Home education/schooling

[motherofboys]

He thinks it will be hard work. His been a little stressed and I said to him about helping me with the maths thing and he said he has so much to do already that he can't get it all done and it would take so much hard work and dedication. He also thinks that the main reason to remove my eldest son from school would be bullying as we found out a few weeks ago he was having a problem with another boy -which is now resolved- and so he says if his not being bullied why take him out. I think all the original reservations I had are now dawning on him, and I'm hoping that by September I will have reassured him on them. Maybe he thought I wouldn't really go through with it so didn't think about it too much until he realized it was going to happen then started worrying.

 

[marley2580]

Try reminding him that if it doesn't work out your kids can always go back to school. That safety net doesn't go away. He'll probably find that it's not as hard as he thinks it's going to be.

 

[Tanikit]

I agree with Marley - I'd ask him to go with it for a year and see how it goes - that way you can also see how it goes and if it doesn't work then you can put them back in school. You do need to give yourself the entire first year though as it takes a while to settle into it and get a routine going. My DH is not helping with any of the schooling and we are doing fine - but I have found that because he is not expected to do any he often does get involved in helping and will supervise some reading, ask DD about things she has done during the day and so on. Don't worry about the math - just get a curriculum and teach it - you can't do much wrong at age 6 as long as you are doing something.

 

[motherofboys]

Thanks. I guess its normal to have cold feet and I know I had the same worries which was how they ended up in school to begin with anyway.

 

[omfgski]

.

 

[marley2580]

Tbh, I think when you decide to home ed you need to just accept that people will judge you and will freely tell you that they think you're wrong. If you know that you are right I think all you can do is nod and smile and totally ignore them. It sounds like your OH is supportive, usually that's half the battle.

 

[mamaofthree]

Oh my goodness! Just found out we are expecting no. 5 Plus am qualifying as a breastfeeding counsellor, taking grade 7flute in nov, and home educating. Can somebody grace me with some kind/reassuring words pleeeaaasssse. Am scared...very much so! Typical just when you decide it's not time for another after NTNP another arrives. Sorry I know it's off topic but stressed about the logistics of it all tbhxxx

 

[motherofboys]

congratulations to you. i must admit i get a little scared of the thought of pregnancy and a new born while home ed'ing and i only have 3 kids. then i think when number 3 came along i had the other 2 home anyway as my eldest was only just 4 and my middle one was 2. i'm hoping that by the time i become pregnant we will be home ed'ing as my hubby does seem to be comin around to the idea a little bit at a time.

 

[mamaofthree]

Thats great! My OH wasn't 100% supportive, and tbh probably still has reservations, but I guess we have to allow them this as it is an alien concept to most. Go with your instinct, and I'm sure your Oh will support you after a little time. Are you having a trial run over the hols then as you mentioned before? Hope it works out xxx

 

[motherofboys]

Yeah I am. I'm being quite relaxed about it but got some of those books that they can practice Maths and English in and they have done a few pages happily and I don't think my husband noticed that he was actually teaching our middle son when he was tracing his finger over letter magnets and making like whoosh, boing and whistling noises to help him remember how they go round and down and up etc for letter formation. When you think about how much you teach them before they even start school.
Something that I think is getting through to him is that our eldest is doing VERY well at school. My husband was worried taking him out would mean he will fall behind but now his starting to think that he may get over looked as they know his capable so they will concentrate on the children struggling. Where as at home we can work at his level and his pace.
So far his just made comments like "I think we would get on alright teaching those two, but he won't listen, he thinks he knows it all" and when talking about work an possibly changing jobs he said "I'd be home more then, so we would be able to teach them at home"
I know his not committed to anything yet, but it does show me his been thinking about it as I haven't been going on about it and his said it out of the blue.

 

[buttonnose82]

Bumping ..... anyone still about? I have a few questions if you don't mind

 

[freckleonear]

Still around! :wave:

We're "official" home educators now as Aaron would have started school today otherwise.

 

[buttonnose82]

Still around! :wave:

We're "official" home educators now as Aaron would have started school today otherwise.

Wow, well done! must feel great!

Well, my boys are currently almost 2 & almost 8 months, I have thought about home educating them in the past but often worry that I 'know' enough to teach them. I was discussing it with hubby as the weekend and he said why not do some research/find out about local groups and such like then we can discuss it further! His main concern is possibly missing the social side that school brings but I mentioned that I had read that many areas have home ed groups where they meet up for activities and such like, he said that sounded good!

My plan, if I do decide to go for it, would be to aim for 7 years old then enrole them in school if I feel I can't offer them a better education after this ...... is this even an option? can I choose when they start school if you like? what if we start and I feel I can't give them what they need education wise ..... can I get them into a school at any point?

How do you know what you should be encouraging them to learn when? do you follow a set guide or just go with the flow?

I have 2 main reasons I am considering this, the first being, 4 years old seems way to young to have them out of my care for 5 entire days of the week! Secondly, my toddler is already very very bright and I worry that at school he will get forgotten about/not encouraged because the teacher has to ensure that other children are keeping up, therefore not exposing him to chances to keep him learning at the stage he is already at (does that make sense?)

 

[marley2580]

Still around! :wave:

We're "official" home educators now as Aaron would have started school today otherwise.

We've been 'official' for a couple of weeks now

 

[freckleonear]

I honestly don't think it matters how much you know. Children are natural learners and you can learn along with them, which is a great example of how to do research and find things out.

Socialisation really isn't an issue for most families! There are lots of groups and activities, and children get the chance to mix with all age groups rather than just people who happen to share the same birth year as them.

You can absolutely enrol them in school whenever you like. The LA have to provide a school place for any child who wants one.

There are so many different ways of approaching HE. Some people follow the National Curriculum, some people do their own thing and some people just follow the child's interests. If you were planning to send them to school later it might make sense to make sure that you are covering similar things to the National Curriculum. There are plenty of materials you can buy, or you can just look at a checklist each year and ensure those things are covered somehow.

I agree that 4 does seem very young to start school. It makes me feel really weird to think that some children who were only 3 last week are now in school 6 hours a day, 5 days a week!

 

[freckleonear]

Still around! :wave:

We're "official" home educators now as Aaron would have started school today otherwise.

We've been 'official' for a couple of weeks now

Congratulations! School dates are pretty much irrelevant to us, but for some reason it still feels like an important milestone.

 

[marley2580]

Still around! :wave:

We're "official" home educators now as Aaron would have started school today otherwise.

Wow, well done! must feel great!

Well, my boys are currently almost 2 & almost 8 months, I have thought about home educating them in the past but often worry that I 'know' enough to teach them. I was discussing it with hubby as the weekend and he said why not do some research/find out about local groups and such like then we can discuss it further! His main concern is possibly missing the social side that school brings but I mentioned that I had read that many areas have home ed groups where they meet up for activities and such like, he said that sounded good!

My plan, if I do decide to go for it, would be to aim for 7 years old then enrole them in school if I feel I can't offer them a better education after this ...... is this even an option? can I choose when they start school if you like? what if we start and I feel I can't give them what they need education wise ..... can I get them into a school at any point?

How do you know what you should be encouraging them to learn when? do you follow a set guide or just go with the flow?

I have 2 main reasons I am considering this, the first being, 4 years old seems way to young to have them out of my care for 5 entire days of the week! Secondly, my toddler is already very very bright and I worry that at school he will get forgotten about/not encouraged because the teacher has to ensure that other children are keeping up, therefore not exposing him to chances to keep him learning at the stage he is already at (does that make sense?)

Home edding isn't about taking what you know and teaching it to your kids, it's about helping your children to develop the skills to learn for themselves. If my children ask me a question I don't know the answer to I say 'I don't know, let's go and find out'.

I used to worry a little about the social side of things as most of the kids in our local home ed group are older, but Kaya goes to gymnastics and ballet and is making friends that way. We also hang out with family kids quite often.

When you decide to home ed you can change your mind at any point you like. At which point the education dept will fall over themselves to get your child into school, so don't worry about that bit.

There are loads of options regarding methods of home ed. Some go with total unschooling where the child decides what they learn and when (works well for loads of people) while others go with a curriculum (which you generally have to pay for). I go for a mostly child led approach. My kids have workbooks that they sometimes decide to do, we have loads of educational games etc. But at times I'll lead the topic, eg I might decide that we should build a volcano, so the kids will find books about volcanos at the library, we'll read them together and conduct experiments together and then we'll build it. I also decide where we go and when, whether the TV is on or off, and what books we buy. It works for us. The best thing to do is research the different approaches and go with what feels right for your family.

 

[SabrinaKat]

I'm actually considering home schooling, if my LO doesn't get a place at the local Irish language school (smaller class size, etc) in a few years' time (he is on the list, tho). Educationally, I have a few degrees and am a teacher myself, so am not worried about what to do nor peoples' negative comments (tbh- I didn't like school itself, but loved those teachers who let me explore things, etc., ultimately, I got a PhD in ancient history because I had a great Latin teacher)....but...

what about those who home school and there aren't many other social activities, e.g. I live in a smallish town -- do you all travel to meet up with other parents, children, etc.?

thanks!

 

[marley2580]

I'm in a smallish town, I find there's always something to do, you just need to look. Our town has about 13,000 people and there's sports clubs, dancing, swimming clubs, scouts, youth groups etc. We're lucky in that we're only 15 miles from a city, so there's a home ed group nearish. I would say that a car is essential though

 

[Tanikit]

I live in South Africa - our children only HAVE to be schooled from age 7 and that is time we should register them if we are going to register them at all (though many people do not register their children as the laws are a bit lax) I have yet to decide whether to register my child - I think it will depend largely on whether the curriculum (or lack of it) will be acceptable to the people who we register with.

At the moment homeschooling for my DD is about the 3Rs - I read to her daily and have since just after she was born. She now reads to me daily and while I did a phonics programme with her, I now only do the phonics that she is sticking on in whatever she reads aloud to me. We do Math daily in a few different forms - I do have a curriculum I follow, but we also do Bedtime Math (google it) and often take Math outside practicing math facts when we go on a walk or just in general around the house as we go about our day.

Writing and spelling we also do daily and she has started a free grammar programme too which is very basic. But I do not teach these like they are taught at school since I have one-on-one instruction with her which means I can do things differently.

The rest of it I do not schedule - we did dolphins today at my DDs request, but also talked about the water cycle as we had first spring rains. We did some chemistry when we checked the chemicals in our pool and we spoke about why we need water and rain. We also spoke about owls and gophers and looked up some vocabulary words in a new book we were reading aloud so learning happens all the time here - I do keep track of various scope and sequences to make sure we cover what is needed, but in general we cover a lot more than is suggested.

Here there are plenty of homeschool groups and we attend one on Fridays where my DD has made new friends. Next year I will probably get her into some sort of sport. She also attends Sunday school and goes with me to a Moms and Tots group that I attend for her little sister.