm interested in considering.

Can anyone point me in the right direction of where to start?

Especially, a 50:50 split between a school and home environment.

Does it work? what are the downsides?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

thanks, HM

Hi, do you mean to send them to school for part of the school-day? That's usually called Flexi-schooling. You should be able to see some older threads about it - by the way we have a whole "Home Education" topic, with lots of threads about this whole area.

If you have any interest in home education or flexi-schooling then the best place to start is with Education Otherwise, which has loads of information.

Flexi-schooling (if that is what you're asking about) has some difficulties - schools are often not enthusiastic, and to an extent the children get the worst of both worlds. You're still tied to the school curriculum, but the children will not be as settled there as they would be if they were just at school.

Sorry I said "curriculum" there when I really meant the timetable for the week/year - you don't have the freedom of full HE.

Thankyou.

Yes, I was refering to what you call Flexi schooling. I really like the idea, but I can see that it could mean a child ends up with the worst of both worlds.

But, if you HE completely, then how does your child interact / intergrate with other kids?

I'd love the idea of HE, but do worry about the social aspect, IYSWIM.

Thanks - I'll check out the HE topics.

In most parts of the country there are HE groups which you can join, which would give your DC time with other children. Many families also keep in touch with friends from before school age, and/or their children go to "after-school" groups like beavers/rainbows etc.

If there is an active HE group within range, lots of people find it's more difficult to fit in the opportunities, rather than having a shortage of children to interact with, but it does vary depending on who you find in your area and whether you find it convenient etc.

We've been HE-ing since October and it's surprising how much more of a social life ds has than when he was at school. He has AS and was often so stressed after school that he couldn't cope with seeing friends or going to activities. Now he's calmer he's able to do all those things, plus he's made a lot of lovely friends in the home ed community. Enforced socialisation at school does'nt work for the likes of him, unfortunately.

Tbh I'm not convinced flexi-schooling works that well because it depends too much on the views and cooperation of the schools, which can change by the week. Schools do like to have total control over the children they teach and they lose that with flexi-schooling. I'm sure it CAN work but it can't happen that often. I'd be interested to hear about anyone who has done it successfully though .

Blimey ... where do they do 'Flexi-Schooling' ? Is it all over the country ... sounds interesting

Flexi-schooling could be done anywhere, but it is solely at the discretion of the head teacher. And many of them are not keen, so it is very rare. But you could always look into it and ask if you like the idea!